Prototyping - Wii U wheel with pedals and shifter

To make my Wii U Zapper work from the Wii U Gamepad, i had to create an interface board to connect the PCB to my external switches. This modularity allowed me to hook the gamepad up to just about anything, and one of the first ideas i had was to take on the arcade version of Mario Kart.

Pebble Pay - Passive, waterproof, NFC banking.

Several years ago my bank started rolling out a NFC payment system, which included a great phone app for Android phones. If you had an iPhone however, you were out of luck as they didn't carry the requisite hardware at the time.

So the bank released these two dollar, tokenised NFC "Pay tags" to stick to the back of the phone. I had a compatible android device, but these tags were just the best thing ever. I immediately put one on my watch!

New 3DS C-Stick Mod - The only way to play Monster Hunter!

Back in the PSP days i wasn't much of a fan of the Monster Hunter series. A friend showed it to me, projecting that almost overpoweringly emphatic gusto any seasoned player does to potential new teammates, but i couldn't get my head around the contorted control scheme required (affectionately referred to as "the claw" by people who actually LIKED it!).

Now that i finally "get it", having spent well over a thousand hours on the series since the release of Tri, it's almost serendipitous that the solution to the New 3DS's slippery control scheme comes straight off of the front of that stalwart PSP.

Ikea Arcade Stick V2 - The Stromby Twins

The Ribba stick is finished, and it's been getting loads of play time, but I've already had some new ideas kicking around my head.

Fighting Frame - Finale!

Continued from part two.

My new donor PCB's arrived care of eBay, and they're exactly as cheaply made as you'd expect of knockoffs. In comparison, the official CCP is a thing of beauty.

Fighting Frame - Part Two

Since the previous entry i've decided to optimise the build slightly, shedding the two separate wiimote bulkheads by integrating them into the front and back "wall" sections. Two fewer pieces, much improved!

Fighting Frame - Part One

With the Lucario Fight Stick finished, it's time to move on to my "Player 2" build (for lots of Virtual Console co-op fun!). I was considering going with another intensive Pokken character build, but i wanted more time to think about the next case style for that.

But, as a gift to "the people", i've decided to try my hand at a cheap, easy to build stick which uses Ikea parts to present a high quality finish without the usual skill requirement. It features replaceable art, has no visible screws, requires only the most basic of tools, and all it takes is a sheet of 7mm plywood and a picture frame! Total cost of materials was about $15.

Wii U Fight Stick - Fin!

Continued from Part 6

Whew, what a ride!

Wii U Fight Stick - Part 6

Continued from Part 5

Yesterday I blew my nose and the result looked like an electric blue Rorschach test. The lesson here is to always wear a mask when using spray paint!

I didn't make the same mistake with the black.

Wii U Fight Stick - Part 5

Continued from Part 4

Sorry for the lack of progress here, i've just returned from my brother's overseas wedding in Bali! It took a couple of weeks out of my build time to reorganise things at work to accommodate, but now we're back on track.

While i worked on some techniques for laying down the paint layers, i took time to create the slot for the wiimote and fit the newly required extra three buttons (+, -, and home).

The 24mm buttons are on the right side, out of harms way. The holes are cut and the wiring is finished, but my order of Seimitsu PS-14-DN-K's is still en route from the UK (faster, cheaper than from the US). They'll be great.