Latest column: Ben Heck

Here’s my Gameworld column that ran today. It’s about one Mr. Benjamin Heckendorn, known to many gamers simply as Ben Heck. He takes gaming consoles — old or new — and does things to them that are downright, well, unnatural. Unnatural, and very, very cool.

He’s been on my radar for a few years now. Every few months, one of the gaming or tech blogs would link to his latest project. Finally I said wait a minute, I don’t think any mainstream media outlet has written about this guy yet, who is essentially a one-man Pimp My Ride for game consoles. For the record, he was an incredibly nice dude, totally keen to talk, quick with a witty remark, and full of interesting ideas.

For a while this morning the story was the most-recommended article on Yahoo News (it’s currently No. 6) and even got a little love from BoingBoing.

Read on or hit the link to learn more about this remarkable modder:

By Scott Hillis

SAN FRANCISCO, March 27 (Reuters) – If you ever thought it would be cool to have an Xbox laptop, or wished those old Atari games in your attic could be reborn on a retro handheld device, you might want to talk to Benjamin Heckendorn.

Better known as Ben Heck, the 32-year-old Wisconsin native has attained legendary status among “modders”, hobbyists who tinker with video-game hardware to make it do things the original designers never intended.

Technology Web sites enthusiastically track Heckendorn’s latest projects, which are marked by workmanship that makes the finished products look they rolled off a factory line instead of a basement workbench.

“That’s the American way, right? Start in your basement, garage, or whatever. You’re supposed to get out of it someday, but I still have to listen to my clothes drier sometimes,” Heckendorn said in an interview.

Latest column: “Super Smash Bros. Brawl”

Here’s my column from last week, about Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I’ve been thinking of it as the Kill Billof video games. Just as Tarantino paid homage to all his cinema favorites in that movie, Nintendo has crammed this game full of references to its past titles and franchises.

Sadly, most of these insider  lost on me since the Golden Age of Nintendo (I mean, prior to this current one) coincided with my decade-long video game interregnum.

So hit the link above or the jump below to get the full skinny on the game.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Do you have childhood memories of having G.I. Joe fight Luke Skywalker, or throwing Superman into battle against the Bionic Man?

Nintendo is giving its fans a similar feeling this week with “Super Smash Bros. Brawl”, a fighting game for its Wii console that pits dozens of its cherished characters against each other in frenetic free-for-alls.

Fans have waited more than six years for “Brawl”, the third in the “Smash Bros.” series that began in 1999 and has been the only place where Mario can lay down the hurt on Pikachu.

“This game is the only time Nintendo worlds are allowed to collide,” said Nate Bihldorff, a localization producer for the U.S. version of the game.

My latest column: Patapon and Professor Layton

My latest video game column is out. Usually, console games suck up all my reporting energy but two new portable titles — Patapon for the PSP and Professor Layton and the Curious Village for the DS — made me think it’s time I turned my attention to handhelds for once.

I’ve been playing both of them over the past few days. Pataponis actually quite challenging because it’s up to you to explore the Patapon world and find the things you need to advance. Professor Layton is cute. But I’ve worked through about 1/5 of the puzzles and have yet to feel really challenged. There have only been one or two that have required me to use all three hints. Believe me, this is not attributable to me being some sort of brainiac. I just think so far the puzzles have been pretty easy.

I picked these games to write about because they are bizarre mash-ups of different gaming genres. They aren’t without their flaws, but they definitely deliver unique experiences and are worth checking out.

You can click here to see the article on the Reuters Web site, or read on below:

By Scott Hillis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Bizarre little creatures that look like walking eyeballs and a puzzle-cracking professor may not seem to have much in common at first glance.

But they are the stars of two new vastly different hand-held video games that are winning praise for the ways they combine different genres to produce quirky new experiences.

“Patapon”, out this week for Sony’s PSP, is being hailed as one of the system’s best games. It is perhaps best characterized as a rhythm-based, side-scrolling real-time strategy game.

Confused? Here’s how it works.