The greatest thing about unlicensed and unofficial merchandise is that the manufacturer tries to distance themselves from the official property as much as possible. And now that peripheral hardware designer and manufacturer Thrustmaster has announced the release of the Glow Sabre Duo Pack it means that we can refer to these items as ‘lightsabre’s’ (note the spelling) instead of the American-friendly and official term ‘lightsaber’. It may be a small victory over Americanised spelling, but it’s a victory nonetheless.
Thrustmaster, the company that officially has the most porno sounding name in games related manufacturing, has announced the release of the lightsabre Wiimote attachment; but why should we care? Well they could have just as easily have created a lightsabre handle for the Wiimote minus the blade, but no... they went all the way. They’ve even gone so far as to not to include lightsabre sound effects with the Glow Sabres. Now this may read like a counterpoint to Thrustmaster’s willingness to go all out on the Wiimote attachment, but considering that more dynamic and interactive lightsabre sounds can be made with one’s own vocal chords, this omission reeks of genius instead of slackness. That and we’re sure that Mr. Lucas would have something to say about an unofficial Star Wars product using official Star Wars sounds hmm.
The Wiimote attachments feature a 17 LED lighting system and are powered by 3 AAA batteries for hours of Wii lightsabre goodness. They have an RRP of $35USD, come in a duo pack that has a red and blue bladed lightsabre and should make a worthy addition to any Wii owner’s accessory collection.
For further reading:
The 10 Best Wii Buys of Christmas
The Complete History of Nintendo
