This week’s second fantastic NES hack comes from the BenHeck forums (you are already registered there, aren’t you?). This clever modder took a third party NES knockoff and crammed all the retro goodness into an actual NES controller. In addition to the awesomeness of simply relishing in its own irony it also looks pretty fun to play. The controller also sports a cartridge dock, extra controller connections and a glowing red Nintendo logo. NEStastic!
When the Nintendo Wii came out I knew there were going to be plenty and plenty of user mods and hacks. This is simply one of the many that have already been released to the wild. It’s a very simple program (that clearly is still a work in progress) but the idea is still honorable. Turn your next gen gaming controllers into an air drum machine that replicates a Mattel toy that came out twenty years prior. Seriously though, add some more sound options and a little musical talent and you can take this show on the road.
I know that there are already tons of Wii hacks out there. Anyone got any favorites worth mentioning here?
This innovative project is further proof that art and technology are two sides of the same coin. Is an iPod controlling umbrella a post-modern performance piece or a superp mp3 player hack? Clearly it is both.
This hack appears to use accelerometers to detect the motion of the umbrella. As the user turns, jumps or opens the umbrella the iPod is sent signals to activate the appropriate function.
“The iBrella is a special umbrella that acts as an iPod interface. One can control the iPod just by his physical interactions with the iBrella.“Actually, you can ‘emulate’ all iPod commands solely by physical interactions with the iBrella e.g. opening and closing the iBrella refers to starting and pausing the iPod. Furthermore, you can select a random song by wildly shaking the iBrella in the air. Mode switching for different control modes is done by simply ’stabbing’ the iBrella in the air.”
link - iBrella [thanks utch]
Zerosign reader Austin Weber took it upon himself to make his own PowerGlove Mouse based on my previous design. In addition to cleaning up all the wires and using smaller circuitry components he also has a killer demo of the glove with Unreal Tournament. He mapped the in game controls so that his thumb controls forward motion, his pointer finger controls the trigger and his arm motion controls the camera view.
Notes from Austin on his modifications:
I had the 4 wires coming from the glove bundled together, as the ones from the mouse. Then I skrewed the base of the mouse into the glove, and drilled another hole that the wires from the batteries come up from under the glove. The circuit on the left is held on by a single wire going around the base of the glove into the top 2 holes of the breadboard. This allows it to be sturdy as well as flexible. Also I used telephone wires from a telephone cable, they are small and sturdy (easy to solder) took out the mouse wheel and strung them all out of there.
