This Wii-mote shaped wooden pipe has been hand-sanded, woodburned, and coated with carnauba wax so you can smoke your *uhm* tobacco in it. Now, I’ve never personally witnessed anybody smoking tobacco in this way, but seller Nirvana Corner is quick to point out “**This item is for Tobacco use only**,” so I’m going to take their word for it. In the mean time, I’ll be checking out their Bob Marley switchplates and hemp necklaces. That all said, this Wii-mote is best for tobacco smoking at precisely 4:20pm.

If you’re a fan of the Nintendo Wii, and prefer a smoke over your (1UP) mushrooms, head on over to Etsy now, where you can order this for $14 (USD).

He took some telephone wires and wired them up to a Radio Shack 2.5mm plug. Then, he fed it through a hole that he made through the rubber strain relief of the Nunchuk and soldered it where the shoulder button connected to the main board. C aut0-adjusts and Z fires the shutter. None of the other controls do anything at this point, though it would have been cool if the joystick could be used for  zooming and focusing remotely.

I always like the idea of reusing tech that you might throw away or no longer use. What spare gadget do you have lying around, and what would you like to rebuild it into if you could?

[via Ubergizmo]

As you can see in the picture above, the Funtendo is designed to be used with a NES controller, a Nintendo 64 controller and a Wii controller. Sorry Gamecube fans. It also has a 2GB flash drive that you can fill with emulators and ROMs, which we all know you legally acquired. Just plug Funtendo into a USB port on your PC, and go. One neat feature of the Funtendo is that it lets you use the three controllers at once, so you can use the Wii controller to play an N64 game – or any other game with gamepad support – if you want.

Take a warp pipe to Gadget Gangster’s website or to Instructables to find out how you can build your own Funtendo box.

[via Hack A Day]

If you want one, you better line up early, because they will sell out fast.

[via Engadget]

The touchscreen apparently has mirrors that bounce beams from an LED and allows the receiver attached at the Wii to interpret movement across the light as positional data. That means whenever you move your finger the character on screen moves.

If you come to a section where you want to use a normal control you just ignore the touchpad section. This is cool, though I wonder what game the touchpad would be ideal for and if this will ever reach market.

[via Siliconera]

To refresh your memory, the Hulu Plus service costs $7.99 (USD) a month and gives you access to content from ABC, NBC, Fox, Comedy Central, MTV and more. It’s no Netflix in terms of movie selection, but more content is being added all of the time.

[via Techcrunch]

This new, but worse Wii is also horizontal-only, while the older consoles can be positioned upright. That’s not a big drawback by any means, but it’s salt in the wounds of gamers who have been loyal to Nintendo. I’m still really disappointed that I can’t play PS2 games on my PS3 knowing that earlier the models had that capability. I wouldn’t want people who own both Wii and Gamecube games to feel that sting of disappointment either.

Fortunately you can still have a happy holiday and order the bundles that have the older version of  the Wii – in both white or black –that supports Gamecube games. Those bundles – which come with a copy of Mario Kart Wii and the steering wheel accessory – are sold for $160 (USD), just $10 more than the stripped-down Holiday Bundle, but if you have several Gamecube games then I’m pretty sure this is still a no-brainer.

[via Nintendo & Video Game Nostalgia]

You have Sega games on Nintendo consoles, you can even play old Atari games on any console. Many of us have  both a PS3 and an XBox 360. There’s no brand loyalty, just the love of games. However you can’t help thinking back to those days when something like this shows up. A Sega themed Wii? If you would have told me back then that this could happen, I would have laughed. But here we are.

This Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games bundle had to happen eventually. In case you’re wondering, this is the new version of the Wii. The Wii-Lite. (There’s no wi-fi and you can’t play Gamecube games).

They even make you do all of the work, providing a sticker sheet so that you can create your Sega themed Wii. Thanks Nintendo. I can already put stickers on things.

You get a blue Wii, a blue Wii Remote Plus, a blue Nunchuk, the game, and a sticker sheet. If you’re interested in this oddity, you can get it in Europe on November 18th for an unknown price.

[via Siliconera via Techcrunch]

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Of course there is no Wiimote needed to play these games on Android devices. So what else did he do to make this work? Well he connected the wireless remote to his ASUS Eee Pad Transformer’s keyboard dock, used the Dolphin Emulator to run the Wii, then he used the Splashtop Remote Desktop App to connect to the device running the Dolphin emulator. It’s all pretty straightforward. Why didn’t I think of this first? Probably because I’d rather play PS3 and Xbox 360 games. He did a fantastic job though.

[via nexus404]

It will arrive at retailers on November 20th. That’s when you’ll be able to get your hands on the golden Wii remote bundle for $69.99 (USD). Or you can choose the game by itself for $49.99 (USD). No matter which you choose, you will also get The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony Concert music CD.

Better start saving up.

[via Engadget]

With no GC titles being played, you won’t need those Gamecube memory card slots either, so they are gone too. No worries though, Gamecube controller ports are still there for Wii games like Super Smash Bros Brawl.

For now, this new console has been confirmed for the UK market only, but I’m sure it will make it’s way to the U.S. eventually. The question is, how much will it cost? The Wii is already the cheapest you can buy, so how much cheaper does it get when you drop Gamecube compatibility?

[via TGDaily]

DreamGEAR has unveiled a new product down at E3 2011 this week that is cool if you have all three consoles and the motion accessories that go with them. The device is called the TriMount and it’s a little shelf style bracket that will hold all those sensors. The top of the TriMount has a spot just big enough for the Kinect.

Under the Kinect is a spot for the PlayStation Eye Camera and in front of that PS Eye is a place for your Wii sensor. That means no more messing with sticky tape when you move that Wii sensor. The TriMount can clamp to the top of your old-school or flat-panel TV and includes a wall bracket for mounting the thing to your wall as well. The TriMount can be pre-ordered right now for $29.99 and will ship on August 15.

The Wii U’s new controller is actually quite large, and features its own 6.2-inch widescreen, along with dual analog sticks, ABXY buttons, shoulder buttons, built in gyroscope and accelerometer and a player-facing camera and microphone. It’ll also have it’s own touchscreen surface, much like a tablet.

The controller’s large screen could be used to allow multiple players to view independent content while playing against each other on the big screen, as well as to augment the on-screen experience – although I’m not sure how easy it will be to look at content on both a handheld device and on a bigger screen at the same time. I’d think I’d be drawn to look at one or the other at any given time. That said, the new controller’s screen might come in handy for things like ancillary information like inventory and ammo counts, speedometers, maps, radar screens and the like.

The Wii U console itself will offer full 1080p HD video quality, along with an HDMI output, as well as component, S-video and composite capabilities for older displays. According to Nintendo, the console will not only support next-gen games, but offer full backwards compatibility with Wii games. Games will continue to ship on some kind of optical media, and storage will come in the form of internal flash memory, but we don’t yet know how much.

While Nintendo is a long way away from showing final hardware, they did show off a bit of target/reference footage for the visual quality they’re expecting from the Wii U, and it sure looks impressive. You be the judge:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Wii U games in development include Darksiders II, Aliens Colonial Marines, Ghost Recon Online, Metro Last Light, Batman:Arkham City, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, as well as new games from the Dirt, Assasins Creed, and Tekken franchises.

Nintendo provided no further guidance on an exact release date, only saying that the system would be available sometime in 2012, and there’s no word yet on pricing.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This mockup definitely looks un-Nintendo-like, but ultimately, it will be interesting to see where they will place the touchscreen and those eight buttons, and still end up with a usable controller. The controller will continue to have the same functions as the ones from the current Wii. This could help prove rumors that the new Wii will be backward compatible with the previous generation.

For now, speculation will continue until Nintendo’s E3 conference in June, which is when the word on the street is that Nintendo will reveal all. All in all, it’s pretty good news because I was getting tired of the current crop of consoles. I’ve had my Xbox 360 since 2005 and while Microsoft claims that they won’t release a new console before 2014. But once a new Wii is out, they’ll probably have to accelerate their plans.

[via Ubergizmo]

IGN has found some sources that claim this July at E3 in California, Nintendo will be debuting a new Wii console with HD graphics. The sources tell IGN that the graphics on the new Nintendo console are significantly more powerful than what the PS3 and Xbox 360 can crank out.

I should point out that I say “new Wii” here but the name of the console hasn’t been offered (although “Wii HD” has been bandied about). The pre-announcement is also tipped for this month according to sources, and the console will be backwards compatible with the current Wii games. I guess our pal Reggie was dead wrong when he said Wii users didn’t want HD graphics.

[via IGN]

This incredible-looking hack makes the Wii a lot bigger, which seems somewhat counterproductive. I like how discreet and small the Wii console is inside of it. Having something this big is strange, but not all is lost as it can be wall-mounted.

Angel OD’s next project will include modding his car PC. I wonder if he’ll water-cool that one as well. Honestly, I’d like to have some water-cooling for my Xbox 360. It gets smoking hot after a few hours, but then again, I’ve got the first Xbox 360 that was released, not the newer versions.

[via CrunchGear]

I haven’t played the two official games, so pardon me if I get a few things wrong here. The level editor that the modders are using is called Anarchy in the Galaxy, which was made by GSCentral member PhantomWings. The picture above shows the SMG 2.5 team’s first fully hacked level, made by member Question. Those of you who have played the game will probably recognize it (or not) as the Beat Block Galaxy. Here’s a video of the level (Skip to 0:40 to see the level right away)

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Here’s a video of the original Beat Block Galaxy if you want to compare what these guys have done with the real deal. So what can we expect from this old-new game? Changing level elements is a given – rearranging blocks for example, or modifying the size of planets and even enemies. Backgrounds can also be changed, as well as star paths (no, I don’t know what that is). Enemies from other levels can be transferred as well, but don’t expect totally new enemies, planets or moves.

Check out the team’s website for more info, or better yet, contribute to the game! Good luck to the team, and I hope you get a star from Nintendo and not a galactic lawsuit.

[via GoNintendo]

The Wii controls are used for moving, aiming, and shooting in the game and the Kinect is used to recognize gestures to activate other commands. The Kinect lets you do things like lean to actually lean on the game. It’s really sweet. Check out the video to see the system in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Unfortunately, details on exactly how he whipped this up are not offered. This is one of the few Kinect hacks I have seen that actually look like something I would use.

[via Geek.com via PC World]

Mad Catz has unveiled a cool new inductive charge station (PDF) for Nintendo Wii remotes. The station has Sonic standing there on his grassy knoll holding up two fingers to tell you the maximum controller occupancy for the charger.

The stand ships with a pair of rechargeable batteries and uses magnets to align the controllers for charging. You don’t even have to take the silicone case of your remotes to charge, and it will work with the Motion Plus accessories installed as well. You can find the limited edition charger over at Amazon for $39.99 (USD).

[via Coolest-Gadgets]

Modder ShockSlayer created this compact “Wii Laptop” out of a couple of poly cases and a 7-inch LCD screen. The whole thing runs on rechargeable batteries, and even has sensor bar LEDs built into the case above the display. He also built in three speakers. Under the hood, ShockSlayer replaced the Wii DVD drive with something called a SunDriver, which allowed him to put an SATA drive inside, then loaded it up with games he burned from original game discs.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I’m not sure why he opted to load it with GameCube games, but it doesn’t sound like there’s any reason why the SunDrive can’t handle Wii games. Still, it’s a mighty cool build, and until the 3DS comes out, it’s probably the most powerful Nintendo portable you can get your hands on. You can find out more about the build over on ModRetro Forums.