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NES light gun gets a laser upgrade, fulfils countless childhood dreams (video)
While it's not the DL-44 heavy blaster we've been holding out for, this Nintendo Zapper is almost as cool. Using the classic Duck Hunt light gun from the original NES, the team at North Street Labs created their own laser pistol. Using a 445nm diode, some batteries, wiring and imagination, the light gun was painstakingly put together, complete with physical safety lock and custom aim-assisting heat sink. The end result is a bona fide laser shootin' gun, capable of not only setting alight matches from a distance, but setting the curtains on fire too (probably). See it in action in the video after the break, where it also tops out their laser meter, rating it -- at least -- at an eyeball popping 2W. Then tap up the source to see how -- for educational purposes -- you could make your own.
NES controller lets you stomp Koopas, save Princess Peach in capacitive fashion (video)
Is your NES controller in another castle? Maybe you're just pining for your smartphone's capacitive game controls for some reason. Regardless, here's a little piece of tech that just might put the fire in your flower: the capacitive touch NES controller. This sucker is milled from a copper board using a device called the MezzoMill, which -- besides making turtle-stomping peripherals -- also can be used to produce guitar effect pads, virtual keyboards, bicycle rim lights and all sorts of circuits that might tickle your fancy. Unfortunately, the creator isn't as well-funded as this inkjet-based control circuit project so he's trying to raise money through Kickstarter to make the mill in a large enough run to lower costs. Given how Kickstarter generated nearly $100 million in funding last year, maybe he's got a fighting chance. See the buttonless controller work its capacitive magic after the break.
