Hasta La Gadget!

The Super Mario Bros. theme is nearly 30 years old. It’s quite old, but not as ancient as the sheng, a Chinese instrument that’s mentioned in texts from 11th to 12th century B.C., which means it could be about 3,000 years old.

Whoever made the accordion-like instrument couldn’t have imagined that it would be used to meet the poster boy of a modern art form.

Watch the past meet the present:

That escalated right from the get go.

[via Gizmodo]

Now’s your chance to see The Legend of Zelda through the eyes of Link. Modder Ubiquitron is working on ZeldaVR, a port of the legendary NES game for the Oculus Rift. Can you gather the fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom, defeat Ganon and save Zelda before you get motion sickness?

Here’s YouTuber Vaecon trying out the beta of ZeldaVR:

Take this link to VirtualReality.io and download the ZeldaVR beta, which lets you play in the overworld and in the first dungeon. Ubiquitron will release the full version of the game this March.

[via GoNintendo]

As I’ve mentioned before, Xenogears is one of my favorite games. So I was so excited when I heard that someone had proposed LEGO versions of the PlayStation classic’s mecha. Sadly, Diego Cabrera submitted his proposal on LEGO Cuusoo back in 2012 and it still doesn’t have the minimum 10,000 votes.

I don’t know if Diego edited his proposal since he first created it, but as of this writing all you can see on Cuusoo is the image of Xenogears, the final form of Fei’s Weltall. But Video Game Stuffs was able to save Diego’s LEGO models of the other Gears. I’m not sure if these are all he made – the other heroes’ Gears are missing, such as the awesomely bulky Siebzehn – but right now these images are all we have.

I don’t know if Cuusoo places an expiration date on proposals, although I was still able to place my vote for Diego’s proposal. I do know that Xenogears is no Back to the Future, Ghostbusters or Minecraft. But if you’re a fellow fan of the game it wouldn’t hurt to show your support for this awesome concept. I hope Diego updates or resubmits his proposal now that it’s getting a new wave of attention.

[via Video Game Stuffs via Destructoid]

We saw an unofficial LEGO version of the Motorized Patriot a couple of weeks ago. But if you wouldn’t mind spending a little cash for something more detailed, check out NECA’s officially licensed action figure of the fearsome Heavy Hitter.

The action figure stands 9″ tall and comes with two tattered flags of Columbia, two interchangeable heads and a gatling gun.

The gun’s barrels move if you turn its crank, and the flags fit in the back of the action figure, just like its virtual counterpart.

For the glory of Columbia, order the action figure from ThinkGeek for $30 (USD).

[via Gamefreaks]

A company called Tivitas is working on the gamepad equivalent of Mad Catz’ R.A.T. mice, and then some. It’s called the Sinister, a glove-shaped gamepad that’s adjustable in different aspects. It also has a haptic feedback technology that’s supposedly more nuanced compared to the rumble motors used in most gamepads.

The images here are of the Sinister’s prototype, but the major features should be intact in the retail product. Like Mad Catz’ mice, Sinister’s overall length and the height of its arch are adjustable. The customization extends to its buttons and analog stick. These switches come in small magnetized modules that can be rearranged on the fly to suit your preference.

Finally, you can pick from different ways of using the gamepad.  You can have the gamepad and your mouse emulate an Xbox 360 controller, with the mouse acting as the right analog stick. You can also emulate an Xbox 360 controller with just Sinister alone, leaving you free to use all of your mouse’s functionality. Finally, you can have the gamepad emulate a keyboard and map commands to its keys.

In its hands-on with Sinister, Polygon said that Vivitouch, the gamepad’s haptic feedback technology, is “lighter, smaller, quieter and more energy efficient than rumble devices and offers a more targeted haptic feel. A bullet shot feels a lot different to a sword clanging against a shield, or a long fall.” Polygon also said that the gamepad will have different rumble settings for different types of games, though Tivitas made no mention of that in its Kickstarter page.

Tivitas claims that Sinister is already compatible with Windows and Linux, with support for OS X on the way. Pledge about $109 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a beta version of the Sinister gamepad as a reward. I think the Sinister can make gaming on a PC more comfortable, but I can do without the rumble feature. Hopefully Tivitas will consider releasing a cheaper, rumble-less model.