Live from the Midwest Gaming Classic!
I’ll be here all week – try the veal!
All posts by benheck
Commodore 64 Original Hardware Laptop
Click photo to super-size it
This project somehow has the distinction of being both the longest and fastest portable electronics project I have ever done. I originally started making a C64 laptop in the fall of 2006, and kept pecking away at it every so often. Finally, a few weeks ago, I said “screw it” and started over.
I redid everything in a week and a half – the shortest project ever. (The previous record hold was the Wii portable at 2 weeks) The goal this time was to make something that looked exactly like a computer from the early 80’s, yet in a new form. Including the color beige and texture.
Luckily the blue in the logo matches the blue SD card. Not to sound like a TLC host or anything, but that sort of stuff is important in design.
Anyway, about the project itself. This is a fully functional Commodore 64 laptop using actual hardware, specifically the C64C motherboard which was one of the last and smallest revisions. It uses a Gamecube power supply in place of the original power brick.
For storage there’s a device called the 1541-III DTV to “emulate” a floppy drive using an SD card. (Click here for more info) The SD card is formatted FAT-32 so you can dump disk images on it using a PC, and read it with the C64 – pretty cool!
For more information, the making-of, pictures and video read the rest of the story below.
I am taking a break for a while because I am pretty tired and burned out from all the portable making this winter and spring. If you are interested in projects, hit me up in a month or so.
Longhorn Engineer’s Atari 2600 Video Mod
The back of you Atari could look like this!
At the Midwest Gaming Classic Parker Dillmann – otherwise known as the “Longhorn Engineer” – gave me a sample of his new Atari video mod. This is a small circuit board he sells that you solder to the TIA chip inside and Atari 2600 to get a great composite/S-video picture.
Check out his site here, and continue reading to see me try the mod out for myself.
Also, if you need spare Atari 2600 parts, why not check out my awesome auction?
Beyond Port Washington
Click here for full-sized version
It’s official! Due to overwhelming demand the next Ben Heckendorn movie is going to be a sequel to one of our most popular titles called “Beyond Port Washington”.
SYNOPSIS:
It has been 5 years since the events of the first movie. Steve and Erica have been living together for a while now, things are going well, and marriage is on the horizon. However Mike has latched into a deep depression, much like Steve in the first movie, and has grown distant from his friends.
Living in New York, but back in the area on vacation, Ben decides to enlist the help of Steve and Erica to help Mike out. But after helping with some sneaky tricks, Erica realizes that Ben and Mike in fact influenced her love for Steve, and the cat’s out of the bag!
Now Erica questions the validity of her own relationship with Steve, but with a proposal looming can’t bring herself to tell him the truth. Meanwhile Ben embarks on a quest to find Mike’s dream girl – a mysterious World of Warcraft player known only as “hot_69_chik”.
Expect all of the madcap thrills, spills of laughs of the first movie with some new surprises along the way. The script, once again written by Ben Heckendorn and Dale Nauertz, has been underway since last fall and filming is slated to commence this summer. All major characters are returning.
Realistically we hope to finish it by Christmas 2010, I’m not going to kid myself with post production but I think if anything “Possumus Woman” shows we’ve sped the process up.
Stay tuned!
R.I.P. my Dremel
Well the day has finally come. After 2.75 years of faithful service, my first Dremel has bought the farm.
For a few months now the variable speed switch has been erratic, only going to the lowest speed, requiring a shove to get higher. Now the switch is totally dead, and the Dremel’s days are over.
Even though 99.99% of the time I only use it for the cutoff wheel, the Dremel has been an invaluable tool in my quest to do whatever it is I do. It has worked on every project of mine since the first 2006 Xbox 360 laptop, and finally conked out during the dual builds of the final THQ laptop and the long-suffering original hardware C64 portable.
All is not lost, however. Dremel is a Wisconsin company so I had no reservations about buying a new one. I also bought it at the local Ace Hardware store and not the Farm & Fleet… even though this support strategy didn’t work for Circuit City I’m hoping it’ll keep the local Ace open.
I joined Twitter, so the world is now at peace
I get a lot of requests from people that I should join Twitter, so I did.
You can check out my stream or whatever it’s called at twitter.com/benheck.
Enjoy the rambling!
Xbox 360 Controller Monitor (Rev 2)
I have completed a new style of my Xbox 360 Controller monitor, which now includes indicators for the analog sticks, providing even more data for playtesting.
Currently these controllers are being used for playtesting on Modern Warfare 2, the new Wolfenstien game’s multiplayer, and this particular prototype for Mass Effect 2.
For more information, videos and to order one for your own company’s playtesting please visit the product page. I plan to do a run of these if there is sufficient interest.