Technabob » paddle

Brodmann Blades: Like Playing Ping Pong With Mittens

Technabob — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:20:55 +0000

I suppose these fall into the “why didn’t I think of that” bucket of ideas. If you’ve ever tried to play a game of ping pong, you know how tricky it can be to get your wrist in the right position to switch quickly from forehand to backhand grips. Or not.

Well with these unusual ping-pong paddles called Brodmann Blades, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Just set the dual-sided ping-pong mitten over your playing hand, and you’re ready to play. The blades’ ergonomic design is said to improve your connection with the ball, and provides a larger sweet spot that traditional paddles.

Sure, you might look a little silly doing it, but with your hand wrapped in one of these, you’ll trounce your opponents playing with old school paddles.

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You can get your hands on (or is that in?) a pair of Brodmann Blades, along with a handy carrying case, 2 matching terry wristbands, and 4 ping pong balls over at Hammacher Schlemmer for $99.95 (USD).

Wii Ping Pong Paddles: Balls of Fury

Technabob — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:11:41 +0000

If you enjoy the occasional game of table tennis on your Nintendo Wii, here’s a way to complete the experience. Check out these ping pong paddles which snap on to your Wii-mote controllers.

I’m not really sure why they’re being called “3-in-1″, since I can’t think of anything else they could be used as besides ping pong paddles. Maybe they’re thinking you can flip pancakes and use them for fraternity hazing rituals?

According to the packaging, these cheap Chinese paddles are actually for the “Wü” console, a clear indication that they’re not officially sanctioned by Nintendo. A pair of paddles (one black, one red) will set you back about $16.

Playing Pong on a 500 Square Foot Display

Technabob — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 23:13:04 +0000

Some guys from a theatrical lighting supplier decided to crank up their fancy LED light curtain with a little round of Atari’s classic 1970′s arcade game, PONG.

The light curtains create a digital grid using thousands of individual LEDs. Two panels were used together to create a display that measures in at over 16-feet tall and 33-feet wide, making it the biggest game of PONG I’ve ever seen.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The folks over at Creative Stage Lighting normally use these LED curtains for concerts and other events, but I can’t think of a better use than a good old game of electronic paddleball.

Arkanoid for Nintendo Ds Gets Paddle Controller

Technabob — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:29:27 +0000

The classic arcade paddle-ball game Arkanoid is getting updated for the Nintendo DS, and comes with a special bonus. Since the game would be virtually unplayable without the old paddle (potentiometer) control, Taito is including one.

The controller plugs into the GBA slot on the bottom of the DS or DS-Lite, and will come in four colors to match the various DS-Lite colors.

This scan from the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu reveals what the controller modules will look like, along with some screenshots from the game:

Arkanoid was always one of my arcade favorites back in the day, so I’m glad to see that Taito plans on finally giving it some justice with the inclusion of a proper controller.

[via NeoGaf via DS Fanboy]