Digging some material for a project about gestural interfaces in France lately, I stumbled across this sudden (and curious) surge of Wii-like platform, see for example these 3 devices:

First, the technigame, a very rouge game console which allows to play bowling/soccer/tennis with a stick that has "infraroufe" connectivity (the typo is funny). The game seems to be entirely ripped off from the Sega Master System reshuffled with manga-style characters in a very weird way. The name itself is also stunning.

Then you have this other "technigame" version sold at the lowcost shop "La foirfouille" for 39.99euros. it looks like a Wii although reshaped by people who misunderstood Karim Rashid's blobject concept.

Perhaps, the "Kiu" by Videojet is a tad more personality, with its own globular shape. The console only offers 5 built-in games.

Why do I blog this? It's always intriguing to look at product copies as they are generally curious attempts to re-appropriate ideas in a new way. From a more abstract POV, it also shows how certain people think the Zeitgeist is. What seems to be the value proposition here is clearly the price, ranging from 40 to 90 euros, cheaper than Nintendo's platform. However, the only thing these devices appears to bring to the user, apart from the nasty wii-ripped shape, is the use of gestural interaction (as if it was the only innovation on the Wii). Of course, in addition, the way these devices are advertised, using the family-tech momentum of the Wii, is revealing.

That said, I haven't tested these consoles (yet).