Libraries have always had their different tactics to keep kids within their walls. Usually those tactics actually involve books though, well now they’re tossing in video games like Guitar Hero and “Karaoke”.

They are actually conducting a study involving several libraries throughout the country to see if the video games make kids smarter and increase their literacy. I’m not so sure about all of that, but it can’t hurt to draw kids into libraries.

In Tucson the local news did a report on it, so if you follow the link you can hear their thoughts on the program. The study is being done by the American Library Association, hopefully when they’re done they will report their findings.

[via kotaku]

This one was spotted in Taiwan and is apparently an extremely limited edition version made by Microsoft. Which means it will likely be near impossible to pick one up for yourself.

Between the combination of the overabundance of fans from the recent movie and these being in short supply. Not to mention they probably want you to offer up your first born child in order to get one. Sadly, the best most of us would likely get is just a Dark Knight sticker slapped on our Xbox.

[via crunchgear]

This one, like many of their others doubles as a necklace and even has a cross pendant to lay over top it. The slightly goth necklace looks about like you’re ready to go off vampire hunting at any given moment.

Being the Solid Alliance, they value their products to such an extreme that they are selling them a bit overpriced. For a 2GB drive it will cost you $180 or for a brass-colored one $145, which is going to be a bit much for most people.

[via gizmodo]

Actually, it’s just the case that’s really made out of Legos, the rest are your usual computer parts. However, for once there is a Lego DIY project that isn’t multi-colored.

The ones that have all of the different colors tend to make it look even more like the project of some prodigy ten year old. This one is all black and for once looks like something an actual adult might create.

The project was done by Luke Anderson who was nice enough to post a full guide on how to do this project yourself. He also has a time lapsed video of him assembling the case, which comes complete with techno music. He created the computer specifically as a web/development server and wanted one for a decent price. You can check out his full guide here.

[via chipchick]

With the i-Knock, it would be highly unlikely you would ever forget about a conversation or miss someone popping up while you were afk. When someone logs on, messages you or even sends you an email this little guy will hammer his head and make some noise.

You can customize him with different songs or sounds for different people, so you’ll know if it’s actually important. It will work with Skype, MSN and Yahoo Messenger. It also has special alerts for over 20 emoticons. Sadly, there is no word on pricing just yet.

[via likecool]

Blizzard’s new Achievement system has a great many of us curious as to how it will work and if we’ll see it as either an improvement or just a nuisance. Thus far we know only a few details about the upcoming Achievements and how they will work.

Jeffrey Kaplan decided to give a few more details about the Achievement points.  As always, Blizzard is trying to take the Achievements and improve the way they are done in comparison to existing ones like the Xbox version.  One thing they are doing differently is you will be able to track your progression on a particular Achievement.

On certain ones you’ll actually see a list of completed and uncompleted Achievements.  Which means if you missed something, you know exactly what it was instead of trying to guess and having to start all over again.  Along with that is another new feature one that will track the more quirky things.  Like which bosses have killed your character the most or the most amount of damage ever done.  You can read the full detailed interview here.

[via mtv]

Be it either chic with expensive leather work or something a little more cute, like this bag. It features a quirky design and there is no mistaking it as anything but girly. From the cute little hearts and bows to the pink zipper.

It is sold by Quirky Bags who isn’t going to make things easy by just saying what size laptops would fit. Instead they give the overall dimensions of the bag, which are 40 x 30 x 10cm. Those in the UK are in luck because this bag offers free shipping for you. It will cost you £100.00 or about $195.

[via gizmodiva]

A reader on Kotaku apparently installs PCs for a living and helped install this one in a government office. It is twenty-seven 67” HD monitors. Which means the display is 40ft wide and 15ft high with a desktop resolution of 12600 x 3150.

He claims to have played both Bioshock and WoW on it. Although there is the strong possibility he just posted the login screen up there and never played. Even if he had played on it, being stretched out that badly I would think would give most people a slight headache.

[via kotaku]

The Zhevra mount actually isn’t the only perk you’ll be seeing either. You can actually summon the friends you recruit to you so you can level together. Another nice little bonus is that you and your friends will get triple the experience up until level 60.

Which means not only do you get a cool mount, you can get one of your lower level characters to level up much faster. The experience boost does have a little fine print to it, you can only get that boost in experience if you are both together. Also if one of you is lower level, only the lower level one will get the xp boost. You can read up more on the details here.

[via wowinsider]

The teen didn’t show any signs of mental problems when he was questioned, he confessed to the incident. A great many are probably going to point fingers at ill effects of video games. I however, find it more appalling that his parents weren’t bright enough to judge their own teen’s maturity level and keep the game away from him.

Seriously, a great many of us who don’t even have kids have seen kids way too young and immature playing GTA. Purely, because the parents aren’t even paying attention to what the kid is playing and then once they figure it out just shrug it off and let them continue. After all, they’ve already been playing it, why stop them now?

[via newlaunches]

Many Diablo II fans had a love for the Necromancer and sadly it isn’t in the listing for classes coming in Diablo III. Well Jeff Wilson sat down and gave some reasons for that and also gave hope that the Necromancer class still had a chance at being in Diablo III.

Basically, in an effort to make a new game, they only chose old classes that could be changed to make better. The Necromancer was just too good, however, the Witch Doctor is very similar with just a few differences.

One nice thing he did say is that an expansion was a great opportunity to bring back old classes. Which means that there is still hope to see the Necromancer in the future. If you follow the link listed below you can read the full interview.

[via mtv]

Yes, it does work, they just put a DVD player into their NES. However, the circuit glued on the top with exposed buttons somehow kills the cool factor on this mod.

The difference between the other modder and this one. This guy was bored one night and decided to do it. The other modder actually had plans worked out. Lesson of the day, just because you can do a mod doesn’t mean you should.  At least if it looks like this, don’t claim it and don’t brag about it on the internet.

[via make]

Alright, I have no idea why it’s better, but the silicon disk is waterproof, that’s exciting. It does show both Celsius and Fahrenheit, so it’ll work both in the US and everywhere else.

Just put the disk in the water and it changes color. At which point you can reference the guide to see how hot the water is exactly. This is still a concept design by Kai Chen and from the looks of it I’d imagine it will stay a concept design.

[via ubergizmo]

It does however, promise to offer 300 games in general. It sadly, doesn’t actually list which games will be available on the arcade machine though. Yet, with 300 games to pick from, I’m sure that you’ll be able to find a couple favorites.

It is designed with two players in mind and offers plenty of shoulder and screen space. The LCD panel itself is 24”. To pick one up it will cost you $4,400, which means you might have to save your change for a little while to save up for this one.

[via bornrich]

I have to say I prefer the black one, but the tone of the original does make it look a bit more vintage. He decided to remove the antiglare film layer to make the picture a bit sharper.

He doesn’t really give any step by step instructions, but he does give plenty of pictures to salivate over. He did also state that the mod took him quite some time, but he had conflicts with school and work. Which means if you’d like to try this one out yourself, hopefully you don’t have a day job.

[via dvice]

He took each one and broke down exactly why it couldn’t be put into a game. Essentially he pointed out that in the end they were just pretty pictures and wouldn’t actually work in a game. Partially because it would make it much harder to see the monsters you’re fighting.

He did state that there will be no rainbows in Diablo III, so at least they got that much. You can see the full break down of his thoughts here and if you’re curious about a particular screenshot, he addresses each one individually.

[via kotaku]

Which let’s face it, is indeed what we look forward to in Doom games. The game will still be built on id Tech 5. They aren’t really sure on the story line just yet or what the name of the game will be.

Hollenshead did state that, “The goal for the game is that it will be the best game of its ilk when it’s released.” They also are striving that the game not only hold true to the rest of the Doom games, but be innovative while it’s at it. The game will be under the direction of Kevin Cloud.

[via kotaku]

Normally the best part about an off-brand gaming accessory is it’s a bit cheaper to pick up an extra one than if you were to get the official controller. However, that isn’t as much the case with this Njoy board.

It does have the extra perk of a built in scale and outlines to show where your feet should go. However, it’s marked at £64.99 or about $128, which isn’t much less if at all than the official Balance Board just depending on where you purchase it from.

[via balanceboardblog]

All of which will be directly linked to your Blizzard account and viewable through it. Jeff Kaplan stated that they are making an attempt at a similar feel as found on Xbox Live.

The points will also render a level you’re at called a “Blizzard Level”. Which means that you’ll be able to show off the fact that you have a love for all three of the Blizzard games and prove once and for all that you do indeed pwn at all three.

[via joystiq]

It has actually already been sold, and for a massive amount of profit too. If you have no idea who the Wii Fit Girl is, then first of all you should probably crawl out from under that rock. Then you can click the link and watch her twirl on the Balance Board.

At the absolute cheapest price, he couldn’t have gotten the original Wii Fit for much less than about $90. The price he got out of the auction was $165. Which isn’t horrible, it’s just not exactly the greatest amount of profit.

[via wiifanboy]

Granted the inside of the hard case for your games features a bright pink, but it doesn’t go for the cop out color that many other cases do. It also includes a stylus that goes with the case a bit better. Although I’m sure there will be a great deal of ladies who find this cheesy, there will likely be at least a couple that enjoy these almost Victorian style accessories.

The hard case to store your games is priced at just under $10, the screen cleaner compact for about $7.50, stylus for $6.50, the case for your DS is $11 and the soft case to put all of this in is $14. You can also pick up some screen protectors for $6. None of it is overly expensive, unfortunately though it’s a Japanese product so you’ll have to pay for it to be shipped all the way to you.

[via gaygamer]

“We think that the timing of a new product introduction will depend upon the sales profile for the DS, and believe that lower than expected DS hardware sales could trigger an earlier launch for the new device,” Pachter said in an investor note.
“DS sales are solid worldwide, but are weak in Japan, leading us to expect an introduction of a new device in Japan before the end of the calendar year.”
He said that Japanese DS demand will likely continue to decline. He adds, “We think that Nintendo has a new handheld device ready for launch in [Japan] before the end of the calendar year.”

Obviously since this is just an analysts thoughts there is no solid proof that such a thing would be coming. That is besides a bit of speculation by this particular analyst, but we can still hope.

[via crunchgear]

The mod includes working dual shock and everything, granted he does still have a couple things he’d like to tweak on it. He left out the headset connector in this particular mod, but intends to fix that next time.

He did include the DS3 buttons on this, which means your friends would notice that something was a bit different. However, it might be nice if he kept the buttons PS3 style.  Then again the brightly colored buttons look nice too, just depends on your preference.

[via techeblog]

He mentions, “The next DOOM game will look like it’s built on another engine, as it uses three times the horsepower,” according to a 1UP report. Sadly, this will change the fps a bit and drop it down to 30fps. Which to give you an idea, Rage runs at 60 fps.

He also went so far into depth on the game that he mentioned the game would feature “guns, blood, demons, and gibs.” I know, he’s just full of shocking new information.  We do have one request though, please, we beg of you, give us light in Doom 4. We don’t like having to get out the flashlight to confirm that there are demon guts on the floor after we’ve been shooting in its general direction.

[via kotaku]

The laser will stay off until it detects a vehicle, at which point it will kick on and point a laser down at you. That way you know you’re either not hogging one side of the garage or will know you can close the garage door behind you.

You can either purchase the Laser Parking System with one laser or two if you have a two car garage. For the single it will cost $24.95 and for the dual $29.95.

[via likecool]

The bag is made entirely out of post consumer plastic bottles and manages to look adorable anyway. Specifically, it uses 18 bottles to create the bag, which is 18 less that goes to the dump.

It has smaller compartments on the front and then larger areas on the inside to fit books and your laptop. For one of these it will cost you $48. Which isn’t too bad really and you’re cleaning out one cubic yard of a landfill.

[via greatgreengoods]

Which means while you’re playing you don’t ever have to get up for another beer. The arcade unit itself is based on a high end gaming PC, and has a projector that gives you a 10ft screen to play on. Just in case you’re worried that you can’t hold your beer and play the game, it also has a cup holder.

It can play up to 200 PC titles, PS3 racing games as well as other Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 games. It also features 5.1 surround sound. To get one of these it will cost you $6,995.

[via coolestgadgets]

Although it appears as if the arcade part would get in the way, making shutting the doors impossible. They threw in an extra design element and made it so that the panel with the controllers flips up out of the way.

To finish off this job he had the 7th Dr. Who autograph it (Sylvester McCoy). He has all the step by step details posted if you’d like to check it out. Although I warn you now, he has a tendency to throw in random unrelated details just for kicks.

[via joystiq]

Finally, the official date has been announced as to when tickets for BlizzCon will go up for sale. The lucky ones that will be making their way there can pick them up as of August 11th.

Just in case you’ve somehow forgotten, it will be October 10th and 11th at the Anaheim Convention Center which is located in Anaheim, CA. The tickets will be sold for $100 a piece, but there is hope for those that can’t make it to the convention.

This year they are teaming up with DIRECTV and will be giving live coverage of the event, which will be available on pay per view exclusively through DIRECTV. The pay per view event will have a minimum of eight hours of live coverage.

Some may think this guy has taken his dedication just one step too far, namely me. The cool part is that the NES actually works. Just hook up all of your cords and you’re ready to play no matter where you are. Although it is a bit of a mystery where exactly he is hiding the power supply.

The good news is that this dead sexy fashion statement can be yours. Yes that’s right, they decided to spread the NES love and are selling these compact little belt buckles for $300.

[via joystiq]

Which is what a circuit bender, Kaseo, decided to do. Although I appreciate that he placed several different spikes through the yellow creature, it is still a slightly horrifying mod.

If you actually found the video interesting, you can follow the link listed below to listen to two more videos. If you’re like me though, I wouldn’t put yourself through the torture. Trust me, you’ll be equally horrified after the last two.

[via pinktentacle]

Alright, so the series of the iPods engraved with The Simpsons, that was badass.  This however, is just sad and a bit late I might add.  Seriously, 90210, are you kidding me?!

It’s limited edition and everything, which is probably best.  No one wants too many of these roaming about the earth.  You can also get a cheesy little message engraved below the image.

That phrase can be up to 30 characters long.  There will only be 2,000 of these that will go up for sale, so you’ll have to rush out now to pick one up.  There will be a 4GB Nano for $219 and an 8GB for $269.  You can also get a hold of CSI and Survivor versions as well.

[via slipperybrick]

The freak comment may have perhaps been due to the fact that I’m a big sissy that only goes outside when its at a reasonable temperature. Which means it’s about 75 degrees (Fahrenheit). Well these headphones are clearly for those that are much more capable of surviving in the cold than I am.

These fuzzy pink guys have also enough room to store your iPod Shuffle. That also means that this setup is free of obnoxious cords.

[via make]

Ice Red Bags have a couple new laptop bags to keep your laptop bag stylishly protected. They are both very different from each other, one being more sporty and the other a bit retro.

The Urban Laptop Tote Bag is the sportier style, it will hold up to a 15.4” laptop. It also has compartments for your smaller electronics and other random objects you may need to carry around. It comes in blue, red, gray and black.

The second option is the Shine Laptop Bag (creative name). It is the more retro, shiny bag, which also features the traditional shape for a laptop bag. It will hold up to a 17” laptop and has an extra pocket on the front for storage of other devices. It comes in pink, gray and black. Although the pink is a bit much, the blackhas more of a sleek look. Both bags are selling for $69.95.

[via chipchick]

Hopefully you have a thing for lace accenting your bags with a bit of polka dot fabric lining the inside of the bag. The bag is made from blue corduroy material, which means it’s likely to be a bit more durable.

The seller has been playing WoW for a little over two years now and suggests that the bag be used for strategy guides, game cards and other random WoW stuff you may own. The bag is being sold for $180.

[via gearfuse]

Originally the designer based out of the UK, Koray Ozgen, created a hand-blown glass version. However, later decided to make a more durable model out of plastic. That way it could be more versatile and be used outdoors.

Although this is a product based out of the UK, recently it has made its way onto a different retailers site which is offering it up to those of us in the US. The fixtures can either be sat on the floor or hung as a pendant with one of their optional kits. For one of these fixtures it will cost you $176.

[via technabob]

It can be draped over just about anything to make it appear as if it were melting off of whatever random object you have it hung on. There is also a version that can be just hung on the wall flat. Each one is made to order so it will take about a week to be sent out.

It is actually being sold on Etsy, and is featured in several different colors. The Melting Clock that can be draped over objects is being sold for $60 but the wall clocks are sold for $45.

[via dvice]

It is actually specifically preloaded with 20 different games. The controller set up itself is also identical to your old Genesis. Of course being preloaded with games means some of the games aren’t going to be worth it, however, there still are a few good ones in the mix.

To list off a few it includes Sonic and Knuckles, Golden Axe, Shinobi, Ecco and the Dolphin, Alex Kidd – Enchanted Castle, Alien Storm Altered Beast, Arrow Flash, Crackdown, Decap Attack, Kid Chameleon, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Machine, Ecco Junior, Flicky, Gain Ground, Jewel Master, Sonic Spinball and Shadow Dancer. It is being sold for about $60.

[via crowded brain]

It just snaps onto your faucet and when you push up the flap it turns your faucet into a fountain. Which can be done in either the kitchen or the bathroom.

Hopefully, your water straight from the faucet isn’t too shabby taste-wise. This tiny little gadget is being sold for $4. Which means it’d be easier to pick up a couple if you have more than one bathroom that needs it.

[via the kitchn]

However, thanks to the internet, that doesn’t stop it from getting here anyway. Between the cryptic use of nursery rhymes and the dismembered parts lying around. It makes me go all starry eyed and sigh longingly like a love struck teen.

It was approved to be seen in the European regions at least. Barring finding out that this is the most pathetic game ever created, I’d at least pick it up and give it a try from the way the video looks.

[via joystiq]