Shacknews Best Hardware of 2024 - Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo

This was an odd year for gaming hardware. There wasn't anything that felt like a true breakthrough product in the PC gaming sphere. There wasn't much in terms of new console hardware. After some spirited debate, the Shacknews staff came to a conclusion that we're pretty certain we'll never make again: Let's give it to a clock. Thus, we have emerged with Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo as our Best Hardware of 2024.

Some companies are at their best when they decide to get weird. Nintendo is certainly one of them. Alarmo is the kind of thing that nobody knew they needed, but the novel way that it incorporates its worlds into an interactive digital clock has been fun to witness. The manner in which it measures a user's sleep, reads a person's movements, and makes sure to gradually wake them in a humane way is unlike anything we've seen out of other novelty clocks. Plus, we love that Nintendo is willing to update this thing on a regular basis. The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe theme is going to get a lot of mileage, no pun intended.

Alarmo is not a perfect piece of work. Pets mostly hate it. It could function better for couples. For single folks and for young kids, it's a brilliant piece of tech. It's the ideal way to wake a young kid or teenager to get them to school on time. It's also a fine way for single people to measure their sleeping patterns.

Nintendo has had some unique ideas for its library as of late and Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo ranks up there. That's why it's the Shacknews Best Hardware of 2024.

Be sure to read over the rest of the Shacknews Awards in our Year of the Games: 2024 feature.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?