While the jersey doesn’t come with a helmet, it’s probably best to not wear one when playing hoops anyhow. You’ll probably end up kicking Rebel scum ass, while playing as Trooper 77. Worst case, you can always take out your blaster and smoke them.

You can get your officially-licensed Stormtrooper Basketball Jersey from ThinkGeek for $29.99(USD). I wonder if they’ll release that Death Star basketball and/or some more jerseys in the future.

[via Jay Mug]

This one comes out of The Cornell Creative Machines Lab and the University of Chicago. It’s a new way for robots to interact with objects, using a “Positive Pressure Universal Gripper” that can pick up and toss things of any shape without having hands. It is basically just a robotic arm with a balloon for a hand.

It uses a technology called “jamming.” The arm has a latex balloon filled with sand or another granular substance. The balloon goes over the object to be picked up, and all of the air is pumped out of the balloon. This makes the granules jam together and grip objects tightly.

What they have done here in order to throw objects, is add “positive pressure”. This means that in addition to deflating the balloon, their robot can quickly re-inflate the balloon. That allows them the robot to toss objects pretty far with remarkable accuracy. It’s cool to watch in action, though it is far from precise. I can’t help but picture a giant version being used to pick up and throw human corpses into a pile. Let’s hope that we can avoid that version of the future.

[via IEEE Spectrum via geekosystem]

However, if you’re way better than I was (and most of you probably are) and shoot hoops by yourself regularly, then you might want to get one of these SKLZ Shoot-Arounds. They’re basically chutes that fit standard hoop rims that guide the ball back towards your direction after you make your shots. The cool thing is that you don’t have to keep running back and forth to retrieve the ball so you can work on improving a single shot at a time.

The entire set includes the four-piece Shoot-Around ball return chute, attachment nuts and bolts, and rotating insert ring with four rim straps and hooks. If you’re interested, you can purchase one online from Amazon for about $39(USD).

[via The Green Head]

Today, it has arrived to me in the form of the 3D basketball court that can be found in Munich, Germany. Yes, you read that right: this NBA regulation-sized basketball court is three-dimensional.

Imagine just how hard it would be to try dribbling a ball on that court. Even Michael Jordan doesn’t stand a chance. Which is why it’s completely understandable why everyone’s sort of just sitting on the court instead of actually playing some ball on it.

There are also a lot of light poles scattered all over the court, which makes for a weird sight, especially at night. Obviously this court wasn’t made for playing basketball, but I wonder what the designer had in mind when he came up with this 3D-bomination.

[via Coolest Gadgets]

These cotton knit baseball jerseys from Drew Pearson Marketing feature the strongest of the strong in Soul Calibur. I meant in Star Wars. The Jedi jersey’s number is done in felt applique,while the letters are in tackle twill with satin stitch embroidery. I don’t know what that means but you might. What’s weird though is that the only available  sizes are M, L, XL and XXL. Come on Drew Pearson Marketing. Yoda is XXXS. A bit of respect here.

If you like playing for the dark side, then the Sith jersey is for you. It’s also a cotton knit jersey with all numbers and letters done in felt applique. Both Sith and Jedi jerseys have “official woven loop” Star Wars labels on them. What makes the label official? I don’t know. Trade Federation approval?

The Vader hockey jersey is more Dark Side-y than the baseball one. It has “flaming Vader” graphics, and on the sleeves there are tiny “Sith League” logos set off by metal studs. And on the front is a mugshot of a genocidal man.

For those who prefer a game of hoops, and by that I mean either 2k9 or Live, I have two words for you: Rocket Pack.

All of the uniforms sell for $110, except for the Fett one which goes for $100. There are also football jerseys and a Dark Side basketball jersey. Force click the link below to see them all.

Okay just click the link with your puny mouse.

[starwars.com via asylum]

The desktop game is a pint-sized replica of those B-Ball dunking games you might find at Chuck E. Cheese. Just shoot some hoops as fast as you can and track your progress on the LED scoreboard (conveniently powered by your computer’s USB port). To keep the game moving at a breakneck pace, they include four mini-basketballs for you to perfect your slam dunk with.

So if you’re ready to show off your inner Kobe, you can pick up one of these from Perpetual Kid for about $25 bucks.