Category: Just Plain Fun

Ever wanted to be a gunslinger, but were afraid you’d wind up doing some bodily harm? Well don’t despair, because now you can play everyone’s favorite trailer trash game, shooting crap off of a log with a gun, with no risk of injury.

The folks over at ThinkGeek have just started carrying this fun little Japanese import. It’s a portable alarm clock that’s shaped like case from the classic Nintendo NES joypad. Looks like they went with the color scheme from the Japanese original Famicom system though.

These miniature Atari 2600 joystick and paddle controllers function as both a keychain and a functional video game console. Certainly they’re a bit cumbersome as keychains, but you cannot deny the cool factor here. I’ve seen differing information on which versions feature which games, but from what I can decipher, there are three versions, one with Asteroids and Millipede (joystick); and one with Yar’s Revenge and Centipede (joystick) and one with Breakout, Pong and Warlords (paddle).

ThinkGeek is now offering these totally over the top Star Wars Force FX Lightsabers. They’re far more substantial and effect-laden than the cheapo toy lightsabers out there. Each lightsaber features a variety of cool effects, including: glowing blades with sliding power-up/down effect sound effects digitally recorded from the movie motion sensor controlled sound effects, Power-up, idle hum, clash, and power-down a heavy-duty metal hilt to looks and feels like a “real” lightsaber The come in 5 varieties, including: Darth Maul – DUAL Red Blade – $199.99 USD; Darth Vader – Red Blade – $99.99 USD; Anakin Skywalker – Blue Blade – $99.99 USD; Mace Windu – Purple Blade – $119.99 USD; and Obi Wan – Blue Blade – $119.99 USD.

The upcomping RS Media robot from WowWee is the latest in their Robosapien line of programmable hobby robots, and this new model features a host of new capabilities for you to play with. The RS will feature the ability to program the ‘bot from your PC via an integrated USB port, and provided software.

While researching the topic of innovative musical devices, I came across the guys at Bleep Labs and their totally wacky Thingamagoop custom synthesizer series. These portable sythesizers generate electronica using a unique control interface: as you move a colorful LED over a photosensor, the sound’s waveform changes.

Japanese gadget importer Audiocubes these really nifty kits from Tomy that let you make your own desktop video game art using “bitmap” pegs. Comes with 520 pegs and available in Mario Brothers Red & Green, Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, and Space Invaders versions.

In case the Xbox 360 and forthcoming PS3 are too sophisticated for your delicate taste, here’s a chance for you to return to the kinder, gentler, pre-Atari 2600 days… For the low, low price of $19.95 (USD), the folks at ThinkGeek are offering a complete electronics kit that allows you to build your own table tennis video game console.