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Tag Archives: Gaming

WANT: Handmade Super Mario Belt

By David Ponce on 12/31/12 • Leave a comment!

So this Etsy seller and leatherworker, Julia from Montreal, made an awesome belt for her brother that depicted the last level of Super Mario Bros. It’s intricate, delicately pressed and painted, and just looks great. She didn’t put it for sale on the shop, intending for it to be a present to her brother for his birthday. But then, the other brother in the family posted a picture of it to Reddit, where of course it was a hit. So overwhelming was the demand that Julia decided to make new ones like it available on her shop. You can now own the very same belt, or any other depicting similar levels, either in SMB or other side scroller with reasonable proportions. It’s a long process and each belt is handmade, so of course the price is high. She estimates it to be around $395 per belt, but she’ll have a better idea in the first weeks of January and will adjust her price accordingly then. Still, won’t be cheap, but sure as heck is cool.

Hit the jump for a couple more pictures and links.

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Bold Poker Brings Smartphone New To Gambling Old

By David Ponce on 12/12/12 • Leave a comment!

There are very few things quite as satisfying as a poker night with the buddies. You get yourself a couple drinks, play some music, and hope to go home with a bit more money than you started with. It’s been a tradition for quite some time, and it’s always been one that required roughly the same gear: chips, a deck of cards and a dealer button. The application Bold Poker hopes to replace most of the physical gear with a virtual set, involving a central iPad (or any iDevice, but an iPad would work best) and an iPhone in each player’s hands. The application deals the cards automatically when the dealer button is moved, and they appear on the player’s phone. Depending on the angle you hold your phone, the cards appear either upright for normal viewing, or reversed for discreet mirror use. Chips, however, are still required.

The advantages are many, including not having to wait to reshuffle the pack every time, not having to deal with inexperienced friends who aren’t really sure what to do next, etc. Plus it’s fun. It only handles Texas Holdem’ at the moment, and it’ll cost you $2.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

What Franchise Fatigue? Black Ops II Hits $1 Billion Mark In 15 Days

By David Ponce on 12/06/12 • Leave a comment!

Very few entertainment products (none, actually) generate quite as much revenue, quite as quickly as games. Specifically, nothing makes as much cash as the Call Of Duty games do. Activision recently announced that Black Ops II, the latest in the franchise, has surpassed the $1 Billion mark. It took them 15 days. For reference, the previous generation CoD game, Modern Warfare 3 took 16 days to reach the same spot. For reference, James Cameron’s Avatar took 17. Of course that was with the added attraction and (at the time) appeal of 3D and a bunch of hype.

Activision hasn’t shared its 5 day total, which last time was $775 million. This could point to slower initial sales than MW3, since we’ve no doubt they’d have bragged about it had they surpassed that record. One thing is clear however, there’s no franchise fatigue in sight and we’ll be waiting to hear if they manage to reach the milestone in 14 days the next time around.

VIA [ UberGizmo ]

Nintendo To Release Wii Mini In Canada For $99, Loses Some Features

By David Ponce on 11/28/12 • Leave a comment!

A few days ago Nintendo released the Wii U, and already the company announced sales of 400,000 units in the first week. Good on Nintendo, considering how late the other console makers are in releasing a new generation device. But like make gadgets, when a new one comes out, the old ones get a price drop. In this case, lucky Canadians will be able to purchase a much smaller version of the Wii, called the Wii Mini, which comes in matte black and red for $99. It is fully compatible with all 1,400+ titles, all the accessories like the WiiFit Balance Board and comes packaged with a red Wiimote and nunchuck. However, it features a manual top-loading disc tray, making it impossible to place on its side. But that’s not the missing feature. The problem is that the console loses all Internet connectivity and compatibility with Gamecube titles. Granted the Wii was never really known for its online features, but the Wii Mini really does just become a $99 Wii disc reader. Still, if you’re ok with barebones and like the new price, Best Buy Canada is already taking pre-orders for its December 7 launch. No word on whether this will be available elsewhere.

[ Press Release ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

Minecraft Light-Up Redstone Ore

By David Ponce on 11/27/12 • Leave a comment!

Big Minecraft fan? If you wish you could build in real life any of the things you’ve assembled in the game, but are sad that you can’t, you can always buy little things like the above Minecraft Light-Up Redstone Ore to cheer yourself up. It’s a simple touch-based night light that has three settings, low, medium and high. Internal LEDs will provide the photons, while 2 AA batteries the power. It’s made by ThinkGeek and at $25, is a simple gift for any Minecraft aficionado out there.

[ Product Page ]

Awesome Geek Dad Mods Zelda and Turns Link into a Girl in the Process

By Hazel Chua on 11/15/12 • Leave a comment!

Legend of Zelda Mod

We’ve got another awesome parent to add to our list of Awesome Parents of 2012, who will be joining the ranks of the awesome mom who modded her son’s push car into a DeLorean. This time around, we’ve got Mike Hoye who did some modding on The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker so that every reference to Link refers to him as a her. In short, Mike turned Link into a girl for his little three-year-old girl named Maya.

Mike explains that he did it because “she’s the hero of the story.” Maybe Maya finds the story more relatable with a female lead or a heroine, so her dad made it happen. It took a lot of work, too, since it probably took Mike a few weeks at the very least to finish modding the entire game.

You can read about how he did it here, if you’re curious.

VIA [ Dvice ]

Assassin’s Creed Meets Parkour in Real Life the Second Time Around

By Hazel Chua on 11/07/12 • 2 Comments

Assassin's Creed Parkour

Parkour has been around for quite a while now, but it wasn’t until recently that it hit the mainstream. At least, for geeks like us. Skilled freerunner Ronnie Shalvis decided to show off the amazing things you can do with the discipline by combining it with Assassin’s Creed. The result is this awesome video where Connor gives chase to redcoats running away on galloping horses with the less fortunate ones hanging from the trees.

Ronnie’s moves are so smooth that what he’s doing almost looks like a piece of cake. Almost. Hit the break to check out the video and see for yourself.

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Portal Companion Cube Ice… Cubes

By David Ponce on 11/01/12 • Leave a comment!

Last time we featured something Portal related you guys didn’t seem to much care. That’s ok, we understand. So of course, we try again. How about some ice cubes? Like the companion cubes in the game, only with 100% more ice… A tray makes 10 of these, and costs $13.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ BoingBoing ]

Halloween Gaming: Now You Can Play Tetris on a Pumpkin with Pumpktris

By Hazel Chua on 10/30/12 • Leave a comment!

Pumpktris

Oh, the things people come up with in the name of fun. Tetris was probably the most overplayed game on my old NES Famicom, so to see it resurrected and playable on an actual pumpkin is, well, kind of awesome.

But this is no ordinary pumpkin. Dubbed by its makers as the ‘Pumpktris’, this pumpkin has been embedded with over 128 LEDS and a board on the inside, which is basically the ‘brains’ of the game. The pumpkin’s stem serves as the joystick which lets you control where you want your Tetris pieces to be positioned. It’s good fun and definitely adds a spooky theme to a classic game.

Too bad it’s game over for good care of Mother Nature in a couple of days (or weeks, tops.) Hit the break for a video of some Pumpktris being played.

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