Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

As a kid, not only did I not know anyone with a Nintendo Power Glove, but I didn’t know anyone who wanted one either. So I’m not sure why a third-party company, Reality Quest in this case, thought that someone would want a similar accessory for the N64. Like the Power Glove, ‘The Glove’ controller (as it’s so originally called) doesn’t have any motion sensing technology at all. It just features the various buttons and the analog stick from the N64’s controller engineered into a contraption designed to strap to your forearm, with a slot for the rumble pak underneath.

If you’re a hardcore Nintendo fan this might make a unique addition to your collection, but it with a ‘Buy It Now’ price of just $39.99 it’s obvious the seller isn’t expecting there to be much demand for it these days either.

[ ebay - "THE GLOVE" CONTROLLER NINTENDO N64 RARE 100% TESTED ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

By Andrew Liszewski

According to his blog, Ben Heck has just completed a revision 2 version of his Commodore 64 laptop. The updated model includes the newer version of the 1541 Ultimate SD card ‘disk drive’ and USB and ethernet ports that are now open and easily accessible on the front of the laptop. The best part though is that the laptop will actually be auctioned off for charity (the American Cancer Society he believes) and Ben promises to post more details about how you can maybe make this your own as they become available.

[ BenHeck.com - Commodore 64 Original Hardware Laptop Revision 2 For Charity! ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

By Andrew Liszewski

StarWars.com took a brief (almost too brief) look at this Star Wars Electronic Laser Battle Game that dates back to A New Hope. The article mostly talks about the differences between the prototype pictured on the bottom and the final release version of the game pictured in the packaging above. While I would have preferred a few more shots of the actual game in action, and maybe even a video, the packaging shot still provides plenty of retro eye candy, and makes me appreciate all of my modern ‘electronic’ gaming consoles even more.

[ StarWars.com - Prototype Gallery: Electronic Laser Battle Game ] VIA [ TheForce.net ]

By Andrew Liszewski

A few months ago I picked up an original Game Boy off of Craigslist, just because, but I’d love to add this Game Fighter knock-off to my collection as well. It accepts and plays standard Game Boy cartridges and supposedly has a clearer screen than Nintendo’s original, though I’m not entirely sure what that means. It also features a horizontal orientation like the Game Boy Advance, and while sadly this Game Fighter isn’t for sale, it appears to be part of Photobucket user difuno’s awesome gallery of classic handheld gaming devices that’s totally worth checking out.

[ Photobucket (difuno) - Game Fighter ] VIA [ Tiny Cartridge ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s hard to deny the popularity of tweeting when people are actually writing Twitter clients for ‘ancient’ hardware like the Commodore 64. BREADBOX64 was written by Johan Van den Brande for the C64/128 and uses the Contiki embedded OS as well as an MMC Replay cartridge with the RR-Net add-on for actually connecting to the internet. The Twitter timeline is automatically refreshed every two minutes, and though it might not be as graphically pleasing or robust as other PC clients, the basic functionality is there should you ever find yourself stuck with only an old C64 and a desperate need to microblog.

And BREADBOX64 is available as a free download on Johan’s site, just scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the link.

[ Vandenbrande.com - BREADBOX64 ] VIA [ Slashdot ]

By Evan Ackerman

We’ve all gotten pretty jaded on video games nowadays. I remember back when I was a kid, my Game Gear kept me endlessly entertained with top notch, high quality games like Tail Spin. They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore. If that’s the kind of game you like (and who doesn’t?) ThinkGeek has a handheld emulator system that’s able to play retro video games from systems like the NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy Advance, Neo-Geo, and even some Capcom arcade systems. And, um, not the Game Gear. Dammit, I want my Tail Spin.

The Pocket Retro Game Emulator has a d-pad, four control buttons, and two shoulder buttons, as well as select and start to make it Konami code compatible. You load in ROMs (which you can find on the internet for free without looking to hard) via a USB cable, and if the 4 gigs of internal memory isn’t enough, it’s expandable with a micro SD card. It’s got a QVGA screen, runs for 6-8 hours on a charge, and also functions as a media player with an FM radio.

All of this awesomeness will only cost you $100, which is dirt dirt cheap considering the amount and variety of games you can cram into this thing. You’d better get on it, though, since ThinkGeek appears to be nearly sold out.

[ ThinkGeek ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Even though it was arguably one of the crappiest digital cameras ever sold, the Game Boy Camera still has a surprising cult following. But not only is it a pain in the butt to carry a Game Boy around these days, particularly with the giant lens attachment hanging off the top, but if you don’t have the proper cable, you won’t be able to do much with your photos.

However, carrying around an iPhone is a whole different story, and now thanks to Epicore you can recreate those awesome greenscale images using the iPhone’s camera. GB Camera emulates the 2-bit color palette of the Game Boy’s screen, and let’s you see the effect in real time via the iPhone’s camera. It also lets you tweak the green balance, brightness and contrast, and even toggle a pixel spacing option get to that perfect LCD look. And it’s just $0.99 available on the App Store right now.

[ Epicore - Game Boy Camera ] VIA [ Tiny Cartridge ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Remember a time when joysticks were built like a tank, and ergonomics was a term used only for office furniture? Well you can now relive those days with this retro joystick that’s been upgraded with a USB connection allowing you to play your MAME games on your PC the way they were meant to be played. Of course it also works with any modern game that supports a standard gamepad controller, so if you miss that feeling of cramped hands and sore fingers, you won’t want to let this one slip by. It’s available from Thumbs Up (UK) for about $32, though they appear to be sold out until July 6.

[ USB Classic Joystick ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m not exactly thrilled with the ‘Classic Controller’ Nintendo created for the Wii. Sure, all the buttons and analog sticks you need are there, but the design just doesn’t quite capture the feel of the original SNES controller, and doesn’t even come close to the N64’s. But a better solution is on the way. In fact, what could be better than using your old SNES or N64 controllers with the Wii? Come E3 you’ll be able to do just that as Komodo & Innex will be officially announcing their 3-in-1 Retro Adapter.

It connects to your Wii via one of the GameCube ports and allows you to connect either an NES, SNES or N64 controller to be used with Wii Virtual Console titles. And yes, that includes being able to use the N64’s analog stick. At the moment the Retro Adapter has a vague MSRP of around $19.99, and is expected to be available for sale come mid-June.

[ Crave - Wii adapter lets you BYO retro video game controller ]