tech e blog

Believe it or not, Garnet Hertz has created a real, drivable SEGA OutRun arcade machine. Mixed with augmented reality, "the video appears on a flat-screen monitor in front of the driver; Hertz has tested the car on walkways and quiet roads, but operating it is hardly a mellow experience, despite the 13mph top speed." Click here for more pictures. Continue reading for a video.

Yet all that work was simple compared with what came next. Instead of swapping the game's screen for a windshield, the crew mounted two webcams on the cabinet, wired them to a laptop inside the car, and wrote software that converts the camera's view of sidewalks and roads into a video of an 8-bit OutRun-style freeway.

Ever wonder why Tails is really Sonic's sidekick? No, it isn't because he's able to fly, but rather something much more special that takes an extreme load off the hedgehog. Continue reading to see what it is.

Though SEGA may not have a console to call their own, Sonic the Hedgehog is still popular as ever, with games appearing on the Xbox 360, PS3, DS, and more. Click here to see some incredible Sonic the Hedgehog fan-art. Continue reading for an awesome stop-motion Sonic video.

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SEGA's famed Sonic the Hedgehog celebrates his 20th birthday today. The blue hero has "starred in more than 65 games and notched up over 70 million sales worldwide - becoming a global phenomenon in the process." Click here for the first picture in gallery. Continue reading for the official Sonic Generations trailer.

To help celebrate this momentous occasion we have released a celebratory Sonic 20th Anniversary Bundle on PlayStation Store. This bundle collects the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic Adventure (and the DX Upgrade pack), Sonic 4: Episode 1 and a beautiful dynamic theme taken from the world of Sonic 4.

You may have heard or even seen SEGA's ToyLets, but now this urinal-based gaming system is set to be unleashed in bathrooms worldwide. Simply put, it "rewards players with points not based on accuracy, but the volume and intensity of urine they spray into the game controller." This system will cost operates approximately $1900USD. Continue reading for the news report.

First, an infrared sensor detects when a person approaches, and changes the screen to the game ready display. Next, microwaves hit the stream of urine when the person urinates, and it reads the reflected microwaves to detect the speed of the urine stream. The volume is then calculated by the speed and duration of the urination.

The SEGA generation of gamers probably remember Ecco the Dolphin, an action-adventure game that was released in 1992 on the Genesis. Have you ever wondered why Ecco was the only dolphin players could control? If so, continue reading to see why.

Sure, they seem to play nice in video games, but what happens off camera? Let's just say that there's not enough air bubbles for the both of them. Thankfully, both Sonic and Tails have the ability to re-spawn. Video after the break.

If Sonic and Knuckles was remixed with new graphics, this is what it might look like. Basically, Robert Medina, also known as BlobVanDam on YouTube, recreated this entire stage using computer graphics. Video after the break.

The only thing bad about this 2.5D rendition of Sonic & Knuckles' Mushroom Hill? It's only a video, and not a playable game.

Sure, it may not have a built-in rechargeable battery, but this amazing custom-built SEGA Dreamcast portable does have an integrated Virtual Memory Unit, second player controller port, S-Video out, and a headphone jack. Video after the break. Click here for more pictures.

[via BenHeck]

A Japanese modder who goes by Goteking didn't like the idea of an iPod Nano watch, so he crammed the device into a SEGA Dreamcast VMU instead. To build one yourself, "you crack open the VMU, insert the iPod Nano, patch up a few bits of wiring (for the headphone jack) and you're good to go." Videos after the break. Click here for more pictures.

[via Gizmodo - Goteking]