• machinima

    How The Vault Dweller Got His/Her Groove Back - Fallout 3 Machinima

    Did you ever wonder what Fallout 3 would be like as a musical? Neither did we.

    Nevertheless Fallout 3 - Wasteland Dancin' is a piece of musical theatre machinima made with the PC version of the game and a handful of mods including Umpa's Animation MOD, GoreTweaks, and the ever-popular killableChildrenVer1-376. Music is by Shawn Lee from the Bully soundtrack.

    Say what you like about the quality of the animation in Fallout 3 - those double and possibly even triple-jointed lifeless mannequins can really bust some moves.

    6:40 PM on Mon Dec 1 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    5,041 views, 57 comments

  • gears of war

    Gun "Enthusiast" Makes Real Gears Lancer That Can Really Kill You

    The Gears of War Lancer replica is certainly cool to pose with and the Nerf version is definitely... cute. But neither packs the actual killing power of the real-life version with working chainsaw attachment.

    A few enterprising gun enthusiasts have gone the extra mile for their bayonets, strapping on 14 inches of chainsaw for proper eviscerating. They call it the "Firearm Mounted Anti Zombie Device" but we know it better as the standard issue Lancer from Epic Games' third-person shooter.

    Yes, it works, as proven by the video of the thing in pumpkin-slaying action. More »

    3:40 PM on Mon Dec 1 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    31,692 views, 199 comments

  • counterstrike

    Starry Starry Night, Light 'Em Up With SMGs

    Van Gogh's De sterrennacht (The Starry Night) is widely hailed as the Dutch post-impressionist's masterpiece - a landscape drawn from memory and a perfect example of the Master's fascination with the nocturnal.

    Also, it makes a kick-ass Counterstrike map.

    de_vangogh: Counterstrike goes "The Starry Night" [Offworld]

    4:20 PM on Fri Nov 28 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    3,999 views, 71 comments

  • theremin

    Man Builds Wiimote Theremin, Plays Star Trek Theme

    The very definition of 'Neat Hack', Ken Moore shows us his DIY Wiimote Theremin with a virtuoso rendition of a piece traditionally associated with the instrument - the theme from Star Trek.

    It's not, in actual fact, a real Theremin. Rather than radio frequency oscillations, Ken uses tiny LEDs on the tips of his fingers (hence the gloves) that trigger the Wiimote's infrared sensors. Still damn cool, though and if nothing else takes my dream project of Theremin Hero one step closer to reality.

    More Wii Theremin Videos [Ken Moore Design]

    4:20 PM on Wed Nov 26 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    2,828 views, 29 comments

  • nsfw

    Bad Hacks - The Museum Of Badly-Implemented Puerile ROM Hacks

    Sexist, racist, homophobic, misogynist, puerile and occasionally slightly amusing. This is the world of Bad Hacks - a celebration of the best/worst in old-school ROM hacking.

    Gasp at the thrilling adventures of Dragon Pervert ("take down an evil Dominatrix & her army of gimps using breasts or something"), thrill to the weapons-grade racism of Blac-Man ("Profoundly racist") and ponder the nuanced take on sexual politics in Mega Fag ("It's up to you to terminate the evil Dyke's rape quest!"). These are childish and wrong on almost every level - especially anatomically, you really have to wonder if the programmers have ever seen naked humans - and in many cases could end up as alarming appendices to psyche evaluations.

    As well as ROM downloads and a nice line in deadpan description, the site also has a number of features including a history of this oft-maligned (ok, justifiably maligned) subgenre of fan art. We apologise in advance.

    Bad Hacks [via Waxy]

    2:20 PM on Wed Nov 26 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    11,580 views, 37 comments

  • diy

    Build Your Own Xbox Arcade Controller

    If you enjoy fighting games on your Xbox - in particular new versions of classics like MK Vs DCU or SF II With Bells On It HD And A Partridge In A Pear Tree II HD Turbo Turbo (to use the shorter form of the game - the full title is some four paragraphs of close-set type) you may be in the market for a better controller.

    As the Google Translated (from German) page below would have it "Unfortunately, the D-Pad of the 360 Controller anything other than accurate."

    Quite, which is where this nifty DIY Arcade controller project comes in. Just grab some resistors, LEDs, a Pizza Hut box (preferably clean) and and 'old' 360 controller and get to work. Don't worry, the person who wrote this is "definitely not a soldering masterly" either.

    my own Xbox 360 arcade controller [fr3Ak blog, via HackNMod]

    5:40 PM on Tue Nov 25 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    5,826 views, 46 comments

    Most discussed ShingoEX: The dpad can be fixed with a 5 minute sandpaper mod. This has been known for months, yet idiot trolls more »

  • cheater

    Suck at Guitar Hero? Buy this Robot

    Robots playing Guitar Hero are not new; one playing the game with up to 98 percent precision is, however. Wired found the Cythbot, a creation of southern California engineering firm Cyth Systems, at this week's Robo developers conference in Santa Clara. It's not actually for sale. Nor is it much more than an aluminum cage with pneumatic "fingers" to hit the frets, while a camera tells it what's coming. Cythbot can play in both solo and compete modes, getting as high as 98 percent, but usually on average around 75 to 80 percent. This is disquieting news, as Isaac Asimov and Stephen Hawking predicted that 100 percent on "Through the Fire and the Flames" is when Skynet becomes self-aware.

    Cythbot "sees" the pucks coming via a camera hooked to a doohickey that measures light intensity, and once it crosses some threshold it instructs the mechanical parts to activate the strum bar, with the corresponding pneumatic finger playing its fret. This one will actually play the whammy bar notes, unlike the earlier mod by a dad who set up an optics device to play Guitar Hero and finally defeat his son.

    Lots more technical discussion at the link.

    Guitar Hero Robot Plays Video Game With Electronic Precision [Wired]

    10:00 AM on Sat Nov 22 2008
    By Owen Good
    8,053 views, 54 comments

    Most discussed joerocks1981: Chad Kroeger disapproves. Get off your ass and start a real band, robot. more »

  • left 4 dead

    Dawn Of The Dead Mall Coming To Left 4 Dead

    Train yards and sewers are all well and good, but zombie-blasting has a history. A pantheon of classic zombie-blasting scenarios. And few are as iconic as the Crossroads mall from the Dawn of the Dead remake. Originally built for a standalone Half-Life 2 mod, this Crossroads map is now going to be made available for Left 4 Dead, soon as it's done. And it looks pretty done. Also looks pretty damn spot-on. There's a trailer after the jump if you feel like a walkthrough. More »

    12:00 AM on Sat Nov 22 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    44,999 views, 146 comments

    Most discussed BenKenobi88: User mod, not Valve-made, just in case anybody asks. And while this is made of win...I really want to play in more »

  • black mesa

    Unofficial Half-Life Remake Looking Prettier By The Year

    Welcome to my third annual post on new media for the Half-Life fan-created remake Black Mesa (formerly known as Black Mesa: Source). It doesn't appear to be any closer to release than it was when I wrote about it in 2006 and 2007, but the new screen shots, released on the original game's ten year anniversary, are worth a peek. More »

    6:40 PM on Wed Nov 19 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    24,022 views, 86 comments

    Most discussed DigiMish: I think it's clear that upon release of the mod, Valve will just hire them and release it themselves. more »

  • reloading!

    Play Left 4 Dead on Team Fortress 2 Maps


    Not much of a surprise this is a possibility, the two games do use the same game after all. But Left 4 Dead hasn't even launched and someone's already modding it (probably the demo, anyway.) Here's nine minutes — reloading! — of Left 4 Dead gunplay on TF2's Dustbowl map (slightly customized). Warning, the volume on this sucker is hecka loud for some reason, with tons of — reloading! — gunfire.

    Left 4 Dead Meets Team Fortress 2's Dustbowl [CS-Nation, thanks AproposOfEverything]

    2:00 PM on Sun Nov 16 2008
    By Owen Good
    35,102 views, 108 comments

    Most discussed kevinyung89: Anybody play the demo and feel the zombies are too easy? more »