Filed under: Hacks / mods

Brace yourselves, we're about to ask you to make an impossibly difficult choice: Would you rather your entertainment center contain a 360 that's louder than a jet engine full of marbles, or a 360 with a unique visual aesthetic that makes it resemble a baby's coffin? Admittedly, neither are terribly appealing, but thanks to the modders at Quiet PC, it's a choice we're now free to make.

The aptly named Ultra-Quiet Xbox 360 includes a number of measures to hush the often cacophonous console, including silicone feet, anti-vibration fan mounts and sound dampening foam, but, as you can tell from the image above, it's not exactly easy on the eyes. Also, with a price tag of £300 - £400 (depending on the model), we'll probably just wait for a 360 that sounds quiet, looks attractive, and smells like the Pike Place Fish Market.

[Via TechRadar]

[Via Engadget]

We somehow managed to miss this very impressive mod that Engadget found last month. Basically, it removes the tray loading, scratchtastic disc mechanism on an Xbox 360, and replaces it with a svelte, smooth slot loading drive. Given all the hoopla about Xbox 360's scratching discs lately, we wouldn't blame you for the sudden desire to steal this bad boy. But why steal it when you can just buy it from eBay? As of this writing, the bid is sitting at just over $400. Of course, if you'd rather not fork over the cash, you could always try to build one yourself.

Check out a video of the slot loading Xbox 360 in action after the break.

[Via Engadget]

Well crap. One of the advantages of console gaming is that you are substantially less exposed to hacking. Of course, just like life, hackers find a way. Lo and behold, our favorite four player co-op zombie shooter of all time, Left 4 Dead, has been hacked on the Xbox 360. All sorts of crazy shenanigans are apparently possible, ranging from giant players and zombies to enemy spawning and even outright deletion of in-game objects. Apparently, the hacks are already spreading on Xbox Live, with a tipster reporting to Ars Technica that he was assaulted by 30 Witches and two Tanks in the safe room.

See a video of the virtual shenanigans after the break. We've contacted Valve for comment. You'll hear the company's response as soon as we do.

Update: Valve contacted Joystiq to say that the problem has been addressed: "Valve has released a server-side fix to deny the recently reported cheats on all dedicated Left 4 Dead Xbox 360 servers. The fix is designed to halt the cheating behavior on the dedicated servers, which accounts for the majority of the co-op and Versus modes of play. A title update for those playing on user-hosted servers and/or via system link will be released in the coming days."

We're not really sure what causes Ben Heckendorn's obsession with cramming large electronic devices into smaller electronic devices, but we certainly admire it. Having already created several Xbox 360 laptops, BenHeck has done it again, this time adding several improvements. The Xbox 360 Portable comes with three new features unseen on previous models, which include built in WiFi, Memory Unit slots, and a removable hard drive. The removable hard drive and Memory Unit slots are an especially nice feature, as they allow for easy trasportation and swapping of data. The keyboard is gone (pointless when we have the Chatpad, says Ben), and the extra space has been outfitted with lots of ventilation. You wouldn't want one of these babies to overheat, after all.

Check out a video of the 360 Portable after the break. Head over to BenHeck's official site for a look at how the laptop was built, including lots of pictures.

[Update: The THQ contest is actually over. However, it looks like BenHeck still has yet to reveal the prize laptop itself, which will be identical to the Xbox 360 Portable with additional artwork on the case.]

When it comes to homemade homages to video games, there are generally two spectra under which they fall. There are the cool ones, and then there are the scary cool ones. We're fairly certain this falls under the latter category, as the man you see above has crafted a very real, functioning Lancer (also known as "the chainsaw gun" from Gears of War). It shoots real bullets, it has a real chainsaw bayonet. The creator, known only as SOC, apparently intended the creation as an "Anti Zombie Device," so we don't really know whether or not the homage to Gears of War was intentional. What we do know is that we're staying very, very far away from this man's yard. See a video of the weapon in action after the break (warning: several pumpkins are harmed).

Protip: Pirating video games just doesn't pay. As is made evident by the recent lawsuit Epic Games filed against a St. Louis man who advertised copies of Gears of War 2 on Craigslist prior to its release along with modded Xbox consoles.

A settlement has been reached where the St. Louis Mod Shop owner agreed to never sell copies of Gears 2 or any modded Xbox hardware, turn over all modding hardware, pay an undisclosed amount in fees, help Epic identify other copyright violoators and issue a public apology. For shame! Remember kids, pirating games doesn't pay. Ninjaing games just makes more sense.

[Via Kotaku]

We've seen lots of controller mods around here. We've seen voice recognition controllers. We've seen controllers with hidden buttons. Until now though, we hadn't seen a controller with no buttons. Okay, technically it does have the start, back and Guide buttons, but just follow along, mkay? The mod you see above -- created by one Mactastic Mendez -- uses tiny digital joysticks located under the controller for face button input. How does all of work? It's quite simple really: magic. Well, that, a soldering iron, and some handy crafting skills. Check out a video of the controller in action after the break. Then head over to AcidMods to see how it was made.

Remember the creepy Xbox 360 alligator case mod? Creator dfw monkie is back again with a brand new mod and this time it's actually related to an Xbox 360 game. The game in question is Gears of War and dfw monkie has put together a very impressive mod. The mod features raised textures and a glowing Gears of War logo. The only feature we think we would have trouble adjusting to is the glowing red ring of light. How will you know when the Xbox 360 is broken? Will you get the Green Rings of Death? Check out a video of the console in action after the break.

F00 f00 over from Acidmods.com sent us a tip informing us about his newly created FPS controller for the Xbox 360. As you can tell from the image above, his 360 controller has been highly modified. The right analog stick has been moved to be level with the left analog stick. Where did all the face buttons go? Those are on the underside of the controller, where they can be reached with the middle and ring fingers of either hand.

In other words, your thumbs never have to leave the analog sticks, making the controller optimal for first person shooters. Those with a feeling of déjà vu are probably thinking of the HG controllers we covered a while ago. The difference here is that F00 f00's control moves the analog stick and does away with the face buttons entirely, rather than doubling them. It's a pretty neat idea, and it makes us wonder how many melee kills we must have missed in Gears. Check out a video of the controller after the break.

With rampant internet speculation calling a Netflix Xbox 360 portal a possible dashboard feature addition, one group of programmers has decided waiting is for suckers. Using a Media Center based PC, a Netflix account and an Xbox 360 an application has been developed to stream the video service to our favorite console. While unsanctioned, the application does work (horribly slowly that is) and makes us wish the Netflix rumor would become a reality. Take a look at the application running after the jump and tell us if a Netflix portal on Xbox 360 is something you'd want for Microsoft's console.

Posted over on the Llama's Game Console Forums (yes, llamas enjoy gaming too), forum member dfw monkie posted a few images of his custom Xbox 360 skinning creation that we are certain PETA doesn't approve of. Behold the alligator skinned 360 complete with rough alligator skin and an alligator eye that you have to jab your finger into to power up the console. We have one word for this custom skin ... creepy! Seriously, this thing is creepy odd creepy. Who comes up with this stuff? It's cool and all, but hella' creepy. KAH-REAP-EE!

[Thanks, Rob K]

It's been a looong time since the first 360 Laptop, and console modder extraordinaire, Ben Heckendorn, has been busy. His newest project is designed to allow users to use their Guitar Hero controllers with a single hand. The controller plugs into a modified Guitar Hero 3 Les Paul wireless controller, and operates the strumming and whammy. Placing ones foot into the pedal depresses the heel and inserts ones toes into the metal trough. Tapping your toes and foot up and down is the equivalent of strumming, and raising your heel is the equivalent of the whammy bar. Plus, they look cool. From laptops to controllers, you're doing some pretty unique things Ben, keep up the great work!

More kick-ass photos after the break.

Update 1: It seems that HGcontrollers is not the only company around modding controllers for online shooters. Their products are different from each other, so check 'em both out.

Controllers with turbo buttons have existed for many years, going all the way back to the NES, and controller mods for the 360 are nothing new. But having a turbo button (among many other things) modded into what looks like a standard controller is news to us. The guys over at HGcontrollers seem to have started up a fine little business doing just that. The above graphic is really from their site (can you spot which are the real and fake buttons) and details some of the special enhancements made to the controller for the express purpose of playing shooters.

The goal of these mods is to create a controller configuration that can be played through the entire game experience without having to remove one's thumbs from the sticks. Theoretically, this means that your aim with said sticks will improve, as you no longer have to take your thumb off it to hit the essential buttons. However HGcontrollers does more modding of controllers than simply moving buttons. The staff there will actually create a controller with a custom button layout, toggle switches, microprocessors (turbo) for rapid fire, and more if you've got the cash for it. In fact, their website seems to be a bit behind the times forgetting to tell its readers that there are even controllers specially built for Gears that do your Active-Reloading for you. These controllers look great and all, but specifically modding (or buying) your controller to get better at a game sort of defeats the purpose (FUN!) for us here.

[Thanks, chaostheory0982]