If it wasn’t pushing 60°F where I live, I’d be all over this Yoshi tongue scarf, created by Etsy seller ShadowsInTheNyte. It’s 72.5 inches long, made from 100% acrylic yarn and features Yoshi’s head on one end, from which his red tongue protrudes. Normally the scarf is $45 but since it’s been making the rounds online over the past few days it’s already sold out. So here’s to hoping more are on the way. (Insert that Yoshi sound effect that’s easy to mimic but impossible to type.)

[ Etsy - Yoshi Scarf (Mario Bros Series, Yoshi Series) ] VIA [ That Girl's Site & ALBOTAS ]

It’s not as easy as opening up the App Store and shelling out $2.99, but if you’ve been disappointed by the limitations of other DSLR camera controllers on the market, you’ll probably like the fact that the Open Camera Controller is not only extremely robust, but it’s also free… kind of. Created by the chaps at HDR Labs, in conjunction with Steve Chapman, the OCC is based on a Nintendo DS which is essentially a touchscreen controller with 8 hours of battery life, and is designed to serve as the perfect camera remote, at least for their particular needs.

In addition to providing more robust exposure bracketing, an intervalometer and even the ability to trigger the shutter based on loud sounds, the Canon, Olympus and Sigma-friendly OCC can be expanded with almost limited functionality by other open source apps as they become available. Unfortunately HDR Labs doesn’t plan on selling the Open Camera Controller, but they have provided detailed instructions on how to make your own, in this case creating the interface cable from an old GBA WarioWare: Twisted cartridge. There’s some wiring and soldering involved, so the project isn’t for the faint of heart, and technically it’s far from free, but how many other DSLR controllers let you play a game of Mario Kart DS on your break?

[ HDR Labs - Open Camera Controller ] VIA [ Pocket-lint ]

By Evan Ackerman

If you’ve been reading OhGizmo for the last 5 years, you might recognize VirtuSphere from this 2005 post. Since then, not too much is different, besides that VirtuSphere seems to be trying to open up to a new market that’s not the US Army or NASA: gamers.

VirtuSphere is at GDC hoping that someone will step up and port some worthwhile games to their system. Like, you know, Halo 3. Meantime, what they have in the works is a gameshow that (as far as I can tell) involves two people in two VirtuSpheres trying to virtually kill each other or something. If you want to try one of these out, you’ll be able to find it in the Excalibur in Las Vegas in about a month, or if you just can’t wait, expect to pony up about $55,000 for one of your own.

[ VirtuSphere ]

By Evan Ackerman

One of the biggest announcements at this year’s Game Developers Conference here in San Francisco is the Move, Sony’s new motion control system for the PlayStation. It’s generally similar to the Nintendo Wii, in that you hold a thingy, and something attached to the game console watches that thingy (in this case, it’s the PS Eye camera), and can tell where the thingy is being moved and translate that motion into in-game actions. Here’s the thingy in question:

More, including hands-on impressions and video, after the jump.

There’s a trigger on the reverse, at the top near the glowy ball, which changes color to differentiate one remote from another. Depending on the game, you can use one remote or two at the same time. It’s very light, lighter than a Wiimote, which makes me think it must have a rechargeable battery inside. I got a chance to test the Move out for a while last night, and it’s pretty impressive. It’s less forgiving than a Wii as far as where you can stand, but it’s much more precise and gives you a huge range of motion. You can rotate the controller vertically (twist it) or horizontally (make it do flips) and the system has no trouble tracking what it’s doing. This means that for fighting games, you can pull all kinds of moves just like you (hypothetically) would in real life: for example, you can spin around, and the tracking handles it perfectly. Or, for games like table tennis, you can actually put spin on your shots buy angling your wrist just like you would in real life. It’s a lot of work for a video game, and a lot of fun.

While the technology is great, in my opinion, the actual gaming software isn’t quite at the same level. What I was hoping for was a system that would take my motions and integrate them into the game directly. What happens currently (and it’s worth noting that all the demos were pre-alphas) is that the system reads the motions you make, and uses those motions to trigger preprogrammed actions. The Move is supposed to be very easy to program into games, though, so hopefully we’ll be seeing some innovative titles in the near future.

As far as pricing goes, a bundle with the PS Eye camera and one Move controller (and a game) should go for under $100, which usually means $99.99, but it could be less. You’ll also be able to get the Move controller by itself, and as part of a PS3 bundle. Look for launch late this year, in time for the holidays.

By Evan Ackerman

Guitar Hero and Rock Band are fun games, but after you master them, you’re left with little more than a staggeringly useless talent for pushing little plastic buttons. Game developer Seven45 Studios is aiming to change all that by partnering up with instrument manufacturer First Act to create a music game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 that uses a real, playable six string guitar as a controller. Plug it into a console, and it’s a control. Plug it into an amp, and it’s a guitar.

The game is called Power Gig: Rise of the SixString. I got a brief demo at GDC yesterday, and while they wouldn’t discuss the game itself in a ton of detail, we did get a good look at the hardware. The big draw, of course, is that it’s a real guitar that you get to play with. The only difference between the controller and a normal guitar are the additional buttons on the body (to duplicate the full functionality of a game controller) and a special string dampener that pops up to keep the strings from vibrating too much when you’re playing the game, since it would confuse the sensors. Otherwise, all of the clever stuff is internal, and the guitar can sense both string movement and finger position.

Seven45 stresses that this is not an education game: it’s not designed to teach you how to play the guitar. That said, as you get comfortable with the game, you do slowly learn the fundamentals of playing the instrument, and as you crank up the difficulty, the game will demand more real world skill from you. And it’s not just about playing the guitar, either: the game is somehow adventure based, and part of the storyline includes teaching you how to tune yourself and change your own guitar strings (spare strings will be included).

There are a lot of things still to be finalized, including song content, but as far as pricing and availability goes, look for Power Gig sometime this fall at a price that will be “competitive with other game band packages.” If the gameplay stands up to similar titles as well, the choice is going to be an easy one: why get a game that includes a fake guitar and teaches you to push plastic buttons, when you could get a game that includes a real guitar and teaches you how to play it, instead.

[ Power Gig ]

If you grew up in the 80’s and played video games, at one point in your childhood you had to blow on an NES cart, or inside the console itself, to get it to recognize a game. In fact I never even had an NES, but I can still remember having to do it on a friend’s system. At this point it’s almost become cliche to bring it up whenever the conversation turns to classic video games, but that didn’t stop one clever modder from attempting to turn a profit on Nintendo’s folly.

Seller nes_harmonica has turned a handful of old NES carts into working harmonicas, and has put their creations on eBay for the world to ignore it seems. At the moment there are Dick Tracy, Legend of Zelda and Super Mario 3 versions available with starting bids of just $7, and since they were created using Hohner Pocket Pal harmonicas, they’re most definitely playable. It’s a clever idea that might make you chuckle, but it’s not clever enough for 7 of my hard earned dollars.

[ eBay - Custom Nintendo Super Mario 3 Harmonica! ] VIA [ GoNintendo ]

By Chris Scott Barr

While not the first video game in existence, Pong was the first widely-successful video game and is responsible for kick-starting the video game industry. It’s natural to want to pay homage to this gaming legacy in a variety of ways. We’ve seen a few Pong clocks in the past, but this is the first DIY kit I can recall coming across.

Not only does this purchase net you a cool clock that will make you the envy of your geeky friends, but it gives you a fun little project. It’s a fairly simple kit that even a beginner should be able to tackle in 2-3 hours. There’s just something about the satisfaction you get when you assemble something like this on your own (even if it did come from a kit). The going rate for one of these is $80, but unfortunately you’ll have to be patient. It looks like everyone else wanted one to, as they’re currently sold out.

[ Adafruit ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]

By Chris Scott Barr

One thing that Apple has touted from the beginning with the iPhone is that it is great for gaming. I agree with that on some level, but the lack of a d-pad and physical buttons will always hold it back. One company has been hard at work on a solution that will give your favorite phone the features it needs to really let you enjoy games on it.

The iControlPad has been in the works for a little while now, but the developers have announced that they are finally going into mass production. The unit will give you four buttons, two analog sticks and a d-pad for all of your gaming needs. One model will even give you an internal battery for juicing up your iPhone. The only bad thing (for some people) is that it looks like you’ll need a jailbroken iPhone for it to work.  There’s no current word on pricing.

[ iControlPad ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

I have no idea what this game is called since the page on Nintendo.co.jp is made up of images (hence Google translate is useless) but an upcoming Japanese DSiWare title features a clever system of motion-controlled 3D dioramas that allow you to change the view’s perspective by tilting the DSi. It’s actually kind of hard to explain, so I recommend watching the video above to really get the gist of the game’s mechanics.

But here’s the really slick part. The DSi doesn’t have motion controls or a built-in gyro, and since this game will be available for download via the DSiWare online store, that functionality won’t be added through a cartridge. So I have to assume the DSi’s camera is being used to track the person playing the game, and 3D motion is being extrapolated from that. Looking at the video it’s not as flawless as it would be with dedicated hardware, but it’s still pretty impressive. So here’s to hoping the game eventually becomes available in North America and the rest of the world.

Update: According to Kotaku the game is called Rittai Kakushi e Attakoreda and is actually available now for download.

[ Nintendo.co.jp ] VIA [ MAXCONSOLE ]

I don’t care if you were the star quarterback, there’s nothing ‘cool’ about wearing a Jostens ring to commemorate your years spent in high school. So you can imagine what I think of these ‘Geek Pride’ models designed for kids who spent their spare time in front of a gaming console instead of playing sports, or debating, or whatever else high school kids do these days.

[ GoNintendo - Random Time! - Jostens offering new high school ring for gamers ]