Hasta La Gadget!

You’ve been gaming since your youth, and remember the days of stand-up arcades where you couldn’t “beat” games; they just got harder and harder until they were literally impossible to play. Perhaps you were always the top-score holder at your favorite arcade and you remember gaming before the era of consoles. Designer Igor Chak remembers those days and has designed the Space Invaders couch to remind all of us.

The couch is a concept design right now and not available to purchase, but it makes a statement. Regardless of whether you remember the days of stand-up Space Invaders cabinets or you’re just a fan of retro video games, you can probably appreciate how your living room would look with one of these in it.

[via Kotaku]

Robots make everything better, right?

Case in point: Roboscooper, the new WowWee robot that picks up small objects from the floor. The key word is small: The robot refuses to pick up anything heavier than 1 ounce. All those paperclips, nuts, earrings, and small stuff that needs to get picked up before your Roomba can get to work are fair game.

Resembling a hunched-over baby RoboSapien, Roboscooper has a cute face, two arms ready to pick up anything, and six wheels to roll on. It even comes with a remote control in case it’s not enough to let the little guy wander around aimlessly looking for things to pickup. The obstacle sensor lets Robo detect and go around obstacles (heavier than  an ounce, of course). The remote even lets you switch into a Whack mode, which makes the robot swat objects out of the way instead of picking them up.

A while back, I got my hands on a Revell VEXplorer Robotics System, a DIY robotic kit, and built a sturdy little tank with a robotic arm and a videocam. With my remote control, I could get little Vexie to pick up soda cans, bring me round cylindrical objects, and drag a toy mouse to torment the kitten. Between the Roomba and Vexie, the Roboscooper will feel right at home.

For $70 dollars and six AAA batteries, this robot will clean your house while you laugh, especially after you load fun phrases and sound effects into its little brain. WowWee is accepting pre-orders now to begin shipping at the end of August.

Via Engadget

PCMag’s software/Web staff editor Jeff Wilson and I recently got a preview of Majesco Entertainment‘s upcoming games lineup. We are happy to report that, among other new titles, the company is coming out with Babysitting Mama for Wii.

The simple, quirky, and  inordinately addictive Mama games, including several version of Cooking Mama as well as Gardening Mama, are already popular on the Nintendo DS and Wii. Babysitting Mama will add a new element, though: a plush “baby” that serves as your game controller. Actually, you stuff the Wiimote into Baby’s back, which just feels wrong, and then you’re ready to play.(That’s Jeff above, attempting to calm Baby down. He really liked this game, which demonstrates that the Mama demographic goes way beyond young girls.)

You’ll follow Mama on the screen to perform a number of baby-related activities ranging from the normal to the weird (our favorite was the baby race–you have to see it). As you play, you get feedback on how well or poorly you’re doing, both onscreen AND from Baby, who makes little happy and not-happy noises via the Wiimote.

The game should be out in October, in for the holidays. It’ll be $39.99 list, including the Baby.   Also coming for the holidays : Crafting Mama for the DS platform ($29.99 list). 

Mimoco, creator of the cutest Star Wars-themed Flash drives this side of Tatooine, is prepping to release limited editions of its Mimobot USB drive line at key conventions this summer including the San Diego Comic Con and Taipei Toy Festival in Taiwan.

First up is the massive toy convention in Taiwan, Taipei, which will set the toy world on fire starting today though July 11. It’s there that Mimoco’s Monster Molly Flash drive–a design collaboration between the Mimoco, the folks at Taipei, and popular Hong Kong-based designer Kenny
Wong–will debut, with 500 units available.

Last but not least is the infamous cyborg Lobot (pictured at left), who will make his first appearance at this year’s International Comic Con in San Diego (July 21 to 25). Lobot also comes just in time to celebrate The Empire Strikes Back’s 30th Anniversary at Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando from August 12 to 15. Who would serve as a better guy to back up your files than a dude who can communicate with a city’s mainframe–in the sky? Unfortunately, only 1,000 Lobots will be available between both events, in 2GB to 16GB capacities. No specific pricing has been announced as yet.