14 console and PC mods you'll wish you owned

As gamers of a hardcore persuasion, we form a very deep bond with our machines. Far more than mere appliances, they're as much part of the family as they are part of our homes' technological landscapes. Millions might be sold, but only one feels uniquely our own.

So, much as petrolheads spend thousands on personalising their rides, the more technically minded amongst us put hours of painstaking effort and tweaking into externalising that personal relationship. Some mods are cool. Some are genuinely impressive. But some blow the mind clean out of the back of the head, and inspire feverish coveting in all those who gaze upon them. And these are those mods.

The Nii

Bellowing a defiant proclamation of "In your eye, Virtual Console!", this gorgeous Wii-styled SNES comes from genius French modder Kotomi. Given that he even made a custom case rather than gutting an actual Wii, it's an incredible technical and aesthetic feat. Check out his other machines of beauty at his blog. We're already in love with his silver and blue, Starship Enterprise styled SNES.

The Xbox 360 car

Insert "Yo dawg..." meme reference here. Built as a promotional stunt for this year's Game U Live college tour, this Suzuki-installed 360 set-up, photographed by DogFromSPACE, is a gorgeous sight to behold. Now if they'd just mod the steering to work with the controller and turn the gear shift into an arcade stick. There's no way Gran Turismo 5 would ever beat those graphics.

The Steampunk PC

If you ever needed to back up the stereotype of PC gamers as more refined and decadent than their console-playing cousins, this stunningly gorgeous brass and wood effect machine is it. A games machine for a gentler age, it was built from scratch by Jake von Slatt at The Steampunk Workshop. The keyboard is of his own design, but similar ones can be bought here. Dave H wants one of these incandescent beauties so badly that it's borderline embarrassing.

Full-sized DS Guitar Hero

Wrist cramp begone! A bit of tinkering and some tech knowledge were all Eric Ruckman needed to evolve the DS' Guitar Hero On Tour into a counterpart for its full-sized brothers. And it's still technically hand-held. We applaud him. Check out the photos of this mod's construction on his Flickr.

The hand-held NES in a cartridge

There are lots of handheld console mods knocking around the internet, but far and above any of them, this NES emulator in a cartridge makes us weep with joy. In concept and execution, it's a damn near perfect piece of work by a chap by the alias of airz, and was unsurprisingly found on the forums of legendary console modder Ben Heck.

The Doom 3 Mars City PC

There are impressive mods and then there are ridiculous works of art. Built by genius/madman Paul Capello, this replica of Doom 3's Mars City base goes well beyond the call of duty in every respect. After around 30 views of this video we still can't believe it exists. And he didn't stop here. Check out his ludicrously detailed Matrix mod too.

The Super Nintoaster  

Admit it. You never thought a bread burning appliance could be so cool. Yet here it is, courtesy of Richard at StupidFingers.com. A full functioning SNES set stylishly within a basic kitchen toaster. Note: If you're going to try this, make sure to completely remove the toaster parts first, otherwise dust on the connector board will be the least of your cartridges' worries.