Nyko is a manufacturer and retailer of accessories for all your gaming platforms. They make face plates for your Xbox 360, stands and grips for your PSP as well as random accessories for your iPod. I had met with them in one of the meeting rooms, but I wasn’t able to find Nyko on the showroom floor. I did however see the Nyko girls who were standing by the entrance to the South Hall posing for pictures and handing out free fans.The meeting room was full of Nyko gadgets, some looking very familiar. Sadly, I have a tendency to own a lot of random electronic junk thanks to my husband. The first item that was brought out was a customizable faceplate for the Xbox 360. You basically slip a piece of paper that you design and print out between two plates. The polycarbonate cover and base plate snaps it into place to give your Xbox 360 some color. The software is free to download for you to design and mess with. The kit comes with one of six designs as well as fifteen blank templates for $19.99.
Another new Xbox 360 attachment was the Intercooler 360 for the same price. The cooler attaches to the back of the Xbox 360 which doesn’t protrude in odd places or is a nasty shade of orange. Instead it is conveniently hidden from view and shouldn’t cause any problems when your console is placed in an entertainment center. Nyko claims that they can lower the temperature of the Xbox 360 anywhere from 4-10 degrees to prolong the lifespan of the console. Apparently it’s been a huge hit for Nyko, since they are usually sold out in stores and are difficult to locate. I suppose if you don’t want your console to overheat or set your house on fire, this is a small price to pay to give your beloved Xbox 360 some air conditioning.
If you are like me, and have at least four remote controls scattered all over the place and you’re not sure which buttons do what, the Intelligent Remote 360 should be able to fix some of your problems. It doesn’t fix my problem of misplacing my remote, however there is the ability to program functions from multiple remotes so I can include all of the useful buttons on one universal remote control. The Intelligent Remote 360 is the same as the original remote for the Xbox 360 but with the additional buttons for you to program.
The last item for the Xbox 360 that we went over was the Multi-Reader 360 which is a 3 port USB hub that allows up to four wired controllers to be connected at once. Who actually buys wired 360 controllers? The ports can also be used to attach your iPod, PSP and flash drives. It also has a media card reader for four of the most common types of memory cards: Smart media, Secure Digital, Compact Flash, Sony memory stick. A cool little gadget, but not exactly something you would really need that badly.
We went over the charger grip for the PSP which I own. It allows you to hold the PSP like a Playstation controller and is also an added battery pack for an additional five hours. This add-on is well worth it since the design of the PSP isn’t very ergonomic. The additional battery life is helpful as well, especially on long trips.
Some other PSP gadgets include a TV adapter which projects the image via a mirror onto the screen and a power tuner that acts as a car charger and audio transmitter for your PSP.
If you’re interested in checking out some cool toys and possibly spending money, check out Nyko’s site. If you have a spending problem I probably wouldn’t recommend looking at their products. A lot of the items are nice to have, but not necessarily needed. The only one I can recommend is the PSP Charger Grip and if you tend to leave your Xbox 360 running constantly, the Intercooler might be worth your while. In the long run, I’m not quite sure if it makes a huge difference.
I am a Canadian living in California with my husband and my precious baby Bailey (95lbs of labrador fun). I work full time and go to school, so finding the time to play video games is tough. I still manage to sneak some time in, whether it's playing on my GBA while I wait in line or sitting in the back seat of my car so I can use our dvd player to play the Gamecube on long trips. I've always been fairly decent at playing games to give my younger brother some competition. I started at the early age of 6 when I inherited an Atari 2600. I played any computer game I could get my hands on during those Commodore 64 days. Now I'll play anything from RPGs to first person shooters, racing games or basically anything that's fun and allows me to play with at least 3 other people.
