The raw, unbridled power of The Rocking is an equal opportunity force that can be tapped by anyone with a strong enough desire to evoke its boundless energies. Unfortunately, physical restrains can often limit a person's personal rocking aptitude, as most instruments are not created with those with disabilities in mind. Take, for instance, the Rock Band drum kit, which has a pedal that cannot be operated by those inflicted with paraplegia and other ailments affecting the lower body.
What better way to use your Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition tin box that turning it into a functional PC? You can see the whole project at mini-itx (via OXM; thanks, PrivateRyan). Check out the highlights for today:
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has commissioned 100 Xbox 360s adorned in the traditional Korean mother of pearl, with at least one of them going to South Korean president Lee Myung-bak at Cheong Wa Dae on May 6, according to Far East Gizmos. Given the conole's tepid reception in the region (although it did just receive a price drop), we wonder if the president will be able to find any local Xbox Live friends.
Regardless, that's still one of the classier case mods we've seen, and certainly more aesthetically pleasing that the Croco-360. Let's just hope the system doesn't become one massive, red-ringed paperweight.
We're usually not ones to post about console case mods of any sort, but we decided to buck that trend today -- namely because no case mod we've ever seen has inspired such fear into our hearts. A forum-dweller by the name of dfw monkie recently posted pictures of his latest monstrosity to The Llamma's Game Console Forums (instilling a greater fear in us that a Llama-themed 360 is in the works) -- an Xbox 360, covered in the pitch-black skin of a gargantuan alligator that dfw monkie killed with his bare hands.
Forget that "PlayStation Portable" nonsense you've got sticking out of your pocket. If you're going to be carrying around a PlayStation, why not make it a proper one that can play Warhawk and Uncharted? Consumer electronics crammer, Ben Heck, has finally completed the PlayStation 3 Laptop, a beautiful black contraption packed with all the blue rays, cells and ex em bees you can shake a Sixaxis at. Seriously, you can shake your Sixaxis at it and it'll work.
Other fancy things in it:
Original backwards-compatible 60GB model
17-inch LCD HDTV screen: 720p
HDMI-DVI connection
Built-in keyboard, USB ports, stereo speakers, headphone jack
Size: 17 x 13.75 x 3-inches
Weight: 16 pounds!
Since it's clearly too heavy for us to lift, we're hoping a reader manages to walk off with this laptop as soon as Engadget begins auctioning it for charity. In the meantime, be sure to have a look at Ben Heck's Wii Laptop and his assortedXbox 360offerings.
Want to quiet down the extremely loud clackety-clack of the Rock Band drum kit? You could simply use a few circles of foam rubber, or, if you're like hacker David Yoon, you can create your own extremely cute miniaturized drum kit for quiet, pencil-stick, desktop drumming.
The hack, which includes a foot pedal made from two sandwiched CDs, has the added bonus of being playable in an extremely enclosed space and/or by an extremely agile mouse. So if you have either of those things (and a bit of technical know-how), give it a go. If you have neither, well ... just enjoy the picture.
While we can think of other childhood amusements we'd rather see as the inspiration for a Unreal Tournament 3 mod (like a recreation of a Mighty Max playset, or something of the Fraggle variety), this Lego-themed map is pretty ingenious (and completely free to download). Composed entirely of fully destructible Lego brick structures and populated with Lego people (whose smug smirks you can blast off their tiny, yellow faces), it's definitely the world's most vivid simulation of what going postal in Legoland might be like -- and the cleverest map we've seen from the UT3 modding community so far.
Practically anyone who's played Guitar Hero and/or Rock Band has probably come across that one jerk who just can't help denigrating the simple fun of the rhythm game experience. "That's not even close to playing a real guitar," he'll say in a snide, nasally voice. "The guitar doesn't even have strings!" Well, if you want to show up that pompous prick, may we suggest you queue up the below video of a modded, stringed Rock Band guitar on a laptop and then RUB IT IN HIS FACE AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Ahem. Anyway, while this single-stringed beast still has a ways to go to match a real six-string guitar, it looks like it captures the axe-grinding experience a little more authentically. Here's hoping that some sort of officially licensed, purchasable version of this type of guitar will be available soon.
Modding wunderkind Benjamin Heckendorn has unveiled his latest invention: The Xbox 360 Elite laptop. If this seems vaguely familiar it's probably because you're remembering Heck's Xbox 360 laptop how-to design guides from last spring. The difference here is that this one is a modded Elite with built-in camera and other upgrades (video after the break).
If you're just hearing Heckendorn's name for the first time here, please feel free to take a trip down memory lane. Other mods of interest created last year include the Wii laptop and the freaky PS360 gamepad.
We're not sure if it came to him in a vision or if he was visited by an angel, but when forum-goer Forsaken_angel24 played Gears of War, he paused the game and told the Dom to his Marcus that he was going to build a Lancer, the game's memorable assault rifle slash chainsaw.
That's right about where we imagine his friend politely excused himself and phoned the local police, but even that couldn't stop Forsaken_angel24 from following through with his dream: he combined a Nerf gun with a toy chainsaw and copious amounts of free time to create a believable enough copy of the Lancer. How believable? The chain on the chainsaw actually moves, the lights actually light up, and it shoots totally realistic Nerf bullets. Still curious, peep the video after the break. Oh yeah, there's a video.
You might think that the real drum would be even worse than that clacky drum controller at drowning out the in-game drum line. Not to worry... just fill your drums with foam to quiet that natural drumming sound. So, to summarize, these instructions let you replace your fake drums with real drums that are working very hard to be fake drums. Just so we're clear.
Fire up those ovens and roll out the dough! Epic VP Mark Rein says he expects an update to the Unreal Engine 3 editor will be released next week, allowing Unreal Tournament 3 mod-makers to cook their PC mods into PS3-formatted delicacies. Some broader testing is necessary before the update's release, but Rein assures us that "the process works," given it was used to cook DM-Shrine, which was served to PS3 players free of charge a few weeks ago. Nothing like free food, eh – but are those PC chefs any good?
Acidmods forum member Rocky, who has previously been featured on sister site DS fanboy for turning his DS into a audio-synchronized LED light show, received a present from fellow forum member XionDS, who created a "DS lite jewel of a unicycling llama," presumably modeled after Rocky's forum picture of (you guessed it) a unicycling llama.
XionDS is also credited for created this modded DS Lite very similar in design but with an engraved phoenix in place of the obviously superior llama. We now await the adventurous modder who wishes to "really whip the llama's ass" in case design.
Quite possibly one of the coolest mods we've seen for GTA: Vice City lies in this Back to the Future mod for the PC. It has the scorching tire marks, time travel, the flying DeLorean, the hoverboard, and another surprise at the very end, courtesy of the imagination of Doc Brown.
It's a pity we can't see this on the consoles, but that won't keep us from dreaming about whipping that baby up to 88 miles per hour just to see what will happen. While it would have been cool if they could have worked Biff into this somehow, or let us travel back to the Wild West, it's still much more than impressive. We're going to bust out the DVD box set now and remember what 1985 was like.
