Like most of the country, Atlanta is being battered by stupidly cold weather. We’re also getting snow and ice, which is kinda cool. I mean, it’s cold and annoying and dangerous, but it does look pretty. The thing is, Atlanta is not at all prepared to deal with ice and snow and stupidly cold weather. Airports, schools, government buildings all close down because we have no clue how to handle the ice that forms on the roads. Oh, we also have a ridiculous number of super old water mains that love to break all the time, which creates more mayhem. Like I said earlier, it’s all kinda cool until you get that email at 6am letting you know that even though you could die on the treacherous roads, you still have to come to work. Seriously, what the eff is with that?? Of course, they say if you’re unable to come then you don’t have to, but when you’re at the bottom of the food chain at a major lawfirm, messages like that really say you have no choice but to come to work. Fun times…

Something else that’s a lot of fun is CES, which I mentioned earlier this week. Between all the 3D TV’s, “super phones”, Tablets, E-Readers, and iPhone controlled helicopters, Nyko has managed to introduce another amazing controller. If you have a good memory you’ll remember last year I reported on Nyko introducing their take on the Wiimote called “Wand” at CES, and was very impressed with the controller like the rest of the world (the Wand one a Best of CES award). Well, the company that has a stranglehold on the peripheral market looks to one up Nintendo once again with their new controller the Wand+. I’m sure you can guess what the + is for, and you’d be right, it is most definitely signaling the inclusion WiiMotion Plus technology. The sweetest thing about it is, they’ve got it built right into the controller, and have managed to retain the standard size of the Wiimote. Yup, no more adding a dongle on and making your controller a bit bigger and kinda awkward. The controller is not only much sexier than last year’s offering, but it smashes the alternative Wiimote & WMP+ combo that Ninty offers us. It may be just me, but it seems that if Nyko can do this, and pull it off, then Nintendo has no reason to continue making consumers buy the add-on. I’ll post a couple of pics of the Wand+ along with the Nyko press release below. As an added bonus I’m including a video sent to me by Ben Hoffman who works for Al Gore’s Current TV, and may have as much love for Jenny McCarthy as yours truly. (Side note: Al Gore created the internets, invented global warming, and has his own television channel!?! I’m pretty sure Al Gore may be secretly running the world…). Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

The Wand + is designed to be the most advanced and user-friendly controller on the market for the Wii. Instead of requiring additional attachments or dongles for accurate motion control, the Wand + features Full Motion Technology™ built directly into the controller, allowing full 1:1 movement tracking that is compatible with all games that utilize the Wii Motion Plus™ attachment. By building the technology into the controller, the Wand + provides all the functionality Wii gamers expect, plus the versatility and convenience they deserve; no more dongles, no more custom sleeves or incompatibility with docks and other accessories not able to accommodate attached dongles. The Wand + also contains Nyko’s award-winning Trans-Port Technology, which allows key action buttons to be digitally replicated on other devices and pass sound and vibration signals to attached peripherals for the ultimate immersive gameplay experience. The Wand + features a fresh new design for a sleek, high-tech minimalist look.

The Wand + will be available at select retail stores nationwide in March 2010 and will retail for an MSRP of $39.99.

**I thought this post got put up earlier this week, but for some reason it didn’t show up. So, here it is a bit late.**

If you are anything like me, and I like to think you are, then you try to keep up on all sorts of gadgets and techy-gadgety type things. Adopting that aforementioned theory that you are in fact like me, once could assume that you’ve been paying attention to CES this week. If you haven’t, all you need to know is that it’s yet another super-cool conference that for some reason I was not asked to attend. Anyway, it’s basically the time of year when any company that has ever made anything technological shows off all their goodies for the coming year or two. It’s pretty much the E3 for TV’s, Cameras, Phones, and Blu-Ray manufacturers. I love CES and all the gadgets it brings to us, so expect to hear about it a bit more this week!

One of the first bits of news that hit this week was about NBA Jam! If any of you are around my age, you think of the epic 2-on-2 basketball and you probably just get happy, I know I do. Jam was the precursor to NBA Street, or really any of the super arcadey style of sports games that have been popular the past 10 years or so. Well, it was just announced that EA is planning on reviving the series. At first it was just a rumor but then it came out that the company has officially hired the creator of NBA Jam. The best part of all of this is that it’s going to be a Wii exclusive!! Man, this is big and I can’t wait for news on this. Good thing we won’t have to wait for long as it should be officially announced sometime this month. In the meantime check out an amazing Best of NBA Jam video, I’m also treating you to the epicness from where the title of this post is derived. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.