Archive for March 2009

How many times have you walked into the employee break room to grab a cup of Joe, only to find that some ass-hat has “borrowed” your coffee cup out of the cabinet? Well now, you can finally do something to make sure that your mug is safe from pilfering by co-workers once and for all.

This collaboration between UK mixed-media artist Chrissie MacDonald and photographer Dominic Lee envisions what Tetris might look like on some newfangled 3-dimensional computing platform that uses physical blocks to let you play the classic Russian puzzler.

There’s geek art, and then there’s geek art. Ben Fry’s creations are to programmers what blueprints are to architects. Here’s a sample of his work, which he calls “distellamaps”. It’s a map of the code for the Atari version of Pac-Man: Ben Fry explains, “Like any other game console, Atari 2600 cartridges contain executable code also commingled with data.

With games like Cooking Mama and peripherals like the Wii Fit, Nintendo is raking in bajillions of money by making video games out of everyday tasks. This though, would definitely fall under the “you are flippin’ overdoing it” category.

Our eyes are one of our most distinguishing features; change them even just a bit and the consequences are sure to be dramatic. Put a green mask over Dick Grayson’s eyes and suddenly people won’t recognize him, all they see is this young and athletic sidekick doomed to wear a costume whose color scheme seems to be inspired by traffic lights.

Thanks to breakthroughs in miniaturization, electronic gadgets keep getting tinier and tinier. But this is just ridiculous. These teeny-weeny computers, consoles and consumer electronics are actually made out of paper. Created by papercraft artist Sonicscape Jun (the same guy who gave us the microscopic Nintendo DS Lite), these iconic paper models are amazingly detailed.

I’m not that into photography so I can’t say I’m excited about Sony’s new cybershot, the DSC-HX1, but it’s packed with a lot of features that I think will get many enthusiasts excited. One of the DSC-HX1’s features that Sony is flaunting is it’s ability to take “sweeping panoramic shots”, up to 224° horizontal or 154° vertical.

Here’s what this looks like: a workable, playable Famicom cartridge modded to contain an entire Famicom. But oh how deceiving looks can be. Really, this is a Yinlips media player with a Famicom emulator stuffed into a business card holder shaped like a Famicom cart.

Zombies have become increasingly popular in recent years, since everyone loves a good flesh-eating apocalypse, but the walking dead haven’t quite been used in all possible scenarios yet. You can even find references to zombies fighting Godzilla, for heaven’s sake (or a zombie Godzilla, which may happen after the aforementioned scenario), but rarely do we hear about plants fighting off zombies (or vice versa).

Here’s a development for Amazon lovers (and shut-ins) everywhere: the online retailer has decided to get into the used game trade-in… uh, trade. Just search for the game in question, print a shipping label, and send it in.

If you’re just too cheap to buy a Nintendo DSi or Sony PSP, here’s a handheld console that’s perfect for cheapskates. The Conny PDC100 (Pocket Dream Console) is a portable 16-bit video game system that comes pre-loaded with 100 games.

Gigabytes? Pssh. The Cell processor is the future. Of what exactly I don’t know, but it’s the future. The Cell is in each and every Playstation 3. Sony makes Playstation 3s. So if Sony says that 5GB of data equals 5 sunflowers then 5GB of data equals 5 sunflowers.

The creations of Anna aka TheHouseofMouse are like felt minifigs. Except that they’re mice. She currently has 131 micefig designs, from King Tutankhamen Mouse to Hannibal Lecter Mouse. Yes, the one with the mask. She also has sweet Star Wars micefigs too.

Mario, as seen on the streets of New York City (on 23rd st between 10th and 11th). I have a funny feeling that whatever is down at the other end of those pipes is a lot less pleasant than the bowels of the Mushroom Kingdom.

I was perusing the dark recesses of eBay’s DVD auctions when I came across this little gem. Featuring such greats as David Hasselhoff, Christopher Plummer and Marjoe Gortner, this 1979 low-budget schlock ripoff on Star Wars’ popularity was originally titled Starcrash, but later got renamed to Female Space Invaders, presumably because video games were starting to take off, or LucasFilm sued them.

Are you constantly missing the UPS guy because you didn’t hear them knock on the door? Or maybe you’re just sick of the old “ding-dong” of your doorbell. Well this doorbell is most certainly going to get your attention – or at least annoy the crap out of you.