controllers

Why all the glowing reviews with 0 stars? Come on people, fill out the whole form. Anyway, this controller is just about perfect. The batteries last a very long time (even the garbage batteries that come with it), and it works a lot farther away than the advertised 20 feet. It is just a bit heavier than the regular controller, probably because of the batteries. My 4-year-old prefers the normal controller (I'm not sure if it's because of the weight or the rumble feature). I have been very pleased with my Wavebird. I bought it at Wal-Mart for $26 (price-matched a competitor). I should have bought four of them. Even at full retail, it's a bargain. Don't waste your money on the regular controllers.

And speaking of the lack of rumble feature, some people are grumbling about it. Think about it. You'd need the rumble motor and a receiver in the controller. These would add additional bulk and weight. The new receiver on the controller would have to be running constantly, even though it would receive a signal a fraction of the time. This would require a lot more battery power (think eight double-A's instead of two, or add $50 to the price for a good Lithium-ion battery). Batteries tend to be very heavy, so again, more weight. So you'd be adding weight, bulk, and price for a feature that a lot of people don't care about anyway. Maybe they should sell a wireless rumble pack that has its own batteries and can be strapped to the controller?

The WaveBird for the Nintendo GameCube is overall a wonderful game controller. You can enjoy great gameplay without the frustration of tangling chords! It reaches up to 20 feet so you can sit significantly far away from the console and still be able to execute moves and functions. You may even purchase up to 4 of these and plug them in all different ports at one time for multiplayer fun without the worry of cross-reception or interference.

Your purchase will include the controller itself, a receptor, and two AA batteries. These batteries will be placed inside the controller for communication with the receptor. The battery life, however, is something I'm unsure of. The WaveBird comes with a convenient on/off switch that seems to save battery life quite well. In fact, after SEVERAL hours of gaming (and I mean SEVERAL), I am still using the same batteries that came with the controller.

So far, the only two colors that seem to be available for the WaveBird are grey and platinum. I must say that platinum is rather attractive-looking and, even better, it's at no extra cost over the grey.

The only problem I've had with the WaveBird (and quite frankly, the reason why I could not give it a perfect score) is the fact that it is NOT equipped with the rumble feature. This will take away from "that feel that you are in the game". What possessed Nintendo to create a wireless controller without the great feature of the rumble is beyond me.

This misconception has definitely devalued the WaveBird in some ways, however, it's attractiveness and convenience of cordless gameplay surely seem to make up for it. It deserves four stars.

I just try to look at the best kinds of controllers for my video game systems time & time again. It just isn't a big deal, unless you need a extra one for company. For Nintendo, they have made some great controllers, and accessories for the Nintendo Gamecube, but this isn't really one of them. The Wavebird controller, does operate fairly well, but there are some flipsides to this wireless controller that outweigh the handling of the wired controllers for the Nintendo Gamecube. I was a bit dissapointed in the handling. It was a lot bulkier than its wired brother, which is highly featured with the Gamecube. Another disadvantage is that it has some problems when it interacts with other wireless producs like remote controls for the television. It sometimes gets caught up when somebody changes the channel toward a similar beam of radio waves, then it isn't as active to the commands you give the controller. Nevertheless, this is for die hard Gamecube owners, and not traditional owners like myself, who're so used to the wired Gamecube controllers. Get those regular Nintendo gamecube wired controllers, instead of this pricey controller.