i7 PC Build Update

i7 Gaming PC Stage One

I cleaned up the wires a bit better and flipped the logo around on the cooler.

Nintendo “Controlling” the Evolution

It doesn’t really matter if you’re a Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft fan you still have to sit back and appreciate all of the innovative ideas Nintendo have brought to the industry through their game controller design. From the cross shaped D-pad to motion sensing in the Wii remote Nintendo’s “outside of the box” thinking has helped shape the way we play videogames across all platforms; one could even say that Nintendo are the trend setters of gaming. Given Nintendo’s contribution to the industry it only seems fitting to take a look at all of the controllers that they have released and the influence they have had with other manufactures.

A collection of random controllers I had lying around, can you spot the similarities?

Check out the full article Here

E3 Bring It!

Recent Additions

Anyone who knows me knows that I like collecting my retro consoles. There's so many bargains out there at second hand shops and garage sales but due to my busy schedule I unfortunately don't have the time to take advantage of these opportunities. I can always just grab them from eBay but the prices some people ask for these consoles can get silly, luckily for me I have a good friend that took the time to send me a couple of Sega consoles that have been missing from my collection. So here they are my recent additions to my collection. A Sega Master System 2 and a Sega Mega Drive 2.

MyFrag Get Modding

Well there seems to be a growing trend of PC case modding on MyFrag.com.au with a number of members deep into or just starting a custom case build of their own. Nothing as extreme as the mod pictured above but given that we’re all beginners at this sort of thing the learning process and gradual evolution of our projects is starting to encourage others to give it a try. The common goal amongst the members of MyFrag is to take an old out of date PC case and bring up to today’s standard. There’s a sense of personal satisfaction when you’ve taken an old discarded case are reworked it to your likings by using just your basic off the shelf supplies and tools.

It all started when a thread was started about modding thumb drives emerged a couple of months ago and as the days rolled by some pretty clever creations were posted, and that motivated me to get off my ass and start building a custom PC case that I’ve been thinking about doing for some time. To further add to the motivation we recently had a cool give away of a Custom Super Nintendo on MyWii. Hmmm…seems like the flavour for the year is “custom” because we’ve even seen current consoles attacked with some artistic talent. Lets hope this is an ongoing trend across all sites that will keep growing, but to stop myself digging up more info and further side tracking let me show you what the guys are up to over at MyFrag.

Project Rat Rig

This is what I’ve been chipping away in my free time. Thread: Project Rat Rig

Before

After

It’s pretty much finished but there’s still a few more things I would like to add before I say “It’s finished!”

Viva La Liberation

This is what Slicingman has put together. Thread: Project Viva La Liberation

Before

After

Project EPIC FAIL (Skuttbox!)

This is what our resident MyFrag admin Skarteh has started working on. Thread: Project EPIC FAIL (Skuttbox!)

Before

Keep an eye on this project because it’s just getting started but some interesting design ideas have already been thrown around.

Project Lemonade

This is what Pongo has started working on. Thread: Project Lemonade

Before

Some very interesting ideas are in plan for this little case

xCaRmiNEx's Case Project

This is what xCaRmiNEx has started working on. Thread: xCaRmiNEx's Case Project

Before

Also deciding to give it a try is xCaRmiNEx who has already got a stripped out case to work with.

Pop into MyFrag and check out what’s going on, make some suggestions or even give case modding a try for your selves.

Video of the Week

Watch We Didnt Start the Flame War on CollegeHumor

Was having a crap day then someone showed me this, absolutely epic XD

Get Your Hadoken on with a little Assistance

I recently got this polite email from Jon who's the site director of eventhubs.com telling me about a pretty cool Street Fighter 4 strategy guide. In most cases I would have let this kind of thing just get buried under all my other emails to be forgotten forever, but a few things made me get off my ass and post this. It's about Street Fighter!, he was polite and the strategy is pretty good. So if you're in need of some extra SF4 info make the jump over to eventhubs.com

Happy Birthday GameBoy

On April 21, 1989 Nintendo introduced to the world one amazing little gaming system that took the world by storm. Wicked games, great battery life and it actually fit into your pocket (often forced in there depending on what pants you had) ...still it's all the things we needed in a portable gaming system back then.

So this month officially marks the 2nd decade since that monochromatic wonder hit the shelves.

Happy birthday GameBoy you ROCK!

and I'm adding this next pic because amusing in slightly creepy way :*O

Graphics Card Changeover Guide

If you feel that you need to update you graphics card but you're not that comfortable with doing it your self. Then check out this DIY guide and you'll be shocked on how easy it actually is.

Check out the full guide HERE!

Custom SNES Give Away!

Attention MyWii members I’ve got a little treat for you here. As many of you have noticed there’s been a good stready steam of competitions that members can get involved in and low and behold here’s another one. But this one’s a little different, how so you ask? Well over time we’ve noticed that there’s a lot of people here that have a soft spot for some classic gaming, and as a Wii owner myself I absolutely adore the Virtual Console and all its true to the original classic games available for download. Which is great for bringing back those memories and the only way to top that is to play the classic games on the original system and that’s what we have up for grabs here.

What we are giving away is a complete fully functional Super Nintendo package with games and controllers! The Super Nintendo is a personal favourite of the MyMedia crew and over time we’ve covered it the best we can with a dedicated Super Nintendo Retrospective article and a Retro-Grade Podcast and now were topping it all off with a SNES give away. Although we must give credit where credit is due because this Super Nintendo has been donated by Doles284 a regular on the MyWii forums and resident MyFrag admin. Not only did he cough up the SNES he also gave it the once over by customising it “MyWii Style”, there’s a number of unique traits about this SNES that we’ll go though in detail shortly. To make sure the SNES doesn’t go unused we’ve thrown in a couple of classic games so the lucky winner can get straight into the action.

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What are you Getting?

Ok here’s the break down of what the winner will be getting:

One Customised Super Nintendo and Accessories

• 1 Customised Super Nintendo Console


• 2 Controllers


• 1 Pal Power pack


• 1 set of AV composite cables(we weren’t going to give you the old RF box and make you fine turn it all in)

Everything pictured above has been kindly donated by Doles284 and not only did he donate hardware he also invested his time into making this one off custom SNES represent MyWii with back lit logo cut out of the case and our web address in the original font.

Classic SNES Games

• 1 Copy of Mortal Kombat 3


• 1 Copy of NBA Jam

Yep this version actually has blood

An arcade classic

I fished these little beauties out of my collection, NBA Jam was a game I was obsessed with many years ago and even to this day it’s still heaps of fun to play. I hope the winner enjoys these games as much as I did.

• 1 Copy of Super Mario All Stars

Back in it’s day this was value for money all the classic 8bit Mario games in the one cart

I heard somewhere that it’s actually illegal to give away a SNES without a Mario game luckily for us Dossaer came to the rescue and donated the classic Super Mario All Stars, don’t forget this is the one that has “Lost Levels”!

Stickers

• 10 MyWii Mini Stickers

You are no doubt familiar with these stickers by now and the winner of this competition will have ten of these to stick where ever they please…PS I want to see one of these stuck to the side of a Taxi. There you have it, everything pictured above is going to one lucky winner. A custom Super Nintendo, three classic games and fist full of MyWii stickers.

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How do you win all this?

It couldn’t be easier since most of you are doing it any way, this prize pack will be given away to the one selected standout person that has been an awesome member. What exactly does awesome entail? Basically being an active member, helping out where you can by helping new members or existing members with new questions. Adding new content such as news, reviews, images, lists, cheats videos etc. You don’t need to do everything that was mention just what you have time for and if you feel like nominating someone please feel free to PM anyone of the admins on this site. Now when sending in a nomination please tell us why you think this specific member deserves this prize. Starting from now up until the 20th of March we’ll be taking nominations and keeping a close eye on what people do for the site. Good luck to everyone!

The Build

For those curious on how the custom SNES came together Doles was kind enough to take notes for us and here they are in his own words.

I've had plans for a while to do something special with one of the many SNES' I have in my collection. After a long time of doing nothing about it, I thought it would be great to make a MyWii.com.au themed SNES to donate to the site.

Instead of telling you what the end product will look like, I'll let you read each step I took in building this custom SNES...

Presenting... The MyWii Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

First I took apart the SNES to have a look around.

Here is the power LED, I will add some blue LEDs
towards the back of the SNES to light up the circuitry
in the rear of the unit, using this LED as a power source.

I wanted there to be something to look at through the window
that I'm going to put in, so I removed the RF shield from the rear of the SNES.
This was quite hard and involved removing the cartridge ejecting mechanism
from the board, lifting up the entire circuit board and unscrewing the shield from
underneath.

Here is a picture of the LEDs lit up in the dark, with the RF shield removed

I cut the logo out using a Dremel, which broke towards the end.
So a good part of this design was done with a few needle files.
I also had to cut an ugly hole in the bottom part of the top casing,
just to let the light come through.

I put on a few coats of metallic charcoal paint,
I decided to cover up the SNES logo in the top right
with masking tape to preserve its original colour.
I also painted completely over the front-most plate of the SNES.

Now, I want to cover the top and front with Glass Coat,
so I need to tape off the area where I don't want it to flow.
I want it to flow into the window, to give that warped glass window look.

Pouring the liquid glass into the front plate,
but not before I stuck the SNES logo on the front plate
and the MyWii logo on the top plate, just above the eject button.

After the Glass Coat had set for a few days, it's time to remove the tape and put it all back together!

Here it is with the lights off.

I'm very happy with how this went! Good luck to all! I'm sure it will be won by someone truly deserving!

And there you have it guys that is how it all came together, thanks Doles for taking heaps of pictures for us.

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Related SNES Information

Super Nintendo Retrospective

Hardware Add-ons from the 16bit era

The Voice Retro-Grade 1:SNES

If you are not a MyWii member just click the "MyWii" box in the top right hand corner

Wideo of The Week

You have been warned!

5.25" Drive Bay Cooling

Excessive heat in our computer cases can become an issue often hindering performance or causing damage to expensive components. Hot weather, over clocking and long gaming sessions can all contribute to increased temperatures. Most computer users concerned about performance will have no doubt crammed as many fans as they could into the factory provided locations. So what does one do when there’s no places left for anymore additional fans and you still want more cooling? One solution is to convert some unused 5.25” drive bays to house a 120mm fan and that’s what we’re going to show you here today. Read on to find out what products you can use for this and for a detailed guide on how to install the Cooler Master 4-in-3 Device Module

Check out the full article HERE!

MyMedia Facebook Group

It was only a matter of time before this happened and here it is, a Facebook group that's got nothing to do with Chuck Norris. So if you're an avid Facebook user then please feel free to come join our very own group where there will be a steady stream of updated information from all the MyMedia sites.

Here's the link MyMedia Facebook Group!

Video of the Week

BAM! here it is the video of the week, a video which I've randomly decided to post for your amusement and mine. This one is a bit of an oldie but it still gives me a laugh every time I watch it. MetalGear Awesome, Enjoy.

I can has Hadoken? – Street Fighter 4 Give Away !

Do you want to immortalise your self doing the legendary Hadoken? and do you want a free copy of Street Fighter 4 for your PS3 or Xbox 360 when it’s released here in Australia? If you answered yes to both questions then we have a something just for you. So if you’re interested read on and then head over to MyPS3 or My360 (depending on which copy you would like) and get cracking.

Not everyone is familiar with the Street Fighter series and if you’re one of these people there’s no reason why you should miss out on this competition. Street Fighter 4 is will be a must have addition to anyone’s game collection plus you can have some fun entering this competition.

For those that don’t know what a Hadoken is here’s a little extract from Wikipedia: Hadouken ( 波動拳 hadōken?, "surge fist", a Japanese neologism, literally "wave motion fist") is a fictional special attack that originated in the Capcom fighting video game series Street Fighter. The character thrusts their palms forward, sending a surge of spirit energy (or ki) flying towards the opponent. It is normally performed by moving the joystick or D-pad a quarter circle forward towards the opponent from the down position, then pressing a punch button (so, for example, a character standing on the left would execute the move by pressing ↓, ↘, and then → in a smooth motion).

Here’s a quick little gameplay video of SF4

There you have it! For those that didn’t know much about the game you’re all schooled up and ready to go

How to enter

Just take a picture of your self doing the worlds most recognised videogame battle cry the “Hadoken”, upload it to an image hosting site and either embed it into your post or link us to it.
There’s no right or wrong way of doing this just grab a camera and get someone to take a picture of your self in the Hadoken pose and you have your entry right there. But to increase your chances of winning, we strongly suggest that you get creative in order stand out from all the other entries. Put some thought in your location; maybe use some props, or photo editing programs to get a unique look.
Also feel free to add a couple of sentences about how the shot was done, who helped etc etc (not mandatory though)

Here’s a few examples to give you some ideas

Below are the links to where you can submit your entry and the general rules and regulations

To try and win the 360 version of Street Fighter 4 click HERE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

To try and win the PS3 version of Street Fighter 4 click HERE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have any questions please free to contact me and I’ll be happy to answer them for you.

Video of the Week

Phoenix Wrong - Yeah I'm a little late with the video of the week but what can you do? :p Watch and enjoy this god dam funny video.

The 14 Buck Clean Up

Who here is tired of looking down at their feet while sitting at their desk only to be greeted by a tangled mess of cables? Well I know I am, it’s not a pretty site and things can get very messy once you start plugging in more components. Monitors, printers, speakers and the seemingly endless collection of USB devices all add to the tangled chaos. Just because you have a lot of devices don’t mean you have to put up with numerous cables dangling down the back of your desk and for few dollars you can sort this mess out. I know some people are thinking that a fist full of cable ties will do the trick and yes it will but what happens if you want to move or unplug something? You have to grab a set of scissors and start chopping away, then cable tie it all up again.

The above image is what I used to have to look at every time I looked under my desk. The following pointers are a quick, cheap and simple way of cable management while still having everything nice and accessible if you need to move or replace anything. It’s not going to be a work of art but it’s definitely an improvement.

Pictured above is selection of cable clamps and adhesive wire saddles, everything you see in that picture set me back $13.80 from my local Bunning Hardware. I’m sure there’s a place that sells it cheaper and if you can be bother shopping around for the best deal then go for it. To clean up my mess I used 5 x small cables clamps, 1 x large cable clamp and a six pack of wire saddles. That should take care of the average PC user’s desk.

These cable clamps are brilliant little devices and they’re adjustable as well as reusable. Just loop the clamp around the cables you wish to group together and close it up as tight as needed. When it comes time to access the clamped cable just press back on the release lever and pull apart the clamp, simple as that! No need for chopping up cable ties each time you have to access something.

The clean up process is pretty straight forward and you can go about it any way you see fit. I’m just sharing a few tips with everyone in case you need them.

• Before you start shifting wires around turn everything off at the mains power point. (obvious precaution but has to mentioned)


• Unplug items you don’t often use, I had an external hard drive that only got used once a month(if that) and a AV connecter harness plugged into the TV tuner card that barely got used at all. There’s no point in me having this stuff plugged in if wasn’t doing anything useful, besides it would only take a minute to plug it all back in.


• Group wires together that share the same travel path, ie the monitor power cable, monitor signal cable and the USB webcam cable all go to the same place so they can be grouped together.


• Unplug and redirect wires to get the neatest travel path.


• Clamp up the cables you have grouped using either the small cables clamps or the wire saddles depending on their location.


• When clamping up cables it’s best to leave a little play in them so you can still move things around, for example I left enough play in my cables for me to pull my case back far enough to access all sides of it without having to unplug anything.


• Some speaker wires can be prone to interference when placed to close to power cables, if you get speaker noise(a humming sound emits from the speaker) then you’ll have to run the speaker cables down another path.

I have a wired USB keyboard on a sliding tray there for I still wanted this cable to have free movement. So I ran the USB cable through some wire saddles which still allows the cable to move back and forth while looking much neater at the same time.

My computer case sits in close proximity to the power board so I used the larger clamp to tidy up some slack from the PSU’s power cable. This may be a situation for some of your other components.

There you have it that’s the end result. It only took me half an hour and some lose change. This is only an example and you can build on it further by using more clamps and other cable management accessories. Take a look in the “power and lighting” section of you local hardware store and you’ll find everything I used here and more. I hope ou got some use out of this article and thanks for reading.

Written by: Matthew Armitage