ASUS Eee Stick Wiimote-Clone Tested, Look Promising

Rather unsurprisingly – since I think even ASUS would admit where their "inspiration" came from – the Eee Stick controller has been likened to Nintendo's Wiimote.  Jake Ludington got a chance to test out the motion-sensitive interface while at Computex, which ASUS are positioning not so much as a gaming peripheral but as a generally fresh way to interact with normal PC apps.

In fact, despite suggestion that the Eee Stick pair would be sold separately (though that's still a possibility), ASUS intend to bundle the controllers with new Eee PCs.  For instance, a new Eee PC 901 together with Eee Sticks would be priced at just under $1,000, according to Jake.  ASUS also seem to be suggesting that they'll bundle them with the Eee Box desktop PC, as they appeared in that machine's release photoshoot.

In use, Jake seemed relatively impressed.  Tricky to say how they compare exactly to the Wiimote (or to other motion-sensitive controllers, such as Logitech's MX Air mouse or Gyration's range) without testing them side-by-side, but there sounds to be plenty of promise:

"I tried playing first-person shooter game Stalker with the Eee Stick and and while I found it hard to get used to moving my arm to aim at things, I think ASUS is on to something in bringing this type of controller experience to PCs. Non-game applications like navigating Google Maps might also benefit from using hand gestures rather than the current click-and-drag approach" Jake Ludington

No word on when exactly the Eee Stick will be available, but if ASUS are planning on bundling them with the Eee PC 901 then expect to see them at roughly the same time as that notebook.