Laser Sharks

The Wiimote is arguably the best accessory every created for a Nintendo console. The Power Glove is one of the worst, second only to R.O.B. (Virtual Boy does not count as an accessory). The Power Glove, although it is certainly the coolest Nintendo accessory, sucked because it was basically only a controller glued to a glove and did none of the things that you envisioned when you saw an ad in Nintendo Power or watched The Wizard.

Nintendo should combine the best accessory with the coolest accessory to form the Wii Power Glove. Unfortunately, Nintendo isn’t always known for doing the obvious things. However, that didn’t stop one Nintendo fan from creating this awesome Wiimote Power Glove.

Popularity: 28% [?]

A pirated copy of Grand Theft Auto IV was leaked to the internet by a group called iCON earlier this week. Initially, just the iCON leaked just the PAL version but now the NTSC version is available as well. The previous entry to the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas, was also leaked early on the internet. However, the early leak certainly did not harm game sales - San Andreas has sold over 21.5 million copies.

iCON also issued a strong warning against playing the game on Xbox Live before its official release, as that would basically put a large bullseye for Microsoft on any console modders. iCON is also encouraging people who download the pirated copy to purchase the full game once it is released saying that “R* deserves it.”

It would be surprising if the Swedes that run thepiratebay.org were to suddenly start apologizing or feeling shame for running one of the largest torrent sites on the internet. However, they it is a bit surprising to see that they have changed their main page logo to say “Liberty City” to correspond with the recent leak of Grand Theft Auto IV.

The Pirate Bay frequently changes their main page image, but it is unexpected to see such a timely logo change. Traffic is still light on the torrents, most like due to a requirement to mod an Xbox 360 to be able to play it. Remember kids, stealing is bad!

Popularity: 31% [?]

A Frenchman going by the name kotomi has released a sweet mod for a Nintendo Entertainment System.

Kotomi has used a NES-on-a-chip clone chip to pack an entire NES inside a Super Mario Brothers cartridge. The system is complete with a power switch, reset button, two controller ports, slot for cartridges, power jack, and A/V hookups.

Technology has advanced a longs ways when an entire console can fit within single one of its cartridges.  With today’s NES-on-a-chip clones, expect to see more of these types of hacks in the near future.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Xbox Live user OBsIV has created a mod that allows the Wii remote and nunchuk to be used on your Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 Input Machine (XIM) lets any PC input device work on the Xbox 360. Since the Wii controllers have already been hacked to work on a PC, this XIM mod allows them to be used. Here’s the original posting on teamxbox.com.

Here’s a wonderful video showing this mod in action with Halo 2…and it looks like it works more intuitively than current Wii FPS games.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Teckh.com is reporting that Dark-Alex, infamous PSP firmware hacker, has decided to leave the scene.  Dark-Alex credited a lack of time and threats by Sony for why he left.  On his website http://dax.st/ he leaves this parting note:

Bye, scene.

I’ve decided to cease OE development, and leave PSP scene.
The reasons are various.
One of them is the time it consumes, which i’m losing from other things.
The other is related to my security. I didn’t like Sony menaces to PS3 hackers.
I think it is better to leave now rather than end paying the consequences.

 This comes as quite a blow to the PSP-Scene as Dark-Alex’s work enabled people to downgrade their firmware to a more easily hackable version.  Without Dark-Alex on the scene who will pick up the slack bypassing Sony’s future firmware versions.
This is also quite a blow to Sony, as PSP sales will surely suffer.  Speaking as someone who has owned a couple of PSPs, I was not aware of any reason to own a PSP besides the modding community.  At the risk of being labeled a hater due to posting two anti-console blogs in the same day, I leave you with this classic video of the fun you can have with an unmodded PSP.

Popularity: 3% [?]