Enter the Top Shot Elite, Red Octane's latest peripheral that's made not just for the Wii but also for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.
For the Wii, the unit is, once again, a shell peripheral that houses, snuggly, a Wii remote up front, and a nunchuk in the rear. The way it's been molded, the nunchuk's Z button becomes the main trigger in the same way the Nintendo Zapper does. The shotgun-like pump control is a mechanism that pushes up against the B trigger of the remote when you pull back on it (used for reloading, obviously). The optional scope slides along the top, and the shoulder brace, also optional, snaps with a satisfying "click" along the back. It can be extended or shortened depending on the arm length of the player holding the peripheral. The cord between the nunchuk and remote tucks away neatly inside the magazine chamber and hides it from view.
Now, it's pretty obvious that the Nintendo Wii version of the Top Shot Elite was the starting point for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the gun. But since the two systems don't have pointer controls as stock input, Red Octane had to build the tech into the gun itself.
Bundled with the 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the gun is a very Wii-like sensor bar. The one built by Red Octane is battery powered and very sleek – it has an auto shut-off after one, two, or three hours, a control that the user can select with a slider switch on the unit. The sensor bar gets placed on top or just below the television so that when you point the gun at the monitor, the gun's infrared camera can pick up the infrared light emitted by the sensor bar and triangulate its aim and translate it as an on-screen target. Exactly the way the Wii remote's pointer function works.
While Namco created a similar device for Time Crisis on PlayStation 3 with its PS3-compatible GunCon, this is the first time this type of control has been made for the Xbox 360. And on PS3, it's the first wireless gun controller – the unit uses a USB dongle to communicate between the gun and the console, and when the dongle is not needed there's a handy slot in the gun's shoulder mount to store it so it doesn't get lost. The 360 version uses standard, licensed 360 wireless tech, so no dongle is needed.
Unique to the 360 and PS3 controllers are built-in analog sticks (one in the back, and one near the barrel), a D-pad on the opposite side of the barrel-located analog stick, and a series of buttons for both the front and rear of the gun. The scope attachment features a transparent red filter that can make it easier to see visual cues that would be hard to see in graphical noise – it's old-school tech that's been used on the back of breakfast cereal boxes.
The hardware is incredibly solid with a good amount of weight that's balanced well. Activision and Red Octane plan to use the controller for additional games beyond the one it's been made for: Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011. It will be sold separately as well as bundled in with Cabela's Dangerous Hunts, and each 360 and PS3 gun will include a Sensor Bar as standard.