Homebrew Handhelds (or, Hillbilly Industrial Design)

You don't see this every day. Sure, anyone can write a boring ol' NES game in a few weeks. But to whip up a console right there in your bedroom? That takes way more skill and patience than I will ever have.

To be fair, this article isn't about creating an entirely new video game system from scratch; that is more power than we mere mortals have. But it is possible (not easy, but possible) to hack apart your old Atari, Nintendo, or Sega machine, slap it together with an LCD screen and a few buttons, and create a portable version of your favorite childhood timewaster. Success! You'll never be productive again!

I've always thought it'd be a smart investment for Nintendo or Sony to create an officially licensed version of one of these. It's happened before; Sega released the Nomad, a portable verson of the Sega Genesis, in 1995, but it was a commercial failure due to its blurry screen and pitfully short battery life. Thankfully, modern technology (better screens, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries) enable you to enjoy classic games the way they were intended to be played: on a bus, plane, subway, jury duty, prison cell, or wherever else boredom strikes.

The most famous, and by far most productive, console hacker is Benjamin Heckendorn, an amateur industrial designer whose creations look like they come from an alternate world where the 80s happened in the future. Since 2000, he's created dozens of sideshow-like weird portable consoles, like portable versions of the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Neo Geo, and Dreamcast. But that's all child's play when compared to my personal favorite: the Commodore 64 laptop...

Can you imagine what would happen if I tried to pull this out in class? The techno-geeks would swarm me like a pack of wild dogs! I'd finally be able to get a date! Score one for the sexy beige plastic of 80s computers...

Compare the Commodore 64 laptop to the actual portable Commodore 64 that was manufactured in 1982, and you'll see just how much of an upgrade it is:

Any cheap Chinese bootleg electronics manufacturers (I know they're out there), take note - there's a market out there for laptop updates of outdated computers. Stop making those worthless iPads and get crackin' on one of these!

Of course, if you aren't a Chinese bootleg electronics manufacturer, or if you don't have a degree in electrical engineering from MIT, making your own portable homebrew console is... hard. Luckily, Ben has written a fantastic book to walk you through making one of these machines, called Hacking Videogame Consoles. Pick it up at Amazon and crack out that TurboGrafX16 from your closet!