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A new Benheck.com Podcast!
After a busy couple of years we’ve finally brought back the Legendary Benheck.com Podcast! You can check it out, along with all back episodes, by clicking here.
Xbox One Controller Monitor Now Available!
The latest version of my famous Controller Monitor is now available for the new Xbox One console! You can read more about it and find ordering information here: XB1 Controller Monitor Page.
I am also working on a PS4 version, stay tuned!
Ben Heck “Steam Box” Concept with AMD APU
My idea of a “Steam Box”
Last winter I built several projects for AMD to highlight their new line of APU’s (Accelerated Processing Units) which are combination CPU’s and graphics card on a single die.
Most of the projects used concepts from AMD, but for one showcase item I got to build “whatever I wanted” so I took a crack at my rendition of a living room PC that could function as a “Steam Box”. Please note this isn’t associated with Steam/Valve, rather it’s my own concept of how a living room “Steam Box” could be put together.
Click below to see the making of!
Every Ben Heck Podcast Intro Ever
One of the best parts of doing our podcast years ago was making the fun, parody “Intros”
Classic include “Tetris: The Movie”, the “Mario Cop” series, “Video Pirates of the Caribbean” and “It’s a Wonderful Half Life” – enjoy!
Xbox One Thoughts
A photo of the Xbox One, stolen off the internet
After a record long console generation (8 years, double the 4 between Xbox and 360) we finally get word of the new Xbox One. The first impression is that nobody in MS marketing knows how to count. We went from 1, to 360, to 1 again. Of course, no first console is called “One” in its lifetime but for the first time ever the numbering goes backwards? Reboot perhaps?
All jargon aside, the only, and I mean ONLY reason the 360 was called such was because in the battle-that-never-happened of Xbox 2 versus Playstation 3, which sounded better? Remember, consumers are stupid (see the Twilight films). This time around, I think they’re going for a play on words, ie, Xbox One sounds like “Xbox WON”, some sort of subliminal advertising. As Red Letter Media would saw “You may not have noticed, but your brain did”
Click below to read more of my impressions.
Episode 56 – Analog WASD PC Gaming Keyboard
I do almost all of my gaming these days on PC – much better graphics, faster loading time and free online play.
But there is one aspect of console gaming that is better than PC and that’s analog control of your character in the X Y plane using the left thumbstick.
In the latest episode of our show I tackle this problem by building a PC gaming keyboard with Analog WASD keys. How hard – or rather far – you press the keys, the faster your character moves in that direction.
To those who might ask “Why not just use a Teensy HID as joystick?” the answer is I tried but it wouldn’t map to the same axis as an Xbox 360 controller. Xbox 360 controller “just works” on most games since they’re just console ports anyway (next generation please get here already!)