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Breathing new life in old designs, Ben Heck’s mods transform otherwise stationary consoles, making them portable. The newly released PS3 Slimline was the next beast to tackle. Combining the unit with a 17” widescreen HD Display and custom case with built-in sound controls, the PS3 laptop is a brilliant hybrid.

While a little bulky and I’m sure quite heavy; similar to the Xbox360 Laptop I can see myself taking the PS3 on a family trip. You get Blu-ray media center and gaming platform in a nice tight little package. My only changes would be to include a way to video/audio out.

Full design making process on Ben Heck’s site.

[BenHeck via Geek]

I always enjoyed Left 4 Dead but I never really found it terrifying, not even a bit scary, until the Teletubbies came. Left 4 Teletubbies is a L4D mod made by Flameknight7, which replaces zombie models with the Teletubbies, complete with the ‘he-ho’ sound those horrid creatures made. With a few gory zombies left for ambiance this mod turns L4D a lot more sinister and, I have to admit, a bit startling to play.

Now if they’d only substitute the Tank for Barney, the Witch with Baby Bop and the Hunter with IT the clown, we could call it a day and be done with many childhood frustrations.

Featured on Gamasutra, level design director Josh Bridge describes key elements of creating memorable gameplay based upon solid level design:

Usually in a shooter, the core gameplay revolves around living long enough to kill what is threatening you or impeding your progress.

The challenge is to present this small amount of gameplay in new and exciting ways so that the player is compelled to sit through and play all the way to the end… and hopefully want to play the sequel.

What follows is a very detailed approach to understanding an integral part of the player experience: The Combat Zone. Behind all of this, there is a physiological thought process I wish more designers would apply.

Play Your Way

Players should be able to play the way THEY want to. Why? It allows for a more creative experience, something that players will likely want to come back to again. Limiting the player to one path and play style over and over again gets tiresome; variety is key to keeping the player engaged.

Further more is an immersion factor of letting the player sink into the role of the main character seeing the entire virtual world not just “the game”.

Everything has to make sense. When designing a Combat Zone, it is critical to use the fiction of the area to inspire what objects will be placed on the play floor, and how they can be used as cover. This needs to be a part of your napkin sketch plan, as it is symbiotic to the environment your level is within.

This is a must read for modders. It illustrates common pitfalls of poor design and helps layout basic rules in creating a functional level and fun experience.

Summing it All Up

Ask yourself: “What will players remember about this battle that is different than others?”

[GAMASUTRA]

Now that all eyes have been cast on the life-size Gundam, he has a secret to tell you. No longer can he can fight alongside his comrades with this burdensome weight on his shoulders. Could this be a new yaoi storyline in the making? Did somebody get bedazzler for their birthday? You decide.

[MotoCity by way of Geekologie]

As if Namco Bandai’s Klonoa remake isn’t incentive enough for you to get your Nintendo Wii modded, now there’s even more reason to do so. Vanillaware, the development house behind Princess Crown, Odin Sphere and GrimGrimMoire, have set April 9th as the Japanese release date for their Wii exclusive action RPG, Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

A US release date has yet to be set, but you can bet that it will be later this year.

[Siliconera]

Ever wanted to feel like the Doctor, but don’t want to tangle with Daleks, Cybermen, and the occasional Ood invasion? Well, now you can, with the Tardis MAME unit! A dedicated Doctor Who fan crammed a MAME console into the iconic police box facade of the Doc’s famous spaceship, the Tardis. He even managed to make the control console look almost exactly like the console from the inside of the Tardis from the original series. He chronicled how to do the whole thing at his site, if you ever want to copy this amazing feat.

[Joystiq]

Of all the GTA mods this combination is one of the craziest ones I’ve seen so far, controlling the Lucky Star girls, shooting UZIs akimbo style, fighting armed Pikachu left and right and just when things start getting heavy in comes Doraemon riding on top of Metal Gear. The madness has just begun.

Oh yeah and some nice F-zero music at the end, to keep things interesting.

Thanks Blanc!

A lot of us old school gamers complain that today’s video games are not hard enough. We constantly bring up how when you died in a game there were no saves and if you wanted to continue where you were you had to leave your console turned on and hope it made it through the night. We really love to brag about it, it makes us proud, it makes us hardcore. But if games had been like this obscenely hard Super Mario Bros. hack most of us wouldn’t be here right now, would we?

Even though it gets repetitive as hell I was laughing at his mistakes all the way to the end, anyone know the story behind this mod?

Also, have you ever wondered what’s that sound you hear after Mario falls from the bottom of the screen? Yeah, that’s his spine breaking into a million pieces.

[The Tanooki]

Apparently, those of you lucky enough to have a Wii right now are going to have an easier time modding your Wii to your likings.

The new Wiis, which are part of new shipments of the console, have an altered circuit layout that makes modification more difficult than in earlier versions. Users attempting to mod the new consoles using current modchips are very likely to damage the system, the sources pointed out.

Hopefully, this will give you hackers a headstart.

[Techspot]

A group of French players and game hackers have released a program that allows you to make your own Phoenix Wright cases and stories. The editor uses a ROM of the game (which you obviously have because you bought the game) that allows you to run custom scripts. There’s a whole gallery of Phoenix Wright backgrounds and sprites for use and as far as I know there are plenty of story projects already in the works. Just dont watch in the official forums, those are empty.

[Phoenix Wright Story Editor]