If for some strange reason you don’t know of Benjamin Heckendorn  (Ben Heck), he’s the king of hacking and modding, a console modder extraordinaire who turns consoles into laptops, and just about any gaming related hack you could possibly think of.  You can view all of his projects around HacknMod and by checking out his site, Gizmodo and Engadget.

Don’t Miss:

• How to Make a Portable Gaming Console
• 3 Ways to Install a Game Console in your Car

Some of his laptops are pictured above and below.  A the top of the page is an interview with Ben and a brief walk through of his household lab.  We definitely agree that tinkering with electronics is an extraordinary hobby and a fantastic way to make a living too

By the way, Hack N Mod is teaming up with Ben Heck for a super secret project to be announced later this year! More details to come – subscribe for free to stay posted.

You’ve probably played the classic racing games like Burn Out, Need for Speed, and Gran Turiso on consoles but using the standard controller just doesn’t cut it sometimes.  Learn to build your own racing cockpit through this super comphrehensive step-by-step guide to bring the speed, thrill, and realism of the game to life.  This is definitly not your average build tutorial, it’s a 66 page PDF walking you through each nut and bolt of the assemply process.

Above is an example of the intricate level of detail the tutorial.  Each page shows these comprehensive diagrams with detailed measurements showing you how to build your own.

Related Racing and Arcade projects:

• Our full collection of DIY arcades
• Build a DIY Nintendo Arcade
• Simple Arcade Racing Chair

Here’s another fantastic tutorial from our Open Source Arduino master, Matt. See all of our Arduino projects.

In the spirit of the open source gameboy (#5 on the Top 40 Arduino Projects of the Web), Matt’s latest project uses a few Arduino shields to make the Open Source “PSP” with two-player ping-pong. Since the PSP has dual controllers mounted on either side of a screen, the Open Source PSP project also has two sets of controllers linked to a central touchscreen.

The TripleWide Extendershield from Liquidware replicates the Arduino pins in three places, so three shields can be physically connected to and controlled by a single Arduino board. Two InputShields are used in left and right hand configurations for  joystick-controllers, and the TouchShield Slide an Arduino OLED-touchscreen shield used for the display. All three are placed on top of the TripleWide, and an Arduino board (in this case the Duemilanove) is placed underneath, as shown in the chalkboard drawing below:

Assembling the hardware, in this case, is quite straightforward.  Snap the Arduino on to the center slot of the TripleWide like this:

Flip the TripleWide over, then place the InputShields (one “left-handed” and one “right-handed”) on the outer slots, and the TouchShield Slide on the central slot. The finished gadget should look like this:

For a refresher on getting started with the Arduino, the HackNMod introduction to the Arduino will probably come in handy. You can get all the parts in a kit if you’d like and the source code for two-player ping-pong on the Open Source PSP.  The source code is packaged into a single file with everything needed to program each of the modules in this project. The Antipasto Arduino IDE to run the file can be downloaded here, along with more instructions. Then you’re ready to challenge a friend to some handheld, open source, Arduino ping-pong!

This post was submitted by a Hack N Mod fan, just like yourself. If you’d like to earn money from your projects, feel free to contact us.

Although you have to laugh at the absurd demo vid above, you still have to admire the great engineering work. The pneumatic bed shaking alarm clock is for the deepest sleepers you know. The contraption works by an air fed valve from two compressors which jolt the bed and your bones in that order.

The video shows a pneumatic valve attached to the bed. The valve is like a pneumatic lift which lifts the bed with intake of air. The valve is fed air from two sources – a large liquid cooled air compressor under the basement stairs and a secondary source of pressurized air (at 150psi) from the car compressor. A computer controls the valve and triggers the bed bouncing action dot on the programmed time. The pneumatic force can be turned on and switched off with a keystroke.

Catch three more of our pneumatic hacks below:

• DIY Spy Gadgets: Build a Net Launching Gun
• Pirate Cannon – Pneumatic Style
• DIY Pneumatic Guns

via HG

Here’s a fantastic PSP case mod which incorporates a full keyboard and flip up screen.  The keyboard is actually salvaged from an Xbox 360 chatpad and incorporated to work with the PSP.  Basically, the screen of the original PSP is simply attached above, and a keyboard is now in the original PSP body.  Few details about the build are available but the author will submit more details on the project thread.  Check our our other PSP, Ps2, and Ps3 mods for your inspiration

• See also: PSP Sound Activated LED Light Mod

This gaming hobbyist has shown that there is more than one way to take a photograph. He has found a unique way to get something more out of his work as an x-ray technician.

His “camera” of choice is an X-Ray machine of course:

Using his spare hours, he has stacked up quite a collection of X-Ray photographs of gaming consoles. From Wii-motes to a PSP and even X-rays of cartridges, he has captured them all in black and white.

The hobby is uncommon and almost weird. The effects though are extraordinary. The X-Ray photographs look like detailed blueprints. Take a look at his collection of photographs on Flickr and you will surely appreciate his work.   They would definately make for some cool wallpapers too.

If taking unique snapshots is your game, then look through our collection of photography hacks.

If you’ve ever wanted to play virtually any game from any console all on one machine, this hack is for you. It illustrates step-by-step, one man’s ambition to stuff a full-fledged gaming PC, an Xbox 360, a PS3 and a Wii into a custom arcade cabinet. Everything from power consumption to the display, to the custom video-switching mechanism is explained. The end result is what some might describe as the ultimate gaming machine.

If you liked this, you’ll also enjoy:

• All of our DIY Arcade Projects
• Make your own Vintage Arcade Marquee
• DIY Xbox 360 Arcade Style Controller

• An onboard laser and a wireless camera for sight targeting.
• A remotely operated Nerf gun for ‘eliminating’ targets.
• Dual speakers with an amplifier and an iPod Nano for some sound blasting.

The tank runs on four wheels turned by two 24V Valco gear motors. The power comes from a 24V 3000mAh ‘Battlepack’ Nickel Cadmium battery. Movement is controlled by a Sabretooth 2X10 speed controller remotely operated through a standard Futaba 7 channel unit set at 75Mh. The Nerf Vulcan gun is fired using a remote controlled servo attached to the gun. The steps to build the chassis and the frame to house the gun and the electronics can be followed in detail at Instructables.

• Don’t miss our other Robot Projects and Airsoft Hacks

• Unique PSP faceplates can be found in our store.
• How to: Display Audio as Light
• More PSP, PS2, PS3 hacks.

DesktopGaming has an incredible collection of all your old school gaming favorites in the form of desktop wallpapers.  They simply grab screenshots from emulated consoles and stitch them together for common widescreen monitor sizes.  A few of our favorites are below, see DesktopGaming for more.

Gotta have the classic mario.

Who doesn’t love Punch Out? One of my personal favorites.

Donkey Kong is a nice looking black wallpaper.

Of course, you can’t have mario without Duck Hunt.

Don’t miss out!

• Retro NES and Atari Hacks
• How to Create Custom Desktop Themes
• Xbox 360 Hacks