WETA’s Fully-Functioning Life-Size Warthog

WETA's Warthog (Image courtesy Bungie.net)

While Halo or its sequel probably wouldn’t make my list of top ten games (Bungie please see Valve about unique level design) I still find driving the Warthog ridiculously fun. So now that I see the WETA Workshop has constructed a fully-functioning life-size version of the Warthog complete with four-wheel steering and and a machine gun I’ve already started packing my bags with the intent of traveling to New Zealand to steal or in some way commandeer this vehicle. I’ll worry about sneaking it through customs later.

The Warthog was actually built for a series of upcoming Halo themed short films that WETA is involved with but you can pretty much guarantee it will also be hitting the publicity circuit once the Halo 3 marketing machine goes into full gear.

For a 2000×1278 pixel version of that photo suitable for desktop wallpaper or hanging over the fireplace click here.

[ Driving Under the Influence of Awesome ] VIA [ Kotaku ]

Written by Trend Spotter on July 20, 2007  |   No Comments

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Nyko Releases Wii Party Station, Booze Not Included

wii party station

The Wii is meant to be a party hub. Everyone gets drunk and hurls Wiimotes at their plasmas. That kind of party, you know? And at E3, Nyko announced it was taking the Wii’s party functionality seriously by releasing the Wii Party Station.

It boasts a base station that offers slots for a quartet of Wiimotes, a storage drawer to stow away your Nunchucks when not in use, a cooling fan, 4 freeze-able cup holders, a center bowl to hold your Doritos, and 4 numeric LED displays to keep track of group scoring

It’ll be $25, but there’s no product page yet.

VIA [ UberGizmo ]

Written by Trend Spotter on July 12, 2007  |   No Comments

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Freedom Mini Duo Bluetooth Keyboard

Freedom Mini Duo Bluetooth Keyboard (Images courtesy TamsPalm)
By Andrew Liszewski

If the keyboards found on devices like the Treo or Blackberry are too small for your liking but you still want something highly portable then the Freedom Mini Duo keyboard just might fit the bill. When folded up it’s a bit larger than a credit card and quite a bit thicker but it still houses a full QWERTY keyboard in the standard layout.

It connects to your PDA or smartphone via bluetooth but it does include a mini USB jack for recharging the keyboard’s internal lithium-ion battery. On a full charge you should get about 9 hours of continuous typing or about 45 hours on standby. When unfolded in the upper left corner of the keyboard you’ll find a three way power switch which can be used to put the Freedom Mini into HID-mode for connecting to a PC or SPP-mode for connecting to a mobile device. A multi-colored LED hidden under the plastic housing indicates connectivity and battery charging states as well.

You can read a review of the Freedom Mini Duo on the TamsPalm website or get your own from mobileFUN for about $100.

[ TamsPalm - Freedom Mini Duo Keyboard Review ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

Written by Trend Spotter on July 4, 2007  |   No Comments

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Nintendo DS To Get ‘Slide Controller’ Add-On

Nintendo DS Slide (Images courtesy Nintendo & Inter-Fab)

Famitsu Magazine via IGN is reporting that Nintendo will be bundling a new “slide controller” peripheral with an upcoming Nintendo DS game called Slide Adventure: Mag Kid. The new peripheral plugs into the GBA slot on the DS and sits underneath the system kind of like a stand. As you slide the DS around on a flat surface the peripheral detects those movements and uses them to control the main character. For example sliding the DS in the direction of an enemy onscreen will cause the Mag Kid character to ram into them.

It sounds to me like Nintendo is trying to bring some of the motion control functionality that made the Wii so popular to their handheld systems. The last time they did something like this was with Wario Ware: Twisted for the GBA and while the game didn’t break any sales records it’s still one of the best titles ever created for that system.

And the slide controller can only make you wonder what the successor to the DS will be capable of…

[ IGN: Nintendo’s New DS Controller ]

Written by Trend Spotter on June 6, 2007  |   No Comments

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Hit Your DS With The Ugly Stick, Get 40 Hour Battery Life

nd6_c_640x480.jpg

There’s a bunch of people around the web knocking on this, the Triple Function Power Pack for the DS lite. It’s from some generic Japanese outfit, and happens to give your DS 40 hours of juice through the use of 4 AA batteries. A convenient switch located on the unit allows for the user to choose which power source they wish to utilize, even allowing the power to be cut off from the battery pack altogether and routed to the DS’ internal battery. Sure, once you’ve installed the thing, your previously sleek and pretty console now looks like a fugly brick, but dude, you’ve got 40 yours battery life. And yeah, people are saying “what’s the point?” “When are you away from an outlet for that long?” “Are you a hobo?”…

Guys, you ever been camping? Let me tell you, there are those of us who’d rather play a game or two, than spend the day identifying some freaking birds or trying to sound like a horny moose. Unfortunately, due to the Japanese nature of this product, we’re unable to obtain pricing or availability information. But it seems to be out there.

[ Possible Retailer ] VIA [ Ascii.jp ] VIA [ Joystiq ]

Written by Trend Spotter on June 5, 2007  |   No Comments

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Keychain Sized Mini Digital Photo Album

Soban Mini Digital Photo Frame (Images courtesy AVING USA)
By Andrew Liszewski

Korean company Narae has just launched this miniature digital photo album called the ‘Soban.’ A slightly larger screen sets it apart from other keychain albums already on the market and with the 128 MB of internal memory you can expect to store a whopping 7,000 images. Of course that number most likely refers to photos that have already been reduced to the native resolution of the small screen. The other innovation here is a unique design that looks like an actual miniature photo album when the cover is closed. Clearly millions of dollars of R&D money went into perfecting that feature.

The Soban is currently available in Korea but there’s no word on if it will ever make its way to North America.

[ Narae to launch its mini electronic photo album ‘Soban’ ] VIA [ Newlaunches.com ]

Written by Trend Spotter on June 1, 2007  |   No Comments

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