Just the other night we were able to spend dinner with our friends at Logitech where they were showcasing some of their upcoming products. You may have already read Eric’s Impressions of the force-feedback enabled steering wheels (which, by the way, are eerily accurate in their feel and amazingly high-quality), but I’m here to tell you a bit more about my side of things: the DS, PSP, and Wii accessories.
Specifically, there were hard cases available for both DS and PSP Slim, as well as a wireless USB keyboard for use with the Wii. The DS and PSP Slim cases are about as sturdy as any I’ve ever felt thanks to their polycarbonate construction, which also lends to them a very manageable weight. These are some heavy-duty cases; you just snap your device right into them and it’s protected against practically any type of fall and probably even immune to being stepped on. Both cases are designed to be play-in, meaning that you don’t have to take the device out to use it, or even to plug anything in (it’s all accessible—and the PSP Slim case even fits the Extended Battery). From what I could tell, this seemed as though it would work quite well. It’s a little heavier, yes (around 6 oz.), but for the extra protection, that may be well worth the consideration. The DS case also holds four games in the underside of its top cover. Both cases can even be outfitted with your own custom skins to personalize them to your liking—the Logitech representative we spoke to had customized hers with a Street Fighter II skin (sweet)! The DS case will carry a $19.99 MSRP, while the PSP case is just $14.99.
Perhaps even cooler, however, was the sleek and lightweight Wii Keyboard. It’s wireless (2.4 GHz band), extremely small and portable (just 1.5 lbs. with 2 AA batteries), and it features an outrageous battery life of over 1,000 hours (estimated). You can even leave it on and it’ll simply sleep on its own if you forget to power it off—which is how it’ll go down in my household nearly all the time I’m sure. The keys all offer very comfortable travel and provide good tactile feedback with each keystroke. It’ll also function up to 30 feet from the console, so in case you own a 120-inch television you’re covered.
There are even Wii-specific keys included: Zoom In and Out, Quit, OK, and Left/Right navigation keys. And if you fancy your number pads, there’s one of those, too, accessible by holding down the Fn key (similar to many laptops). The keyboard will work in any game designed for use with a keyboard (Animal Crossing: City Folk for one), as well as in the Wii Internet Channel. Retail price will be $49.99.
We’ll have more on all these products as soon as they drop on our doorstep for review. Stay tuned!
