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. The handheld has a 2.5″ backlit LCD display, and can run for an impressive 7-8 hours on a set of AA batteries.
By using the lightweight innards of an Atari Flashback 2, Chris was able to cram in a system loaded with 40 built-in Atari 2600 games. And thanks to a clever 2600 cart slot mod, the system can play original cartridges from the 2600 too.
Pitfall portable, here I come!
[via Ben Heck Forums]
Written by technabob on November 26th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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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.
It’s a really clean build job, echoing the design of the original Super Nintendo console and gamepad, only with a nice big LCD screen smack dab in the middle. The cartridge slips nicely into the back of the portable, making it about the most streamlined SNES portable I’ve seen.
Click to View Embedded Video Clip
Great job, Kotomi!
Written by technabob on November 10th, 2008 with no comments.
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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.
Check out the complete build log over on TopMods.
Written by technabob on October 30th, 2008 with no comments.
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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.
Under the hood of this Xbox 360 case is the motherboard from an old Apple PowerBook G4. Modder Phil Herlihy is an avid Mac and Xbox fan who happened to have some spare 360 shells lying around, and thought that there was no better use for one than to turn it into a Mac.
While I’d call it the OSXBOX 360, Phil decided on the name Xbox G4. You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to. It’s still a cool mod. The system runs on an 867MHz G4 processor, and has a built-in 60GB hard drive.
Since there wasn’t a way to get the Xbox DVD tray to work, an Apple Combo drive was cut into the side of the console. And thanks to it’s PowerBook roots, the whole thing can run on a rechargeable battery.
Want to take a shot at building one for yourself? Head on over to MacMod to check out Phil’s full build log.
Written by technabob on October 16th, 2008 with no comments.
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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.
It took modder Jon Jandran (aka “Hailrazer”) about 90 hours of blood, sweat and tears to transform a kids toy called a “Lazer Doodle” and into an elegant case for his Dreamcast portable that looks as good as anything that could have come off of the SEGA assembly line.
The portable integrates a Sony PSOne 5″ LCD screen, an InterAct Quantum Fighterpad controller, stereo speakers and a battery pack which lets him play for about 2.5 hours on a single charge. Check out the video clip below to see the Dreamtrooper in action.
Click here to view the embedded video clip.
Originally, Hailrazer planned on painting the case black and calling it the DarthCast Portable, but I think Stormtrooper helmet is more appropriate, since the original Dreamcast was white anyway.
[via Ben Heck Forums]
Written by technabob on October 15th, 2008 with no comments.
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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. But the old black behemoth of a case sure needs an update. So when I saw this custom Xbox build out, I thought to myself, “that’s just what the doctor ordered”.
Modder Coca627 refactored his original Xbox into what he’s coined the “Xbox Slim”, a lean, mean fighting machine, amped up to the max.
To put it in perspective, the original Xbox measured 12.5″(w) x 4″(h) x 10.5″(d), while the Xbox Slim is just 10.2″(w) x 2.3″(h) x 9″(d), a reduction in volume of 60%. And the Slim weighs in at a svelte 4 pounds, less than half the weight of the ponderous 8.5 pound bulk of the original Xbox.
The Xbox Slim is decked out with a brand spaking new DVD/CD-R slim combo drive, and loaded up with a 2.5″ 60GB hard drive for storage, and built-in Wi-Fi networking. Coca even managed to integrate a hidden receiver for his Logitech wireless controller.
Under the hood, the system managed to slim down thanks to improved cooling, courtesy of a pair of heavy duty Iceberg4 Pro Chip Cooling fans.
The system is modded to run a wide variety of nifty applications including the XBMC media center dashboard and emulators for SNES, Sega Megadrive, NeoGeo and more.
Click here to view the embedded video clip.
Now if only he could get it to run Xbox 360 games 
[via Xbox-Scene]
Written by technabob on October 10th, 2008 with no comments.
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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. Thanks to the scan lines on the iMac’s bubbly 15″ color CRT, it’s the perfect display for that retro arcade feel.
The arcadiMac runs on a 233MHz PowerPC 750 (G3) processor, which may not seem like much by today’s standards, but it’s plenty powerful to run most classic arcade games (other then NEOGEO) using MacMame emulator software.
To get all the real arcade buttons and joysticks to work with the iMac, Napes wired them through an iPac USB controller interface, and set up all the key mappings with QuickKeys. The total cost for the entire project was under $200 bucks (plus several months of blood, sweat and tears).
Ready to build your own arcadiMac? Napes plans on posting a build guide over on MacMod so you can make one for yourself.
Written by technabob on October 8th, 2008 with no comments.
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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).
When modder leadoffdouble dropped his old iBook G3 on the floor and busted its CD-ROM drive, he decided to take his freshly squozen Apple and make himself some tangy Apple-ade.
While he did manage to cram the iBook’s circuitry and LCD screen into the Magnadoodle’s case, there was no room for a keyboard or trackball, so an external one needs to be connected to actually use the computer. What this thing really needs is a touchscreen, which would eliminate the need for such pesky appendages. Plus, you could actually use it just like a Magnadoodle, complete with stylus.
Wanna take a stab at building your own Macnadoodle? Head on over to MacMod and check out the full worklog.
Of course, if you don’t feel like busting your laptop open, you could just go for an Etch-a-Sketch laptop sleeve instead.
Written by technabob on October 3rd, 2008 with no comments.
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