Ben Heck lends his hand to emulation-friendly Gameport handheld

It looks like those not able to get their own one-of-a-kind Ben Heck creation could soon be able to get their hands on the next best thing, as Ben (whose work on Engadget can be found here) has now lent some of his considerable talents to the forthcoming Gameport handheld, which promises to let you get your old school emulation fix with no questions asked. While the Gameport isn't entirely Ben's doing, he did design the casing for the device, not to mention pick the name for it. The non-Ben Heck aspects of the device seem to be decent enough as well, with it boasting a 480 x 234 LCD display (the exact size isn't clear), an SD slot to handle all storage needs, and even a port to connect two systems together for multiplayer games. According to Ben, only Atari 2600 and Colecovision games are supported for the time being, although emulation of other systems will apparently be possible through software upgrades (it'll also function as a basic PMP). Unfortunately, it's still in prototype form, so it looks like we'll have to wait a while to get an idea of pricing or availability.

[Via Ben Heck]

[Paul @ May 29th 2007 1:22PM]

meh thanks if i wanted to play atari games i would just buy one for like 5$

[EDomain @ May 29th 2007 1:30PM]

This is friggin' awesome

[hobgoblin @ May 29th 2007 1:36PM]

no wifi? i thought that was the way forward for handheld devices these days.

[gibber9583 @ May 29th 2007 1:49PM]

As much as Ben Heck is a god, this isnt that impressive of a device. Cant most crappy PDA's now play emulated Atari games?

[Volsfan91 @ May 29th 2007 2:02PM]

Seriously, buy a PSP. You can't beat fullspeed NES, SNES, PS1, GBA, Gameboy Color, Genesis, and lots lots more.

[Ratchet the Lombax @ May 29th 2007 3:18PM]

@Volsfan91
That's exactly what I was thinking. I have a PSP and I have 15 different systems emulated on it. They range from Atari 2600 to the Gameboy Advance, I can even play the Capcom system 1 and 2 arcade games.

[Iscariote @ May 29th 2007 2:09PM]

Ben Heck's stuff is impressive for a guy in his garage. His stuff would be the laughingstock of blogs everywhere if he were trying to sell them as anything other than one off oddities.

[Fatass of Kickassness @ May 30th 2007 1:43PM]

Hey asshole, you havn't seen half the stuff this guy has done if you're calling his works 'laughable'. Why don't you bring me a 360 laptop?

[tiuk @ May 29th 2007 2:22PM]

Isn't this what the GP2X is for?

[Jean-Michel Decombe @ May 29th 2007 2:28PM]

MAME support, please. Less cheapo-looking design for the control panel, please. Thanks, man. You rule.

[Jon @ May 29th 2007 3:59PM]

There is already a device that can do emulation. It has a better design too. It's called the GP2X.

[CT A @ May 29th 2007 5:20PM]

I thought the GP2X couldn't emulate a GBA..

[Mike @ May 29th 2007 6:30PM]

yes it can. Just not well at the moment.

[Joseph @ May 29th 2007 7:25PM]

FYI - That was a LOTR Reference.

[Joseph @ May 29th 2007 7:26PM]

"They come in ports? I'm Getting one!"

[Zach @ May 29th 2007 7:47PM]

Umm...this type of thing's nothing new. I was looking to get A gamepark gp2x last year, and it's predecessor came out a couple of years before that. And yes, they emulated too.

[crazypope @ May 30th 2007 7:46AM]

they explain more about it on atari age.
http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=107755&st=0&gopid=1305643&#entry1305643
the case is not final

[Andrew Go @ May 30th 2007 11:37AM]

UGLY

[fury @ May 31st 2007 8:18PM]

You would think when someone comes to you and says "here design a mass produced hand held"
You'd go all out and come up with an amazing case right?! But instead we get a grey brick
that looks like a damn intercom system for a 6 year old.
I guess Ben should stick to the simple blocky cases he makes and leave the real handhelds to some proper CAD artists because that thing looks HORRID.