Category: Cool Toys

Got mad paper, scissor and tape skills? How about a fondness for old school video games and computers? Then have I got a fun afternoon project for you. Graphic designer Marshall Alexander’s cutout characters includes a veritable menagerie fantastical creatures and critters all made from boxy paper cutouts, but his latest series, Foldskool Heroes 3, has got to be my favorite.

Sony Insider claims that a new, touch screen-equipped Walkman will be unveiled at CES 2009. The player is also rumored to have a 3-in OLED display and will come in 16 GB and 32 GB versions.

Square Enix just had a big day in Japan, with details on the new Dragon Quest X announcement for the Nintendo Wii, and more on the slightly-older (and still unreleased) Dragon Quest IX, which is slated for the DS.

Real fans don’t buy action figures, whether or not they’re commercially available. Buying things is for wimps. No, the real fan breaks out the paint, dismembers currently-existing figures, and then the real fan makes their own action figures, like Chris Hooton did for the horror game Dead Space.

Remember that time the Honda ASIMO robot took a spill? At least it maintained its composure and dignity after the fall and just laid there. Not so with this new desktop robot. Japan’s CUBE Works decided it would be much more robot-like for their walking ‘bot to bawl its little eyes out if it ever falls over.

Having a bad morning? That’s no reason to should suffer alone! And what better way to pass on that a.m. headache than by adding kickin’ sound effects to your lurching gait? These squashy slippers sound off with the crash of earth-shredding stompy robotics with every step, turning a previously-mundane trip to the coffee machine into an epic journey of destruction.

The Blue Hawk’s got nothing on this one. ICON’s Warthog motorcycle is based on a US Air Force fighter jet bearing the same nickname. It has an 800-watt MTX Audio system, an 8″ LCD Screen, and a rear view camera.

I can’t decide what I like best about this “unique” calculator from Japan. I’m torn between the keyboard that’s arranged into a completely non-standard configuration that’s sure to trip up even the speediest touch-typists, or the calculator’s oh-so-special random crash mode.

Feeling musically inclined, but haven’t the time or knowledge to write sheet music? Now you can produce your own sonic creations simply by doodling on a piece of paper. Designed by Adafruit (in collaboration with Jay Silver), Drawdio is an analog synthesizer circuit that straps to any soft-leaded pencil, and lets you crank out electronic sounds while you sketch.

It’s a good week for saving money while playing games. If Tetris and Breakout aren’t your bag, you might want to try something even simpler, like Bankquest or Jinsei Ginko. It seems that piggy banks that double as tiny gaming machines are quite the happening trend in Japan these days.

Remember when it cost just a quarter to play your favorite arcade games? What would you say if I told you that you could play two Atari arcade classics for just one red cent a game.

Yeah, I know. The Dark Knight was arguably the best movie of 2008, but can Christian Bale’s throaty rasp really hold a candle to Adam West’s booming baritone Batman? Now you can bring back memories of the classic camp of the original Batman TV show with these great accessories that help you turn your room into a regular Wayne Manor.

Call me a dork, but Futurama has always been one of my favorite programs on the old idiot box – at least when it comes to animated programs. Now, just in time for the holidays, I’ve found the perfect decoration for my office.

Here in the Philippines the elderly are respected and revered; these two toys are definitely not from the Philippines. First up are the wheelchair and racetrack bound racing grannies. Racing grannies. I can barely wrap my head around the concept.

You’ve gotta hand it to the Japanese. They managed to take the strains of howling, tone deaf, drunken business executives and turn them into a multi-billion dollar yen industry. Now you can bring the Karaoke experience to your living room, complete with a cheezy disco light show.

Toy store FAO Schwarz has a special service whose results could either be really cool or really abysmal. Although the store’s name sounds like it should be a division of the German army, the name of their service is straight to the point: Make-My-Own-Monster.