Hasta La Gadget!

Is this custom Sega Genesis controller with a sweet NES design awesome or sacrilege? I can’t decide. In my mind, the NES was so much more awesome than the Genesis. I do love them both though. So I guess I love this controller.

It just looks slick. Amazingly slick. It’s a controller from an alternate dimension. Can you imagine what the matching console would look like? This is the work of Zoki64 and if you are reading this, Please make a custom Genesis to go with this.

Awesome work my friend. Clearly he forced both consoles to make love and then snatched one of their offspring. I see no other explanation for such an amazing controller.

[via it8bit]

Technabob contributing author Conner Flynn has a hidden talent – and I’m not talking about walking and chewing gum at the same time. The man knows his way around an Atari 2600 like it’s nobody’s business. Now it’s been a while since he built his epic Atari 2600 guitar, but his latest mod looks like it was worth the wait… I give you Atar-E…

Conner found this Wall-E Learning Laptop at a thrift shop, but he didn’t see a laptop at all (neither do I). Instead, he saw the home for his next portable Atari 2600 mod. Inspired by the modding prowess of Ben Heck and Bacteria, he tore apart the Wall-E toy and gutted it.

His design incorporates an actual Atari 2600 circuit board, along with authentic Atari woodgrain pieces. He went off the board with the controller and used an NES D-Pad instead of a traditional Atari joystick. Isn’t that sacrilege? Dogs and Cats sleeping together!

The controller replaced the original keyboard found on the toy, and he even rigged it so the controller section can still fold shut when there’s no cartridge in place. One thing Conner struggled with was where to put a battery pack for the system, so he gave Wall-E a little backpack. Isn’t that cute?

Games are displayed on a tiny color LCD screen, mounted where the monochrome display on the original toy was located. On the one hand, you’ll have to squint a bit to play on this thing, on the other hand, the pixelated 8-bit graphics look so much better when they’re shrunk down like this.

While it would probably take you a ton of work to try and build one of these for yourself, Conner says he may soon list it for sale over on his online toy store over at Botropolis, so keep your eyes peeled. On second thought, peeled eyes sound like a really bad idea.

[via Botropolis]

If you’re one of the thousands of kids who grew up playing Bill and Lance’s excellent adventure aka Contra, join me in ogling these custom action figures by John Harmon aka Mint Condition Customs. They even come with the different ammo types!

John imagined what Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone would look like if they starred in a live action Contra movie back in the 80s. That last qualifier is important; I certainly don’t want to see the Governator with his shirt off these days. The action figures are poseable and have swappable equipment, including ammo belts, flak vests and the machine gun, spread gun and laser ammo attachments.

BROTALITY. It would be awesome if they came in a box that played Contra’s title theme when it’s opened. These action figures are currently being auctioned off on eBay, where as of this writing the bid sits at a criminally low $41 (USD). Although I think part of the reason why it’s that low is because John won’t accept bids from buyers with 0 feedback. In other words, don’t bother signing up on eBay just to buy the action figures because John won’t entertain your bid anyway.

[via Destructoid]

The original Paperboy was ahead of its time. While other arcade games in the 80s featured spaceships or medieval warriors, Paperboy only had, well, a paperboy. So it’s fitting that this homage to the game uses cutting edge technology. PaperDude VR harnesses the powers of the Oculus Rift, the Kinect and the Kickr power trainer, even though you can achieve a more realistic experience with, I don’t know, a bicycle and rolls of paper.

PaperDude VR is a pet project of Globacore, a company that specializes in interactive installations. Globacore is making the game using Unity and Photoshop. The game requires you to throw virtual newspapers at mailboxes to score points. As with Paperboy, you have to do this without crashing your bicycle, only this time you’re actually pedaling on a bike. The Kickr detects your speed and can adjust the bike to make it easier or harder to pedal. The Oculus Rift provides 360º visibility and the Kinect tracks your hands and arms.

Globacore said they’re planning to improve PaperDude VR by adding features like obstacles and other nuisances to avoid, an online leaderboard and even a replica of the training course at the end of levels in Paperboy.

[via Prosthetic Knowledge]

Photography has come a long way since its beginnings, but there are still some amazing things to be discovered by looking at how things worked back then. Inspired by the early days of photography, this lens has been re-engineered from one that was invented in the 19th century.

The team of Lomography have released their Petzval lens, which is supposed to replicate the lens that was originally invented by Joseph Petzval in Vienna, Austria, in 1840. It will work with Nikon F-mount and Canon EF-mount DSLRs.

The original Petzval lens was used to create beautiful portrait shots, and the new lens keeps the same strong color saturation, depth of field, bokeh elements, etc for which the lens was lauded.

Lomography launched their project as a Kickstarter campaign, and it’s been wildly successful so far. They’ve already amassed over $833,000 versus their goal of $100,000 – so this lens will definitely be made. There are 25 days left of funding, but you’ll have to pledge $400(USD) to get yours.