RipTen Videogame Blog » Geeked-Out

Geeked Out: Mapstalgia

Catherine Cai — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:30:38 +0000

This week’s Geeked Out is a little bit different. Rather than having a tangible object of mass geekery, we’ve decided to feature a gargantuan geekdom gathering of gaming ground plans.

Mapstalgia is a Tumblr dedicated entirely to hand-drawn maps of video game levels, all done from memory. The blog’s curated by Josh Millard, a jack-of-all-trades type of guy who’s not only a programmer and administrator at Metafilter, but also a musician and writer.

If you think you’ve got a game level that you think you can draw up from memory, don’t hesitate to submit it to Mapstalgia. According to Josh, he’s not worried about quality of the drawing or the text. The purpose of the blog is for sharing memories and nostalgia. Here’s one of the many examples you’ll find there. To see it up close or browse through the rest, make sure to give them a visit.

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out: The Kid Munny

Catherine Cai — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:00:10 +0000

When Denise Kuan isn’t doing badass cosplay, she’s out trying her hand at the other arts. And by “trying out”, I mean she’s making something just as badass as her cosplay and making the rest of the world sad about their inability to art.

After a playthrough of Bastion, Denise decided that she was going to honor the Kid’s legacy by making a munny version of him. Now, she didn’t just use a sharpie a scribble a few things on him to make him resemble the Kid. She went all out. She not only sculpted the Kid’s hair and armor, but she proceeded to lovingly hand paint every detail, even bothering to air brush the tips of his hair and “weather” his armor.

Even after completing a perfect replication of the Kid in munny form, she decided that it wasn’t enough so she painted over the original munny box it came in with Bastion designs. And what munny would be complete without a “Hi my name is…” tag?

Denise, if you’re reading this, know that your work is absolutely amazing. Also, our features editor Stephanie is a complete fangirl.

If you want to see more of Denise, follow her on Twitter, @denisekuan.

Geeked Out: Bioshock Beer

Catherine Cai — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:30:39 +0000

Need a cold one after a long day of giving your very best to Rapture and Andrew Ryan? Pop open a bottle of Brow Sweat Brew from Ryan Industries, a pale ale crafted by Calum, a hardworking homebrewer who also doubles as a “swashbuckler and ruthless pirate.” It’s perfect for the times when you really just need a moment to get away from your daily dose of dystopia and post apocalypse. Big Daddies borrowed and not included.

According to Calum, the bottle’s design is free to be used and if there’s enough demand, he’ll release the brewing recipe. So please, demand it.

[Via Drunken Moogle]

Geeked Out: World of Warcraft Foam Doomhammer Replica

Todd Schlickbernd — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:30:42 +0000

Have you ever wanted to beat the bananas out of someone without putting them in the hospital? Pardon, let me rephrase that, when was the last time you wanted to non-lethally beat the bananas out of someone but couldn’t find a weapon of appropriate power and yet of restraint? Well look no further, Think Geek is offering an incredibly detailed (and thereby powerful) replica of the Doomhammer as seen and revered in World of Warcraft. It’s a little more expensive than your kids-isle Nerf weapon, but there’s a reason for that. Check out the specs:

Doomhammer replica for fans of World of Warcraft
Made of polyurethane and PVC tube piping
Wrapped with genuine leather
Dimensions: 22″ x 10″ x 7″
Weight: about 3 lbs

Now it won’t turn you into a real-life Thrall, but this weapon is pretty much necessary should that be a particular goal of yours. The mighty Doomhammer will set you back $149.99 American and can be purchased here. The price may seem a little steep, but just think of every fight you’ve ever been in, or shamefully avoided, and just how easily you could’ve won it with if you had this weapon. And think of the applications! Friend beat you in Halo? Smash their face in (harmlessly)! Parent won’t stop telling you to clean your room? Clean their face (non-violently)! Non-relative authoritative figure authoritatifying in your general area? Dethrone/excommunicate/fire them (without much pain)!

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out: You Know You Want This Edible and Playable Angry Birds Cake

Catherine Cai — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:00:44 +0000

Electricpig’s Mike Cooper decided that he wanted his son, Ben, to have the most memorable birthday present and cake that a kid turning six-years-old could have. He was going to construct his son an Angry Birds birthday cake.

Yeah, so we’ve all seen the impressive videogame birthday cakes elaborately constructed out of cake fondant. Mike Cooper wanted something even cooler for his son, so he decided that he was going to take things a step farther. He decided to construct a fully playable Angry Birds birthday cake, equipped with slingshot and all. Apparently, this beasty-monster cake you’re about to see below took Mike Cooper 10 hours to construct. Ben Cooper, know that your dad really loves you:

[Via Electricpig]

Geeked Out: Bored in Math Class? Play Skyrim on Your TI-84

Catherine Cai — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:30:53 +0000

One of the only classroom acceptable ways of breaking the humdrum of high school math classes was gaming on the Heaven-blessed TI graphing calculators. Rather than playing the simplistic, pre-programmed games offered on the calculator like Block Man, no9sniper decided to program his own. Since he liked Skyrim so much, he decided to bring some of it with him to school.

Yes, no9sniper programmed a simplistic version of Skyrim on his TI. Although the game’s primarily text-based since the TI graphing calculators isn’t capable of visually-pleasing graphics, it’s still pretty epic. Perhaps the most impressive part is that he decided to program this all on his calculator, and sure, programming in TI-Basic is easier on the calculator than on the PC, but that still shows dedication. no9sniper must’ve had his head down in class, clicking away at the TI’s buttons for weeks trying to put this together. And admit it, the title screen’s pretty impressive:

Geeked Out: World’s Largest NES Controller Brings New Meaning To Co-op

Michael Gruver — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:30:58 +0000

This piece of retro gaming hardware is not only super cool looking, it’s fully functional too! The super-sized controller was revealed at London’s St. Station to help launch the Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer Edition. The genius behind this is 23-year-old Ben Allen, who’ just so happens to be studying engineering in the Netherlands.

The audience was free to give it a try, but every valiant participant soon discovered what Rob Base and DJ E Z Rock already knew, it takes two to make a thing go right. Seeing as this behemoth sizes in at 144.1″ by 62.6″ by 20.1″ with a whopping weight of 252lbs!

Ben, the mad scientist behind this geeked out invention, stated the following:

“This is really a labour of love. We’re passionate about gaming and wanted to honour its most iconic device; the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) joypad … We put our heads together in the pub and decided to create this absurdly large working version! It’s such a rush to know we’ve made history and are being included in the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition.”

I don’t know about you, but i really want to try this giant controller out for myself!

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked-Out: Tecmo Bowl Tebow Time Shirt Delivers 8-Bit Tebowing To Your Chest

Chad Lakkis — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:09:39 +0000

Even if you weren’t around in the 80s, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the phenomenon that was Tecmo Bowl. Combine that with the football phenomenon that is Tim Tebow today and you get quite possibly the most period appropriate piece of clothing I’ve seen since Zubaz Pants.

Get your hands on this for $18.99 by heading on over to the Tecmo Bowl Store. Remember to use the promo code “Our God is an awesome God.”

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out: LEGO StarCraft II Hyperion Battlecruiser

Drake Hess — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:39:12 +0000

Are you big into StarCraft 2? I’m talking about tedious LEGO upon LEGO stacking big? Well, even if you aren’t, you can still appreciate the fine work of this SC2 LEGO enthusiast. See the rest of the images up close and personal at Sven Junga’s photostream.

Source: Brothers-Brick (via: Geeks Are Sexy)

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out: Skyrim Kinect! Your Dreams are Now Reality

Stephanie Gutowski — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:19:58 +0000

Somebody give KinectFAAST a trophy, because he just made all my Skyrim dreams come true. Except for the whole Kinect part, because I still don’t own one. Those of you who do should rejoice in the knowledge that this gentleman and scholar has jury-rigged his Kinect to be compatible with the PC version of Skyrim. You know what that means.

You can “FUS RO DAH” the life out of everything, even though he doesn’t for some reason :-\

It’s like he read my review or something, answering my cries for voice support. While this may not be everyone’s ideal style, simply knowing that somewhere out there, a man is literally shouting at dragons to death, is enough for me. I sleep well knowing that ingenuity and creativity live on in the fans, long after the developer has all but abandoned the wayward tech.

I’m looking at you, Microsoft.

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out: Read Every Skyrim Book on Your iPad or Kindle!

Stephanie Gutowski — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:15:44 +0000

Are you a bibliophile? Does the endless supply of tomes in Skyrim call to you long after the computer’s gone to sleep and the Xbox has been powered down? Fear not, for as long as you possess some king of futuristic e-reader device, the Dovahkiin Gutenberg <– (Clicky para download) can be yours.

Capaneus, who I assure you is both a gentleman and a scholar, has graciously pulled the rich text files from Skyrim and compiled them for your reading pleasure in an easy-to-use app. Now you can read aloud from the Biography of Barenziah or The Lusty Argonian Maid on your bus ride home! Or, you could spend a quiet evening in front of the fire, pouring over A Brief History of the Empire. Be warned however, that’s a lot of books. You better possess a strong fondness for words, otherwise you may crumble beneath the weight of all that knowledge.

So, if you’re looking for yet another way to show your friends just how hard you lust after Bethesda, there’s an app for that. If you’re looking for something with an old-fashioned, paper-esque feel to it, then check out the real life Oblivion Tome of Awesomeness we featured a little while back.

Literate gamers, I salute you.

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out – Man Trades Engagement Ring For Master Chief Armor

Catherine Cai — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:00:21 +0000

This week’s Geeked Out is a little bit unconventional. It’s not about a cool videogame-related gadget or jewelry that someone’s put up on Etsy or Reddit to declare their love for a game franchise.

No. This story’s about a man who had his heart broken. He was ready to propose to the girl and had purchased the perfect diamond ring for her. And she said something akin to,

“I’m nailing the hell out this tool I met in karate class and while we’ve been driving in my car, you and I have been listening to the terrible mix CD he made me and now you’ll never be able to hear Alkaline Trio without wanting to fucking kill yourself.”

Yeah. Ouch.

He kept the ring around, unable to sell it to anyone in person. At last, he pawned it off on eBay and got a pretty penny off of it.

Instead of paying off grad school loans or buying a megafuckton of Rocky Road ice cream to eat and cry himself to sleep every night, Eric Smith decided to replace his love with another: a full suit of fucking Halo armor. Sure, you can try to use your Freudian analysis on Eric all you like about how he picked the armor because subconsciously he’s trying to protect himself, but he bought the damned thing because he’s a badass.

Oh, and this isn’t just some shoddily put together cardboard and styrofoam affair. This thing is a fullblown, forty-pound fiber glass monster, built in with LEDs.

Best of luck to you, Eric. I’m sorry to hear about what happened, but I’m glad you used Halo to get over that stumbling block.

For more on Eric, be sure to check out his blog, Geekadelphia. Yes, it’s exactly what you think it is.

Via [BygoneBureau]

Geeked Out: The Skyrim Guitar

Tina Pesterfield — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:00:38 +0000

I was asked to scour the internet for some interesting Skyrim items given the impending release of the next game in one of my favorite series. It didn’t take me long to find something utterly fantastic and impractical – the perfect kind of item for any collector!

I present to you the Skyrim Guitar.

Created by Tony Templeton of TTGuitars, this is a made-to-order instrument that can be made from a mandolin, electric guitar, or electric bass. The original was sold, but now can be made to order at any time. He describes the guitar as:

This is a unique OOAK hand-carved Skyrim The Elder Scrolls Dragon Mandolin in a Beautiful Metallic flecked Silvery Green finish. I created it to have hand carved wings, along with a copper-inlaid head in the neck piece and a pickup. This mandolin is a wonderful conversational piece and plays beautifully!

One can be purchased for $695.00. He can also work with custom guitars, you just need to message him. All your bard-based dreams can now come true.

Geeked Out: The Minecraft Pickaxe of Destiny

Stephanie Gutowski — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:00:56 +0000

My fake statistics lead me to believe that 125% of the world plays Minecraft and therefore, it is virtually impossible for you all to be unimpressed by this officially licensed foam pickaxe from Think Geek.

“A pickaxe made of foam, you say? My Minecraft dreams come true, you say?! Magic exists, you say?!” Yes, for a mere $19.99, you can go forth and sculpt the world. Just avoid those Creepers and… other things that may want to destroy you in that place of infinite creativity. Look at it this way– you’re one foam pickaxe away from a Comic Con-approved costume.

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out: Amazing Gaming Jack-O’-Lanterns

Catherine Cai — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 04:00:51 +0000

Halloween is a special time every year that I look forward to. When else would you have socially acceptable excuses to: 1) look at scantily clad women or dress like one 2) beg your neighbors for food without fear of being labeled as a hobo 3) scare the piss out of small children until they begin to cry, and best of all 4) take your anger out on a pumpkin by stabbing it until it has that grinning excuse for a face. Sure, you don’t get any days off of class or work, but I think it’s still safe to say that Halloween is a pretty awesome holiday.

Pumpkin Phelps Agrees

One of my favorite Halloween things to do is to carve pumpkins, but I’m a liberal arts/pre-med major for a reason: I can’t art. I know our resident artsy, grammar Nazi editor Steph Gutowski is reading this somewhere yelling at her screen, “But art just takes practice!”… which I’m sure is true at some level. Sure, the technical skills of art take practice to perfect, but you need at least some level of talent to capitalize on before you can actually ‘do’ art. Alas, I’m a hopeless cause (sorry to let you down, Stephiroth), and so I can only experience the joys of pumpkin carving vicariously through other people on the Internet. That being said, as a person who likes video games, I really appreciate pumpkin carvings of video game-like things.

Whilst lurking on the mean streets of Reddit, I found various pumpkin carvings of game characters that really tickled my fancy, but I hit the jackpot here with Ceemdee’s collection of mutilated fall squash. There’s something akin to twelve pumpkin carvings, so obviously the carver had a lot of time on their hands.

Then How Am I Reading This... ?

My favorites are the L.A. Noire, Minesweeper, Bastion, and Worms ones, although they’re all fantastic. Worms and Minesweeper, I admit, I picked based off of personal bias and nostalgia, but L.A. Noire and Bastion both look like the carver easily put in 5+ hours into both. The artist had to carve friggin’ people. If most tried to duplicate the feat, they’d end up with a miserable, pulpy mess.

Anyway, so far this collection of pumpkin carvings has me most impressed. Anyone out there planning on doing some vidjeogame character pumpkin carving? Tell us about it!

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out: The Terrifyingly Tiny Munny Joker

Stephanie Gutowski — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:00:57 +0000

Now that Batman: Arkham City has been set loose upon the world, it seems like everyone’s got Bat-fever. While this week’s Geeked out won’t cure you (you probably don’t want to be cured anyway), it’ll certainly fit right in with your current obsession. This custom Munny comes to us from KidNotorious, lover of Batman and denizen of DeviantArt. They’re not for sale, but you might not even want the Joker hanging out on your bedside table at night. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. Maybe you should just admire it from a far and take a look at some of the other awesome, Batman-inspired Munnies.

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out: Modder Sticks iPod Nano Into Dreamcast VMU

Sam Naylor — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:56:58 +0000

The 6th Generation iPod Nano has a lot of cool features. The Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit is a cool bit of hardware. It’s a match made in heaven.

This hardware modder has fitted his tiny iPod Nano 6G into a Dreamcast VMU, creating a retro-cool music player with modern functionality. Of course, in the video all he manages to play is music from the Dreamcast era, so be wary and hit that mute button. There’s nothing worse than outdated pop music.

Would you buy one of these if you could get it off the shelf? I reckon it would be a big hit with massive nerds like you. Yes, I’m talking to you (and you alone), nerd.

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out: Angry Birds Halloween Costumes

Stephanie Gutowski — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:00:35 +0000

A little angry bird told me that you’re looking for a sweet Halloween costume, but you seize up at the mere mention of arts and crafts. Fear not, for the internet has a solution to your problems. So stop cutting holes in that bed sheet and buy an Angry Birds costume. Sure, they’re not great examples of master level craftsmanship, but they’re absolutely perfect for you and your fifty-dollar budget. For $49.99, these licensed bird sacks can be yours. Not a fan of the birds? Well, there’s a pig option too. They come in kids sizes as well, so the whole family can get in on your bizarre obsession.

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Geeked Out: The Oblivion Tome of Awesome

Catherine Cai — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:30:55 +0000

One thing that separates The Elder Scrolls series from other open world RPGs is the almost daunting amount of lore present in each of the games. I know that when I wasn’t robbing every household in Oblivion blind, I was riffling through the ridiculous amount of books on every shelf. The pages upon pages of history, myth, and fact were fascinating, if not a little overwhelming. I just wished I could have every book in one place so that the story lines didn’t feel so disjointed.

Well, Redditor notadoctoreither made my day. After what probably was over a hundred dollars worth of paper, ink and a megaton of typos, notadoctor gathered together every book in Oblivion and combined them into one massive tome… to rule them all?

Mind you, this isn’t a shoddy affair of Elmer’s glue and staples. Notadoctoreither went all the freaking way. Everything’s gloriously printed in color and beautifully bound in leather. Love went into this book. Not your run-of-the-mill nerdery love, but the love that you find in your grandma’s cookies… the kind that you can taste when you first bite into that chocolately-chip goodness. (I don’t recommend you do that with this book if you get your hands on it.) Notadoctoreither is serious about his Elder Scrolls.

I’d love to be able to buy this off notadoctoreither, but I feel like he’s probably invested too much blood and sweat into this book to sell it… or he’d ransom it for $500 and a right arm.

Anyone got a spare arm?

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

These Life Sized Skyrim Statues Are Heading to a Retailer Near You

Justin Carter — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:30:40 +0000

I’ve seen a lot of awesome stuff related to games. Whether it be stellar cosplay or amazing artwork depicting your favorite game – I’m amazed by the creative talent that video games bring out in each of us.

Yet, nothing comes close to what Bethesda is sending out to retailers in order to promote The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

That’s right, those are all life sized bronzed statues of the greatest Dragonborn in all the land.

Behold… DOVAKHIIN!!!

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim hits store shelves November 11, for the PS3, 360, and PC. You are now free to hum the Elder Scrolls theme.

Want more on Skyrim? Be sure to check out our epic hands on preview.