Tag Archives: mod

PlayStation 4 mod puts a portable console in your hands

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The Nintendo Switch ushered in a new age for handheld gaming devices, but somewhat ironically, PC gaming handhelds are the ones dominating that niche market. There was a time when the PlayStation Portable and Vita were the only “serious” portable consoles around, but neither Sony nor Xbox seems to be in a rush to catch up. No, the PlayStation Portal doesn’t qualify in this regard.

This left PlayStation fans to their own devices to scratch this portable itch, leading to many mods and DIY projects with varying levels of success. What makes the “PS4T” rather notable isn’t its looks, which is downright basic, but the way it tries to reuse as much of the original PS4 Slim hardware as much as possible, leading to some interesting design choices.

Designer: Josh (Restore Technique)

There is no shortage of attempts to shoehorn PlayStation and Xbox consoles into relatively handheld sizes, and many of them require modifying and cutting up the console’s motherboard to shrink the whole system down. Curiously, this particular design doesn’t do that, which simplifies the process a little bit but does mean that “handheld” is loosely applied in this case. Of course, many parts like the optical drive and hard disk have to be removed, but the fan and cooling system are mostly the same.

The PS4 Slim is used as the base for this mod as it has the smallest mainboard, fan, and power draw of modern PlayStation models. An original DualShock 4 controller was also used and gutted, but unnecessary parts like the rumble motor and the touchpad were thrown out. The process is definitely not for the faint of heart, but more seasoned modders probably won’t break a sweat.

What’s interesting about the entire process is how it reveals the considerations that have to be made when designing a portable gaming device. Not only do you have to think about battery capacity and heat management, you also have to consider the optimal placements of components inside. It’s definitely not as simple as throwing everything together to have a pretty layout, but the final design, despite its boxy shape, is satisfying and, more importantly, actually functional.

Of course, Sony would have better engineers and designers to work on such a product, so it’s really a matter of business why it hasn’t yet made a new portable PlayStation. For now, console gamers will have to settle for fan-made handheld designs, presuming they’re not wading into the murky gray area of intellectual property rights.

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Nintendo Wii mod transforms the iconic console into a cute keychain

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Arguably, the Wii was one of Nintendo’s oddest yet most successful gaming consoles, mostly thanks to the novelty and ingenuity of its “Wiimote” controller, the ancestor of today’s Joy-cons for the Switch. Like any other Nintendo gaming machine, it had a number of titles under its belt, including a few notable exclusives that took advantage of that unique controller design. Of course, its time has long passed, and the Wii is nothing more than a footnote in video gaming history, or so it would seem. It’s unsurprising to hear that it is now the subject of no small amount of mods and DIY projects that try to give the historic console a different flavor, and one of the oddest and most adorable is probably this perfectly named “Kawaii” mod that shrinks the book-sized machine down to portable keychain.

Designers: WeskMods, Mackie Kannard-Smith (Yveltal)

Despite its odd controller, the Wii itself wasn’t exactly that distinctive in terms of its design. It came as a rather plain, compact box that had just enough room for important hardware, which included a cooling fan and an optical disc reader. Remove these two, however, and you can probably cram the console into a tiny box, or at least most of it. That’s exactly what the Kawaii project did, a play on the Japanese word for “cute” and the Wii name, turning the large boxy console into a cute keychain accessory.

Kawaii is only 60mm x 60mm big and 16mm tall, not that much larger than keyfobs. Its body is CNC machined from aluminum and has these wavy fins on one side that do more than make the small box look eye-catching. They also function as a passive cooling system since the Kawaii doesn’t have room for any fan of any size at all. Obviously, there’s no space for an optical disc reader either, but that’s not the only thing missing from this tiny console.

It doesn’t have any direct power source or any ports for that matter, leaving it pretty barebones save for the main board that runs the whole show. To actually make it useful, you have to connect it to a dock via pogo pins, and then you’ll have power, video out, and USB ports for controllers. The dock itself is just a little larger than the keychain console, but it’s still a portable setup, presuming you have a way to power it up or connect it to a display.

Sadly, the adorable Kawaii won’t fulfill your dreams of playing Wii games on the go, at least not the ones that need a disc or use a Wiimote, since there’s no Bluetooth connectivity in there either. That leaves you mostly with downloaded games that work fine with a USB controller, and there’s not much of those going around at this point. Still, it looks like an interesting journey to design a cool-looking console you can hang your keys on, one that preserves the spirit of novelty and playfulness of the Wii, even if it doesn’t exactly have its defining features.

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Rare 2001 PS1 controller modded into a quirky PlayStation handheld emulator

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Game controllers today follow a standard design and format, and most of them gravitate between two or three conventions, depending on the major console brand they’re supporting. Once upon a time, however, there was a bit more variety and exploration in what controllers could look like, at least as long as they still supported all the basic controls that the machine and the games required. This gave birth to a few oddities, some of which gained widespread notoriety despite their limited availability. One of those was perhaps one of the weirdest but also rarest controllers ever made for the original PlayStation, and one such design was reshaped to become one is probably one of the most distinctive PlayStation handhelds ever crafted.

Designer: Takara Tomy (modded by Hairoh Satoh)

In 2001, PlayStation owners in Japan got a glimpse of an officially licensed controller specifically designed for the popular Game of Life video game. Unlike rectangular controllers even during that period, this custom gamepad was practically square with a circle at the top edge extending a bit beyond the border. This circle was home to a roulette wheel used in conjunction with that game, earning this Japanese-exclusive design the name “Takara Roulette Controller.”

Images courtesy of miepro_02

More than two decades later, a modder best known for his Game Boy mods has given this rarely-seen controller a new lease on life as a standalone gaming device. The spinner wheel, which has no use in any other game, was replaced by a small LCD screen that allowed the user to play games directly on it. Of course, that also means that the internals of the controller have been gutted out to make room for a small computer, probably a Raspberry Pi or one of its kind.

That alone would have been impressive enough, but the mod goes above and beyond to bring a few modern gaming conveniences. While the original controller is more or less complete when it comes to buttons, the mod adds L and R back triggers as well. The small space also has a memory card slot, USB-C charging, and speakers that truly make the gaming handheld independent and portable. Whether it’s comfortable to actually play on for long periods of time is a different question entirely.

Unfortunately, the controller clearly shows its age with the absence of analog joysticks that are now standard on modern controllers. Then again, since it’s mostly emulating PS1-era games, that’s not exactly a problem either since those titles didn’t make use of such controls. But since it’s technically using a computer that can run emulation software, it’s theoretically possible to also run games from other consoles, particularly classic titles that have simpler controls, less demanding graphics, and gameplay that’s well suited for this retro controller design.

The post Rare 2001 PS1 controller modded into a quirky PlayStation handheld emulator first appeared on Yanko Design.