Hasta La Gadget!

Imagine Slowpoke starting a ColorWare franchise and you get the concept behind Lëkki. The French gadget shop sells and repaints only old – but beloved – gadgets, such as the Motorola StarTAC 130. Their latest (?) offering is the Nintendo 64, a console even older than Motorola’s thousand-year old flip phone, but no less popular.

The console is available in four colorways and comes with a similarly colored controller and a copy of Super Mario 64, which is probably the best launch game of all time.

Lëkki sells the bundles for €120 (~$165 USD). Note that these refurbished consoles are PAL versions, so check if you have a compatible TV before you order.

[via Nintendo Life]

There are already plug-and-play third-party devices that let you play previous gen consoles or a PC using any of their controllers. For instance, you can use a Wiimote with your PS3 if you want. There’s no equivalent product for the PlayStation 4 just yet, but Marcos Mori de Siqueira of Softfactory is onto something here. He hacked a Dualshock 4 controller to send input from a mouse and keyboard to the PS 4.

I’m not even going to pretend that I fully understood what Marcos pulled off, but from what I grokked he used a microcontroller (plus two digital-to-analog converters for emulating the thumbsticks) to turn signals from his keyboard – in this case a Logitech Gameboard – and mouse into signals that the PS4 understands, sent via the Dualshock 4′s circuit board. All in all it took him about $50 (USD) of materials and a ton of solder to make the mod. Skip to about 1:55 in the video to see the mod in action.

Check out Marcos’ post on Softfactory for more details on his mod. Seeing as FPS and MMOs are still popular, I wonder why Sony and Microsoft don’t just add support for keyboards and mice on their consoles. They can probably earn extra from certifying third party hardware if they did that. It’ll make it way easier to search for content on their online stores too.

[via Hack A Day]

I have vivid memories of playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the SEGA Genesis with my brother back in the day. I can recall him getting mad each time Robotnik beat him and tossing the controller across the room claiming the game was cheating. If you want to relive some of your glory days of gaming with a cool retro game, SEGA has announced that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is now available for the first time on Android devices.

You can download the game now and play as Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles.

It has all those classic levels you recall from the original game including Emerald Hill, Chemical Plant, and Casino Night. The game get a new area that wasn’t in the original called the Hidden Palace Zone.

The game was previously available for iOS gamers in its original version, but those that bought the iOS version get the re-mastered version as a free upgrade. Android users can buy the game for $2.99 (USD).

Just don’t throw your smartphone across the room when Eggman beats you.

When my son was really small he loved trains and watched Thomas the Tank Engine a lot. He loved the oddly animated train and his pals. I always found Thomas more than a bit creepy. If you ever thought that Thomas might be plotting to kill and take over the world, then I have the Skyrim mod for you.

It’s called the Really Useful Dragons mod and it turns every dragon on the game into Thomas the Tank Engine. The roars of the dragons are even replaced with Thomas’ shrill whistle. That toot-toot will haunt your dreams. Here, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cXuWBMZfi8

I love the first time you see Thomas in the video. He swoops in and lands atop the tower with dust puffing out. I think he was meant to burn cities and capture souls, what about you? You can fast forward to about 2:00 in the video to bypass the wait and see Thomas the Terror for yourself.

Want to try it for yourself? Grab the mod here.

[@kenyatta via Laughing Squid via Nerd Approved]

Earlier this week, a Fallout 4 teaser website surfaced, only to soon after be revealed as a hoax. Upon that foundation of disappointment comes a ray of hope, however: documents have leaked showing the game is both real and being developed at this moment, and by all accounts it seems it will be set in […]