Asteroids wristwatch one-ups the Pong-playing original
John Maushammer enjoyed his 15 minutes in the limelight from the creation of the Pong wristwatch, but as any true superstar will tell you, a quarter of an hour just isn't enough. The DIY Asteroids Watch is a real step above the aforementioned predecessor, with an inbuilt tilt sensor so the wearer can control the action by simply tilting their wrist. We'd gush about it more, but that'd just be doing ya wrong -- instead, we'll point you to the live action vid waiting just past the break.
[Via NerdWithSwag]
[Via NerdWithSwag]



















Am I the only one who has been a gamer for a long time but never found Asteroids fun? Same for Centipede.
aww man u dont like the game? shame on you:P
Super Stardust Portable is teh new Asteroids.
I'ma playing it right now with my PSP watch. I strapped it onto my arm.
lol its only fun when the arcade was your 2nd home =]
Second home?. main home for me! :-P (until my father bought me a 8bits microcomputer).
Looks like you're the only one bud! =)
Hated asteroids too. And all the clones, space invader and what not.
Yes you are the only Long Time Gamer that doesn't like this game. I mean how could you not like asteroids? The pinnacle of development for that time frame.
I can understand where you're coming from... I've NEVER liked a single Sonic The Hedgehog game. Not even in 2D.
Eh its about the reminiscing...... Having a computer at home that would only do about 2 colors and that was friggin sweet and being able to do something with a triangle and several other oddly shaped pieces..... Plus its kinda cool on a watch.....
WHERE CAN I BUY ONE?
i agree with you, i never liked asteroids either, though i do like the watch, especially the pong one, i wish they would mass produce them.
Very nice. Would like to know how he made that. Any chance of a DIY guide?
he has the plans on his site. good luck trying to build it though, it's not exactly a simple build. lots of tiny surface mounts
I've been a little lax on my blog, but I've got some info there.
http://www.maushammer.com/systems/watch/Build_Log/Build_Log.html
The pong watch used 0201 resistors (0.02" x 0.01", or 0.6mm x 0.3mm), but I found those were too small to hand solder... the new watch uses 0402 resistors, which are much more friendly. You still pretty much need a microscope, though... :-(
pong, you should call yourself mario cause you just got 1-upped!
WANT
if it only told the time as well i'd be all over that!!
Why would you want to be constantly reminded of the time you are wasting playing with playng with your moronic asteroids watch?
Besides what do you thing that the good citizens around you will think when their stern gaze will fall on you wildly twisting and shaking your wrist while loudly grunting and giggling for no apparent reason?
yea yea yea... but does it tell time tho? lol
i guess ill tell people my high score when someone asks for the time ^_^
I don't see him control it in the vid, yet the spaceship moves about, what's that all about?
Demo mode?
Yep, it's playing automatically. It'll eventually tell the time by scoring an average of 1000 points per minute... just look at the upper digits of the score, and that's the time. But, right now I'm working on making it smaller - I made a mistake in excel, and that's why the case is asymmetric. After I get that sent out to the PCB fab house, I'll return to improving the software a bit.
Well I obviously get that it was running some demo mode but I mean what kind of fake 'demonstration' is the video, I was curious how well he could control it by tilting you see and feel cheated now :(
①②③④ Wwhat takes deep breath
I'm OK now.
There's some funny watches on youtube I notice, here's a flashy one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky1TOVR2_ZM&feature=related
amazing, I'd buy it
puts me in the mood for the best asteroids-type game, ever: Mono http://www.binaryzoo.com/games/mono/
I see it says "inbuilt tilt sensor", which is fine and dandy, but how the hell do you fire? So either it's totally fake, (like the Holographic I-Phone) or, lame as hell for auto fire spam.
Also he didnt move his wrist at all in the vid.
I phone vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXnzXwKE0Sk
It's a demo mode. I just added a pair of buttons this weekend, but haven't posted pictures yet.
Sweet, a reply from the designer. :)
That's good to know. I was really disappointed to think that this was a fake. Mark me down for 1 Asteroids watch when they are ready plz.
Oh yea, one thing I was wondering... are old games like Asteroids free/open source now? Or did you have to buy rights, or ask permission?
@KilgoreTrout
Any real geek doesn't give a solid dang or two what thoughts the "good citizens" around him might have circling in their misguided, stereotypical minds.
So true, oh so true.
Geek Chic FTW!
I think I'm up to 45 of internet fame now (= about 3 seconds of real-life fame), because I was also the hacker who did the low-level reverse engineering to make disposable digital and video cameras reusable.
http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/03/ops-the-almost-one-stop-cvs-camcorder-hack-for-windows/
http://www.maushammer.com/systems/
Sorry, but the pong watch wins because it actually tells time; this just displays a computer playing asteroids...boring!
So no, this does not 1-up the pong watch. It's pretty cool though.
Can they do that one game with tanks? I forgot what it's called...
Try Tanks (I think)
Battlezone? It used a vector-based display, like the original Asteroids.
personally I just strap my ColecoVision to my arm and a 22" monitor to my chest. A bio-diesel generator in my backpack,
and then I'm in Pit Fall heaven and also some bitchin baseball action.
Also the fashion look of it all gets me mega chics!
:)
By the way, when it comes to gaming you don't need a clock because time doesn't exist.
But can it play Crysis?
In high resolution?