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TT Champion Bat is realistic ping-pong paddle for Wii table-tennis players

The TT Champion Bat, from peripherals purveyor Shinobii, will take you right back to the youth club with its realistic recreation of an actual ping-pong paddle.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm
2 min read

One of the problems with Nintendo's motion-sensing gaming system is the lack of realism offered by the controllers, as anyone who's woken up aching after over-exerting themselves playing bowling on the Wii will tell you. Fans of table tennison the Wii should enjoy the TT Champion Bat, then, a controller modelled on an actual ping-pong paddle.

Ah, Wii table tennis. Yes, with the Wii, you can play a fake indoor version of a game which is itself a fake indoor version of another game.

British peripherals purveyor Shinobii designed the life-size replica of a table-tennis stick to have an accurate feel and weight. That makes it perfect for recreating that one glorious night down the youth club when you were unbeatable on the scuffed ping-pong table so Sharon Wilkinson let you hold her Lilt, and all the other hundreds of nights when you weren't and she didn't.

For complete realism, Shinobii is also developing a peripheral that randomly fires ping-pong balls across the room, allowing you to get more knackered from constantly chasing manically bouncing balls than from actually playing the game. There will also be two versions of the TT Champion Bat: one decent one, and one that's all manky, with the red rubber bit all peeling off, so the first round of each game involves arguing over who gets the good paddle. Probably.

The TT Champion Bat boasts a built-in rechargeable battery and built-in Wii remote, so you don't need to plug in a separate Wiimote. It's compatible with all MotionPlus games for the Wii, including such tabletop treats as Racket Sports Party, Rockstar Table Tennis, and Balls of Fury. The paddle will be available 'soon', costing $70 (£45) in the US.

We've compared the latest motion-sensing gaming systems in an arm-waving face-off between the Xbox 360 Kinect, PlayStation Move and Nintendo Wii. They're no Monkey Tennis, though, are they?