I have serious thoughts about doing one of these for Halloween. Pirate Sackboy!!!

How to Make Your Own Sackboy Costume

Good ole Engie. And just to justify this so-win picture, Machinima has an excellent video on how to play him in Team Fortress 2, including a sequence on playing him offensively. I mean, on offense. He's definitely playing offensively in that shot above.

How to Play the Engineer [Machinima.com, by EvilDaedalus]

Update: Reader Andrew "Duderman" Macintosh (commenter dudenextdoor00) claims responsibility for this picture. Nice job! Original is here.

Hit the jump for the four step procedure:

1. With AnyDVD HD, rip a EVO file of the HD DVD Transformers
2. Using EVOdemux and rebuild, the necessary image and voice are selected
3. Convert EVO file into BDMV form with TSremux.
4. Burn onto BD-RE with Ulead Burn.Now

Once again, we haven't tried this, so we're not sure if it works or not (or even if these directions are correct). This fella was apparently able to get it on Blu-ray — though, he wasn't able to get subtitles transferred over. Let us know if you are able to do this successfully.
Transformers on Blu-ray PS3 [Pocket News via Hobby Blog]

• "First you need to understand that there's boxes." (Referring to the consoles.)
• "The controller actually controls it."
• "Most games just use one or two buttons."
• "It's as easy as hooking up a CD player to your TV."

Over at the Evil Avatar game forums, there is a handy thread on how to get the most bang for your PS3 buck. Everything from saving money and choosing cables to starting up the machine and creating a Hong Kong PlayStation store account. A simple, solid guide. Think of it as Cliffs Notes for your PS3. Brian Ashcraft

Evil Avatar PS3 For Starters Thread [Evil Avatar via Aeropause]

Got a PS3? Wanna snag Tekken 5? Don't live in Hong Kong or Japan? Game site GamersReports has a workarround for North Americans who are itching to get the 850 MB Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. From GR:

Firstly, you need to add a new user to your PS3. Keep in mind it cannot be a new sub user, it has to be a new user from scratch. Go ahead and add all the credit card information, and when it asks for the country pick Hong Kong, and choose any city. Remember, all of the information will be the same except city and country. After you have created this new account that has a Hong Kong city and country, go all the way to the right on the main PS3 screen and choose account management. Then choose transaction management, then manage wallet, then add funds. When you add money remember it will be in HK dollars. If you go directly to the PS3 store and try to buy Tekken, it will not work because any amount over $50 dollars and Sony will check if the home address matches the home address the credit card has on file. In order to get around this, add $40 HK dollars to your wallet twice, then go into the PS3 Store and purchase Tekken 5. From there, it will ask you if you want to add more funds to your account, (example $45 HK dollars). This brings you to a total of $125 HK dollars which is roughly equivalent to $15 USD, enough to purchase Tekken 5.

Good to know! Brian Ashcraft

How To Get Tekken 5 [GamersReports]

The guys at Game Videos are back with part two of their celebrity Mii creation video. This time around we get such illustrious personalities as Osama Bin Laden, Hulk Hogan, Charlie Brown, Satan, Ugly Betty, Chuck Norris, The Beatles and even Sony superstars Parappa the Rappa and Un-Jammer Lammy.

Truth be told, this version is a little more show and tell than actual tutorial, but you can still figure out how to make them on your own with a simple press of the pause button. Flynn De Marco

Mii Celebrity How To: Part One [Kotaku]

Maybe four months ago we would've thought this cool—and THAT'S pushing it! But someone decided to provide tutorial on how to take it apart a DS Lite. Not sure which is more annoying: That they filmed this (and stupid me posted it), that the Lite is grimy or that I'm forced to stare at the bloody site's URL during the entire thing. For that offense alone, I did not visit it. The guy's voice too is unnerving as well. But, here it is, in case you like to take shit apart you can't put back together. Brian Ashcraft

While we don't recommend you try this at home, this video demonstration shows how to take apart your PSP bolt-by-bolt and put it back together. (Some modder is actually showing how to install a PSP mod called PSPTV.) It reminds us of scenes in movies where soldiers take apart their rifles blindfolded but with added irritating music. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Aeropause]

For anyone who's ever had to the burning urge to fill notebooks with Nintendo President Satoru doodles, game site Go Nintendo points out how. Neat, but does anyone know how to draw Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Ken Kutaragi? Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Go Nintendo]

Food in honor Pac-Man making his Xbox Live debut! This eatable Pac-Man and ghost were made from papadums (also known as papadam, pappadam, pappadom, pappadum, popadam, poppadam, poppadom, papad, pappad, appalum, appalam or those giant roundy crackery things they give out at Indian restaurants). How-to site Instructables guides readers through step-by-step the process of making Pac-Man papadums. And yes, scissors are involved. What's Hindi for "yum"? Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Instructables] Thanks, Frodo!

Word has it that there is an English language Chromehounds demo available on the Japanese Xbox Live Marketplace. For those interested in downloading, here's how:

• Create a Japanese Xbox Live Silver membership using this guide.
• Log into that account and go to the Marketplace.
• Go into the game demos area.
• Select Chromehounds and download the demo. This part will be in Japanese.
• After the demo is download, give it a try. Everything should be in English

The demo apparently isn't available on the American Marketplace. Why? Because Micrsoft Japan wants everyone to eat shoes and wear hamburgers on their feet, that's why. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [XboxSpace] Thanks, Roger Moore!

I spent some time over the weekend trying to mock up a desktop that would let me use at least some of my current bits and pieces.

I'm not exactly thrilled with all of the components in the system, but staying at about $1,000, this seems to be the best I could do.

I leaned heavily, very heavily, on Ars Technica's Hot Rod specs for this system. (thanks, Dan) I also tried building systems with Alienware, Falcon Northwest, Voodoo PC and Hypersonic. I found that Alienware was the most reasonably priced (they came in at $2,120), but I wasn't happy with some of their options, including graphics card, so I think I'll build my own.

I think I'm going to go with an Abit KN8 Ultra motherboard. It isn't SLI-capable, but I don't think I will be using that anytime soon, and it's super affordable, coming in at under $90.

For the processor I decided to go with AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4600+. I'm still going back and forth on the processor speed. The 4200 runs $350, while the 4600 comes in at $530. I'm not sure if it's worth the extra money. I'm a little worried about the whole AMD over Intel. I know I probably shouldn't be, but I was one of those people who bought an AMD chip right when they were getting started and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

As you guys almost all suggested, I'll be going with two 1GB sticks of ram. I'm leaning toward the Kingston PC3200s (about $88 each), but if you have a better suggestion I'm all ears.

My graphics card selection was between Radeon's X1800XT or X1900 XT (both with 512) or Nvidia's GeForce 7900GT. The Radeons were considerably less expensive and since I opted for a non-SLI card, I think I'll go with either the 1800 or 1900. There's a $90 price difference between the two, so I'm still pondering which to choose.

I'm going to stick with my two Barracuda 7200 120GB harddrives. I'm also going to keep my SoundBlaster sound card and my three flat panel monitors.

Since my power supply is way too weak (250 watts), I'm going to go with an Antec SLK3800B case which comes with a built in 400W power supply. I'm a little worried that even 400W, won't be good future proofing, but upgrading that down the line shouldn't be a problem. My other option is to stick with my Gateway case and just buy a power supply like the 600W Coolermaster, which uns about $78.

This system rings up at about $1,000 to $1,200 (depending on my choices), which isn't that bad.

So here are my main concerns. Is it a bad idea to skip out on the SLI-enabled motherboard and go with ATI? And, do you think mixing AMD and ATI is a bad decision? Brian Crecente

Ars System Guide [Ars Technica]

So as you can see, my desktop is dead... totally dead. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty of how it happened, but the end result, I'm fairly certain, is a dead motherboard. So apparently, I'm now in the market for a new computer. I'd been planning on building a new computer this year anyway, so what the heck.

I've been looking around at what I wanted to do, and found this bad boy on Tom's Hardware. The only problem is that I'd really like to recycle some of my current stuff (case, hard drives, DVD), and with this particular project it doesn't look like that's possible. That and it apparently has a slew of technical issues. So I've decided to come to you, our readers, for some help.

What do you think I should use to build my new computer, keeping in mind these constraints:

I'd like to keep it to $1,000 or less.
I'd like to keep my case, power supply, harddrives and CD/DVD drives, maybe even the memory if possible.
I'd rather avoid doing any sort of heavy lifting beyond the putting together of components and such. I've built tons of computers, but I don't want to start cutting sheet metal or soldering shit.

The main thing I need suggestions for are the motherboard, CPU and graphics card... I think. Brian Crecente

You're looking for a SOCOM: FTB headset, but no luck. What do you do? If you are an enterprising DIY type, you make it. The Living PSP points to a How-To involving a PS1 A/V cable.

I cut the cable in half ( that way I can make two) and I used a meter to tone out which wires were which on the end. The bottom three are for the left and right channels on the headpones and the top one is for the microphone. I soldered one female 3.5mm mini jack to the cables corresponding to the headphones and the other cable to the top for the microphone. I was then able to connect my headset from my PC directly into these connectors.

With all that ingenuity, you'd think this dimestore MacGyver could've done something about those painful-looking earphones.

More Here [Living PSP]

Next-Gen has notes from an interesting talk given at the Game Marketing Conference about how to survive a platform launch.

The key to a successful launch can be boiled down to four points, according to Bob Aniello, vice president of marketing for Jamdat:

Make sure your advertising is bold.
Sell the experience , not the game.
Listen to the haters.
Be first, but be right.

Too bad Nokia didn't sit in on this before the N-Gage launched. They could have avoided a double disaster.

Surviving a Platform Launch [Next-Gen]

Boy, this is neat. New Jersey resident and 35mm film fan inajamaica has taken apart his DS and repainted it hot pink. He's even Flickred the entire process: from the disassembly to the masking the primer up to the second coat. He plans to have the entire project finished by February 12th. Just in time for V-Day? No clue. Fellow D.I.Y. types feel free to crib notes.

Photo Sets Here [Flickr] Thanks, Spence!

This cool little blog about making the best of living or visiting Japan has posted up a How To for buying retro games in Japan. The site walks you through the process including where to look for the best deals and what sorts of arcane gaming products you can expect to pick up where.

How To Japan lists national chains Book-Off and Dori-Dori and places where you can land some nice retro game deals. The author says he picked up a Sega Saturn for about $3.50 and a bunch of games for the system at $0.60 a pop.

If you're planning a visit, or live in Japan and don't know your way around the retro game scene it's a must read.

How to Buy Retro Games in Japan [In Japan]

A three-day consumer event by Ziff Davis in New York City will have a playable Xbox 360 console on the convention floor, according to the official site for Digital Life. The site doesn t offer a lot of details, just that you can test drive the exciting new Xbox 360 before it hits stores." Tickets for the mid-October event are a measely $15 at the door, but expect a painfully long line to play next-gen games.

Digital Life Gaming [Official Site]

If you ve had the misfortune of turning your lovely PlayStation Portable into a shiny brick with the help of some evil homebrew software, don t lose heart. XboxRepairGuide.Com is selling replacement PSP motherboards. The $99-board comes with v1.5 firmware and allows you to run homebrew software from a memory stick, so you can brick your handheld a second time. Maybe you should just buy a gross of these suckers.

PSP Motherboard [Xbox Repair Guide]

The Playstation Portable's newly added web browser is a great addition to the handheld, but most importantly it can be easily exploited to streamline the process of reading text on the device.

8Bit Joystick's Jake Metcalf just wrote-up a quick guide for creating your very own PSP web start page that has been saved on a memory stick and linking to other saved web pages on the stick. His idea is to use this to read game FAQs, but you could also very easily use this system to read open-source books downloaded from sites like Project Gutenberg.

The process is a bit time consuming, but I don't think it would be that hard to master.

How to Read Game FAQs on a PlayStation Portable [8Bit Joystick]

Uneasy Silence has posted a little anti-arcade diatribe that they call HowTo: Hack Arcade Machines. Mostly, the short missive deals with redemption machines, the games you play to win tickets which in turn can be used to buy prizes.

Let me tell you a thing or two about arcade redemption:

I worked my way through college managing one of the larger arcades in Maryland, which was owned by one of the largest arcade chains in the country. So I know a think or two about the ticket scam.

First thing you need to know is how the ticket price is figured for a particular item. Here's the system I used, which is the most accepted system. First you find the true value of an item and convert the price into pennies. So if an item cost a dollar, you've got 100 pennies. Then you change that directly to tickets and factor in a mark-up. Ours was 50 percent. So if something cost me a dollar to buy, it cost you 150 tickets to win. If you've ever played a ticket machine, you'll know just how outrageously overpriced that is.

Uneasy Silence suggests going out and purchasing your own tickets. This won't work because, if for no other reason, a machine cuts tiny holes down one or both sides of a ticket as it spews them out so you can tell if they've come out of a machine.

They also suggest buying bulk tokens online. While this may work, all it will really do is destroy the already fragile arcades in your area, forcing them to go out of business. So, unless you want the only arcade machines in your town to be located in a gas station or at a Chuckie Cheeses, then just spend your cash for the nostalgia and community experience.

Go on, get out there and give your local arcade a big quarters-in-your-pocket hug.

HowTo: Hack Arcade Machines [Uneasy Silence]

Man, duping World of Warcraft gold is way too easy. A group of WoW dupers was kind enough to post a quick How To for WoW duping. Blizzard duping requires three steps and finding the right area to step into.

Blizzard hasn't done much to fix this problem, maybe when everyone is doing it they'll spend some time looking into it.

WoW Duping [Tech Recipes]

The Make Blog, which usually spends its time explaining how to create real crafts, has decided to dip into the increasingly difficult art of virtual crafting.

The art of crafting in many MMOs (Massive Multiplayer Online Game) can be just as sophisticated and as satisfying as being an artisan in the real world. Depending on the complexity invovled it can take a great deal of time to learn all the ins and out of an ingame crafting system.

The site created a How-To video that can be used as a beginner's guide to crafting in the Star Wars Galaxies Universe.

How To: Crafting [Make]