Nuclear Monster

  • The first time I ever saw a 3D printer in-person was at a robotics conference for software developers in Florida. That thing printed out a tiny little model of an intricate water jug and I was in awe.

    Imagine the look on my face when I woke up this morning and saw that ioquake3 developer Tim Angus had designed every 3D-printed part in this electric guitar.

    Here’s how Tim describes the project:

    When I was a teenager I made an electric guitar, because I couldn’t afford a real PRS. I fitted a Roland GK2A midi pickup to it, by taking it to bits and cramming it all into the body of the guitar, since at the time Roland didn’t make the internal version. I was never completely happy with it and for one reason or another I removed it after a few years, but after I got hold of a 3D printer, I realised I could do a much better job…

    If you want to keep up with the other problems that he solves with his ingenuity and a 3D printer, check out Tim Angus’ YouTube channel and follow his official Twitter account.

  • Getting Over It is Incompatable with all of my devices

    I’ve already written about how much I love Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, but I hadn’t written about the iOS version which has gotten much better over time and today there is an Android version on Google’s app store if you’d like to learn to master your frustration on a portable device. They’re both $5 and highly recommended. Although you might want to have a case on your device if something happens while you’re playing.

  • I love adventure games. Well, I love modern adventure games. They come in all shapes and sizes, but there’s a type that’s a sub-genre of the Walking Simulator style of adventure in which you get your narrative-focused Gone Home’s and your Tacoma’s and the occasional Firewatch.

    The news is that the developer of Firewatch, Campo Santo, is getting acquired by Valve. The good news is that they will continue to work on things they’ve been working on. This news won’t stop Firewatch from coming to Nintendo’s Nintendo Switch sometime this year. They’re also promising improvements to Firewatch on every other platform in the process of optimizing it for Nintendo’s Nintendo Switch.

    Campo Santo’s progresso on the new gameo In the Valley of Gods will also continue, that was announced late last year. Except now it’ll be a Valve thing, which is good for Valve because my understanding is that many of Valve’s writers have left.

  • A gif of this cake serving Rube Goldberg machine has been going around social media and that utterly fascinating gif didn’t even include all of the action for this awesome machine from ex-New Zealander and current New Yorker Joseph Herscher of the Joseph’s Machines project.

  • The c64 mini

    The miniaturizing nostalgia shrink ray is sprayed at everything now: Cars; entertainment systems both super and conventional Nintendo; iPads; arcade cabinets… There’s also now a The C64 Mini, not a Commodore 64 Mini or Classic Edition, but strictly The C64 Mini. Apparently they couldn’t get the name Commodore 64.

    This miniature device that definitely isn’t a Commodore 64 also isn’t out yet in the U.S., but it is out almost everywhere else and I wouldn’t trust an American to review it, so here is Dr. Ashens’ review:

    It sounds like this The C64 Mini isn’t going to be beloved like the original unless the firmware is updated in some fundamental way and they also recall and replace every joystick. Still, it is fun to hear someone who is familiar with all of the 64 games it ships with go over each one.

    Alec Meer’s review at RPS rakes the makers of this device over the coals about the non-functional keyboard a bit more than Ashens did:

    There are two things a miniaturised version of gaming-centric 80s home computer the Commodore 64 needs to do above all else: 1) have a working keyboard 2) have a really good joystick.

    Uh-oh.