by Ashley Johnson

Are you looking for inventive ways to jazz up your PC this year? Well now you can. Creating your own PC modifications (case mod) is a fun and relatively inexpensive way to dress up your tired PC. You don’t have to know a lot about computers to create a case mod. You can find easy “How To” guides everywhere.

Case mods are often conducted on the lights and fans of the system, however; you can go as far as renovating the majority of the computer’s components including its exterior.

Case mods are not limited to computers. Some extreme console users often enjoy creating mods for their systems. One mod I recently found online was a Clerks mod for a PS3.

Computer enthusiasts in the past have created some of the strangest PC modifications ever. The following is a list of awesome mods I recently located online.

10. The Microwave PC-as strange as it sounds in order to create this machine the internal components of a microwave oven were taken out and replaced with computing equipment.

9. The Wall Crawler-built into a wall cabinet, made for a user that wants to alternate between hard drives on a daily basis.

8. The WMD-weapon of mass destruction was built with the intention of looking like an atomic bomb.

7. R2D2 PC-the PC is for Stars Wars fans who want to do more than just watch the movie. They want to keep a portion of the film with them forever.

6. The Lego MAC-is a PC mod created out of thousands of Lego blocks. This one will really take you back to your childhood.

5. The Cyber Pumpkin-speaks for itself.

4. The Y2K Bug-Its outward appearance takes on the look of a random insect but this mod took several months to build.

3. The Gingerbread House-Just in time for the holiday season. This particular mode looks almost eatable.

2. The Toilet PC-This mod is my favorite. The Toilet PC comes complete with its own biohazard sign and painted on excrement as well as a flusher used as a power switch.

1. Miss Kanna PC-For all of you Manga fans out there this PC is for you. This design was actually created for a magazine in 2004. It’s structure is made out of piping and clay.

(Information taken from http://gadgets.fosfor.se/the-top-10-weirdest-case-mods/)

Other interesting case mods include: Leela Futurama case mode, DOOM 3, and Battlestar Galactica case mods.

Computer Moding equipment can be found at some of the following locations:

www.FrozenCPU.com

www.Xoxide.com

www.ArticMod.com

Review by John Wolsky

A few weeks back, Sony released a demo for their game called “Patapon” on the PSP. On a whim, I decided to try the strange sounding little game, and I’ll tell you that I sure was surprised by what I picked up. In concept, Patapon is a rhythm based game. You control a small horde of minions with a war drum. Yes, you are a drummer and all you do is drum to a beat and your army moves. Reading this, you may think about how incredibly boring this is. Like I said, in concept Patapon sounds like a terrible game. In actuality, it is probably the most incredibly addictive game I’ve played in years. After playing it consistently for a few weeks now, I can tell you that it is probably the best game in my PSP collection. The actual story mode of the game probably only take about 5-10 hours to beat, but the replayability of the missions and your desire to further enhance your army will keep you playing for much longer. Aside from the simple missions and challenges you face, the game also includes 5 distinct mini-games to unlock and master. If you’re looking for a great game to pick up and play, Patapon is a great addition to any PSP owner’s library, and at half the price of a normal PSP game it is well worth the purchase.

by Chelsea Reilly

As if it is not enough to play golf and tennis from the convenience of your own home Nintendo has yet done it again. Nintendo recently came out with Wii TV channel, TV No Tomo. The channel is essentially a tv guide channel through your Wii. The channel is a free download from the Wii shopping channel. The remote also doubles as a universal remote for your tv. The channel will give you the freedom to view what channels will be broadcast up to a week before hand and also the ability to bookmark shows that you want to watch using Mii’s. Automatic text messages also can be sent to remind you of when a bookmarked show is coming on. On addition to all of the great things included with this, are also the bad. There is no option to pause a live broadcast while there is no capability to bookmark a future show and record it. Lastly, Nintendo has no intentions on expanding the channel to the U.S. or any other place but Japan for that matter. Many bloggers have voiced their opinions about the service and most have related to the saying, “TiVo anyone?”


http://www.gamespot.com/news/6187113.html

by Brady Begley

With game play being pushed to its limits the way you “control” the game is naturally the next step in the evolution. Guitar Hero guitars are being modified and personalized to get the most out of your play time. Here are my three favorite mods out on the Internet.

1. Paul and Matt from over at Hak.5 took two Guitar Hero guitars and made one with ten frets. You can check out the video how-to at:

www.hak5.org

2. Instructables.com has a mod that adds lights under the frets to “liven up the virtual shredding”. Check it out:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Guitar-Hero-LED-Mod/

3. David Randolph over at Revision3 was so bad at the game he automated it. Check it out at:

http://revision3.com/systm/ghbox/

There are many more mods out but these are the ones that I like the best. Remember, you can do this to your guitar. Modding is a great way to spend your free time. Give it a try!

by: Chris Adams

When you want to grab some digital files and put them in a different folder, have you ever thought of actually being able to “grab” them? Like something out of Minority Report. This is slowly becoming a reality due to the development of “Epoc” technology from Emotiv.

Electroencephalography is the measuring or recording of electric activity of the brain and has been used in the medical field but since 1970. It has been employed to explore brain-computer interfaces. Emotiv has developed the first neural reading device that doesn’t require a net of sensors, gel on the scalp, or a special technician. Emotiv’s “Epoc” Headset is a brain-computer interface that reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them to computer related tasks or commands. The “Epoc” technology can also detect your physical facial expressions and relay them to your game avatar. This opens up exciting new ideas to develop in the game world. Imagine a World War II FPS where you may laugh in the real world at the demise of your enemy and be reprimanded in real-time by your commander within the game world.

Emotiv’s website (www.emotive.com) contains picture of the headset hardware and an interview and demonstration of exactly how this technology works and what it can do.

BBC News
By Darren Waters
http://news.bbc.co.

By John Wolsky

As disappointed American gamers look on, one of the most anticipated games of the New Year was pushed back again. Super Smash Brother’s Brawl was pushed back to Sunday, March 9th. While the announcement took most as a shock, to those who pay a little bit closer attention to the release dates of videogames know that Nintendo is especially notorious for pushing back its most highly anticipated titles. To hold the fan base over until the official release, the official Smash Bros website (www.smashbros.com) has been releasing daily news about some of the secrets, including revealing some of the unlockable characters in the game. The really nice thing about the way they are releasing these daily news updates is by showing the users a “???” link on the homepage, so if you are afraid to see a few spoilers you can still manage to avoid them, but not miss out on any of the important news updates. Super Smash Brother’s Brawl will be a Wii exclusive title, so if you don’t have one now, good luck trying to get one within a few weeks! With the addition of all the new game play modes (such as online play) and characters the game will be a must have for any Wii owner, or any fan of the series. From what we hear from Japan, the game is pretty epic, and with the addition of at LEAST twelve more characters, it is easy to see why they are so excited about it.

Ho, Ho, Ho...

Thinking about the g33k or n3rd in your life? What would be a great present for him or her?

Check out some of these cool ideas:

From thinkgeek.com:

Inanimate Character Stickers
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/9866/
Really cute and at $4.99 each, a steal

Infectuously Cute Plush Microbes!
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/6708/
What's a better way to say "I love you" than with the gift of infection? These are $7.99 and include such fun stuff as malaria, rabies, mange, the plague, and mad cow disease, just to name a few.

Smart Mass Thinking Putty
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/5ac8/
For $9.99 you can get your fav geek the ultimate silly putty

Plush Robot Tissue Box
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/gear/9a87/
If your honey has the winter sniffles, help them hide the kleenex box with this $14.99 gift

Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things
http://www.thinkgeek.com/books/nonfiction/7957/
Sneakier Uses for Everyday Things
http://www.thinkgeek.com/books/nonfiction/7b59/
Sneakiest Uses for Everyday Things
http://www.thinkgeek.com/books/nonfiction/9a58/
If your geek has a "creative genius" steak, these books will fascinate them for $9.99/each

Fiendish Japanese Pocket Puzzle
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/japanfan/9c83/
Choose from 9 styles and at $9.99 each these are guaranteed to perplex even the toughest geek minds

Tetrius Puzzle Game Magnets
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/9928/
Is your geek also a gamer, they'll love these classic magnets for their fridge for $9.99

The Office Space Kit
http://www.thinkgeek.com/books/humor/8e6c/
And what geek doesn't love the movie "Office Space"? For $12.99 you can get your geek a kit so they can just imagine working at Initech

Chargers Chocolate Espresso Beans ($2.99/pack)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/5f75/
Bawls Mints - High Caffeine Candy ($2.99/pack)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/6b77/
Is your geek not wired enough? The caffeine products above will jazz them up more...watch out! Gaming and coding at 3 a.m....can be rather ugly


From jinx.com:

Some awesome t-shirts (just a sampling)...

Darth J!nx T-shirt
http://www.jinx.com/men/shirts/geek/dar ... ml?catid=3

I am not a geek T-Shirt
http://www.jinx.com/men/shirts/video_ga ... ml?catid=3

I Love my Gamer Women's Tee
http://www.jinx.com/women/shirts/video_ ... ml?catid=8

World of Warcraft Rogues Original GANKstas T-Shirt
http://www.jinx.com/world_of_warcraft/m ... l?catid=40


Have fun...

By Chris Adams

Popular computer hardware company, Nvidia, has announced some pretty nifty technology that is soon to be on the way and the strangest part is that it's open.

Yes, Nvidia's new Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA) is open in hopes that it may benefit the pc building/modding community on a larger scale and not just those who purchase Nvidia products by allowing others to use it in their computing systems. ESA will be launched as a new, open, and royalty-free standard for the real-time monitoring and control of PC power supplies, chassis, and water-cooling systems.

Though they have yet to release any information other than a PDF introducing the architecture, it looks like a promising system whether you are an avid gamer, builder, or just a typical user. To see the PDF and details of how the proposed system will function, check out

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.h ... VzaWFzdA==

It will remain to be seen how Nvidia's competitors and affiliates will react and use the system. That is if they choose to at all.

By: Scott Roberts

As “Frag Your Brains Out 15” is on our door step we should take the time to reflect and think of how one should act at a LAN Party.
• Be conscious of space limitations.
• Don't bring alcoholic beverages unless the host specifies that they're allowed.
• Be kind to players who are new to a given game or to LAN fests in general.
• Be very careful around open beverages.
• Make sure your PC is virus-free before connecting to the LAN, and have an antivirus program running and up to date.
• Do not cheat.
• Be a good sport.
• Be prepared to listen to and obey those in charge.
So whether you’re going to attend FYBO15 or are a LAN Party fanatic keep these in mind and remember the most important rule. HAVE FUN!!!

By Justin Adams

The fifteenth Frag Your Brains Out festivities are just around the corner and more than likely a good number of the attendees-to-be are keeping their eye on a new piece of hardware slated to be released by SteelSeries later this year. SteelSeries was, until recently, a company that specialized in performance mouse pads designed for gamers. But while they were developing mouse surfaces, they were watching the evolution of "gaming" mice. After testing all the available hardware on the market, receiving constant feedback from some of the top gamers from Team 3D, compLexity, mousesports, SK Gaming, Team NoA and a community of 5000+ enthusiasts and 15 months of research and development SteelSeries is ready to put their chips on the table in the form of their new Ikari series of gaming mice.

SteelSeries' approach was to make a no-frills, cut-the-crap reliable piece of hardware that would meet all the expectations of professional gamers. In this spirit they've done away with a weight system and fancy glow lights. They also designed the chassis to accommodate any style of mouse use and put on a layer of anti-sweat, slip-resistant material. There's 5 buttons with durable, high quality contacts and the largest glide surface of any mouse SteelSeries has produced (over 300% more over their last model). One of the more unique features the Ikari will sport is the highly customizable DPI (dots per inch) which roughly translates into precision. Most mice on the market, even the newer performance mice, allow you to adjust this value but only in multiples of 400. The Ikari will have a switch which allows you to choose ANY two DPI values and toggle between them on the fly.

A very impressive feature is the fact that despite all the functionality the Ikari sports, it does so without the need for any special drivers. It was designed to be completely plug-and-play to comply with gamers that have to play on tournament hardware. Macros can even be programmed at home and the mouse will remember them without drivers. Also, the surface sensing hardware has a sampling rate of 40,000 samples per second and uses their new XY2 chipset which needs only 4 inputs compared to hundreds with other mice, greatly increasing the number of calculations performed per second, and senses changes in the X and Y axes independently ensuring totally free flowing movement. SteelSeries even went an extra step to provide the most precise and accurate mouse. They found that among most major optical and laser mice there's software that will try and remove tiny fluctuations in mouse movement to try and help the user draw a straight line. This software prediction greatly reduces precision and accuracy so it has been made optional and even customizable on the Ikari. SteelSeries suggests you simply disable prediction so the mouse always performs exactly as you move it.

At first glance, the Ikari doesn't seem to be anything spectacular. There's plenty of flashier gaming mice with more buttons and buckets of features. But the Ikari is a sleeper. It's all under the hood. All the features you need, none that you don't and all the ones you've been begging for for years. All that remains is to see if, once released, the Ikari can live up to the hype and SteelSeries' own boasting. I'd say it's a safe bet that it will.