Whats better than playing video games? Hacking them of course! And luckily for you, it can be done relatively easy with some pretty nifty tech. So if you want to create a brand new controller, or even see a fully-functioning Portal turret, be sure to read on...
SPOILER: SOME OF THESE CREATIONS ARE ABSOLUTELY AWESOME
1. Makey Makey: How To Turn Anything Into An Input Device (a.k.a. Controller)
Jay Silver from SparkFun and Eric Rosenbaum from MIT Kickstarted a very niche project that allows you to convert almost anything into an input device for your computer. How? you may ask. Well, put simply, the Makey Makey uses the Human Interface Device (HID) protocol to communicate key presses, mouse clicks, and mouse movements to your computer. But by using high resistance switching, the Makey Makey is able to close a switch even through random materials like fruit, leaves, and play-doh. To get started, all that you need to do is hook up your Makey Makey board to anything that is slightly conductive. And in no time at all you could be playing Super Mario with a banana!
2. Making a Portal Turret Using MATLAB and an Arduino Uno Processor
Now this is more like it! The guy who made this has clearly gone to great lengths to replicate the design of the Aperture Science bots, and has even managed to programme his turret with the voice from the game (Hell-ooo Friend). This brilliant little contraption is made by using the
Arduino Uno as a microprocessor, which is then hooked up to a battery, a rocket launched that fires foam missiles, and a web camera for tracking. There are also some very nice touches, including laser sight (like in the game) that shows where the turret is aiming. By using the MATLAB software on his computer, the turret has been hacked and programmed to track people as they walk past it, and even fire at anyone wearing a pink t-shirt. Honestly,
check out the video, its pretty outstanding. Now all we need is someone to invent a portal gun...
3. A Tribute to Tetris
All gamers have a special place in their heart for Tetris. Even in an era of AAA gaming, HD graphics, and motion controls, the iconic gameplay is still as fun as it ever was. So the guys at Snootlab have decided to pay tribute to this, and have created their very own version of the game! Powered by Arduino, the game has been shrunk down to fit a smaller screen. But dont worry, as all of those recognisable block shapes are present, including the thin, long piece that never seems to be around when you need it most! The basic rules are exactly the same as the classic arcade game, but this time the blocks fall from left to right. So if you think that this sounds great, and would like to try and build your own Tetris, the translated version of the discussions and instruction in the forum can be found
here. Or for French speakers who dont want to miss out on any of the details, the original transcript is located
here.
4. Hack your Xbox 360 Controller Using the Arduino Uno
Are you a lovable rogue who pays no attention to minor inconveniences like terms of use, instructions, and warranties? If the answer is yes, and you also happen to be a hardware hacker, you could always open up your Xbox 360 controller and reprogram it. Once youve prized apart the controllers casing, all you then need to do is attach the Arduino bread board to the circuitry. Then you can get creative by including things like rapid fire switches, tilt controls, or even LED lights to your buttons.
What do you think of these hacks and creations? Do you have any that you would like to share with us? Let us know in the comments below...