From Engadget.com:
Sometimes, before diving into hacks, mods, and dissections, it's nice to know the humble beginnings of a device, and our sister site, Wii Fanboy, tips us off to scans of just that -- early Wii controller prototypes. While the bulk of them seem like reasonable, logical steps towards the Wiimote we all love (or love to sue), we have to wonder what meeting spawned that star controller. We would like to imagine that it was more game specific -- á la Donkey Konga -- than system specific, since this design would be a huge flop for day-to-day gaming. (Which is probably why it wasn't chosen.) But in all honesty, we could be convinced to rock a Nintendo Star-mote with slightly less resistance than to Sony's batarang concept.
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Looks like the designers had one too many mushrooms.