Category: DIY + Hacks

Casemodders have implanted the brains of the Atari 2600 into all sorts of strange host bodies over the years, but this is the first time I’ve seen this particular permutation. Modder Chris Koopa (with a name like that, I’m shocked he hasn’t done any Nintendo mods) melded the shell of old SEGA Game Gear portable with the guts of an Atari 2600 to create this Frankenstein’s Monster of a gaming system, dubbed the Atari Gear 2600.

If you’re a geek or a techie among ignorant friends, here’s something you can try for a few laughs. Or a few punches in the face. Playboy21 of psp-hacks has cooked up a tiny program he calls TrickBrick.

Want to build your own games, but don’t have the artistic talent to build complex game graphics? This new kit lets you create games using a simple LED dot-matrix display. With a colorful 8×8 RGB LED display, the Meggy Jr RGB handheld platform gives you everything you need to create your own mini-games or pixel art displays.

Call me a sucker for old school gaming, but the Super Nintendo (SNES) has always been one of my favorite consoles. This custom-built handheld brings back those classic gaming memories. Perfect for the occasional on-the-road game of Super Mario World or Star Fox, this portable SNES was put together by retro modder Kotomi, who’s earlier work includes the great NES in a cartridge mod.

There are plenty of replacement cases out there for the Nintendo DS Lite, but this one has a nifty trick up its sleeve. The new XCM Hyper Gear case for the DS Lite not only gives your handheld a new look, it turbocharges your games.

These candy apple red cylinders started out life innocently enough as a couple of fire extinguishers. But after they ran out of foam, they got a second life as a pair of speakers. While it may seem like a simple idea, Russian modder Strannik put a tremendous amount of effort into the construction of these tower speakers, which required precision cutting, drilling and welding to pull off such a seamless look.

Sure, you can pick up a used Gameboy for about $20 bucks over on eBay these days, but why buy one when you could build one for yourself? Matt over at Liquidware decided to build an “open source Gameboy” (known as the Gamepack) using off-the-shelf parts, including the modder-friendly Arduino microprocessor.

The guys over at XCM are at it once more with another cool mod you can buy to make your Xbox 360 just that much better. The new XCM Crystal Controller Kit not only redresses your 360 controller in a spiffy clear skin, but it also adds a brand new oversize D-pad that’s designed to prevent you from mistakenly pressing it in the wrong direction.

In a surprise announcement, Microsoft revealed that the Xbox 360 will now be capable of running Mac OS X. Now that I’ve got your attention, what we’ve really got here is an Xbox 360 that’s been gutted and replaced with the brains of a Macintosh.

Sure, it’s past its time, but the SEGA Dreamcast is still one of the greatest video game systems of all time. So when I found out that someone out there had turned this classic console into an all-in-one portable, I was stoked.

LOOKING FOR THE NEW XBOX 360 SLIM? CHECK IT OUT HERE! While the original Xbox is nary a memory in most of our minds, it’s still a popular console for hacking together media centers and other homebrew apps.

Got an old Apple iMac lying around? Here’s a great way to put your computing dinosaur to good use. Mac modder Napes took an original bondi blue iMac, built it into a custom cocktail-format arcade cabinet, and transformed it into a full-fledged arcade gaming system.

What do you do when you drop your old laptop on the ground and break it? If you said “bring it to the Geek Squad” or “throw it in the dumpster”, you’re dead wrong. At least that’s the case if you’re the guy who took his recently trashed iBook G3, and turned it into a Magnadoodle (sorta).

I don’t know if I’d feel really comfortable putting my hand on this mouse, given the fact that it started its life as a device designed to blow off limbs. Still, assuming the explosives have been thoroughly scrubbed from the innards of the old grenade casing, I suppose you’d look mighty macho controlling your computer with one of these bad boys.

Conner over at SlipperyBrick just tipped me off to his latest creation, and it’s quite a doozy. Combining two of my favorite pastimes, Guitar Hero and the Atari 2600, this new casemod is a real beaut.

The Gakken SX-150 is a little analog synthesizer kit that came packaged in a recent issue of a Japanese DIY science magazine. Now, these funky mini synths have started to show up around the globe, leaving all sorts of interesting beeps, blips and squeals in their wake.