- Who This Book is For -

•  Videogame lovers

• People wanting to relive and revive the classic gaming systems of their youth (Old Atari: RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!)

• Tinkerers wanting a cool project to work on

• Those wanting a "Gameboy Alternative"

However, I wrote "Hacking Videogame Consoles" in such a way that pretty much anyone could use it to successfully complete the projects. This was done by having the book in 2 main parts:

Part I (Chapters 1-5) is a basic "boot camp" section of the book that covers things like:

• Basic techniques, such as soldering and de-soldering, so you'll be up to speed and ready when the time comes.

• Any techno-babble terms - such as "potentiometer" - are defined before you'll come across them during the projects.

• An overview and description of each game system - so you're familiar with them before hacking them up.

Covering these topics first allows Part 2 (Chapters 6-17) of the book to accomplish what it must do - make the portable projects themselves - without getting bogged down with the nitty gritty of basic steps and terms. This make the book accessible to a wider range of skill levels. That said, here are a few traits that will also help:

• If you've ever built a model, installed a car stereo or soldering something you've already got a good grasp of the things you need to do.

• Being good with your hands helps - for accurate soldering and cutting with X-Acto knives, cutters

• Doing things such as hole-drilling or gluing accurately and close-up.

• Reading and following diagrams / part placement lists. (However the book does not use schematics - instead it provides visual representations of what circuits should look like)
  

Also while working on your projects you can use the forums on the main www.benheck.com site to discuss projects, share ideas and check for assistance, FAQ's and clues.

For more information on the layout and structure of the book please select "Chapter List" from the overview main menu.

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