Custom Star Wars Imperial AT-AT Walker Model

Since Star Wars has been back in fashion lately I decided to break out my old Kenner Star Wars Imperial AT-AT model. This toy is one of the coolest (and largest) Star Wars figures ever made! In fact, it was so cool that it was released once in the 80's when episode V first came out and again in 1995 as a remake. The model shown below is the 95 updated version and I got my hands on it when a kid in my neighborhood was selling it at a garage sale. I think I paid ~$20.00 for it (which is a lot for a garage sale toy) but I had special plans in store for it and the 20 was well worth it!

Shown below, the once abandoned garage sale junk toy that was probably once considered "to big to keep around any longer" by someone's mom, has been transformed into a custom Star Wars figure / LCD monitor complete with composite connectors, stereo speakers, and hidden wiring in the left rear leg.

The only sad part about this awesome project is that I just sold it on ebay today... It turns out that it really is just too big to keep around, even for me. I plan on moving to Australia and this is just one of many cool items I will have to sell in order to lighten my load. Luckily, I brought in a hefty $200.00 for it which covered all of the parts and time put in but it couldn't buy the love I had for the time I spent building it. I guess in the end it was really just a large plastic reminder of all the fun I had!

The model was built by cutting a square hole in the side of the AT-AT and sanding it down with a bastard file, removing one leg and cutting tiny nitches in the structural supoports where the wires were to be run, running wires up the leg for the stereo video & power and then installing connectors at the base of the leg and finally the screen and all of the switches in the body. I lucked out and found the five inch LCD at Best Buy a few years back for ~$100.00 when five inches still seemed big for a color LCD. The LCD package had almost all of the parts I needed because it was designed to be very versatile for gaming. The LCD was originally designed as a portable monitor for a PlayStation 2 and I just gutted it. Thanks for sharing in my Star Wars memories! Feel free to contact me for more pix or infomation on the project and where to get the parts if you decide to build one yourself!

New Nintendo DS in Pink

I just found this article at IGN and thought it was very intriguing considering I had just finished a Nintendo DS report for my marketing promotions class at CU. I also found this article on GameSpot which mentions the 94% market share of the Nintendo DS but also that Sony cannot produce enough PSPs to meet demand and may have to delay it's European entry... That 94 could be dropping soon Nintendo!

Here is the introduction to the Article I wrote for my marketing promotions class outlining a possible strategy for the DS in the US market. You can contact me directly for the Excel data if you are interested and view a better formatted version of the report here: http://manufacturedfreedom.com/extras/DS.html

The images below were created by me as prototypes for a possible Nintendo female gamer promotion. The handheld console has been produced in iridescent pink (to match the success of the i-pod mini) and has been packaged with Nintendogs, a hot game title currently out in Japan and making its way to the USA.

Executive Summary
Nintendo's DS (Dual Screen) gaming system is the newest in a line of portable handheld gaming systems offered by Nintendo. Since 1989, when it launched the first Game Boy, Nintendo has dominated the handheld gaming market and focused on a demographic of five to 17 year old males. Over the past 15 years Game Boy has been challenged by Neo Geo (Neo Geo Pocket), Sega (Game Gear and Nomad), and more recently Nokia (N-Gage). None of these offerings have been successful at stealing market share from Nintendo who has continued to improve its offerings with newer more powerful systems to challenge competitors as well as backwards compatibility for it's previously released titles. On March 24th 2005 Sony introduced the PSP (PlayStation Portable) gaming device aimed at the growing demographic of 18 to 34 year old gamers. The PSP is still relatively new as of this report but already there has been a shift in handheld gaming as over 500,000 PSP units were sold within the first two days of the US launch.

Sony has been incredibly successful working with third party software designers in gaining support for its previous gaming platforms (the PlayStation and PlayStation 2) which has put pressure on Nintendo and decreased their market share for the Game Cube system. When Sony entered the console gaming market with its PlayStation 2 in the United States on October 26, 2000 the pressure was so intense between Nintendo, Sega and Sony that Sega was forced to exit the market. Just as Sony was able to enter the console gaming market in the early 2000's and rise to the top, dominating Nintendo and forcing Sega out, the PSP is currently threatening Nintendo in the handheld gaming market. So this prompts our research question, how will Nintendo be able to continue to increase their market share in such a competitive market place?
Faced with huge competition from the PSP in the 18 to 34 year old demographic, primary and secondary data indicates that Nintendo should reinforce itself as the primary offering for young adults age 5 to 17. Nintendo will continue to expand into the entertainment industry outside of gaming to increase its intellectual property with the PoKeMoN franchise and strong ties to Nickelodeon and Disney. This gives Nintendo leverage and a competitive advantage in younger demographic. New products such as GameBoy ADVANCE video have expanded the feature set of the original GameBoy and Nintendo needs to communicate this competitive advantage to its consumers.

Since Nintendo has not traditionally contracted with third party software developers as strongly as Sony, Nintendo has a distinct opportunity to market itself as the original first and only in the market. Furthermore, Nintendo has avoided violence in it's games (the majority of which are rated E for Everyone) which has pleased parents and maintained the image of being a kid-friendly brand. With Nintendo's kid friendly background, the company has a unique opportunity to penetrate a growing market of female gamers age 5 to 17 with offerings such as PoKeMoN and the soon to be released Nintendogs. Communicating these advantages and positioning itself as a kid friendly brand using scuba style communications will increase market share for Nintendo and allow the company to dominate in an increasingly competitive market. ...read the full story here: http://manufacturedfreedom.com/extras/DS.html