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Posts with tag modding

Blast Works duo on what didn't make the cut



Blast Works: Build, Trade, & Destroy will finally launch in North America next Tuesday, so now seems like a fitting time for Budcat Creations pair Marcus Brown and Matt Modaff to update their IGN blog and reflect on numerous aspects of the game's lengthy gestation. Fortunately for this post, that's exactly what they did!

Amongst other things, Brown and Modaff discuss the team's motivation for including the game's wonderful editor, the content sharing features that we adore so much, and how they'd like to see the game cultivate a modding community to rival those seen in many PC titles. They also reserve special praise for the Wiimote, noting how it "affords players a near mouse-like interface."

Most intriguingly of all, there's a list of features that didn't quite make the final cut, mainly due to time constraints. These include the ability to play through the Campaign Mode with four players (there's still a two-player function), a "Marathon Mode" (in which players blast their way through an infinite selection of levels randomly chosen from the campaign and rack up the highest score possible), a "Movement Editor" (for editing, yes, the movement of enemies), and the ability to trade high scores.

Despite all of that "missing" stuff, some of which sounds way cool, we'd still probably trade our closest family members in for a copy of Blast Works next week.

Gallery: Blast Works

Temperature-monitoring case mod for the Wii

Evolving from the designs of Team Xtender's past mods, the ii-Hot Rock case aims to do more than just light the Wii with colorful LEDs. The $62.95 shell comes equipped with a digital thermometer that displays the console's internal temperature, and the LEDs shift with that measurement. Every 5° change pushes their hue towards either a colder or warmer glow, luminescing a light blue at sub-28°C and glaring klaxon red when temperatures over 55°C are detected.

If you're paranoid about overheating consoles, a mod like this would be perfect for quickly warning you to either shut your system off or execute an emergency saucer separation, putting distance between you and the rest of the starship before the Wii's warp core breaches. Let's all hope it never comes to that. Set a course past the post break, and check out a couple more photos of Team Xtender's ii-Hot Rock case.

Continue reading Temperature-monitoring case mod for the Wii

Datel tries its hand at Wii mods

Nevermind the product's name -- Datel's Wii Drive Doctor isn't a tool meant for diagnosing and remedying your console's ailments. There should be laws regulating these misleading medical monikers. How many have suffered the embarrassment of consulting Dr. Dre about their disorders, only to find that the gangsta rapper prescribes phat beats, and not actual medicine?

The Drive Doctor is pitched as a "straightforward way for amateur programmers and techie tinkerers to get inside the game." With the mod in place, users can hook their Wii to a PC with a USB cable, allowing them to monitor the system's status and add data to running software. Homebrew applications and games are also playable through the $34.95 device.

Datel's homebrew and cheat tools usually boast low barriers to entry, making them accessible to even the most inexperienced users, but installing the Drive Doctor will require soldering. We've never been too keen on voiding our consoles' warranties, so hearing that requirement was enough to scare us away. Until something cheap and hassle-free comes along, we're going to live a boring, risk-free life with our unmodded Wiis.

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