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Four More Gadgets for Gamers

Your Turn
This add-on to the Nintendo Wii remote judges motion more precisely. Whereas the original accelerometer senses only distance and tilt, a new gyroscope chip measures rotation.
Nintendo Wii Motion Plus, $20; nintendo.com

Flat-panels were supposed to eliminate the hulking television cabinet. But they are tethered to boxes -- cable tuners, disc players, A/V receivers -- that fill a big piece of furniture. A wireless connection lets you at least stash those peripherals out of the way. We tried out the first two cable-free HD technologies: one that uses radio waves and another that piggybacks on your home's electrical wiring.

I hate the word "audiophile," which implies a fanatic who imagines he hears things that don't exist and spends far too much money to get those imaginary sounds. But I do like music. And I'm extremely proud that I was able to put together a respectable stereo system for just $300 (thanks to eBay and close-out sales).

We loved Acoustic Research's original crystal-clear wireless home theater system, the WHT-6024, enough to give it a Best of What's New award in 2007. (To see this year's winners, click here.)

Sadly, the WHT-6024 was a short-lived product. But AR has a new kit called the ARW51 that includes the original system's best part -- a 2.4-Ghz transmitter-and-receiver system that takes the place of speaker wire.

It's been the same story since the '60s. The home-audio receiver is a rectangular box whose primary purpose is to amplify and control the sound-and now video-coming into your living room. Aside from the notable addition of surround sound and digital inputs such as HDMI, this home-entertainment nerve center has endured a rather stagnant existence. But that's about to change. These receivers satisfy your desire to access thousands of songs stored on your portable player, to place a PC next to your TV, and to add the features you need without paying for ones you don't.

HDTV sets are stunning—until you pop in a movie and are reminded that DVDs are not recorded in high definition. At 480 lines of resolution, they don’t even begin to take advantage of a 720- or 1,080-line display. That will change later this year when Toshiba introduces the first high-def disc player for the U.S. market. Toshiba’s breakthrough box, an HD DVD player that at press time was still unnamed, will cost about $1,000 (toshiba.com).

First there were big screens. Then big flat screens. Now there are big flat screens packed with tricks, like the ability to record TV or access your home network. It’s all part of the push to minimize the number of decor-busting black boxes while maximizing entertainment choices—movies, slideshows, your music collection. Here are five reasons to chuck your TV in favor of a multitalented model.

1. The Laptop Impersonator
This 2.7-inch-thin flat screen takes its cue from the computer world, with two PC-card slots to handle its latest features.