Here's a little something for retro-gaming fans. Tipster Jamie pointed us to this one in a million Nintendo NES Desktop Mini ITX PC Media Centre up for bidding on eBay. The starting bid is at UK£ 300 and you only have four days and 17 hours to make it all yours.


Thanks for the tip, Jamie!

Nothing says "gamer inside" on your front door like having a NES controller for a doorbell. In this unrevealed gamer home, a NES controller was modded into a wireless doorbell, giving visitors an added treat when coming over. Video inside.

This week's recap features a wide variety of news - from a TV spot, self-mutilation, pastries, and even sandwich bags trying to pass off as DSi accessories. While it's not the most gaming-dense rundown we've had, it certainly makes up for it with some amusement. Read on for the Nintendo Weekend Warrior.

After 8 years and 12 piercings, BME user metal_games wants to move on to other forms of art he can apply to his body. But instead of going down the tattoo road, this guy opted to go for scarification, wherein you intentionally scar yourself to create a pattern or an image. The interesting bit here is that the design isn't what you usually see - it's the image of the NES controller. For the squeamish, the pics may not be too suitable for you guys.

 

In case you readers aren't familiar with the name Mark Feldman, he's the mod dude who came up with the SNES and NES wireless controllers that worked on the Nintendo Wii console. And while we're not too sure if Mark has any plans of marketing his retro mods for our use, the man's come up with something better - a step-by-step instruction guide for any brave souls willing to make the mod attempt. Before you get started, take note of the components (and corresponding prices) you will need to get started on this project:

• 1 x used NES controller AUS$ 10
  
• 1 x replacement IPod-Mini battery - AUS$ 30
• 1 x TXC1 ASK transmitter module - AUS$ 10
• 1 x PIC16F84A-20 microcontroller - AUS$ 10
• 1 x 4MHz crystal - AUS$ 4
• 1 x 3mm diffuse LED - 25c
• 1 x 2.5mm mono switched socket - 50c
• 1 x IC socket strip - AUS$ 1
• 1 x sub-miniature SPDT switch. The ones with extruding metal tabs for screw holes are too large so either cut them off or get a PCB mount type - ~AUS$ 2
• 1 x 1K resister - 25c

Feldman calculates that the materials will cost around Total: AUS$ 68 ($US 50). Also detailed in the guide is a comprehensive circuit schematic guide for the soldering process. Full mod details (and data pack downloads)  should be available at Feldman's site, via the read link below.

The first time we watched the video below, the two words that came to mind were "wicked" and "hardcore". Mr. Mark Feldman just came up with a very cool project involving the Wii, of course, and retro controllers. He said that the new Classic Controller is okay but he didn't like the idea of it being attached to the Wiimote.

So what he did was he tinkered with SNES and NES controllers and made them wireless. The port for data cables of each controller was changed into a socket for recharging. We know you're getting a bit jealous now and that's why it's a good thing Feldman isn't selfish at all. The Read link below will take you to his site where a full blown tutorial can be found. But before that, watch this video Myndale uploaded in YouTube showing the wireless-enabled retro controllers.

The lucky people over at CVG have managed to get their hands on a copy of Ignition Entertainment's Mercury Meltdown Revolution, and of course, promptly took the much-desired screenshots.

In any case, from the glowing review that they have given to this title, it seems that porting Mercury Meltdown from the PSP to the Wii may have been one of the best things that ever happened to the game. One of the main positive points to all this is the controls. As opposed to the iffy, little PSP nub that you previously had to control the board and the blob with, using the Wiimote instead does that job perfectly as it gives the player perfect control.

However, unlike in similar games such as Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz where the Wiimote is held like a TV remote control, MMR will require the user to hold the Wiimote as if it were an NES controller. The use of both hands in the game thus allows the execution of delicate movements which should send that blob to the finish line.

Sigh. Now we can't wait for the game to finally come out this March...

More screenshots after the jump.

Sorry if this article resorts to rambling, but we're confused. kirashira posted on the Random News blog that, according to a tip from a Square Enix rep, the Wii will be getting "an exclusive Final Fantasy title." We were about to say "Old news! Crystal Chronicles, remember?!" - but reading on, it gets more and more curious as kirashira goes on to say that "It won't be a sequal (sic) to the latest FF's but rather it will be similar to the DS's FF3 and can be said to be a port/remake."

So the guy might not be talking about Crystal Chronicles, since it has been on the boards since earlier this year, anyway. The reference to a remake like FFIII for the DS also means that we're drawing from the mainline Final Fantasy series here - hopefully we got this interpretation right.

Of course this is just a rumor - "tip from Square" notwithstanding - so no promises can be made from here. But just for fun, let's imagine how a port would look like on the Wii. A Final Fantasy (as in the main series) game on the Wii is actually cool, but you gotta consider how the Wiimote will work with the menu-driven gameplay. Point-and-click? It could get pretty hectic trying to pull out the right menus, come to think of it.

Gesture-based commands with the Wiimote would be a more useful approach, using easy-to-interpret gestures for basic commands like attack, magic, and so forth, but then you've got to consider the number of potential commands you have to execute with a Wiimote, or a Wiimote and Nunchuck set. The combinations could run pretty high in numbers, requiring you to memorize a Hogwarts curriculum's worth of gesture commands to execute.

Finally, which battle system will you pair with the Wiimote? Active Time (FFVII-IX, X-2)? Conditional Turn (FFX)? Active Dimension (FFXII)? Or something else entirely? How we hate speculation - yet how we love to dream when we hear the words "Final Fantasy." And we're just hoping kirashira of Random News didn't majorly misinterpret what s/he heard.

In a conceptual ad for a Wii peripheral, Zaiten has re-invented the power glove to be cooperatively with the Wii. The power glove was first introduced during the NES years which retailed for 100$. This product took the regular NES controller and transformed it into a complicated glove. There were several buttons in which you could adjust something about the default A & B buttons, such as triggering it to be turbo. The glove even went so far as to allow free movement of the hand to control something on the screen, something of which had little success.

As many of us know, Nintendo introduced their revolutionary controller at the Tokyo Game Show last year (2005). This controller did what many controllers have failed to successfully do in past years. It added 3D motion sensing, and from the demos that were playable this year at E3 (2006), it seems to have succeeded. So, know the only problem that is presented is marketing the new intuitive controller.

Zaiten has taken it into his hands to re-invent the power glove in a Wii advertisement. He used the power glove to harness the Wii's power, the controller. In the conceptual advertisement, he has two Wii controllers on each hand and a nunchuck/thumbstick controller in his right hand. This is a very unique way to advertise the Wii with the power glove due to the fact that the power glove received little love from anyone. Hopefully Nintendo will be able to successfully advertise and market the Nintendo Wii, something of which Reggie Fils-Aime is excellent at.

If you miss your NES days so much, you can bring its controller with you wherever you are and even use it whenever you like. How, you say? Make it into a cellphone like what Sam Garfield did.

Using a Nokia 3200, Sam removed the phone's case and used everything inside to place inside the NES controller's case. This was easy to do as the 3200 has interchangeable face plates.

Here are some photos of the NES Controller Cell Phone. You can follow the link to see how to make your own NES controller mobile phone. (It's not as hard as you might think it is.)