As big of a kick as we get out of mods and hacks that make our favorite games more fun or accessible, we have to admit that we have a special place in our hearts for mods like the ones we're talking about today, mods that stand on the precipice of madness, laugh into the face of the torrential downpour of skepticism and dare man or God to find some purpose for their very existence.
Why would you want to play Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! with the GameCube bongo drums? You wouldn't, that's why. So why even take the time to do it instead of putting your time to more fruitful pursuits? Because it was there, of course. Because it was there.
This very detailed Simpsons Quake III mod is pretty old (video added December 2007), but we never covered it then, and the video is too pretty to miss. (Via Boing Boing; thanks, Jason C) Check out the highlights for today:
First and foremost, apologies for the headline. If you can find it in your heart to forgive us, we're sure that the video above will tickle your fancy for gaming peripheral-themed furniture. We're not sure how much we'd pay for a custom-built, gigantic, functioning Nintendo Entertainment System controller (or a boxed copy of Super Mario Bros. 3, for that matter) that doubles for a coffee table with a removable glass overlay, but we could be convinced to skip a few months' rent should this epic furnitroller show up at our local Targét. Our landlord would certainly forgive us when we invite him over for an exhilarating round of comically oversized Bible Adventures.
This video was released a couple of months ago, but if there's one thing we can't pass up it's a great sight gag. You have to respect a guy who would go through all the trouble of merging a Wiimote and a plastic AK-47 just so he could use the butt of the gun to smash the noses of the titular critters in Rayman Raving Rabbids.
What's more, the modder actually goes through the trouble of teaching you how to tie a shemagh to help increase the verisimilitude of your experience. What a value!
It's comfortingly rare, but sometimes the internet brings us something so rad that we're unable to say something mean or snarky about it. That's exactly the situation we find ourselves in when we lay eyes on this Super Mario Galaxy-themed Wii created by Morpheon Mods. You win this round, the internet.
While the stars and the lettering are nice, we have to say that it's the addition of sound effects that really put it over the top for us. What's more, you could actually own this little masterpiece if you win the eBay auction that's currently sitting around $409. (And some proceeds go to Child's Play!) Remember kids, if your parents say they can't find you a Wii, this one is right there for the taking.
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.
We admit that we don't share their same tendencies, but we love how many video game modders seem to come from the George Mallory school of thought. Why do you want to put downloadable content on the Nintendo Entertainment System? Because it is there. RetroZone are the ones to thank for the feat, which involves a specially-made cart featuring the Mac game Glider.
The cart is flashable, so once you finish the levels that ship with the game, new ones can be downloaded from RetroZone's official site. No, it's nothing we'd ever sink our time into. But we're aboslutely thrilled that someone out there is doing it.
Oh, Samus, did you lose all of your suit's abilities again? Is that why you're running around in Unreal Tournament III, picking fights with Master Chief? Wait, is your lawyer okay with this? Does he think all this modding magic is "great?"
We're sure you saw the delightful cross-platform mash-up that put everyone's favorite Spartan smack dab in the middle of PS3 shooter Unreal Tournament 3. While we got a kick of it, we couldn't help but wonder how Uncle Bill and his army of lawyers felt. According to one of those legal eagles, MS thinks that it's the bee's knees.
Here it is straight from the source: "The developers aren't selling the mod, they're not monetizing Microsoft's IP, they're just creating something to share their love of the Master Chief on a new platform. It's a great thing for us and a great thing for the gaming community." Apparently, we've got the Game Content Usage Rules to thank. Now ... do those apply to G.I. Joe?
Our prognosis for mods on the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3: not so good. In an interview with Joystiq, Epic Games' VP Mark Rein told us that there's no progress with Microsoft on making UT3 mods work with Xbox Live. One would think Microsoft would be more open to community content given the recent Xbox Live Community announcement, but Rein noted that the system is different. Rein said the Xbox 360 version has no set release date.
Conversely, Rein did acknowledge the current PS3 mod system is less than stellar and told us to expect improvements coming soon. We'll have more from our interviews with Mark Rein, CEO Tim Sweeney, and Cliffy B later this week.
You may remember last year's April issue of EGM particularly well, as it included the breaking news on a hot new title making its way onto the Nintendo Wii: Mushroom Kingdom Hearts. Then again, you might remember the chorus of angry Nintendo/Disney/Square Enix fanboys screaming when they realized that the announcement was one of EGM's annual April Fools' Day pranks. If you also smacked your head in realization when the initial excitement subsided, we've got great news for you (and this time, it's on the level).
JudgeSpear has lovingly crafted his take on the game-that-never-was, titling it Super Mario Fusion: Mushroom Kingdom Hearts. Much like the legit Square Enix franchise, Fusion features a dimension-hopping Mario, and worlds based off of other video game franchises, including Halo, Sonic, Doom, Castlevania, Ghouls and Ghosts, Mega Man, and a handful of other Nintendo titles. Using familiar controls similar to those of Super Mario World, and a new gunplay mechanic using Covenant weaponry, this programmer has created a Frankengame that is definitely worth checking out.
A demo for the game is available on his site. Sure, it's still a tad buggy, but it's free, and it's probably the only time you'll see Mario packin' heat. We hope.
The Wii's Apple-inspired design gets almost everything right ... but we'd be lying if we didn't tell you that some of its design elements bother us. We won't even get started on the SD flap mucking up the front of the box (seriously Nintendo, what were you thinking?) so we'll concentrate on the top flap hiding the console's legacy GameCube bits: it's awful. 'Nuff said.
That's why Cyber Gadget's ¥980 ($8.66) "CYBER lid" is so appealing: the flip up lid is gone, replaced with a series of elegant sliding covers and some rugged rubber ones for those Memory Card slots. Now we wait for the import shops to bring salvation to our side of the globe.
And we thought you'd might like to see it too. TechEBlog has featured one of the strangest things to come out of the woodwork in a while -- one SNES squeezed into a somewhat portable wooden case and outfitted with speakers, a PSOne screen and a headphone jack. If you lumber past the break, you'll spot a video depicting the veneer-able Nintendo system in all its barrel-rolling glory.
"Yes! It's finished!", Gustav cried from within the bowels of his Swedish classroom. Viktor rushed into the room as Gustav's fists still pumped in triumph. "What, what is it my friend?" he asked, quizzically staring at the monstrosity on the desk. "Well, it's a giant NES controller," Gustav said with a snort, as if Viktor had just asked Sweden's chief export, which everyone knew was machinery.
"But why would you make this?" Viktor exclaimed, his patience waning. "Well, it's also a computer!" Gustav replied with vigor. "But it's the size of a small car, how could this be practical? And you spent the Swedish equivalent of $300 US dollars on it, it could barely run Quake II. Besides, Gustav, you already have a computer," Viktor said as he left the room. "Yes, but ... it's ... a controller," Gustav replied to no one but himself as his fists began to tire. But perhaps hoping it would reaffirm the resolve he felt just five minutes prior, the pumping continued.
We're actually kind of perplexed by this video of a Guitar Hero fan who created a set-up to play the game with a MIDI drum kit. It's not because we don't know if it's impressive or not (it is). It's also not because we don't know how he's doing it (we do). What we can't figure out is this: Is Guitar Hero actually more awesome if you play it with drums? We've watched tons of Egyokeo's videos and we still just ... don't ... know.
Think about it: Rock Band has guitar and drums, right? But this guy's version of GH III has drums that are a guitar. It's two rock 'n' roll features rolled up in one. Which has us thinking: By that criteria, is Peter Frampton secretly the best video game ever?
Posts with tag mods
We admit that we don't share their same tendencies, but we love how many video game modders seem to come from the George Mallory school of thought. Why do you want to put downloadable content on the Nintendo Entertainment System? Because it is there. RetroZone are the ones to thank for the feat, which involves a specially-made cart featuring the Mac game Glider.
