One-stop Pioneer audio-visual galleries

For most consumer electronics brands, a product catalog is the closest you can get to a hassle-free one-glance preview of a company's lineup. That said, nothing beats an upclose and personal experience in sampling a product under a conducive environment. To give its customers easier access to its offerings, Pioneer and its retail partners have recently setup two specialized home entertainment concept stores in Singapore.

Dubbed Pioneer Gallery and located at both The Adelphi (#01-02) and Sim Lim Square (#01-51/52), the new showrooms showcase the Japanese vendor's latest range of Kuro plasma TVs and LX-series A/V components. Besides onsite auditions and demonstrations to feast your senses at its "Experience Zone", there will also be inhouse consultants on hand to provide professional advice and recommendations to meet all your entertainment needs.

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Wireless Wii Nunchuck

For all of you out there who have been irritated by the wired Nunchuck attachment for the Nintendo Wii remote, the answer to your prayers is here. Nyko, a company that specializes in gaming peripherals, has announced the Wireless Nunchuck.

This product comes in two parts, a wireless version of the Nunchuck which looks very similar to the Nintendo original, and an attachment for the Wii remote. This allows the add-on to communicate with the remote using the 2.4GHz wireless frequency. It will be showcased at the upcoming CES tradeshow in the US.

Because it isn't standard with the Wii console, don't expect games to be designed for this new-found freedom. But if developers do take advantage of it, we can think of some possibilities that would have been impossible with the original tethered Nunchuck. Star Jump Exercise Adventures, anyone?

Via IGN

HotSeat doubles with twin game simulator

The last time we saw a HotSeat game simulator, it was a relatively bare-bones setup, at least compared with some others on the market back then. But with competition getting increasingly insane, it clearly needed to upgrade its offerings--lest it be named HotSeat for reasons other than intended.

BornRich says the HotSeat 275 is a "two-seater that features a "Sony Slim PS 2 with controller, 8MB memory card, two Dolby 5.1 surround-sound speakers with a remote control and subwoofer unit, a copy of Grand Turismo 4 and two Logitech Driving Force Pro force-feedback wheels with pedals"--inhaling now--"PS2 mounting bracket, two swinging-away consoles and two cup holders".

If all that still isn't enough, it can accommodate various media players and even more speaker systems for players ranging in height from 3ft to 6ft6.

Something tells us that whoever buys this system will be toward the latter end of that scale, as it comes with a list price of US$4,375. Compared with last season's Ford twin-simulator at US$19,000, however, it's a bargain.

Via Crave CNET

Nothing drab in Olive's designer audio servers

If peripherals as mundane as cable boxes and portable hard drives can draw the attention of artists and fashion designers, then certainly a home audio system can, too. And if the photo accompanying this item is any indication, Olive Media isn't shy to make a splash of its own.

The company has updated its highly regarded line of digital servers with a model that features the artwork of designer Karim Rashid. The Opus Nº5 Karim Edition comes in four variations, which are explained in classic art-speak by the creator himself: "I designed four unique digital graphics patterns symbolic of our corybantic digital age. Omni-directional like sound, the patterns emphasize the 'voluminous' beats that radiate from music. The repeated elements are symbolic of binary notation enveloping a perfect container of sound."

We had to look up "corybantic" in the dictionary and got this helpful definition: "being in the spirit or manner of a Corybant." Thanks a lot, Messrs. Merriam and Webster.

Via Crave CNET

A remote you can kick around

US Soccer Federation, take note: If you want the sport to be as popular here as it is in the rest of the world, start marketing more products like this.

We know as much about futbol as we do about figure skating, but we'd be the first in line to get one of these soccer ball remotes that are sold in the UK. And it can actually be used as a ball to play with, according to Gizmodo, though we wouldn't recommend that if it was the only remote in the house.

It supposedly can be used for all brands of various devices, including TVs, DVD players, and satellite boxes. The ball has a range of 7.6m but, as the product listing says, "you can kick it much farther".

Via Crave CNET

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