The system uses a custom wireless computer that receives digital information via a Wi-Fi connection and translates your maneuvers into servo control signals for R/C cars. There’s also a USB jack for a compact webcam. Joker Racer lets you use a web browser to drive cars on a closed course, and watch POV video from tiny cameras on-board each car.

There’s even an iPhone app coming in 2010 that lets you control cars using the iPhone’s motion sensors. In addition to being able to drive their remote-hosted cars, in future you’ll be able to buy your own Joker Racer R/C Server hardware for your own racecars.

Here’s a couple of videos showing off Joker Racer in action…

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Joker Racer’s website recently wrapped up its initial beta and is moving on to a full release in early November. For now, you’ll just have to sit back and enjoy some of the site’s pre-recorded clips and maybe remotely control the course webcam.

[via TechCrunch]

This Bioshock 2 EVE syringe is an exact replica of the nasty looking hypodermic implement found throughout the game. Not only does it look just like the decrepit genetic serum injector, but it glows an eerie blue when the lights go down. Extra-special-creepy there. Nice touch.

You too can get your hands on the EVE hypodermic prop over at UK retailer Play.com for £13.99 (appx. $23 USD). It’s not shipping until January 2010, just in time for the February release of the much-anticipated sequel.

Hooray for Plasmid power!

[via Nerd Approved]

It even comes with a magnetic pick for some strumming action, and an awesome mini amplifier that has “Think Geek” written on it using the same font that Marshall uses on its amps. Aside from controlling the volume, the amp also has a tone knob.

Ready to go beyond randomly waggling your fingers when you’re rocking out to your favorite song? Then get the Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt at ThinkGeek for just $30 (USD). Requires 4 AAA batteries, not included.

Each Roadkill stuffed animal comes packed in its own see-through body bag, complete with all of its plush and squishy guts pouring out of its body. They even throw in a death certificate and an “I heart Roadkill” bumper sticker in each bag.  The smashed menagerie includes Twitch the Racoon, Grind the Rabbit, and Splodge the Hedgehog (Sonic’s long-lost cousin?). There’s also Pop the Weasel, who’s not stuffed at all – rather a flat rubber door stop. (You can read their obituaries here.)

UK readers can find the entire series of squashed Roadkill toys over at the RoadkillToys website for £25.00 each. Live in the U.S.? The guys over at Charles & Marie are selling Roadkill animals for $40 (USD) each.

Okay actually the 2009 Baltic Robot Sumo Cup wasn’t illegal; in fact it was sponsored by major robotics companies like iRobot and ABB. 60 robots participated in 3 categories – Mini Sumo, 3 kg Sumo, and of course Roomba Sumo. But it was really held in Lithuania. And Roombas really do sneak off at night. They meet with other miniscule warriors and oshitaoshi the circuits out of each other. True story.

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Of course the only move that these robots have is “push”, but I’m sure ten to fifteen years from now, when Roomba v. 10.10 or something will be out, and it’ll look like a human, only with 4 arms and missiles for fingers, we’ll all look back to these pioneers, and curse iRobot for coming up with the darned things, because obviously we’ll be the ones who are cleaning the Roomba’s homes at that point. So enjoy their limited functionality and their silent yet comedic fights, because it won’t last long folks. It won’t! What was I talking about? Oh right, android tennis! Awesome stuff.

[via BotJunkie]

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this. Jin made the Dr. McNinja figure using a Firefly head and an SDCC Destro body. The coat was taken from an ROC The Doctor figure,  while the sword and sheath are from a Paris Snake Eyes figure. The stethoscope was made with using headphone wire. Awesome awesome figure. Now I know that there’s an official RE 5 Chris Redfield action figure, but I want to show Jin’s mixing and matching (and painting) skills, so here’s Jin’s take on the zombie-slaying cop:

Chris Redfield is made of  a custom Chris head from Broken Arrows Toys, a Firefly/beach head body, Storm Shadow upper arms joined to Tiger Force Flint lower arms,  Resolute Duke hands and legs, and some custom weapons from Marauder Gun-Runners. Finally we have Jin’s Air Man. Even though Dr. McNinja is still my favorite Jin Saotome creation, special mention goes to Air Man, probably the most complex of Saotome’s action figures. Air Man’s chest fan actually works and is battery powered. And even if it didn’t, man, look at the details!

Air Man is made of the following: an Animated Wolverine Colossus sans head with sculpted eyes for the upper body, Astro Boy Peace Keeper arms and lower legs, and Accelerator Suit Snails upper legs and waist. Jin made Air Man’s fan using styrene sheeting and a Nokia cellphone vibration motor.  The magnetic Wind Gust was taken from a DCU Red Tornado action figure. Unfortunately some lucky bastard already owns Air Man, and Jin says he had an insanely difficult time with the figure so he won’t be making another Air Man anytime soon.

Jin regularly auctions off his creations on eBay; keep an eye on his item list if you don’t want to miss out on his auctions. Check out his website for more custom action figures. I want a Dr. McNinja action figure dammit!

[via gameSniped]

Nanotech’s Multipin is a digital pinball simulator, mashed-up with the physical look of a classic pinballer. The game is a full-sized pinball machine that provides electronic renditions of 17 pinball machines in a single cabinet. The system comes loaded with a number of original pinball games, as well as several modern remakes of classic Gottlieb pinball titles from the 1970s and 80s. And if 17 games aren’t enough Nanotech plans on offering upgrade packs with additional tables you can load in later.

Games are played on a large 32-inch 720p high-def LCD monitor that’s set into the playing surface under glass. Multipin not only looks like a pinball cabinet, the game is controlled with all of the classic trappings, a mechanical plunger, clicky flipper buttons, and a realistic audio experience which includes all of the sounds you’d expect to hear coming from a mechanical pinball machine. There are even digital motion sensors in the cabinet that let you nudge and shake the ball around (and eventually tilt the machine if you go too far). There’s also a second LCD screen under the machines backglass that’s used for displaying scores, game graphics, and the occasional mini-game.

Here’s some video from a recent episode of NBC’s TechNow showing off the Multipin in action:

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The best thing about the Multipin? You can buy one for yourself – now. This isn’t vaporware, it’s a real thing. The $6000 (USD) machine is available now over at Hammacher Schlemmer. Sure, you’ll need some seriously deep pockets to buy one, but if you’re a serious pinball addict, you might want to put Multipin on your Christmas list this year.

So you can well imagine the raging jealousy I experienced after discovering these kick-ass Ratchet & Clank vinyl toys exist, but are not yet (and possibly won’t ever be) available to the public.

These vinyl renditions of Captain Quark, Ratchet, and Clank were made by Insomniac Games character artists Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin, who also run a little website called “Creature Box” where they post various character and comic art they create – presumably off company time.

Recently, in the spirit of looming holidays and employee gift giving, they decided to take their artwork three-dimensional and collaborated with Gentle Giant to make a series of a number of these Ratchet & Clank vinyl sculptures for the good folks at Insomniac Games. Color me jealous!

Unfortunately, according to their blog post Dave and Greg are “Not sure if these will ever be released to the public, for now they are just for employees.”

Insert frowny face.

[via Kotaku]

Staying true to it’s digital origins, Thompson made the banhammer using 3D printing. Thompson also says that it’s a “speldge” hammer. I don’t know what that is, so I’ll just assume that it’s the sound produced when the hammer is brought down on mortal flesh.

Thompson was kind enough to post instructions on making a banhammer, but if you’re not familiar with 3D modeling the instructions won’t make sense. Hey Chris, maybe you should try making a disemvoweler too.

[via Boing Boing]

The set comes with a pair of wired remote controls, and wheeled versions of Sonic and Tails to race around the 4-foot oval loop track. The guys over at Sonic fanblog Emerald Coast got their hands on a set, and weren’t that thrilled with how frequently Sonic goes flying off the rails though. Somehow Tails manages to stay on the track better. Go figure. I blame Dr. Robotnik.

The Super Sonic Racing System is available from UK retailer Play.com for £8.99 (appx. $15 USD). Frankly, I think this would have been way cooler if it had some crazy loops and corkscrews on the track. Oh well, what do you want for $15 bucks?

[via Nerd Approved]

Those concerned with the smooth aesthetic of the DSi need not apply, either. But if you can get past the look of your system, this accessory is sure to improve the look of your pictures. For $24.99, DSi owners can add an 8x zoom lens to this case (or detach it and just use the case). Nyko is promoting the attachment as perfect for social networking enthusiasts, but the case has a certain amount of spy-tech style, too. Useful… if you can fit it into your pocket!

[via Joystiq]

ROPID can also be taught to respond to voice commands, and even has a “noise-canceling chip” installed to make it easier for him to hear instructions. However, as the video below shows, the noise-canceling chip either doesn’t work or is no match for a hundred clicking cameras.

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Here’s another video of ROPID showing off his moves:

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Takahashi-san built the robot with his own hands, and he says he plans to make a short film that stars ROPID. I heard it will be called Toy Story 4. Kidding.

[via Plastic Pals via Engadget]

The first of the game systems is called Classic Battles, which features a controller that looks like Darth Vader. The plug-and-play game includes five Jedi-themed battle games, including ship flying, lightsaber wielding, and battle droid blasting among others. Keep in mind that most of these games look like they’ve been recycled from an earlier version of the system.

The second console is brand new and looks like a major improvement over the Classic Battles system. Republic Squadron, which consists of a series of flying missions, played with a unique ship’s yoke style motion-sensing controller that let’s you really get into the action.

While Battles features mostly retro-style sprite-based games, Squadron appears to have graphics that look nearly as good as what you might find on a PS2 or Wii console. At least that’s how it looks from these screenshots. I haven’t had a chance to see the games in person.

You can find these and other Star Wars TV Games over on Amazon for about $30 bucks each.

[photo credit: kidstechreview]

The sit-down electric YikeBike tops out at 20km/hr (appx. 12 MPH). An electric chainless drive powers the bike up to 10 kilometers (appx. 6 miles) on a quick 30 minute charge. While that’s not a ton of range, it’s certainly enough for most urban commuters to get to and from work. It’s also great for short haul travel from public transportation sites like trains and buses.

And thanks to an innovative lightweight folding carbon composite frame, you can carry the YikeBike up to your office during the day for a recharge (and to protect it from theft on the street). The whole thing weighs just 9.8 kg (appx. 21 lbs.) which means it won’t break your back carrying it around either.

If you can get past the annoying song in this commercial, the YikeBike actually looks pretty cool…

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Here’s a better (and far less irritating) video that shows off the YikeBike being put through its paces on a variety of challenging terrains. It’s surprisingly agile, given its unassuming looks.

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Expect the YikeBike to start shipping sometime in 2010. Final pricing hasn’t been set yet, but it’s likely to run between €3500 and €3900 (appx. $5180 to $5772 USD). You can reserve one now with a €100 (appx. $148 USD) deposit here.

The entire costume–you didn’t think it was just the Proton Pack, did you?–took Instructables ghostbustin’ guru depotdevoid two years to perfect. Not two entire years, mind you, but two years of costume-compiling. I can’t say I blame him; if I made a costume this awesome, I’d wear it every year.

A khaki flight suit, lasers (!), props, and an Arduino are the key elements required to build your own Ghostbusters costume, though I also recommend such luxuries as time and enthusiasm. However, from the instructions, it seems like just about any big Ghostbusters fan could put this together, if they were dedicated enough… thanks to the handy guide, anyway.

See the whole rig here:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Hack N Mod]