This one's a little messy, and involves the death of a perfectly likeable DDR pad, but it's all for a good cause. Jason1820 modded up his DDR pad to control his Game Boy Advance, and got himself a good game of Pac-Man going. The video after the break demonstrates the very type of hijinks that can ensue, and also serves as a helpful reminder why Nintendo was insane not to include a backlight in original Advance. Yeah, we're still bitter about that.

[Thanks, Joe]

When you're out trawling for a copy of the rapidly selling out Rock Band, you may run into a cheap knock-off or two of the rhythm game genre. Our tipster spotted several units including a Guitar and DDR imitation in Macy's, and a Drum game in another store. All of them plug directly into a TV, but none are particularly cheap at around $40 each. The usual target audience for these kind of gadgets are unsuspecting parents looking for a present for the kids, so make sure you include a rigorous education program in the perils of game rip-offs when you hand in your holiday wish-list.

[Thanks, Seth]

Read - Guitar Superstar
Read - Dance Mania
Read - Drum Star

Dragging dance pad tech out of the PowerPad age, Applied Sciences' Laser Dance Matrix eliminates all the moving parts (except yours). The "pad" features four laser diodes interfaced with the guts of a Logitech Gamepad, triggering a buttonpress when your foot breaks a beam. The designers say that gameplay is similar to any other dancepad, with the notable difference of dancing on directly on the floor, which seems like a huge improvement to us. We just hope they take the next logical step and combine this with one of those LED dance floors that keep popping up -- talk about an instant party. The unit is just a prototype for now, but Applied Sciences is gauging interest to see if they should build them -- hit the read link to demand your laser dance upgrade.

[Via Hack A Day]

Dance Dance Revolution has certainly helped pave the way for the health-conscious set to exercise whilst gaming, and even the Wii has sparked an outbreak of get-fit kids who endure hours of Wii Sports just to melt off those pounds, and now Motivatrix is hoping to get its exercise / gaming machine hybrid into your fitness room in place of that not-so-thrilling elliptical. The MX9 Workout Master mimics existing DDR systems in design, but it manages to feature a number of internal games inside to keep your workout sessions fresh. Additionally, the machine not only recognizes fancy footwork, but built-in sensors can understand arm flailing as well, and you can even "jam out to your own music" while breakin' a sweat. Most interesting, however, is the fact that its also an internet-enabled machine, meaning that exercise freaks across the land can compete against one another, giving even the least motivated individuals something to work for. No timetable was noted as to when we'd see these things hitting sporting goods sections, but until we get a crack at "Calorie Killer," we'll just stick with Simmer Down Sprinter.

[Via CNET]

Although Snowshoe, Winterplace, and Canaan Valley (to name a few) are just getting cranked for the winter ski rush, it seems like the locals are the last ones hitting the slopes and burnin' through the calories, but there's just no escaping the workouts if you attend a West Virginia public school. Following the first round of Dance Dance Revolution implementations in the school systems, the state has now announced intentions to stick with the program for awhile longer. Apparently, children who participated in the trials were able to maintain their weight and "saw a reduction in some risk factors for heart disease and diabetes," and now plans are to put DDR in every single public school statewide. Furthermore, children who hopped on the mats for a frenzied round or two ended up feeling "more comfortable" participating in other extracurricular activities, somewhat proving that video games don't breed killers. Nah, there's no word on whether the principal / teachers will be fiercely competing with the kiddos, but we're not holding our collective breath.

It seems the traditional method of acquiring goods -- you know, that "money for product" approach we've been testing out for centuries -- is going to the wayside quite often these days, as yet another major heist has gone down in Taiwan. Twenty boxes of Hynix Semiconductor DDR RAM modules were stolen yesterday, as a trio of assailants reportedly used a machete and stun gun to threaten the driver. The hijacking is likely a planned, organized move, as reports say that the thieves were seen headed to the airport, where they probably hopped a flight to China. Interestingly, it was stated that "ownership of the chips is still unknown," a fact that's sure to make insurance companies drool, considering the $306,000 of missing goods that somebody is going to be out for. Incidents like this do wonders in making those $169 GPS / RFID adornments seem fairly inexpensive, eh?

[Via Inquirer]

Welcome back to The Pipeline, a weekly feature where we dig through the mainstream media and see what the pundits, prognosticators and and pencil pushers have been discussing over the past week.
This week, the media was all over Nintendo's announcement that the gaming console formerly codenamed Revolution would henceforth be known as Wii. And, not surprisingly, most of the mainstream journos covering the story concurred with our assessment that the name somehow isn't going to wiin Niintendo any kudos. "Is Nintendo being desperately silly to attract attention, or is it just desperately short of clue?" asked the Guardian, while the Financial Times headlined its article "Wii aren't too sure about this." However, Nintendo did have at least one defender, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities, who pointed out that "N-Gage and Gizmondo are cool names" that didn't help those products win many fans. "Consumers relate to the coolness of the product, not the name." Wii'll see, Michael, Wii'll see.

Of course, the Wii announcement wasn't the only story in the news this week, and the mainstream press managed to crank out a few other interesting nuggets. USA Today took a look at the Pioneer Inno, and declared it "a winner," while The New York Times looked at the growing number of home docking systems for cellphones. Meanwhile, Forbes looked at another way to use cellphones at home, checking out the market for UMA-enabled handsets. Our favorite media hit this week, though, came from the Washington Post, which took an in-depth look at the DDR-as-exercise phenom, with the paper's reporter declaring, "Hello, my name is Caroline, and I'm addicted to 'Dance Dance Revolution.'" Hey, at least she's not addicted to the Wii.

• Nintendo goes Wii ... (not a typo)
• Guardian - Nintendo Wii is twee
• Financial Times - Wii aren't too sure about this
• BBC - Nintendo name swap sparks satire
• Seattle PI - Wii is for everyone
• AP - Nintendo names new video game console
• USA Today - Look out iPod, Inno marries satellite radio, portable music
• The New York Times - A cellphone in park, even more powerful
• Forbes - Double-duty phones
• The Washington Post - Get a move on

MPC Computers just announced their stoic little TransPort T3200 laptop targeting high-end, security-minded professionals. If that's your gig sonny, then listen up. The T3200 gets it done with a full line-up of Intel Core Duo processor options, up to 2GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB S-ATA (5400RPM) disks, DVD/RW combo drive, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, integrated fingerprint scanner, and 15.4-inch WSXGA (1680 x 1050) display driven by ATI Mobility X1600 graphics for right around $3,000 large, fully-spec'd. Slap in an optional GPS and GPRS module and set the workers free!

[Via MobileWhack]