I know, it’s hard to believe your eyes. But here it is. Just in time for the 2003 Classic Gaming Expo, the Vagabond ’03! Using the design concepts from the original Vagabond plans (circa 2000), it is the smallest VCSp ever – yet it the cartridge slides down the back! No fakey emulation or “Ataris-On-A-Chip” – a real live Atari 2600 (or part of it) is actually crammed into this baby! For the story on how (and why) I did it, click here!

Hello there, portable fans! Updating to let ya’ll know that I will be attending the 2003 Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. I also plan to bring a new (or old?) style portable with me… It’ll have link ability so if you’re one of the people who has a linkable VCSp, perhaps you can try to defeat my SKILLZ at Combat!

It is Summer, 2003. You, a brave adventurer, have decided to explore the Fabled VCSp Construction Area. This is the hallowed ground where the batch of VCSp Rev 6’s are being built.

Under guise of dusk, you sneak up to the entrance whilst the occupants are away. You step up the stairs, towards the door. What treasures and mysteries await? What new and exciting Atari portable stuff might you see? And of course… will you survive?

The Workshop Tour is an HTML-based photo-realistic extravaganza of excitment designed to show you the ‘innards’ of what goes into building a VCSp. And you may even find some prototype units along the way!

So ENTER… if you DARE!!!

Not one, not two, not four, but THREE portable systems are currently being developed by The Atari 2600 Portables Site! What could they be? Here are some hints:

One system has already been made portable by many other hobbyists.

The second system has already ‘portabilized’ by me once but is now being re-designed with a brand-new style!

The third is my personal Holy Grail of Portables, the device I’d most want to have portabilized above all others. The system closest to my heart, it would also be the most expensive and difficult portable unit I have ever built. But, if completed it would be, in my humble opinion, the most jaw-droppingly amazing homebuilt portable system since the Dawn of Mankind. Or at least really cool.

On top of all that I am still working on the batch of VCSp Rev 6’s. Also coming soon – my predictions for the Official Sony PSP (TM).

I HAD to write about this. Someone sent me a link to IGN that reports that Sony just announced a Portable Playstation. All I can say is, IT’S ABOUT TIME!

They did exactly what they should. A 1.8 gig 3″ diameter disc, much like a Gamecube. They can fit an entire PSOne game on a disc, even a 2-disc game. Awesome. They can repackage PS1 games for an instant library of titles, then make new ones. All on familiar technology – I bet the PSp will have the same, or near same, dev kit as the PSOne. A backlit screen! Right off the bat – no waiting a year to make you buy the unit twice (yes I did just type that) Interacts with other things, such as cell phones. USB2 support. The list goes on…

And the end result?

I love Nintendo. I played my NES to death. I was still playing Perfect Dark on the N64 when Timesplitters came out. I wanted the Gamecube to succeed because I thought it was cool. Having said all that, I do believe this is the death toll for the Big N. At least for them being a hardware company.

Slowly they are being beaten on all fronts. The Genesis gave them a run for their money. Then the Playstation outsold them. They had big hits like Goldeneye, then Rare left them. Now they’re squeaking by on units, a mere fraction of what Sony sells. Their big games are lucky to sell a million copies these days.

They are becoming the next Atari.

Resting too much on their laurels, the Gameboy is to Nintendo what the Atari 800/2600 was to Atari. (I consider the Gamecube a non-factor) Atari tweaked the 800 computer to build the 5200 game system. The 7800 had the same processor as the 800 computer, the same sound processor as the 2600 (2 stinking channels!?) and its fabled “Maria” chip is just a slightly upgraded ANTIC chip, also found on the 800. (I may be a little off in my tech but it’s close enough to make a point). Then, in 1987, Atari tweaked the 800 again to build the XE Game System.

Old tech, new box. Older tech, newer box. Is that so much different than the Gameboy? A Gameboy Advance is no more “advanced” than maybe a 1991-era game system. Ok, it’s got as faster processor but where’s the polygon support? By not ‘advancing’ the Gameboy Advance enough because they didn’t need to (since they had, as the Afterburner guys put it, a “portable monopoly”) they have retro-actively shot themselves in the foot.

I’m sure many of you thought I didn’t have the ability to count to 6 (much like how Capcom had trouble counting to 3) but, here it is, VCSp Revision 6 Prototype!

A VCSp Rev 6 looks REMARKABLY like a Special Edition, except the main body of the unit is made from plastic (note the white sides, unpainted on this prototype). The main advantage of this unit is that, because of the material change and others internally, both sides of a unit can be routed in about 5 minutes, as opposed to 1.5 hours with all previous models.

For more juicy details on what makes this unit faster to create, visit the Rev 6 entry in the Models section of my site.

The biggest advantage of this design is that I am planning to build as many as 40 of these style units. If you are interesting in being on my “pre-sale” list, feel free to email me for details. I also plan to contact people from my previous pre-sale list and inform them of this development.

Naturally, this prototype itself is for sale and (obviously) ready to go!  If interested, let me know.

ALSO! If anyone out there is familiar with how to implement a Sony Info lithium battery charger into a device, I’d be very interested in your help. A self-charging VCSp would be, much like Cold Fusion, a great benefit to mankind and a feature I’d love to incorporate into the mass construction.

Lastly, the rip-roaring battle royale fight-to-the-finish GBA SP vs VCSp SE article (see below) will be done shortly, so don’t despair!