Bunker Project Log

I’m sure this will result in a game of Tamsk, Zertz, Yinsh… and my ultimate destruction. And I will probably have to video it, and declare that my wife is Teh Boardgame Mastar!!!!111one But until then, I will take what I can get.

This is just a reminder to the Bunker faithful… Singstar Amped and 80’s in the house Friday!

I have a newfound respect for the lead singer? of Boston. These notes are long… major diaphragmage.

So FUN!!!

Also… SO FUN!!!!

So I mentioned actually winning a game (for once) against Mrs. G. She wasn’t happy. So not happy that she immediately suggested we play Rat Hot, a nice simple abstract that is sort of a reverse Mah-Jong. A stacking, pairing, tile-placing extravaganza, quick enough to finish in the last minutes before Tanga flips at 10PM EST. ?

Did she win? Check out the goods below. Major props to Pottse for taking our hella boring video and giving it?Michael Bay-esque intensity!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_TekFKtu-I]

I don’t know why I keep buying these things, other than the skull elf keeps telling me to.

I hate card games. I never played cards when I was a kid, and my dad was the kind of guy who would occasionally play 52-card pickup with me. (I got to play the pick-up phase of the game, just in case you are wondering.)

So, right about the time that I became pregnant with child #2, I went totally friggin nuts. Before then, I had a DVD habit, and the obvious video game habit, but… never anything like this:

and this:

and this:

and… this:

(The sad thing is… that ain’t all of them.)

Anyway… for some odd reason, my fear of being a daddy again translated into buying crap.?A lot of crap. A lot of weird crap.

Today alone,?I got about 1200 views from xbox.com.?In the forums,?I got a lot of “that?must cost a lot” types of posts.

However, one of the goals of the Bunker Project Log is to show that there are lots of cool things you can do with a little work, and hopefully less money.

Since I’ve just managed to dig?a few pictures?up, and have been promising them elsewhere, here are some shots of?Bunker 2.0 in it’s infancy.

I’ve done it, two Cobalt Flux pads with 360 control boxes. It wasn’t cheap, but I’m a sucker for HD output (and Xbox Live Achievements, even though I totally suck at DDR).

In the end, all you really need is a soldering iron and solder, a screwdriver, a short length of Cat5 networking cable, a Male 9-pin D-sub connector (276-1537 at Radio Shack), and a MadCatz Beat Pad.

Here’s how it’s done:

Take out all of the external screws on the white plastic shell, and open it up. Try to disturb as little as possible as you do this.

Look closely, there’s a pad in the darkness!

I’ve already complained about how Cobalt Flux has hozed the DDR action two Bunker Parties in a row.

But, I’ve decided that I am not going to be a victim! I am going to take my life back!

Since the control box on one of my CF pads is shot, I am going to replace it by hacking together a 360 Control Box.

Unfortunately, this means sacrificing an existing 360 dance pad. In this case, it will be a MadCatz Beat Pad.

While fixing the cable bundle, I was forced to rip open the kickwall that the Lan displays and inputs are wired through. Here’s what’s in there, for the interested… or extremely bored.

As you can see, there are eight bundles of wires. Each is?an HD15 video cable coupled with?an active USB extension cable. This is the purple plastic thing you see connected to the beige USB A-B cable in the center. The beige cable goes to a 4-port hub. Each hub?allows ports for a standard Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical, a Saitek Eclipse Keyboard, a Logitech 350 USB Headset, and a Logitech Wingman Force 3D stick.???

The finished product:

I’ve been bitching about the cable bundle for a while now, and finally decided to post it up at avsforum.com?to see what the AV masters could come up with. One of the users over there, rgroves, suggested that I look at Checkers. So I did, and immediately requested a quote, mentioning the situation.

I got a call back within the hour, and I found myself ordering “The Fastlane“.

It was roughly an hour later that rgroves responded to my thread suggesting that I just build something rather that buy something that would “probably look hideous in your room”.

What I need to do:

Singstar 80’s and Amped are out in less than two weeks. This demands a Bunker Party! Unless aliens attack (or Mrs. G pitches a fit) the next Bunker Party is go on Sept. 21, 2007!

Because of this, I am making a few goals:

1. I will have both of my Cobalt Fluxes working!
2. I will have at least one Cobalt Flux hacked to work on DDR Universe 360!
3. I will make significant progress on either the Mame Cocktail, or standup cabinet!

Can he fix it? Yes he can!