NintendoEntertainmentSystem -- Engadget

NintendoEntertainmentSystem posts

NES gamepad mouse is the most amazing piece of industrial design in the history of humankind

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Apr 30th 2009 at 9:47AM

Apparently as of right now, this stunning piece of high art is just a foam model mock-up, but listen to us, mouse manufacturers of the world: if you build this, we will give you every penny we have to own it. Our only gripe? The D-pad should definitely be up top for navigation duties. Still... where's the waiting list?

[Via Technabob]

NES Joystick Test Cartridge lands on eBay, complete with lowest replay value ever

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 29th 2009 at 9:02PM

Not that we haven't seen some pretty crazy Nintendo gear fetch some pretty crazy prices on The Bay, but this is definitely amongst the weirdest. Shipping directly from the frigid tundras of Fairbanks, Alaska, this Joystick Test Cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System will undoubtedly spend a record low amount of time within your still kickin' NES console. Put simply, these carts were passed out to game stores for them to test out their NES machines, and after they were done, they were instructed to ship the cart back to the Mushroom Kingdom. Clearly, one renegade employee shoved it in his coat pocket and made a beeline for The Last Frontier. Surely all that's worth $1,050, right?

[Via TechEBlog]

NES Belt Buckle: most inelegant, awesome NES-in-a-whatever mod out there

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 10:33PM

Just as Mr. Adams wrote of the summer of '69, some heralded pop star decades from now will pen a smash hit recalling the summer of two-thousand and eight. Oddly enough, the tune will likely focus on the revitalization of the Nintendo Entertainment System, which has somehow wiggled into just about everything imaginable over the past few months. The latest concoction is a bit different, though, as the NES Belt Buckle doesn't really shove NES capabilities into a buckle; rather, the NES is the buckle, which is sort of weird to be frank. Still, for $300 you can have your very own, but we'd recommend boosting your self-esteem and saving your cash by just making your own with that dusty system that's still in your attic. Tons of laughs await you in the demonstration vid just past the break.

[Thanks, Harrison]

Continue reading NES Belt Buckle: most inelegant, awesome NES-in-a-whatever mod out there

Power Pad hacked into musical controller, DDR trembles

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 7th 2008 at 3:12PM

We're not quite sure how Seth Sternberger, one member of 8 Bit Weapon, was able to pull this off, but he somehow compiled a number of old parts from local shops and eBay in order to transform an NES Power Pad into an instrument of awesomeness. Click on through for a video of Micro Boogie being performed on said Pad, and don't be shocked to find yourself immediately overcome with the need to get one of these in your own house (only to remember that you can't dance).

Continue reading Power Pad hacked into musical controller, DDR trembles

NES-playin' Taiwanese smartphone comes gamepad-equipped

by Brian White, posted May 8th 2007 at 4:22PM

Oh my -- we're fallin' in love. Our always-inventive pals in Taiwan have developed a "PDA Phone" called the Century Sutra 1688 that comes complete with a gamepad controller (not Bluetooth, darn) and an NES emulation system. If you're fond of "Super Mario Brothers" and "The Legend of Zelda" from the NES craziness of the 80s, you'd probably hand over a month's paycheck for one of these beauties just to take a trip down memory lane. We know we would. The gamepad for Windows Mobile isn't exactly a new concept, but add in NES emulation -- even though there are a ton of portable NES emulators out there -- and we're sold.

Control the NES R.O.B. with your PC

by Conrad Quilty-Harper, posted Sep 25th 2006 at 6:40PM

There are a lot of mods out there for the NES controller that claim to be practical, but if we admit it they're only just thinly veiled excuses for mature adults to relive their wasted childhood. This latest mod, that makes Nintendo's Robotic Operating Buddy or (R.O.B. for short) controllable via a Linux PC, makes no claim to functionality: basically a guy called Fred managed to get R.O.B. to follow commands sent to it from his Linux box -- kind of the opposite of what R.O.B. is used to doing: interacting with a NES deck. We're not exactly sure how he did it, but we are certain it involved a lot of coding, soldering, and enough coffee to get Fred's doctor to class him as a technical insomniac -- but who needs sleep when you've got a little grey chip-hording robot to order about?

[Via MAKE]