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XBox (Games) Entertainment Games

A Shocking Controller For The Xbox 375

Posted by timothy from the use-responsibly-or-not-at-all dept.
An anonymous reader writes "This is freakin' awesome - Kevin Rose from TechTV has built a 20,000-volt shocking Xbox controller. Imagine playing your friends in Mortal Kombat now... you can actually feel the pain. Seems easy to build and runs about $40 in parts."
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A Shocking Controller For The Xbox More

A Shocking Controller For The Xbox

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  • Real Men… (Score:5, Funny)

    by l810c ( 551591 ) * on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:09PM (#6168025)
    Will spend an extra $10 and build a testes adapter.

    • Re:Real Men… (Score:5, Funny)

      by AvantLegion ( 595806 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:14PM (#6168056) Journal
      Will spend an extra $10 and build a testes adapter.

      Interesting vehicle for natural selection. After a few generations, only the strong Mortal Kombat player genes will be left!

    • We can only hope that the damage is lifelong.

    • I see a need for a tear gas dispenser during fog scenes and I'm not talking about the wimpy consumer protections stuff. I want SWAT riot gear stuff!

    • Re:Real Men… (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Stonent1 ( 594886 )
      Slugheads.com used to have a video clip of a guy taking a stun gun to the scrote. Just standing there with them hanging out and some guy just walks up to him and ZAP. They play the song "I feel good" by James Brown in the background. It's funny as hell but they don't have it on their website anymore. Anyone seen a link for it?

    • Real Idiots? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MikeFM ( 12491 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:54PM (#6168294) Homepage Journal
      Does anyone else think that using such a sadistic device is the mark of an idiot? Making such a device for your own use is even more stupid.

      • Re:Real Idiots? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by cs668 ( 89484 ) <cservin@crom[ ]on.com ['agn' in gap]> on Wednesday June 11, 2003 @10:02AM (#6171132)
        No,

        I thionk it would be sort of fun. Basically, I think someone closed minded enough to rule it out without trying it wears the mark of an idiot.

        I once played lazer tag and it sucked. I couldn't actually figure out why it sucked it just did. Then I played paint ball and it was awsome. The pain of being hit by a paintball made the whole combat simulation of lazer tag real. I'm not sure if it trigers some sort of fight or flight response, but adding the pain made paintball moch more anjoyable. I imagine that this would have a very simmilar effect on Mortal Kombat.

      • Re:Real Idiots? (Score:4, Funny)

        by Zirnike ( 640152 ) on Wednesday June 11, 2003 @11:25AM (#6172304) Journal
        You're missing the point. You give the modified controller to your opponent.

  • 20,000-volt shocking Xbox controller (Score:5, Funny)

    by frieked ( 187664 ) * on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:09PM (#6168026) Homepage Journal
    This thing has Darwin Award [darwinawards.com] written all over it

    • Re:20,000-volt shocking Xbox controller (Score:4, Informative)

      by Torgo's Pizza ( 547926 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:14PM (#6168059) Homepage Journal
      Maybe if it was 20,000 amps. Then I'd be worried.
      • your right, that would take out the whole power grid.

        it only takes, what, 1 amp to kill a person
        • it only takes, what, 1 amp to kill a person
          .1A is enough to disturb the heart's rythm and send you into cardiac arrest. And people with pre-existing heart conditions are, obviously, susceptible to even lower currents.

          • It's actually about 250 mA (1 amp=1000 mA) that will kill you reliably. The progression goes as follows, roughly speaking (obviously, it's somewhat different for everyone):
            • 5-10 mA: possible to feel a tingling sensation
            • 10-25 mA: painful sensation
            • 80-100 mA: local muscles contract or spasm uncontrollably. This makes it nearly impossible to let go of the power line; this is where things start to get life-threatening
            • 220-280 mA: heart goes into fibrillation, causing heart attack
            Voltage is of course unimportant, except insofar as a certain voltage is required to "pull" the current across your body's resistance.

            • Summary of Electrical Injury (Score:5, Informative)

              by The Tyro ( 247333 ) on Wednesday June 11, 2003 @06:49AM (#6169543)
              The most common "low voltage" electrical injuries are some kind of cardiac arrhythmia. The 60-cycle current that is the standard in the United States is just right to cause your heart to fibrillate at fairly low amperages. Presumably this is where the old "don't let the current go across your heart" expression comes from.

              Once your heart is fibrillating, you rapidly lose consciousness, and are in cardiac arrest... just like the 70yo cardiac patient who collapses in your local Wal-Mart. You have about ten minutes to get defibrillated, or receive some kind of CPR before your odds of any kind of recovery are slim-to-none. The sooner you get defibrillated, the better (odds of survival go down roughly 10% per minute of unresuscitated cardiac arrest). What you require is direct-current defibrillation via your nearest AED, or friendly neighborhood EMS agency.

              Now let's talk about high-voltage injury, which can be a bit different. High voltage injuries often cause burns at the entrance and exit site; not unexpected. However, electricity follows the path of least resistance, so any muscle belly inbetween the contact points (full of ions and such to conduct the jolt) is potentially the current's path. Problem is, high voltage will often literally "cook" that muscle belly, causing wholesale cell death and tissue necrosis... a BIG problem if it goes unrecognized.

              Once that dead muscle starts to break down, it releases its component proteins into the bloodstream... myoglobin, CPK etc, a condition called rhabdomyolysis. Those proteins circulate until they reach the kidneys, and that's where the secondary problem begins.

              The kidneys use their Glomeruli to "filter" the blood, and they do it well under normal circumstances. However, when this avalanche of excess protein hits them, the nephrons clog up, causing ATN (acute tubular necrosis), and renal failure. Unfortunately for you, you are now a dialysis paiient. Your kidneys may recover eventually, so you won't necessarily be a 3x/wk dialysis patient forever... but if this ever happens, I promise you you'll never want to repeat the experience.

              There is a way to mitigate this, of course, and it's as simple as recognizing the high voltage injury, and keeping the person's kidneys running at full bore. Yep. That means running massive quantities of fluids into your veins, and watching it come right out of your foley catheter... with diuretic assistance, if necessary (diuretics are drugs that make you urinate).

              Massively-high-voltage injuries, like lightning strikes, are another animal entirely. These injuries are less well-understood (probably due to the difficulty in replicating the phenomenon for study).

              All of these injuries are bad, and I'd highly recommend avoiding them all... otherwise, you may find yourself in the ER with a guy like me standing over you... truly a horrifying experience.
    • That's only if you use a fork instead of bolts for the electrodes.

    • Re:20,000-volt shocking Xbox controller (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      This thing has Darwin Award written all over it

      I think you're disqualified if you don't have any chance of reproducing in the first place.
    • This is gonna suck if you're playing a game with grampa and accidentally hit him. /wave pacemaker.
    • Sounds cool, but could this be lethal under the right circumstances, I wonder?
      1. hours of game play
      2. sweaty palms
      3. decreased skin resistance
      4. lethal current?
      http://pchem.scs.uiuc.edu/pchemlab/electric.htm [uiuc.edu]

  • So.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by dr ttol ( 674155 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:10PM (#6168031)
    I wonder what uses women would have with this one since it doesn't virbate..

  • photos of it in use?? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Wakkow ( 52585 ) * on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:11PM (#6168034) Homepage
    Anyone else read the page and think "so where are the pictures of it being tested on someone???"

  • Where's the innovation here? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Longinus ( 601448 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:11PM (#6168035) Homepage

    Imagine playing your friends in Mortal Kombat now... you can actually feel the pain.

    This is nothing new. Playing any recent Mortal Kombat title always pains me greatly.

  • Could this... (Score:5, Funny)

    by konichiwa ( 216809 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:11PM (#6168036)
    ...work as one of those infomercial electro-workout machines? Just imagine it, you can exercise while sitting on your fat ass, eating cheetos and playing XBox.

    Thank you, Bill Gates. Total fitness solution.

  • Sigh... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Black Parrot ( 19622 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:11PM (#6168037)


    > Kevin Rose from TechTV has built a 20,000-volt shocking Xbox controller. Imagine playing your friends in Mortal Kombat now... you can actually feel the pain.

    Whatever happened to the good old days, when you and your friends just threw dirt clods at each other?

  • Mortal Kombat (Score:5, Funny)

    by weston ( 16146 ) <<westonsd> <at> <canncentral.org>> on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:12PM (#6168040) Homepage
    Wouldn't this give whoever's playing Rayden a dramatic advantage?

  • Sounds like the... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:12PM (#6168045)
    Painstation [painstation.de].
  • At least X-Box gamers will no longer be able to reproduce (not that they stood any significant chance before).

  • Ouch (Score:5, Funny)

    by chaddarland ( 541271 ) <cldarl01&hotmail,com> on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:14PM (#6168055)
    Yeah, like the Xbox controller wasn't painful enough already.

  • It doesn't add up (Score:5, Funny)

    by rice_web ( 604109 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:14PM (#6168065)
    "Seems easy to build and runs about $40 in parts."

    And another $10,000 in hospital bills.

  • Brings... (Score:2, Funny)

    by strateego ( 598207 )
    This brings a whole new meaning to kicking your ass at video games.
  • And with 20000 volts flowing through you, you will quite literally be engaged in mortal combat.

    • Holy Christ (Score:5, Funny)

      by WTFmonkey ( 652603 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:33PM (#6168195)
      Funniest part of the whole damn article:

      "Make sure to keep the shocker in one hand! You never want to split the ground/voltage between two hands. If you do, the voltage runs through your heart, which is bad."

      We need more disclaimers like this one...

  • 20000 volts? (Score:2, Funny)

    by gfody ( 514448 ) *
    why anybody would want to do this I dunno.. but it would make for a great prank. hmm what are some other candidates for the 20000volt mod..
    my keyboard and mouse for when I'm afk
    my car once the alarm is set
    my zipper for when i'm unconscious

    • Re:20000 volts? (Score:5, Informative)

      by randyest ( 589159 ) on Wednesday June 11, 2003 @12:02AM (#6168319) Homepage
      why anybody would want to do this I dunno..

      I read every post and saw several pondering the why question, and like you every one did not mention the obvious answer:

      The purpose (and fun part) is not to shock yourself, but to shock the person with whom you are competing. It's like gambling with pain -- it's a blast to see your friend get zapped, and it's a great motivator to do well if you'll be shocked when you don't, and that's suspense and fear and thrill and excitement, and that's what gaming is all about.

      Remember how much scarier Doom was than Wolfenstein? The tech made the better graphics which made a better (more real) experience. People who don't like to be scared might ask "why would you play a scary game? being scared is uncomfortable!" (actual quote from such a person who I know).

      It's extreme yes, but I think it would very fun (excepting the video game chosen, perhaps, but that's easily changed) assuming 2 controllers are available. It would also be cool to have a bigger range of shock-levels (with both controllers linked to the same control, of course), so players could agree beforehand on shock level (wager) for thier duel (gamble).

      This could also force a more realistic blocking delay. If you arranged the electrodes so that not touching them would make you unable to control your character, you could defend (i.e., not get shocked) by letting go of the stick. You avoid a shock, but you can't move your man, and there's some delay before you can move competently again because you have to re-grip the stick. Very cool.

      I think this is a great idea that could be fairly well-accepted if the available shock voltage range is wide enough. 20kV, even at only 0.002J, seems like a lot for minimum settings.

  • we need an icon for (Score:5, Funny)

    by geekoid ( 135745 ) <{moc.oohay} {ta} {dnaltropnidad}> on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:17PM (#6168089) Homepage Journal
    "what are you, an idiot?" stories.

  • This is nothing new (Score:4, Funny)

    by robogun ( 466062 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:17PM (#6168090)
    Bill Gates got you all beat w/ the x-box

    http://www.bbspot.com/News/2001/06/xbox.html

  • Uh (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Andorion ( 526481 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:19PM (#6168100)
    The current passing through that thing is at MOST 0.02 mA (0.2 J = 0.02 mA x 20 kV). That's weak =)

    ~Berj

  • Uhhhh.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by poptones ( 653660 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:19PM (#6168101) Journal
    This kid really, really needs to get laid.

  • One handed typists (Score:5, Funny)

    by buck_wild ( 447801 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:19PM (#6168103)
    Now if only I could rig this up on everyone's keyboard to shock anyone that wants to remove a hand and continue chatting...

  • 007 (Score:2)

    by gmuslera ( 3436 )
    Where is Bond where you want to play Total World Domination for Xbox with him?
  • I guess that makes holding the damn thing more bearable!

  • Done before? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Check out Tekken Torture Tournament [c-level.cc]
  • Actually I built a shocker with just a relay in my Radio Shack 200 in 1 kit. You loop the switch back to the coil. If you touch a certain combination of the pins it will shock you good enough to feel it. Not sure how it works, maybe something to do with the colapsing magnetic field in the coil over and over.

  • WHY? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by DarkSarin ( 651985 )
    I can understand the idea of "because I can", that's part of being a geek. But really? I have never understood the whole masochism bent that some people have.

    When I play a game, I want to have a fun, I want to enjoy the game and I don't want distractions. A device that causes pain would in all likely hood decrease one's playing ability, and therefore make the game less enjoyable since you aren't doing as well.

    So unless you are a master of the game, and a handicap is the only way it challenges you, th

  • Nice idea, but (Score:3, Funny)

    by Snowspinner ( 627098 ) <philsand@3.14ufl.edu minus pi> on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:31PM (#6168184) Homepage
    I'm guessing Gamespy has already decided on the last 15 entries for their dumbest video game moments.

  • for half the price.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by wo1verin3 ( 473094 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:32PM (#6168189) Homepage
    ... you can hire me to come to your house and hold a 9volt battery to your opponents tongue, win or lose.

  • Good but... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by heli0 ( 659560 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:33PM (#6168196)
    ...I still like this one better: Rez_PS2 [gamegirladvance.com]

    attn: link is NOT work safe

  • Tada (Score:2, Funny)

    by Afbc0m ( 623144 )
    Parents everywhere rejoice as their children stop playing video games overnight due, in other news, children everywhere develope electrical burns on their hands...

  • Insert obligatory bad jokes here (Score:3, Funny)

    by mrklin ( 608689 ) <.ken.lin. .at. .gmail.com.> on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @11:44PM (#6168248)
    "This behavior is just shocking!"

    "Why, Kevin, I am shocked!"

    "Awwwww shocks."

    "Shock it to ya, baby!"

    (trash talk) "You know what movie I like? That's right - 'Shock-a-lot!'" (Cultural reference: the movie Choclate with Depp and Binoche)

    (to music) "Boom boom, shock-a shock-a, boom boom."

    (to music) "Shock-a khan, shock-a khan.."

  • XBox Shock Mod Causes Death!

    And if you had a Slashdot subscription you could have seen this article from the future and thus prevented your own death.

  • License to kill..... yourself. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by anon*127.0.0.1 ( 637224 ) <(moc.amrakduab) (ta) (todhsals)> on Wednesday June 11, 2003 @12:04AM (#6168329) Journal
    Didn't I already see this in a James Bond movie?

    Okay, maybe it wasn't an XBox.

  • James Bond already did this YEARS ago, playing "Global Thermonuclear War" with Largo in "Never Say Never Again". And he won.

    What we need is an Xbox mod that makes chocolate when you win, or gives people orgasms, or downloads porn or gives you credits on iTunes. Simple pain is so uncreative.
  • Why stop at the XBOX?

    Surely there's plenty of other day-to-day goings on that could be enhanced by self administered electro shock therapy!

    *Eating breakfast? - BAM!! - get nailed by the mains when you pick up your spoon

    *Checking the mail? - BAM!! - get nailed by the mains when you open the letterbox door.

    *Using the computer? - BAM!! - get nailed by the mains when you type on the keyboard

    The only problem here is lack of vision. Electric shocks for the masses. Dance people, dance!!!

    Ahem... but seriousl
  • Shocking or not, it's still the same ugly unusable controller. I prefer the hacksaw mod, which reduces the size by half...at least.

  • From someone who's electrocuted himself many times (Score:5, Informative)

    by seanadams.com ( 463190 ) * on Wednesday June 11, 2003 @12:52AM (#6168503) Homepage
    This is just a preemptive response to all the misinformed posts about how many "volts" it takes to kill you.

    It's the AMPS that hurt, not the volts. But it takes VOLTS to overcome your body's resistance. If the current passes across vital organs, it's a different story.

    E=I*R

    Or DEATH = VOLTS / RESISTANCE

    It takes about 100mA, or 0.1A, through the chest cavity to kill you. A couple of amps from one finger to the other will cause extreme damage and pain, but probably will not kill you.

    You can stick your tongue on a 5V, 100A power supply and nothing will happen. You can also put you hand on a tesla coil producing a few KV, and you hair will stand on end but that's it.

    But touch with each hand to a source capable of delivering 1+ KV at 10mA or more, and prepare to be zapped out of your gourd or maybe killed. A common stun gun generates a few KV but it is DESIGNED not deliver enough current (electron movement as opposed to "pressure") to kill. Same goes for this xbox mod - I'd have a go at it. :)

  • In other news (Score:3, Funny)

    by DarkHelmet ( 120004 ) <.mark. .at. .seventhcycle.net.> on Wednesday June 11, 2003 @01:22AM (#6168584) Homepage
    That's nice. Now all I need is a server that shocks me every time there's a security hole announced in it.

  • It's about time (Score:4, Funny)

    by LongJohnStewartMill ( 645597 ) on Wednesday June 11, 2003 @01:54AM (#6168667)
    Finally, a good reason to let my sister play.
  • about a month ago my roomate came home with 250 9 volt batteries he had gotten free from work becase they only had 8 volts or so in them.. so, of course we strung them end to end and were making little streeks of lightning. it made little balls of plasma on a glass of water, if you put on cable in the water, and the other just above it. fun stuff. Long story short i got a little too close to both contacts, got blown acros the room, as i had an aluminum splinter in my hand, it jumped into my hand, burning me badly there, and then out my wrist on the opposite hand. flew across the room swearing at teh top of my lungs, and then stomped the sht out of the abomination that was 2k volts of batteries. SO I ask you, how many amps would i have been hit by there? I know it was 2k volts, Because we had a volt tester present, but i have no idea the amperage. anyone?

  • double the voltage (Score:4, Funny)

    by kerb ( 43511 ) on Wednesday June 11, 2003 @03:22AM (#6168914)
    ...and its perfect for an episode of jackass.

  • I hope that people read the whole thing... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Henry Stern ( 30869 ) <henry@stern.ca> on Wednesday June 11, 2003 @06:37AM (#6169474) Homepage
    Make sure to keep the shocker in one hand! You never want to split the ground/voltage between two hands. If you do, the voltage runs through your heart, which is bad.
    This should have been in 48-point, bold, red, blinking letters. Otherwise, they might find themselves in the soothing blue of www.darwinawards.com [darwinawards.com]. :)

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