Was buying some groceries tonight when I passed by the magazine aisle… Recalled that I did an article/interview with the Official Xbox Magazine a while back regarding the Red Ring of Death problem. It appears that my comments are in the latest issue, so if you have a subscription or if a friend does, why not check it out?

This is how I came to my answers…

It’s just my opinion on the problem, but I noticed it was mentioned on the cover (“What Causes the Problem!” or some such blurb) so I was kind of proud of that. This did not get me a discount on beef stew in the checkout lane, however. In other news, the podcast will be a few days late since Jones was off “playing” on a vacation or something, but we should have it cranked out by Friday.

Well sort of. I was cleaning my basement and realized I had a few extra Atari 2600’s laying around. Imagine that. So I slapped a composite video and stereo audio mod onto one of them, using a Playstation-style cord. Now both channels of the Atari’s audio go to separate speakers – it’s just like a 5.1 surround system, circa 1979. There’s also a potentiometer on the base of the unit to adjust the video, if need be.

This unit has been sold, but if you’d like to find out how to do the stereo audio mod yourself, please visit this site. Fairly simple diagram. For the video mod please see the book section of my site, specifically the bottom of this page.

What happens when you take 2 great tastes and mix ’em together? Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for one, and my new NEStari for another.

My NEStari portable. Click to enlarge and magically add a flashbulb.

I’ve been working on this unit for awhile now… you can read the full story after the jump. But yes, this is a combo NES and Atari 2600 portable that changes modes via a switch and uses a built-in rechargeable battery. How advanced is that? I’m sure you’re all amazed. Actually this probably the most difficult “small” portable I’ve ever done. Lots of crap to wire up. Oh and it also uses a hacked-up Flashback 2 (the Atari on a chip thing) instead of an original 2600. Been wanting to try one for a while now…

This unit has been sold, thanks for your interest! For the rest of the story click below.

Continue reading The NEStari →

OK by now some of you may be thinking “Ben is becoming the ultimate Xbox 360 fanboy with all these articles” and yeah, maybe you’re right. But is it really any different from any number of political blogs, or bumper-sticker-encrusted cars, where someone is screaming “Don’t vote for [whoever], it’ll be bad!” Well I think if the Wii won it’d be bad for gaming (the reasons for this being beyond the scope of this article, maybe later) so I’m promoting the 360 any way I can.

The new heat sink on an HDMI Premium 360, slightly highlighted. Remember, look for the copper “ball” on the side.

Picture aboved is a new heat sink found in a new HDMI Premium Xbox 360 by “Sloopydrew”. The manufacture date was 7-9-7, pretty new. So if you’re still on the fence about getting a 360 this fall, get off! The new ones seem to be locked, cocked and ready to rock. Still sucks GTA4 is pushed back, but plenty of other cool games are coming out this fall.

Or as I call it “DIY Xbox 360 Endoscopy”.

Click below for the rest of the amazingly difficult steps.

Continue reading See if you have the new Xbox 360 heatsink without voiding the precious warranty →

Seems like the Xbox 360 Elite article has gotten a lot of attention of late so I decided to talk about it a little more.

Just blowtorch your 360 and you too can look under the GPU.

In this “addendum” I’ll talk about the heat sinks, wicks in the heat pipes, and the DVD drive, since the scratched discs thing is also a concern.

Continue reading More about the Xbox 360 Elite →