Video-a-rama

Yes I know this new Benheck.com isn’t fully functional yet, but I’m working on it slowly. I switched servers on the host and thus started with a “clean slate”. Sort of nice, but I’m having to rebuild a lot.

Next up for re-functionality are the movie downloads. I’m creating iPod video-sized versions of Adventure, The Adventurous, Lizard of Death and Port Washington. These will slowly start to come online in the next week, in honor of Wednesday the 14th of March being the 1 year anniversary of me finishing Port Washington. It may seem trivial but believe me, it was a red letter day in my life.

Speaking of that, what if we made another movie? There’s a good question… We have one in mind (no, not Port Washington 2) that we believe would be quite entertaining. I’m wondering, if we got some funding, would anyone in or near southern Wisconsin be willing to help? We’d need actors, model builders, CGI artists, rotoscopers, puppeteers, creature fabricators and a 1979 Trans-Am with Bondo spots. Sound interesting? Effects and interiors would be done next winter, main shooting in 2008. Shoot me an email if you’re in the area.

We’re also planning a full video podcast for Episode 15. Thus it’ll probably come out next weekend instead of next Wednesday, but hopefully it’ll be worth the wait.

New Atari 2600 concept

 

Since it’s an odd numbered year I have an urge to build some Atari 2600 portables again. For some reason I always do fairly difficult projects on even years, so I guess this is my go-between.


Paper mockup of the Rev 5.1, with size reference items around it.

The idea I came up with is a VCSp Revision 5.1. It’s styled somewhat on the old classic Rev 5, which was the model I believe I built the most of (even slightly more than the Phoenix). Here are the specs on this concept unit:

  • 7″ x 4.2″ x 1″ in size.
  • Runs off (4) AA batteries.
  • 3.5″ color TFT screen, like the Phoenix.
  • Player 2 port, headphone jack and wall power adapter.
  • Left and right difficulty switches.
  • Paddle controller.

So my question is, would anyone be interested in one of these? I’d be willing to make a decent number of them, say 50, if there was sufficient demand. I’ve done up a few numbers and now believe I could sell this for $300, if a person traded in or sent me an Atari 2600 4-switch.

Let me know so I can consider it, thanks!

N64p and PS2p files released

Here are two things I’m asked for quite a bit – plans for the N64 and PS2 portables! Since I am washing my hands of these systems, I figured there was no harm in making the files public.

They’re not plans per se, rather just the Adobe Illustrator art files I used for my designs, but if you can make like Dan Brown and decode it everything’s there to build your own case. No help or tech support is expressed or implied for these files, so please don’t email me asking for any. Check the forums for general-purpose hacking information.

N64p art file, AI 10 format

PS2p art file, AI 10 format