Ben Heck has recently unveiled his latest project - a portable version of the old Atari 7800 gaming system. Pictures and further details of this mod are available in the full article.

An arcade system with a 120-inch screen, a full arcade control panel and more than 145 pre-installed games? Sounds like a hardcore arcade fan's dream. Well, if you have the money to burn, you can also get this monstrosity and drop it in the middle of your gaming room thanks to Dream Arcades. Check out the Dreamcade Vision 120 at the full article.

We found this little gadget in BenHeck's website and discovered that it's called Gameport. Essentially, it's a portable emulator that can run Atari 2600 and Colecovision games for the moment. With software upgrades, games from other platforms can also be played.

As of now, this is only at the working design stage. The shell measures 3.5" x 5" x 1" at the moment but will probably be smaller when the finished product comes out.  There's obviously no slot for cartridges, meaning you'll have to load games via USB data transfer.

It sounds like a nice idea and we'd love to see what it can do by the time it's done. Details are pretty scarce at the moment but you can email the people making it at sales@gameport.tv to ask direct questions.

Upon seeing this mod, the first thing that came to mind was what this was all for. And then a few seconds later, we realized just how hardcore this mini Commodore 64 actually is. So without further ado, we introduce the Picodore 64, a mod made by Jason Winters. And yes, just in case you were wondering, it's a fully-functioning Commodore 64 with a matching mini-Atari joystick. Now, how cool is that, having the grand daddy of home video games (not to mention PCs) in your hands?

As for more details on this modified little cutie from 1982, its creator tells all:

I had an old PSOne LCD screen lying around and I thought I'd make a C64 laptop. Actually, it's more like a C64 PDA! It measures 6.5 x 6 x 1.5 inches (15.5 x 16.5 x 4 cm) when closed. It can run from an AC wall adapter or 6 NiMH AA batteries. The keyboard is hacked from a portable folding keyboard for a Jornada PDA which outputs RS-232. I'm using a PIC 16F88 to decode the signals and re-encode them to PS/2 ... There is an internal amplified speaker as well as connections for audio and video output on the back. There's a serial connection for a disk drive and an SD card slot in the side for a 1541-III but I haven't been able to get that to work yet. I also have a connection for a userport/joystick. The joystick in the picture is a hacked Atari keychain joystick.

Again. Hardcore, baby.

Retro gaming is a pretty popular fad at the moment as evidenced by the recent boom of Atari and Namco games coming out on plug and play devices for your home TV set. Aimed at being able to reminisce with your friends on games that once were the height of entertainment, these devices were must haves last Christmas. Well, now you can also reminisce with with your wristwatch, and not just a cheesy Atari or Namco one either. This is a watch you wouldn't expect to come out of the blue at this particular time: a Sega Dreamcast watch. I say you wouldn't expect it to come out because although the Dreamcast was a great console that unfortunately met an early demise, it isn't that old.

Think of how long Space Invaders has taken to become popular once again, this time on the retro rather than 'modern' scene. If you ever owned one of these consoles and are a die-hard Sega fan then maybe this is for you. Although details on the final design and features  of the watch are still sketchy, we do know that hidden under the disc cover is the analog time display; with the watch shaped in the lines of the Dreamcast. The Sega Dreamcast watch is due for release on September 29th for $130 via Japanese exporters Play-Asia.

You're looking at a giant joystick commissioned for Game/Play, "a networked national touring exhibition focusing on the rhetorical constructs of game and play". A collaboration between Q Arts, Derby and HTTP Gallery, London, Game/Play provides a basis for exchange and interaction between audiences, artists, curators and writers through exhibitions and networked activities.

Artist Mary Flanagan built the 9-foot high controller, modelling it after the one used for the 1980 Atari 2600. To use it, players have to work together in order to move and control the game. One or two guys steer, another controls the fire button. Kinda like a pilot/gunner combo. A very good idea to promote camaraderie and teamwork, but for super-super-SUPER-competitive people (read: me and my friends), we may not even get to start playing at all. We'd all be arguing about who's better at controlling, who's better at shooting, etc.

If you're in the UK, you can check out the giant joystick (of doom?) at the following galleries:

Q Arts - Gallery, Derby (22 July - 10 September 2006)

HTTP Gallery, London (22 July - 3 September 2006)