09/15/2010

R2-DS Does Nintendo (and Sega, Atari, Sony, and Microsoft too)

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

So how was Small Press Expo 2010? Quite excellent! Though considering how drained I was following PAX, and how SPX went down almost immediately afterwards, with zero time to rest up in-between, I’m pretty much a zombie. Hence why my big photo laden rundown of both events will have to wait a tad bit since I’m still in recovery mode…

But because Tokyo Game Show is already here (EDIT: new Panzer Dragoon and Radiant Silvergun finally coming to the Xbox 360? THERE IS A GOD), it might be best to jump ahead a bit and finally highlight the sole exclusive I was able to scoop from two weekends ago (at least I’ve yet to see anyone else make mention or share a pic of it from PAX Prime). And that’s the R2-D2 that’s mostly comprised of video game consoles!

I found him in the corner of the console free-play room, which most journalists never bothered with. And to be honest, I almost dismissed it right off the back as well, assuming it was just another fan made R2 unit at a whatever con, something dime a dozen. Till I noticed the SNES cart sticking out of its side…

A closer look at the rest of it’s front, which has a host of cartridge slots and controller ports…

One could find places to stick controllers and memory cards all over, like on one of its legs…

The “inner thigh” is where one can toggle between what system to choose from…

Though not everything is listed, like the hidden PSP in one of it’s shoulders…

In the back is where the A/V outs are located…

A look at the inside…

As previously noted: that list from before was incomplete, cuz it didn’t include the Dreamcast, located at the very top…

… There’s also bits of a PS2 and Xbox 1 built in, though those parts might be works in progress. Moving on, R2 can also project an image, just like in the movie! Except instead of Princess Leah, it’s Mario…

The custom R2 unit is the handiwork of Brain M De Vitis, a mechanical engineering grad student from UCLA. Dude was quite proud of his creation, for obvious reasons, and PAX Prime marked the very first time it was shown in public…

Fun-fact: it’s originally built from an old R2-D2 shaped Pepsi container, the ones that were built to promote Episode 1! Anyhow, those interested in finding out more need only hit Brian’s website.

UPDATE: Hey, been a little while since I last showed up on Kotaku! My fave comment? “This IS the droid I am looking for!”

So one last thing before I pass out: time once again for some (belated) birthday shout-outs! For starters, two days ago saw both the the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros and the 10th anniversary of the day OS X finally made its way into the hearts and hard drives of Mac users. But more importantly, yesterday happened to be the Attract Mode shop’s 1st birthday! And what better way to celebrate than with presents? For yourself of course, from our shop, and especially now; it’s filled to the brim with even more awesomeness, like all that cool shit you only heard about at PAX…

… And don’t forget; to make the deal even sweeter, there’s a 10% coupon code. Perfect for those of you who believe that my latest zine is “too pricey.” lulz. Oh, and I know it says in the post that the offer’s only good for the day of, but a little birdie told me (one that loves Disney Channel shows as much as I do) that the discount is valid till this Friday!

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