A makeover for Xbox, Atari
2008-03-28 07:16
San Francisco - If you ever thought it would be cool to have an Xbox laptop, or wished those old Atari games in your attic could be reborn on a retro handheld device, you might want to talk to Benjamin Heckendorn.
Better known as Ben Heck, the 32-year-old Wisconsin native
attained legendary status among "modders", hobbyists who tinkered with video game hardware to make it do things the
original designers never intended.
"That's the American way, right? Start in your basement, garage, or whatever.
"You're supposed to get out of it someday,
but I still have to listen to my clothes drier sometimes,"
Heckendorn said in an interview.
Heckendorn started his hobby eight years ago when he decided to
fool around with an old Atari 2600 - the classic console that
popularised home gaming when it launched in 1977 - and ended up
re-incarnating it as a handheld device.
Heckendorn kept busy with a few dozen projects each
year, many updated on his website, www.benheck.com.
Fees ranged from a few hundred dollars to convert a clunky old console into a handheld, to more than $4 000 to make a laptop computer out of an Xbox 360.