Did I say brick? I meant surf board. [GameWatch - in Japanese]

“A family shouldn’t have to wait until Sunday to worship the Lord. Now you can go to church every day without leaving your home.”

Mass: We Pray is a video game parody that doesn’t outright admit to making fun of the Wii, but for some reason, that makes it only more endearing. Because I know a generic cross Wiimote and Balance Board kneeler when I see one.

But while I may have laughed, I could have tolerated a few more HEADSHOTS. And I can’t help but to admit, Wii Pray is the only third-party developer opportunity to outsell the next Mario title. [We Pray Thanks Eric!]

[Erick Kwiecien via Make]

Our first mod is a relatively recent one. The modder took a nice, fully functioning Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo cartridge, gutted it and turned it into an admittedly clean and portable NES emulator. Sure, the gutting made most of my 1986 memories fade into a terrifying pit of blackness, but at least this wasn’t a golden Legend of Zelda cartridge or anything.

Christ! That’s ugly. But pimpin’ ain’t easy, so we’ll give it a break. Unfortunately for me, my psyche receives no such break, and I am reduced to but two hearts, and my Master Sword no longer shoots laser beams.

The greatest platformer ever created by human hands, now a lowly 160GB USB drive. When will the insanity end?

Never, apparently. A mere month before the Super Mario Bros. 3 USB “creation” came to light, someone took a classic Game Boy, removed everything in it that made it a timeless piece of video game lore and replaced it with a hard drive. Half a heart left, and there’s this incessant beeping in my ears. Jack needs food, badly.

When I grip an NES control pad in my hands, its hard edges digging unforgivably into the soft flesh, I go to my happy place. When modder Taylor Merrill does the same, he hears the theme song from Sanford and Son. He also hears friends and relatives because he managed to get a Samsung Eternity phone into the controller that defined a generation of early console gamers. Good for you all. My childhood just ran into a goomba, jumped straight up into the air and fell off the screen.

Thrustmaster’s $US20 kit offers variable colour filters, a macro lens, a telephoto lens and a wide-angle lens. It’s great for illustrating the fact that lenses change the way a camera works, since it’s not quite something that clicks solidly in your brain until you see it first-hand. But it’s only $US20, so it’s not too much to waste when your kid loses all the pieces. [Thrustmaster via Ubergizmo via Crunchgear]

Loading stock discs from a wickedly exposed spinning disc drive on the back of the device, this “Gamecube” is ironically constructed from almost everything but the charming purple box. Inside this body, you’ll find a Datamax Kid’s Delight, Dreamcast Quantam Fighterpad, Wii Classic controller (third party) and most of the components from the PSOne portable screen.

It’s all fun and games until one particularly dexterous jump in Super Mario Sunshine costs someone a finger. [benheck forums via Engadget]

A lot apparently. To actually play games on this SNEGENES P portable, you have to jam actual cartridges into the back of the portable.

It’s not an issue for collectors, obviously, but in this day and age of cheap emulators, it seems a bit excessive. Let’s see a lite version.

Note: The modder recorded the demo video incorrectly. This system doesn’t actually play games in reverse. [Ben Heck Forums via Technabob]

Confession: I always thought Mario was pixelated because he was made of Lego bricks himself. [MOCOlympics via Brothers Brick]

The Price

$US35, available now. Package includes charger and two compatible batteries.

The Verdict

As we said in the lead, the Charge Base IC (which stands for “inductive charging”) is the best solution for charging Wiimotes we’ve seen to date, if you can stand its two-controller limit.

Yes, the stand is a cacophony of various plastics and LED, but you’ll quickly disregard aesthetics the first time you hold the Wiimote up to the cradle and it just sticks. Attached through magnetism, it will be charged without the need for plugs or ports, without the need of pulling out the little stopper from the Wii MotionPlus adaptor and without even the need of removing the silicone case. (Should you be a non-case user such as myself, you’ll find the ridged rubber backs on the batteries quite comfortable.)

The stand even includes a USB charging port, should you need it, and the AC adaptor has an outlet plug on the back, meaning you won’t waste a power outlet to recharge your Wiimotes.

There’s room for improvement — an indicator that signalled the level of charge (even just empty vs full) would be very handy. I’m not really sure how long it takes to charge the batteries to full because, at the moment, the charger always just glows blue. The magnet could feel stronger through the silicone sleeve. And obviously you can buy a basic four-Wiimote charger for the price of this two-Wiimote charger. Though I have a feeling that Nyko will announce a four-controller unit if this first model is successful.

But for the ultra-lazy among us, the Charge Base IC is pretty great.

Contact charging is easy and practical

Works with real Wiimotes and generics

There’s simply not a better design we’ve seen

Through sleeve, magnet still works, but could feel stickier

Charging indicator doesn’t indicate much of anything