Thrustmaster Announces Wii Wireless Classic Controller

For all its innovation, there are a couple of annoying aspects to the Wii's controller arrangement, particularly the fact that the Classic Controller needs to be plugged into the Wiimote to work. It's not the end of the world, but having the heavy Wiimote dangling off the Classic Controller, or sitting in one's lap, or mounted underneath with Nyko's Classic Controller Grip (review) is definitely bothersome.

Thrustmaster is now on the scene to offer an alternative. In breaking news today, Thrustmaster has announced the T-Wireless NW gamepad for Wii, a fully wireless Classic Controller alternative. It will communicate with the Wii via a 2.4-GHz wireless dongle that plugs into the Wii's GameCube controller ports to provide 30-feet of wireless range.

The controller itself is housed in a Wii-themed chassis relatively similar in layout to previous Thrustmaster gamepads. The full compliment of buttons found on Nintendo's own Classic Controller will be available. Thrustmaster also added Slow and Turbo buttons for a bit of spice. Thrustmaster is pricing the T-Wireless NW aggressively at $19.99, the same price as Nintendo's semi-wired Classic Controller. It'll be available in October.

Thrustmaster also chose today to premier a new 5-piece combo pack of Wii accessories targeted at holiday buyers new to the console. The T-Megapack NW will include a rubber-gripped steering wheel bracket, a set of the T-Protect NW controller skins (review), and a T-Charge NW (review) battery recharging controller organizer. The T-Megapack NW will also launch in October, priced at $34.99.

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