Nintendo Wii Fanboy

This Akihabara store display contains a Super Famicom that has been gutted and turned into a Windows PC. We already love the idea of making boring, ugly things like computers look less boring and ugly by cramming them inside game consoles. But what really makes this mod a winner is the custom label on the hollowed-out cartridge.

The fact that it actually appears to run Windows XP is the hilarious icing on the cake. Oh! Maybe it's really Windows Vista, but made to look like XP! You know, in keeping with the retro-camouflage theme!

[Via Gizmodo]

The Sony PlayStation was, in the distant past, devised as a collaboration with Nintendo: a CD system that also played Super Famicom cartridges. The two parted ways in a less than amicable fashion before the system was produced, and then the PlayStation went on to become the system that Nintendo fanboys would simultaneously hate and own.

Somehow, a near-complete prototype of a standalone PlayStation system has appeared, as reported by Game Rave. They don't give any information, stating "Real updates coming very, very soon" but it's enough to look at the thing. There are also pictures of a much earlier prototype of the SNES CD add-on.

It's a little scary to think of how games may have developed if this product had been successful. Instead of the 3D boom, would we all be playing FMV games now? Or 2D platformers with really good music?

[Via Insert Credit]

Wii Sports might have been Nintendo's most successful attempt at getting us to play golf in our living rooms by swinging an imagined club, but it certainly wasn't the company's first try. Tinkering with the idea back in 1995, Nintendo worked with Japanese electronics giant Ricoh to release Lasabirdie, a personal golf simulator for the Super Famicom.

The Lasabirdie bundle included a Get in the Hole game cart and several control accessories. Though the Lasabirdie lacked any motion sensing technology, its implementation was remarkably similar to the Wii's. Players used a light-sensor-equipped golf club in conjunction with a sensor pad to measure their strokes. This setup detected the speed of a player's swing and translated it into the simulator. The game offered a training mode that showed players how their slices hit the ball and gave advice on how to improve their swings.

Lasabirdie's production was limited to 3,500 Japanese units, selling for about $450 each! One would think the rarity and extravagant retail price would make purchasing the bundle near impossible today, but Gamesniped spotted a Lasabirdie sold for only $270 at a recent eBay auction. The seller was even generous enough to provide a video demonstrating the game for bidders. Check it out after the post break.

Apparently an up-and-comer in the Japanese celebrity world, Haruna Anno has decided to test the toughness and durability of a couple SNES (Super Famicom) cartridges. All being Street FIghter II: The World Warrior, one was left to freeze in an icebox, another left to burn on a stove and the last was chucked down a flight of steps.

The conclusion? Upon placing each game into the console and turning it on, they all worked and played fine! Amazing, especially in the case of the one subjected to fire, as it had to be filed down to actually fit into the console. So has this launched her further up the ranks of the Japanese celebrity list? We don't know, but now at least we know our cartridges might be safe if we accidentally flung them down a flight of stairs.