All posts by benheck

Video Games

You can now pre-order the Access Controller!

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Blue is the new white
Rendering of Access Controller product box. (Click image for large version)

We’re finally close enough in production to start taking pre-orders for the Access Controller. Please click here to visit the eDimensional site and proceed. You’ll also notice a permanent link on the right side of the site that you can use, as well as one for my headset.

The Access Controller is intended as a solution for those who have difficulty using a standard gaming pad because of a physical limitation or other factors. All of the gamepad controls are on one surface, allowing easy access, and the curved bottom and feet lets the user place the unit on their leg or flat surface, removing the issue of having to hold it. On top of this, each of the modules can be placed in any of the 6 slots in the unit, allowing a myriad of configurations to best suit the user and/or specific game.


Description of the 5 modules, shown in a sample configuration.

It has been a long process (a solid year) but I’m glad we’ve finally reached this point, and I’d like to offer my most sincere thanks to Michael Epstein at eDimensional for supporting this idea and bringing it to fruition.

Podcasts

Benheck Podcast Episode 44

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We were going to discuss Egypt and Space, but after talking about Grand Theft Auto for a good chunk of it and then someone bringing up The Mummy we latched into a 30 minute long discussion about Steven Spielberg films, with a good chunk of it devoted to his much-maligned (but secretly awesome) movie A.I.

I guess it’s topical, considering Indy 4 is coming out tomorrow, so maybe we’ll hit up Egypt and Space next time. Enjoy the rambling…

Listen to Benheck.com Podcast Episode 44

www.benheckpodcast.com

Video Games

Building an Xbox 360 Laptop

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It has come to my attention that my green Xbox 360 laptop is in the new Popular Science – I did an interview with them a while back, but I didn’t know exactly which issue it was for. I guess it’s the new June one!

It's back, back in the New York groove, it's back!

For those of you wanting to try a project like this, the Engadget articles below can help supplement the Popular Science article:

Part 1 – Xbox Begins

Part 2 – Return of the Xbox

Part 3 – The Final Countdown

Also, for the first time ever, I am making available the Adobe Illustrator (AI) files used to design all 3 Xbox laptop thus far! You’ll need AI 10 or newer to open them, so any reasonably recent version should be good.

Original white water-cooled 360 laptop, 2006

Black 360 laptop, 2007

Green Halo-inspired 360 laptop, 2008

Also now would be a good time to talk a little more about the new chipset. From what I have seen the old chipset has been pretty much “washed from the shelves” though I did see a 203 watt Arcade unit when I bought my last Xbox for modding 2 weeks ago. The new chipset 360’s have a 65nm process CPU, use a lot less power and (the CPU at least) runs a lot cooler, so use them if you can. All Xbox 360’s now have the supplemental GPU heatsink, though the GPU is now by far the hottest part of the system, so it actually needs more cooling consideration now than the tri-core CPU.

What to look for:

  • On the box below “Xbox 360” text: “Go Play” (arcade) “Go Pro” (premium) “Go Big” (elite)
  • On the side of the box, under specs, the word “Falcon” (name for this revision of motherboard)
  • If it is listed on the side sticker (not always anymore) 175 watts for power. (203 watts is the old one)
  • The lot number should be above 0740 but this isn’t always sure-fire, the other signs are better.
  • After Opening: The power supply will be labeled 175 watts.
  • Camera though bottom of unit trick: Check out that link, which shows what the new GPU heat sink looks like, as well as the old copper heat pipe CPU heat sink. On the new Xbox the CPU heat sink should be a simple, less shiny aluminum block WITHOUT the vertical copper heat pipe.

Have fun and happy modding! Also be sure to check out our forums for lots of great help and tips.

Video Games

Guitar Hero pedal controllers

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Recently I was asked to build some single-handed Guitar Hero controllers to show at the Games for Health conference, and Red Octane was kind enough to donate some guitars for me to experiment with. Here are the results, I built two of them:

Colored blue and green to represent the PS3 and 360
Click here for a larger version

These replace the strum and whammy bar from a standard guitar, allowing you to use a single hand for the chords. What you do is use your foot and click your toes up or down to strum or navigate menus. To perform a whammy you lift up your heel – the spring loaded plate is shown in the up (full whammy) position in the photo, but normally your heel compresses it (no whammy). The pedal plugs into a modified Guitar Hero 3 Les Paul wireless controller. You can still strum the modified guitar but the whammy is only on the pedal.

For more photos and info check the rest of the story below. This project also finally gave me an excuse to throw together a “music video” demonstrating its use, check it out here.

Continue reading Guitar Hero pedal controllers →

Video Games

Games for Health conference 2008

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I will be appearing at the annual Games for Health conference this week in Baltimore, to talk about my work with single-handed controllers, show the latest production model of the Access Controllers (pre-orders coming this month) and to demonstrate some new, unique controllers built specifically for the show.

Coming Soon!
The near-final prototype of the production model Access Controller from eDimensional. Please direct inquiries to access@edimensional.com

You can read more about the conference by visiting their site using this link. I’ll also update my site with the new items once they’ve gone live at the show. Stay tuned…

Podcasts

Benheck.com Podcast Episode 43

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Time for another podcast! Today we’re discussing conspiracy theories, specifically the moon landing, JFK assassination and of course the Madden curse. We also discuss Grand Theft Auto a bit, although we recorded this before getting our hands on a copy.

Listen to Benheck.com Podcast Episode 43

www.benheckpodcast.com

As an addendum, the main thing I’d say about GTA4 is that it’s a next-gen version of GTA – awesome graphics, amazingly deep (the fake internet is gut-bustlingly hilarious) but still retains some of the control / aiming issues of its predecessors. I’m sure we’ll discuss it in detail come next podcast.