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.

If your strumming hand for Guitar Hero is becoming a bit worse for wear, then good news: Ben Heck, modder of all that is next-gen, has come up with a way to make your foot do all the work instead. Introducing Ben Heckendorn's own brand of pedal controllers, a peripheral that lets you strum and whammy with the merest movement of your foot. All the details in the full article.

Who says Ben Heck only deals in modding the latest gaming hardware? The modder's gone old school this time around, creating a laptop version of the  Apple IIGS computer from the 80s. More details and pics are available in the full article

The PlayStation 3 laptop is the latest project of Ben Heck, hacker extraordinaire. The laptop will soon be up for grabs in an auction, so tough cookies for everyone except for the lucky person who'll get his hands on it. You can watch the 16-pound beauty in action by watching the video in the full article.

Console modder Ben Heckendorn's apparently decided to do a retake of one of his one-handed Xbox 360 controller from 2006. The new build sports some particularly handy features that should make it easier to use. Details regarding this mod project are in the full article.

Wondering what Ben Heck has been up to lately? The modder recently announced that he's finished work on a Halo 3-themed laptop version of Microsoft's Xbox 360 Elite. This new project hosts far more than just a shiny new skin - you can view the other changes in the full article.

Microsoft's been under a lot of heat because of the Xbox 360 overheating issue (pun intended). To address this, Microsoft came out with Project Falcon, a new Xbox 360 model sporting the 65nm chip, which will offer a significant reduction in heat. Ben Heck, modder extraordinaire, got the new Falcon model Xbox 360 and tested it against the older Zephyr model in a laptop-type environment. He found that the Falcon runs much cooler than the Zephyr. Details in the full article.

  

Just got yourself an Xbox 360, and want to check if your unit is one of the newer ones with that extended heatsink... without voiding your warranty? You're in luck, as Ben Heckendorn found a nifty way of checking if your Xbox 360 will be prone to the dreaded Red Ring of Death, or not.

The steps involve letting your unit stand upside-down, so you'll be able to see all the little holes underneath the Xbox. The get your digital camera with a flash (or a mobile phone with a built-in camera and a flash) and just stick the lens at the bottom of the unit. You should be able to see what lies beyond the holes, without having to void the warranty by opening it.

If your unit has one of the new heatsinks, you'll be see a dark object just beside the DVD player. If your new unit is not that blessed, you'll just see an ominous, empty void.

This method certainly is a big help for those who really want to get a piece of Xbox 360 gaming heaven, but are worried about getting the ring of doom. Of course, you could always check the manufacturer's date instead, but this method will definitively tell you if your Xbox has the new heatsink or not.

A couple of months ago, mod meister Ben Heckendorn (aka Ben Heck) hinted on a new product he was developing in tandem with accessory manufacturer e-Dimensional. The guessing game ends today, with Ben Heck spilling the beans what he's been up to all this time - ladies and gents, we present the  Audio FX Pro 5+1 Headset.

The headset includes a 40s-style exterior for an additional retro feel, and full-sized ear cups to ensure that no outside noise interrupts the wearer's gaming sessions. What grabs our attention the most, however, is the unit's force feedback rumble feature.

This will allow gamers to "feel" low-frequency ambient sounds, which improves your game's immersiveness... and sounds like a good way to get a massage (or a migraine).

The Audio FX Pro 5+1 Headset will connect to your PC's USB port (Possible PS3/Xbox 360 compatibility?), and is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. 

That's the rough on this 80-dollar head piece - Full tech details should be available in the box pictures below, and over at Ben Heck's site (the source link).

 

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.