This one’s a bit off topic but nonetheless important and interesting for all us internet addicts enthusiasts. Ever wondered how you’d connect to the internet in the case of disaster? Zombie apocalypse? Capitalist meltdown? You’re most likely not going to be saving lives, fighting thugs or hunting for food. Face it, you’ll be the local geek so you might as well help out.

The latest issue of Make magazine has details on putting together a Network Relief Kit to provide internet connectivity in the most extreme of situations. The total setup costs around $3,500 USD and bandwidth costs are pretty expensive at $3 to $6 per Megabyte of data transferred. You’re most likely not going to be buying this any time soon but doesn’t the fact that you now know how to visit Dark Diamond from inside your zombie quarantine zone make you feel a lot better?

[MAKE / Via Boing Boing]

8-Bit Trip is a music stop-motion video of all the glory of the 8-bit era made almost completely out of Lego sculptures. It’s mind-bending in its animation, tremendously witty in its detail and just plain lovely. The work of only 3 people and 1500 hours of labor. Fifteen-hundred hours is way too much time even by geek standards. File this under ‘beyond the call of geek duty’. Simply awesome.

There are times when you just need a drink. The frustration rises after hours of grindage and the sweet taste of cola just doesn’t hit the spot. You want something stronger, maybe a Lavos, Magus, or R-66Y…are these the drinks you seek  or distant memories calling forth the silent hero within you?

Students of the IT University of Copenhagen have once again introduced us to some videogame themed fare. This menagerie of drinks pools together Denmark’s expertise in alcohol with their love of games into 12 unique elixirs.

As a friendly gesture to all our readers I’ve gone ahead and converted the bar measurements to ounces. After tossing a few of these back I wouldn’t want to force you to convert centiliters in your inebriated head. I expect you all to make some of these at your next party. Send us some pics.

Full list of drinks and a handy printable table after the break.

[Scrollbar.dk] (Check out their past themed parties.)

Read more!

Ladies, you know sometimes getting the attention of the special geek may be hard. The shy introvert may take your interest in Fallout 3 and L4D as you just being a pretty cool gal, which of course you are.  But, want to carry around something that is sure to turn heads and possibly make him (or her) swoon? I present you with the NES purse. Built using a system-on-a-chip kit and an old portable DVD screen, this mashup turns your ever-functional purse into the ultimate nerd bait. Easily strike up a conversation whilst sitting on the subway or taking a break at the library.   

This is just the ice breaker. The rest is up to you…go get ‘em!

[Geekologie]

There’s probably already an anime or manga for every after-school club Japanese schools have already. Except maybe for the sys admin club, that is, until now! Enter Ubunchu, a school comedy about a sys admin club and their adventures in choosing an OS for their new quad-core machine.

Oh snap! SexyGame 2.0 is out already?!

Its been translated into English by some Ubuntu supporters and distributed as a PDF file for your enjoyment. It’s deliciously geeky, technically accurate, and a perfect example of utopist literature, as everyone knows it’s impossible to get OS fanboys to agree on anything!

[Ubunchu]

If your tabletop gaming group is getting bored of slaying monsters and turning the undead, how about cleaning up the mansion? Maid: The Role Playing Game allows you to do precisely that, play as a maid serving in a mansion. This roleplaying game isn’t new at all in Japan but it is the first to get completely translated into English.

The official website describes it as:

You are a maid, having worked dutifully for the Saionji family for several years. You are also a shy albino princess who does odd jobs for the yakuza, and train with the three-section staff. Your peer Maya is an outgoing young maid with freckles, a streak of being greedy for sweets, and who also happens to be a military cyborg.

Your master is a kind teenager who lives in the mansion alone, but is a bit of a train otaku. He is also a cursed werewolf. With amnesia.

Somewhere between doing the laundry and preparing lunch, the master is kidnapped by evil ninjas. They escape through the basement of the mansion, which contains a portal to the Netherworld. It’s up to you to get him back before dinnertime.

All in a day’s work for a maid!

Translated by Ewen Cluney, the game features art by renowned doujin artist IWAKO. For about $30 bucks for the print version or $8 for the PDF you could be playing as a Maid, a Romance Maid, a Butler or a Master! Oh boy! And forget about the traditional RPG stats. Its all about athletics, affection, skill, cunning, luck and will in here. I have to say though, the thought of maybe breaking a few vases in a beginner campaign sure beats getting slaughtered by Kobolds, or worse yet, Dire Rats.

[Maid RPG]

I kid you not dear reader, Christie’s auctioned an authentic glass D20 used by the Romans as a gaming die. This dodecahedron (twenty-sided) dice was acquired in Egypt during the 1920’s. Now this is where it gets interesting, scholars have yet to find out what the hell did the romans play with these things.

So an artifact used by modern geek gaming is found to have been used in ancient times, its found in Egypt and we have no idea what exactly it was for. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we are living in a bad Yu-Gi-Oh sequel. Not that there’s a good sequel anyway.

That’s it, if some white-haired rich guy bought this and starts some sort of global Dungeons and Dragons tournament I’m quitting this life while I’m ahead. I wouldn’t want to be here when it hits a second season.

[Christie's]

Earlier today Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons and father of RPGs died of heart failure, he is survived by many sons, grandsons and legions of adoring fans, he was 69.

Today the world lost a great man, he was responsible for the birth of RPGs, from DnD to the latest Final Fantasy or Tales game. MMORPGs would not be if it were not for the boundless imagination of Gary Gygax. He was a kind man who loved games and loved what people made of games and even more, what games made of people.

“It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them,” His wife, Gail Gygax said. “He really enjoyed that.”

It would be an understatement to say that he has been an influence in our lives, this man is an cultural icon who’s touched millions of lives. His passion for games is something that now more than ever should inspire us to pursue our own passions. On the subject of death he once said:

“I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.”

And that we will good sir, and that we will. I will be playing some RPGs this following days in his honor. Let us celebrate the fruits of his passion, this true god of gaming shows us that even deities sometimes fail a saving roll. Rest in peace Gary, we geeks of the world salute you!

[Star Tribune]

Students of Denmark’s IT University of Copenhagen recently threw a Mario-themed night at Scrollbar, their local bar. Many of them being Video Game majors they went as far as to create 10 drinks based off the Mario universe. Some of them cocktails, others shots but all of them look pretty cool, like the Bowser cocktail pictured above of which they say:

Bowser

Fiery red-yellow gradient drink… with some bite!
2 cl Tequila
1 cl Coin-treau
5 cl Orange juice
1 cl Grenadine

Directions:
Stir first three ingredients, then drop in Grenadine for the gradient effect. Serve with ice in tall glass.

Garnish:
Blood orange wedge

Notes:
Modified ‘Tequila Sunrise’ – the Cointreau adds a nice twist.

Do geeks know how to party or what? Check out the link of their whole menu, see more pictures of the event and even download some stencils to make your own Mario decorations.

[Scrollbar]

Despite there having been Wii modchips for quite a while it by no means unlocked the full potential of the Wii but a couple of days ago at the 24th Chaos Communication Congress, a delightful meeting of hackers and other hardcore tinkerers, Michael Steil and Felix Domke demonstrated the work they had been doing with the Wii as you can see in the video above.

Beyond the technical mumbo-jumbo they were able to extract the security keys for running code on the Wii and therefore enabled the user to run homebrew software on the console. Although at the most basic level of development right now this means that free Wii homebrew is now a reality and might render better fruits before Nintendo’s WiiWare does. As of now the most popular console on the market is wide open and now anything is possible.

• Did you want to use a hard drive through your USB port? Now its possible.
• Did you want to turn your Wii into a media center? Now its possible.
• Geek enough to want Linux on your Wii? Now its possible.
• Wanted to play old GCN games with your wiimote? Now its possible.
• Wanted to synch your Wii to your PC? Now its possible.
• Dreamed of some hot Wii on DS action? Now its possible.

While this is old news for other consoles the Wii enjoys massive user base and its hardware is cheap making hackers and would-be coders more likely to work on projects. Remember when the iPod was finally cracked? Well this is pretty much that all over again. Just give it some months folks, things are about to get fun.