Technabob » backwards

Counterclockwise Watch: Time Marches Backwards

Technabob — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 02:56:53 +0000

What is with Japan’s obsession with making watches that are difficult to read? While TokyoFlash seems to have cornered the market on weird and challenging digital watch designs, here’s an analog watch that’ll mess with your head too.

At first glance, this looks like any other analog watch. But look again. Notice the numbers around the dial? Yep. They’re backwards. All the hands on this unusual watch run counterclockwise just to keep you on your toes. And if you’ve got friends who like to look at your watch to see what time it is, it’ll really mess with them.

Other than the hands running completely back-asswards, the specs on the watch are pretty normal. It’s got a brass case, water-resistant to 3ATM, along with a stainless steel crown, a leather band, and a mineral glass crystal.

While I haven’t been able to find these in any U.S. shops yet, if you’re willing to do a little Japanese translation and currency conversion, you can find one over at the Sea Hope shop on Rakuten, where they sell for ¥5,250 (appx. $68 USD).

I suppose if you really wanted on of these for some reason, you could try reversing the polarity on the battery in a cheap motor-driven watch, but I’m not sure that’d work.

Super Backwards Mario Bros.

Technabob — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:47:23 +0000

If you thought playing Super Mario Bros. was too easy, why not flip your world on its ear, and play the game backwards. No, I don’t mean starting the game on World 8-4, I mean really play it backwards.

This clever hack by JJ not only lets him play Super Mario Bros. as a whole new game, scrolling from right-to-left, but any NES game can be played this way.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

He pulled off the hack by reversing the horizontal deflection wires on a cheap old CRT television, and then swapping the left and right buttons on his NES joypad. After figuring out how to do it, it took all of about 30 minutes to instantly double the number of levels for all of his NES games. Try flipping your TV and controller upside-down now to quadruple the possibilities.

[via Hack-A-Day]

Sakasa Master Japan Reverse Voice Recorder Does Exactly What Its Name Says

Technabob — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:50:38 +0000

This odd little gadget from Japan is perfect for placing subliminal messages in the background of epic rock albums. It’s also good for recreating disturbing and surreal scenes from Twin Peaks and The Shining.

Even though the product description over on Strapya World says “The things you can do with this machine have no limits!,” from what I can tell, Takara Tomy’s Sakasa Master Japan Reverse Voice Recorder does just one thing – it records your voice and plays it backwards on-demand. That’s it. End of story. Why? Why the heck not?

I wonder if you say “REDRUM” into this thing that it really will say “MURDER”?

[via TOKYOMANGO]

More Classics Now Playable on Xbox 360

Technabob — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 19:47:35 +0000

It looks like the April 2007 backwards compatibility update for the Xbox 360 has added a number of new Xbox games, including some which we thought would never make the list due to their graphical complexities.

A few of my all time favorites, including Phantom Dust, Jet Set Radio Future and Panzer Dragoon Orta are now playable on the 360. The complete list of newly supported games includes:

Tenku (Japan only)
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Legend of Aang (EMEA/ANZ)
Breakdown
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
Call of Duty 3
Cars
Crash Bandicoot 5: Wrath of Cortex
Daisenryaku VII
FIFA Soccer 2007
Full Spectrum Warrior
Guilty Gear Isuka
Innocent Tears (Japan only)
Jet Set Radio Future
King of Fighters 2002
King of Fighters: Neowave
Mad Dash Racing (Japan only)
Mech Assault 2
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
Nascar 2006: Total Team Control
NFL Fever 2004
Oddworld Munch’s Oddysee
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Petit Copter (Japan only)
Phantom Dust
Reservoir Dogs
Return To Castle Wolfenstein
Rugby League 2
Sengoku Warriors (Japan only)
Sonic Riders
Soul Calibur 2 (updated)
Spider-Man 2
Star Wars: Republic Commando
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
Tony Hawk’s Underground
Ultra Bust a Move /ULTRA Puzzle Bobble
Unreal Championship 2

The patch isn’t yet live on Xbox Live, but you can download and burn the patch to CD or DVD from the Xbox website here (instructions here) if you’re too impatient to wait for the next update on Xbox Live.

[via Deeko News]

PS3 Backwards Compat Whacked for Uk and Australia

Technabob — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:23:13 +0000

Sony has revealed that its PlayStation 3 consoles to be released in UK, Europe, Australia and other countries this Spring will no longer have the Emotion Engine chip on board. This reduces the cost to produce the console, and also will kill much of the PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility found in US and Japanese systems.

While some may see this as a move which could bring the cost of the PS3 down in the future, the fact of the matter is that the console has so few worthwhile titles at present, that just about the only thing worth playing on it are last-gen games. I’ve clocked way more time playing Okami and God of War (and playing Blu-Ray movies) on my PS3 than I’ve spent playing PS3 games.

Word is that the system will still be compatible with select PS2 titles and will retain compatibility with PS1 games through software emulation, but I think this is just one more reason NOT to pick up a PlayStation 3, and a serious backwards step. If Sony wanted to remove the hardware-based compatibility in 2 or 3 years, AFTER there are plenty of quality PS3 titles, that would be a different story, but frankly, this just smells like a cost-cutting measure due to the poor launch results for the console. Unsurprisingly, Sony has made no announcements to pass on the cost reduction to consumers.

Boo, Sony.

[via Gamesblog]