Mac Modding - Console Mods
From Mod Mania
Console Mods
The modding of Apple products is something many people may not be aware of, however it is extremely popular and there are numerous websites dedicated to honouring peoples’ works. The Mario Bros may disagree though. After speaking to them I found that console modding is perhaps even more popular! Who would’ve thought? I mean who needs a Macquarium when you could have a Nesquarium! Anyway, it is fairly obvious the gaming/computing industry has the greatest number of modders; the accessibility and ease with which people can research, create and modify their technology means anyone can do it.
Mac modders focus more on cosmetic changes to their product as the ‘Mac Modding’ article stated; it’s harder to do hardware mods due to the manufacturing of Apple products. This however doesn’t apply for console modders; not only are hardware upgrades and changes made constantly and easily but there is also a cross-over of complete alterations (similar to the Macquarium). Again Mario and Luigi showed me a few websites that are dedicated to this; very extensive knowledge for two plumbers.
The site Aussie Arcade http://www.aussiearcade.com.au/forum.php is a prime example of enthusiasts getting together and creating a forum not just about console modding but gaming in general. There are mountains of topics about altering the components of products ranging from PCs to Wii’s. As compared to the Mac modding, I found people are more interested in modding the hardware rather than the cosmetic features of the console. One topic reads “I got my Wii modded today – now what?” The creator goes on to specify what he wants to mod (none of which I really understand) and people give waves of advice, the topic being 3 pages in length. It seems like a very friendly and helpful site.
The website MacMod shows the various ways in which people have modded Apple products. The forum offers a chance for sharing and advice; I found that people do perform hardware mods on Macs; the Mac mini being a popular choice for performing mods on. But as noted in ‘Mac Modding’; “the Mac mini doesn’t have any obvious way of opening but is easy enough with a putty knife, once opened many modders do very little to the interior with notable mods being simple ram upgrades and others over clocking the internal components”. So unlike PCs and consoles Apple products have been designed to deter modders from performing self upgrades. On consoles the most common mod is installing a ‘chip’. As far as I am aware this ‘chip’ often offers the user a whole library of games, simply available on the console rather than on $100 disks. This site http://www.ozmodchips.com/ makes available a variety of mod-chips and upgrades for the big consoles (Wii, PS3, Xbox). For example there seems to be a chip that can allow you to play DVDs on a Nintendo Wii, something that is not available on unmodified Wii’s.
While Mac’s often get turned into something they’re not (the Macquarium), consoles also have this mod performed on them, and it’s perhaps the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) which really made this popular. Mario and Luigi love the mods, and they’ve shown me some of their favourites. Simply searching over the internet there are a multitude of mods being done to NES consoles. Take the NES controller cell phone mod (http://www.diyhappy.com/nes-controller-cellphone-mod/); there are even instructions on how to do it.
Using the controller is a popular option for modders, even someone in our own ModMania created a controller belt! Mario loves the NES guitar mod, just type it into Google images and plethora of NES guitars will appear (http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/11/19/nes-guitar-mod/).
There is a keen interest to turn those ‘old school’ gadgets into something no one would have considered. Like Mac mods it’s perhaps an attempt at branching out and owning or creating something the no one else has. Luigi’s favourite mod though is very radical one of the NES controller; someone has actually altered it into a computer mouse. While it’s only a concept and made out of foam, it shows a connection between PCs and Macs and consoles, as many people have made similar modifications (exchanging controllers across platforms).
PCs are built to be modded. There are little computer stores everywhere capable of performing any upgrade you request, but you don’t see that for consoles or even Macs so much for that matter. Consoles aren’t necessarily built to be modded or upgraded but people have still altered them depending on their personal desire regardless. As I mentioned earlier console mods seem to be more accessible compared with Mac mods. Console mods are more about the actual gaming and use of the product. With Macs there is more evidence that the mods lean towards a ‘craft’ style, and considering Apple’s affiliation with design it would support that. The Macquarium is an example of creating something beautiful from something, well beautiful. While console mods are a lot more rough and raw, take some examples here.
NEStation
The NEStation is one of the most unique custom systems we've ever come across. A French modder painted his NES completely black with blue accents, created a custom vertical stand, installed four blue LEDs, and than carved in a PS2-style logo on its side.
Wii Millennium Falcon
Here someone has taken a millennium falcon from Star Wars and turned it into a case for a Nintendo Wii, while it's not perfect it still has an interesting effect.
So while one can make distinctions between the range of mods people perform on Macs, PCs or gaming consoles they all run under similar traits and interests. People have their preference, for example some people swear by Macs and hate PCs, but their general points of curiosity are the same.
Francis McArdle s3201069
