Hasta La Gadget!

Love all things about the Mass Effect video game, and want to grab hold of some of its weapons in real life, but are unable to do so because you do not have a 3D printer to begin with, and not only that, no one out there feels the same as you? Well, if the Mass Effect Carnifex is your cup of tea, the day has arrived as you are now able to wrap your hands around this highly accurate and lethal pistol – of course, it remains lethal only within the realm of science fiction, as the real life replica of the $399.99 Mass Effect Carnifex happens to feature just LED effects, but if looks could kill, this would be a highly effective weapon in its own right.

The Mass Effect Carnifex comes across as hand-finished and hand-painted, making it truly one of a kind. Not only that, if you had gawked at the rather high price point, that is because this will be available in limited quantities only – we are talking about just 500 pieces of this puppy around the world. Not skimping on quality, the Mass Effect Carnifex is a full scale replica of the M-6 pistol, being made out of polystone and is an officially licensed, limited edition Mass Effect 3 collectible.
[ Mass Effect Carnifex copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

LEGO enthusiast Ben Caulkins made this sweet LEGO model of the Normandy SR-2, Commander Shepard’s flying base in Mass Effect 2. The ship is almost 4 ft. long and has a 19″ wingspan. It needs a Garrus minifig to calibrate its weapons.

I don’t know why I didn’t notice it until now, but the Normandy kind of looks like it has a Volus mask on. It’s not so apparent in Caulkin’s model though.

Head to Caulkin’s Flickr page to see more pictures of his Normandy model. He will also show it off at the Brickworld exhibit in Chicago this week.

[via The Brothers Brick]

If you’ve played any of the Mass Effect games, then you’re familiar with the series’ Medi-gel. It’s a potent salve that instantly cures wounds and restores health, regardless of the source of the damage. It can even be administered remotely! It does have one crucial flaw: it’s not real. But two college students from NYU-Poly have invented something similar to this miraculous substance.

The product is called Veti-gel, a plant-based gel that can stop bleeding and hasten blood clotting, supposedly regardless of the size of the wound. It was invented by Joe Landolina and Kenny Mai, two junior college students at New York University. In fact, in 2011 Landolina and Mai were still calling their invention Medi-gel. I don’t know why they changed it though.

Tech News Daily spoke with Landolina and reports that the gel “jump-starts the clotting and healing process so quickly that even wounds to internal organs or major arteries are able to close up instantaneously.” Landolina was even quoted as saying, “One of my other colleagues … he went to a bonfire. One of his friends fell into the fire and got second-degree burns. He put the gel on, and the next day is [sic] was healed[.]“

Apparently the gel’s plant-based polymers turn themselves into a replica of an animal tissue component known as the Extracellular Matrix or ECM. The ECM has many functions, one of which is related to healing wounds. Once applied, Veti-gel forms a tight seal around the wound and helps with clotting and healing. In the short video below, Veti-gel is applied on a 3″ incision is made on a piece of raw pork loin that’s been pumped full of blood. Aside from being very gross, the video also shows how fast the gel does its job.

Because we live in an amazing world, it doesn’t surprise me that there are already substances similar to Veti-gel. One is called QuikClot and the other is called Floseal. But according to Tech News Daily QuikClot requires that you apply pressure over the wound for several minutes, whereas Veti-gel can fly solo. Floseal on the other hand is partly made from bovine gelatin. Veti-gel is made from plants, which are not as adorable as cows and oxen and thus can be harvested without remorse. Just kidding. Kind of.

But don’t be reckless when you’re assaulting the Reapers just yet because Veti-gel is still in development. Also because there are no Reapers. Landolina and Mai have started a company called Suneris to further work on and market their invention. Maybe these geniuses can make the Omni-tool real as well.

[via Tech News Daily, NYU-Poly (1), (2) & Suneris via Kotaku]

EA announced it was delivering two additional pieces of DLC to Mass Effect 3, the first of which would be a free DLC for the game’s multiplayer mode. Mass Effect 3: Reckoning released last week, and tomorrow, Mass Effect 3: Citadel will be released as “one final, sentimental journey with Commander Shepard and their squad.”

To help promote the all-new single-player campaign, EA released a trailer for the Citadel DLC, which takes place sometime in the middle of the original campaign which follows events all the way until the final mission.  Shepard will also be able to interact with team members from previous Mass Effect games, one of which is Mass Effect fan-favorite, Urdnot Wrex.

Mass Effect 3 was released nearly a year ago and it’s impressive how much BioWare is still dedicated to the game by releasing this kind of downloadable content. We have yet to play through Citadel, but it seems like it’s shaping up to be a love letter from BioWare to its fans as it’ll bring a number of previous Mass Effect characters together for a set of final missions.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: PSN Under Scheduled Maintenance All Day, Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Headed For PS4,

While PC and PlayStation 3 gamers will be receiving their Citadel DLC in a single file download, for some strange reason, Xbox 360 gamers will have their Citadel DLC split into two separate download packs. Bioware says that the download size of the DLC is too big compared to the previous DLC packs, resulting in the decision to split the file into two downloads. You will only have to pay for the DLC once though.

Bioware posted on its Mass Effect 3: Citadel FAQ, “For Xbox 360 users, the Citadel DLC pack will come as 2 downloads on Xbox Live. ME3 Citadel is larger than our previous DLC packs, so it had to be split into 2 downloads. The first pack is priced at $14.99 and the second pack is tagged as free. Players need to purchase and download pack 1, then download pack 2 at no additional cost.” The FAQ continued to say that you can download pack 2 without downloading the first one, but users will only receive an error message that will redirect them to download pack #1.

Players will be able to access the Citadel DLC download after they stop the Cerberus coup attempt on the citadel. You do not have to complete the entire game before being able to access the DLC. You will, however, have to meet the characters in the original storyline before you can interact with them in the Citadel DLC. The game will have no effect on the ending, or the extended-endings of Mass Effect 3.

The DLC expands the longevity of Mass Effect 3 and should keep many avid fans happy. The game will also have a few tie-ins with Mass Effect 3′s upcoming comic series, Mass Effect: Foundation, which is a comic book series that will go back through the existing stories in the Mass Effect universe and elaborate on them more. The Citadel DLC will be available on March 5th on all platforms.

[via Bioware]

Mass Effect Citadel DLC to be split into two downloads for Xbox 360 is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
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