Treasure World from Aspyr for the Nintendo DS is an interesting new way to look at gaming.
To play, you take your DS out into the wild and roam the streets looking for star dust. In this case, star dust can be gathered from the Wi-Fi signals that are all around you, and each one unlocks a special treasure chest that is filled with goodies. Just turn the game on, wander around an area with lots of unique signals, and the game will tick off rewards like a pinball machine on overdrive.
Once you return home, the game will reward your adventure with costumes for your character and decorations for your world. Then, in another interesting twist, you can arrange those decorations in any way that you’d like, and your world becomes a 32-note music tracker, allowing you to create and share songs by just placing things in various locations.
Overall, I’m impressed with what Aspyr has done with the concept. They’ve managed to trick kids into playing outside by rewarding them with trinkets and toys, and then have turned them into composers with a unique music machine that encourages experimentation and sharing. Well done!
The Livio radio is a rather neat little music device that is designed to work well with Pandora’s internet radio service, and includes features like Wi-Fi for wireless listening and built in Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down buttons for full personal DJ support.
If you were disappointed by the fact that Apple used MacWorld to debut a new, larger laptop rather than a smaller, netbook style computer that many had hoped for, then worry not, because one clever modder named Gregory has found a way to turn an Asus Eee PC into the mini Mac of your dreams.
Called the Eee Mac, it’s a 9-inch netbook that uses a custom install of OS X, and even includes a glowing Apple logo in the back that’ll really psyche your friends out. Plus, the wi-fi, USB, SD, and most things work, with the exception of the ethernet port and the camera, and it boots in just 40 seconds into either OS X or Linux.
Not ready to dig into the case? Then Gregory also makes a 22mb disk image available that will get you up and running on your very own Eee Mac with just the addition of a retail OS X disc.
Since Microsoft went straight from the Xbox to the Xbox 360, they didn’t stop to do any revisions to the original like Sony did to the PlayStation 2.
However, this didn’t stop one crafty modder from making his own “Xbox Slim” project, and using it as a media center that can play games.
The Xbox Slim cuts more than half the weight from the original, weighing in at just four pounds, and adds in advanced features like a DVD/CD-R combo drive, 60GB of onboard storage, a built-in Wi-Fi receiver, and a built in receiver for the Logitech wireless controller.
Along with the hardware revisions, XBMC has been added for media center capability, and SNES, Sega, NeoGeo, and other emulators have been added for classic gaming goodness.
It might not be certified by Microsoft, but chances are, that isn’t exactly a bad thing.
Has the damaged economy managed to crush your new gadget budget?
Instead of sitting around and complaining, why not make your old things new again with a few “creative” hacks?
To help you along the path to recycled gadget goodness, Gizmodo has put together a guide to Zero-Cost Gadget Upgrades, including turning your Xbox, PC or Apple [...]
Dell calls it the “Ideal Internet Buddy for Surfing, Shopping and Chatting” (and “Your New Best Friend”, and a “Light, Highly Mobile Device Built For Easy Online Browsing and Entertainment” and an “Internet Companion” and a “Small, easy-to-carry device” that’s ready for “teens, tweens, travelers and Tweeters”, so I guess even Dell can’t figure out [...]
