Using 21,268 lights and LEDs, ex-Disney imagineer and special effects specialist Ric Turner turned the front of his house into the perfect setting for a Guitar Hero Christmas lights spectacular.

As he explains:

Christmas Light Hero is using 7 light controllers from Light-O-Rama built from kits to control 21,268 lights and LEDs. Each controller has 16 outputs and 2-3 TTL level control inputs that are used by the game system to fire different programmed light sequences depending on what happens in the game. It relies on the fact that the game sequence is very consistent. If the game and the lighting sequences start together, they will stay in very good sync through the length of the song. The light program allows branching and overlays for fail, star power and "ready." I have some ideas to automate the initial show/game sync, but for now you have to push doorbell buttons at the right moments.

Rubberneckers watching in their cars can tune into the frequency 99.1 to hear the audio, or even partake in the fun if they dare. [YouTube via MAKE via Geekologie]

Held in Austria, it's basically a bunch of boozehounds that show off their cocktail-mixing robots. The best of the creations appear in the two in the videos below, which force you to play Mario or Tetris, with the sort of cocktail the robot mixes you dependent on how you play the games. Slow and steady wins the race, in my books, but what would that earn me? [Roboexotica via Kotaku]

Image Credit: MattDork

The Price

Available later this month for $30.

What's Good

I've never hunted actual ducks, but I would imagine that the real experience offers up a similar (albeit more intense) mixture of fleeting thrills, unpredictability and satisfying violence as the game—except this way you don't actually have to kill anything. Plus the action sounds the gun makes when pumping the forearm and pulling the trigger are a nice touch.

What's Bad

As I mentioned earlier, this game is fun in short increments. The typical flight lasted anywhere between 5 and 15 seconds depending on how I set the directional control pad near the tail. As you can see in the videos above, setting the tab for a straighter flight tends to keep the duck up in the air longer while setting it more to the left or right results in shorter, more compact flights. Either way, the flights were inconsistent and it was difficult to get hits before the duck glided naturally to the ground. They say you can play this game indoors, and that's probably true if "indoors" happens to be a gymnasium.

You will break Duck Hunter. Seriously, even if you didn't get tired of the game after a few hours of flying, you will probably break it well before that. The infrared gun feels cheap and the bird is nothing more than a piece of styrofoam with a few bits of plastic and wings that have about the same tensile strength as masking tape. Every time I pushed the duck down on the charging post located on the barrel of the gun I thought I would snap something. And that happens a lot because you need to charge it for 10 seconds after each flight.

The Verdict

The $30 price tag isn't a fortune, but that's probably more than you want to spend on something that will end up forgotten or broken in a few weeks. Early on, there was talk of a premium, $40 version that could be remotely controlled by a second person—I'm not sure what happened with that, but it might have been a worthwhile upgrade.

Definitely feels like a live action version of the Duck Hunt NES game.

Gun sounds and the mid-air "stumbles" when the duck is hit are a nice touch.

Flights are inconsistent. Patterns are hard to contain, so it is best used in a large open space.

The equipment feels cheap and fragile.

Of course, this particular foosball coffee table isn't completely handcrafted—but I doubt you will mind. What it does have is a poplar frame, hand-carved handles and a tempered glass top. I don't know if I would put this sort of thing in my living room or anything—but it would be perfect in a den, media room or game room. [Hammacher via The Green Head]

We will see how it works out, but so far, it's looking good. Not as good as real bricks, but good. [Lego Universe]

And still, I want it so badly. It was designed by the genius of Mauricio (Tony) Harion, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. A place that I hope to visit soon, just to play it this game with this man, who I'm sure will be a future Nobel Prize. Hasbro, come on, get your act together and license this ASAP. And with ASAP I mean right now. [Coroflot]

Storm-G is a futuristic bobsled arcade game that features a cockpit, which physically turns you around at every turn. While simulating tunnels, it'll also flip you in insane 360-degree circles that are definitely bound to make you puke and give you whiplash. Kind of makes you wonder if gamers will have to sign a waiver before pretending to be Jamaican bob-sledders. [AkihabaraNews via UberGizmo]

F = 8 points
O = 1 point
P = 5 points
U = 4 points
Y = 4 points
E = 1 point

[Atlanta Journal Constitution via CraziestGadgets]

The folks of Mobile 1UP have brought five G&W games to the store as separate apps for $2 each: Chef, Fire, Octopus, Helmet and Parachute. Children of the 1980s (or avid Smash Bros. players) will recognize all as classics. The apps actually have release dates scattered over the past few months, but the single-digit number of reviews, and the fact that we're just now hearing about this, makes me believe this was an Apple approval glitch (app release dates often do not match the date of their actual release).

As our friends at Kotaku point out, these are most certainly not officially licensed Nintendo apps, so Game & Watch's days of flipping fish out of the frying pan on your iPhone/iTouch are probably numbered. They're hiding under the "GW" moniker in the store—grab 'em while the grabbin's good. I'm going to go play some Smash Bros. now. [Mobile 1UP - iTunes via Kotaku & Go Nintendo]

The kind of teaser info American Express has put out includes the following deals:

Google G1 phone: $125
Premco Sharp Acquos 42-inch HDTV: $700
ESPN Ultimate Remote: $149
Rymax Flip digital camera: $90
Sharp Ultrathin 65-inch HDTV: $5000

So there's gadgets of all sorts, but if you're in the market for a Mercedes GLK 350, then there're three going for $0, seriously, on December 18th. Try your luck between December 1st and December 18th at the official website. [Amex My WishList]

The game in the video above requires each player to try to hit a projected target on the court with the Bouncing Star. As a player picks up the ball and begins to throw it on the court, the accelerometer in the ball acknowledges motion and transforms the ball's color. Using infrared, the ball can interact with the digital court; when the ball touches down or races by, the court can display a motion graphic or some other cool visual reaction.

Because of the low light in the video above, the intensity of the ball's interaction with the display was not well documented, but the idea of a ball wirelessly interacting with a digital court is pure genius. If the same principles of this Bouncing Star could be integrated into all sports using balls, we would have some amazing games to play and to watch. In Tron, the crazy Frisbee game was just a program inside of a computer, but this Tron-like tech—designed by engineers at Japan's University of Electro-Communications—could soon happen in real life. You hearing this, Nintendo? [Bouncing Star at SIGGRAPH]

[Craigslist]