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Steve Jobs portrait made out of Apple products mosaic
As reported by MacStories and created for Italian magazine Panorama by Tsevis Visual Design, this picture of Apple CEO Steve Jobs is entirely made up of Apple's white products laid out to create a visually arresting portrait. The creative director of the magazine asked Tsevis for the "white on white" portrait and ran the image on the cover of the the financial section titled "Panorama Economy." Looking closely, one can see the incredible detail of the mosaic, which encompasses a large selection of products from Apple's history. After seeing how great the white on white version came out, the designer set out to make a version with a black background as well, and both of them are available for download under the Creative Commons License Scheme. Over on Flickr, you can access both the white version and the black version of the portrait. A few years ago we saw a colorful Apple product mosaic in the likeness of Steve Jobs from these guys, and we've also seen Steve Jobs in doll form, but I wonder -- do you think Steve will be hanging one of these new ones up in his office? [via MacStories]
Steve Jobs, in doll form
Steve Jobs showed up on my doorstep today...and he's a lot smaller in person. Okay, no, not the real Steve Jobs, but his incredible lifelike miniature. Many of you probably remember the big uproar a few weeks back that Apple had about M.I.C Gadget, a blog about Chinese life and subculture, manufacturing a doll in the great one's likeness. And now I can see why. After some very generous Christmas elves just sent me one of the coveted Steve Jobs dolls, I'm struck by just how lifelike it is. Everything from the detail on the iPhone in his hand to the crow's feet around his eyes are eerily realistic. More so, the quality of the figurine is, well... Apple-level. The paint job is stunning. The Apple logo base is precisely carved and solid in the hand. Steve's glasses are made of wire frame and removable. Even the pattern in his New Balance shoes resemble the ones he actually wears. When the doll went on sale for US$79.99, many scoffed at its price. But given it was limited to 300 units and the quality of the craftsmanship ended up being quite high, the company wasn't asking too much for it in my opinion. Too bad Apple quelled the doll and it never made it to open market. Something tells me the ones that did escape Hong Kong are going to be selling for premiums in the years to come as this is sure to be one of the hottest Apple collectibles ever. I've added a gallery below that shows off some of the intricate details of the figurine. %Gallery-110325%
SK Telecom's Android action figures as flexible as the OS itself (video)
Here you go: Androski, the skiing Android mascot. He certainly gets more exercise than you (at least he meets more snow bunnies), and he'll look great on your desk. Too bad he's only available from SK Telecom way off yonder in the Republic of Korea. Of course, this ain't the first Android toy we've seen in this space, but it's certainly the most athletic! See for yourself after the break. Update: It looks like there's actually a variety of places to get the figures, not just SK Telecom -- there's also KT, LG U+ and some other names at the bottom of the website that we're not terribly familiar with.
Gadget bandz bring gear lust to tween wrists
You know about Silly Bandz, right? Well, maybe you don't have subscriptions to Tiger Beat and spend your evenings at home alone on Bieber message boards like we do, so allow us to explain. They are rubber bands that are shaped like things--unicorns, peace signs, hamburgers, aliens, emoticons--traditionally worn on the wrists, and eventually traded with like-minded collectors. They are very popular in the 8 - 12 demographic. You might relate them to Pogs, slap bracelets, Lisa Frank pencils, and baseball cards. Now that you know what's up, the point is that they are now available in gadget shapes: iPod nano, laptop, iPhone 3G, NES controller, digital camera, and the "most collectible" iPad...er, "tablet." That is all.
n00bz now pwnable... err, purchasable from Blizzard store
Originally previewed at BlizzCon 2009, the new collectible n00bz figures are now in the Blizzard online store. These are small, customizable action figures that are available in either a blank version or in a variety of pre-painted models from murlocs to ghouls and even Ragnaros himself. Blizzard has said they'll slowly be releasing more of these little guys as time goes on and has already offered a limited-edition n00b this past BlizzCon of Raynor from StarCraft. So, check out the n00bz and send us your pictures of them in strange places, or grab some blank n00bz and paint up your own. If you're looking for some ideas, here is a gallery of some custom n00bz that were on display at BlizzCon this past year. %Gallery-70857%
Dyzplastic's authorized Android figurines not upgradeable, but guaranteed not to crash
Physically expressing the love that you feel for your Android-powered device can be difficult -- hugging and caressing the phone gets old after a while, truth be told. Good news, though: artist Andrew Bell has teamed up with Google to release a series of authorized Android robot figurines, starting with an initial run of 12 designs in blind boxes (collect 'em all!). The statuettes of the cute little guy stand 3 inches tall, feature articulating heads and arms, and will be available starting the 10th of this month -- just in time for that Devour, with any luck.
FusionFall offers spring chicken hunting fun
While many of the spring festivities in various MMOs have sprung, Cartoon Network has saved their particular brand of spring silliness in FusionFall for this next week! That's right - from tomorrow (4/22) to next Wednesday (4/29) Coco's helpers, who are dressed as Spring Chickens will be hiding in the Alternate Earths of FusionFall, and are just waiting for you to find them. When you do manage to locate them, they'll transport you to a secret Egg Hunt Zone, just filled with some special Spring holiday eggs - which means lots of goodies for you!As you zoom through the special Egg zones, the different eggs you'll collect will not only yield little surprises "to keep things interesting" according to the Cartoon Network devs, but there are two special bubbleheads available to those who are lucky enough to find them. Keep in mind that other players can warp in and out of the Egg Zones, so you'll need to be quick on your toes to pick up the special holiday eggs - and the related bubbleheads! Free-to-play players in Future World will be able to pick up one of the two, and Unlimited access players - at either $5.95 for one account or $9.95 for up to four accounts - will be able to find the Future World helmet and another bonus bubblehead. If you still can't find out where to look for Coco's helpers, check in on the FusionFall forums for some special riddles that have clues on where to go, or check with the other players in FusionFall and see if you can get a hand. After all, gaming is much more fun if you make some friends along the way!
WoW minis wins Game Product of the Year
Diamond Comics, a big distributor of comics and collectables, has given out its Diamond Awards for 2008, and Upper Deck's WoW minis game is a winner. The game won Game Product of the Year -- Upper Deck says that "not only did it capture the hearts of World of Warcraft fans across the globe, it also redefined the entire miniatures category."We'll have to take their word for it (as we haven't played that many minis games before), but the game was a lot of fun when we played a round of it at BlizzCon last year -- it's kind of a mix between turn-based strategy (in that you take turns moving your characters and attacking or defending) and Arena play (in that lots of the character abilities are borrowed straight from the ingame classes). We can speak to the quality of the game as well -- the little miniatures look great, and the game boards and cards were very colorful and well-done.So grats to Upper Deck for picking up the Diamond Award for their new minis game (the company also nabbed a few other awards for their Marvel Masterpieces cards and their sports card lines). If you'd like to check the game out, you can pick up starter packs at most hobby and game stores, and Upper Deck periodically offers events around the country. Some of which we often post about here on WoW Insider, so stay tuned.
Box heart: Capcom's Street Fighter HD press kits, for the non-press
We sense a trend developing here. Following its offering of the retro-inspired Mega Man 9 press kit to the general public via its online store – albeit in extremely limited quantities – Capcom is about to do the same with its promotional materials for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, which hits PSN tomorrow and XBLA on Wednesday, Nov. 26.The kit – which, apart from its box art featuring The Incredible Hulk as Ryu – is replete with SSFIITHDR goodies, including "Ryu's headband," an art disc, a special game tie-in comic by Udon, character magnets, and a Chun-LI figurine that's limited to 1,000 pieces. Capcom is planning to make around 300 of the kits available to those not in the gaming press, so keep its internet storefont bookmarked and refresh often. %Gallery-37863%
WoW minis are out
As predicted, the WoW Minis game from Upper Deck has launched -- starter packs and booster sets are now available at a collectible store near you. I got to play the game with one of its designers at BlizzCon, and I actually found it a lot of fun -- it's very much like a turn-based Arena match, though there are fewer abilities to choose from, and if your characters are killed, they actually come back, as the victory is points-based, not just a deathmatch. But it's very similar to Arena matches in that you spend points on abilities, terrain can help or hurt, and each class has its own counters and tactics.I found it to be a lot of fun, and probably would get involved in it if I had a friend I could also sucker into it, but no dice so far. Plus, it's two hobbies in one -- not only do you get a fun strategy game (that's surprisingly versatile -- you can play with more than two players if you like, and your victory points requirements are based on your characters, not the opposing sides', so you can play with whatever characters you like), but you also get to collect some cool minature reproductions of some of Warcraft's most famous faces. Good deal. Have you checked the game out yet, or is it something you're interested in?%Gallery-33212%
WoW Minis in stores on November 11th
Upper Deck has announced an official release date for the WoW Miniatures game, and surprise, it's in early November, too (it's going to be a busy couple of months for WoW fans). You'll be able to buy a four-figure starter set or a three-figure booster pack in stores on November 11th -- we're not sure about the prices yet, but if the MSRP we saw a while back hasn't changed, they'll end up at around $20-25 for starter packs, and $10-15 for boosters. Each starter will also contain a sampler of the WoW TCG cards, and while we haven't heard anything about ingame loot items for the minis game, those samplers may have some Loot cards in them if you're lucky.Upper Deck also was kind enough to provide us with a preview of a few figures from the set, including some concept and reference art for some of the characters and figures. You can see it all in the gallery below -- there's a nice sampling of characters from the MMO game, a few from the TCG, and even some new character types from Northrend in there. Looks like fun. %Gallery-33212%
Sword of the New World expands with Nocturnal Sonata
IGN has a scoop on the new 'Nocturnal Sonata' expansion to Sword of the New World, an MMO also known as Granado Espada in Asia. Sword of the New World is a free-to-play title brought to North America and Europe by the K2 Network. Massively has looked at this game in the past and found it to be a quirky title; IGN describes its setting as 'the European Baroque period if it was designed by a modern anime artist'. Sword of the New World becomes even more surreal given that its old world setting is juxtaposed with a techno soundtrack. Surreal qualities aside, the game has some interesting features, particularly the use of collectible UPCs, or Unique Player Characters. The concept is somewhat comparable to the Heroes in Guild Wars. You control up to three characters at once who are members of your 'family'; certain NPCs for whom you've successfully completed quests offer themselves up to be added to your family as UPCs and called upon to aid you in your adventures. They provide access to special hybrid classes with unique powers to match. There are over 40 such UPCs, and two more are initially being added in the Nocturnal Sonata expansion: Vincent Rio (who inflicts damage with music) and Baek Ho (martial artist extraordinaire). Yet more UPCs are to follow in the coming months, adding new gameplay possibilities to Sword of the New World. The Nocturnal Sonata expansion will be released on June 25, and closely follows the 'The Land of the Dead' expansion released only three months ago.
Saga open beta begins today
Saga, which bills itself as the "world's first collectible online real-time strategy game," is throwing wide its doors for Open Beta 2 starting today. You can head over to their site to sign up; they mention that account creation is not quite ready yet, but it might not be a bad idea to get your foot in the door. (And for what it's worth the sign-up form did allow me to create an account with no fuss. You can just ignore the "promo code" field.)But what, you ask, is a collectible online RTS? We've only covered it once before on Massively, so I looked around the developer's site to see what they have. Here are some key points: it's an RTS (of course), but it's persistent, so you won't have to rebuild structures every match, and your units stay dead until made otherwise. The setting is standard fantasy. The game has no subscription fee, using a microtransaction model: players buy their troops in booster packs, which cost $2.95; the game itself is currently on pre-sale for $20. You can also trade troops with others, which highlights the "collectible" nature of this game. The site claims that they are aiming for a Q1 2008 release. I'm not so much an RTS player, but it is an interesting business model. Will you try it out?
Enter to win one of two ships from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online
Yarrr, maties! Turn yer eyes up above, off starboard! Aye, there be a miniature pirate ship herself, complete with three masts and all the sails and rigging on a custom stand, packed in an official Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online wooden crate. Ye want her, matey? Then she's yours... if ye win!Yes, Massively is giving away not one but two of these miniature pirate ships (they stand a little over a foot tall, and a little longer across), and with them, a yearlong subscription to Disney's online Pirates of the Caribbean game, estimated retail value of a hefty $145 each. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post with your best pirate impression-- that can include some insults, a shanty of some sort, or just a good old fashioned "Yaarrrr!". Put a comment (and only one) on this post before Thursday afternoon, January 31st, at 3pm EST, and after that we'll choose not one but two winners to receive the miniature ships and a year of free PotC gameplay.There are caveats in the pirate code-- you must be 18 years of age or older, and you must be living within the United States (that's right-- due to legal regulations, pirates of the Caribbean are not actually allowed to win). Also make sure to use an email that you regularly check to enter the comment, as that's where we'll be contacting the winner. Full official rules are here.Good luck, landlubbers! And stay out of Davey Jones' locker!
Creepy Mario collectible available for big bucks on eBay
You know what's missing from your living room? A glistening four-foot statue of Mario with eyes that will follow you everywhere that you go. Note that we're putting this in your living room? That's because, as much as we like Mario, we're not sure we'd want it in ours. Collectibles are great and all, and we're big fans, but crazy price aside ... we're just not sure this particular treasure is for us.He's got his eyes on you. And he's just so cheerful. Well, that's eight hundred dollars saved![Via GameSniped]
Sealed game collectors hoarding all the cool toys
You know what pisses us off? People who collect toys but keep them sealed in the box instead of playing with them. Or people who buy comics but never dare read them for fear they'll harm the all-important grading condition. So you can imagine how we feel about Sealed Game Heaven, a new international forum community for collectors of factory-sealed copies of video games.You might think this obsession with keeping games encased in a thin sheet of cellophane is all about preserving their value as collectibles, but you'd be wrong. As forum administrator Pascal explains, "I think sealed collecting is more than an investment. A game which you played more than 40 hours for example is a part of your life. ... If you get a sealed copy of this game you can remember those days every time you pass it." Well, sure, but with an unsealed copy you could relive those days by actually, er, playing the game, right?To be fair, there is something appealing about the idea of having a game preserved for all time exactly how it once existed on the store shelves. But we can't help but think Oscar Wilde's famous description of cynics also applies to these sealed collectors -- people who "know the price of everything and the value of nothing."
Okwap, it's AstroBoy!
You know you're in for a good time when Okwap has a new phone, and when it's an AstroBoy branded phone we're talking about, all bets are off. Given the packaging of this particular model A323, we don't think it's unfair to assert that they're aiming this less at the user and more at the AstroBoy collector audience, but ain't no shame in that game, there are certainly enough fanboys of that particular character to make it worth Okwap's while.[Via MobileMentalism]
Xbox 360 faceplate database
Reader TacoHead is building a database of Xbox 360 faceplates. He's got a pretty solid list judged for rarity and value. A useful tool for the collector -- or the copycat. Note that the recently discussed GoW E3 plate is far from the most prized. If you know of something that should be included send it to tacohead@lowdown411.com.
Collectible Metroid statue; where's Samus?
The guys at First 4 Figures dropped us a tip to let us know about their upcoming Metroid Prime Hunters collectible, a 9" tall figurine of super-soldier bounty hunter Kanden. "Who?"Oh, Kanden. He's one of the six "hunters" in Metroid Prime Hunters. Yeah, the ones that most people thought were annoying in the otherwise stellar single-player game. What is cool about the statue is that it was recreated from the actual game data (like this guy), so expect a slightly less polygonal -- though highly accurate -- collectible. The website says the figurine will "feature an interconnecting base with the other upcoming hunters." Does that mean we will get a Samus? She's a bounty hunter! Samus is coming ... but not in just one suit. Oh no, we'll have four versions to plunk our would be gaming dollars down on, as well as all the other Hunters.As long as we're on the topic of the Hunters, am I the only one who thought their names sound sort of like American Gladiators: Noxus, Stylux, Spire, Trace, Weavel, and of course, Kanden?See also:Samus returns as... a Metroid paperweightSpore figurines at E3[Update: Noted that they're making additional figurines, including Samus. More info here.]
Tune your run, old school
The Apple Blog points out that, with all the hubbub surrounding the Apple/Nike deal, we ought to remember that the Air Zoom Moire isn't technically the first time Apple has become involved in footwear. Many moons ago, some Apple employees could be seen sporting these babies. Oh, yeah. For some reason, those sneakers make me want to drive that DeLorean and rent Ferris Bueller's Day Off.Thanks for the chuckle, Apple Blog!
