Game Console Hacking: Having Fun While Voiding Your Warranty [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Joe Grand (Author), Albert Yarusso (Author), Ralph H. Baer (Author), Marcus R. Brown (Author), Frank Thornton (Author) "Before you start your game console hacking projects, you'll need the right arsenal of tools..." (more)
Key Phrases: homebrew games, new screen cover, homebrew development, Game Boy, Radio Shack, Performing the Hack (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In November of 1977, Atari shipped its first 400,000 Video Computer Systems. Since that time, over 1.2 billion consoles have been sold worldwide, and a large percentage of those are still hanging around as "classic systems". An avid (some would say rabid) community of video game hackers and hardware geeks has developed around a common passion to push their consoles, and the games themselves, beyond the functionality originally intended by the manufacturers. This book is the first on the market to cover the entire range of consoles produced over the last 25 years (most game hacks and geeks own multiple platforms). It provides detailed instructions on how to customize and reconfigure consoles to a wide variety of ends--from the cosmetic case modifications to the ambitious porting of Linux to the Nintendo GameCube. Platforms covered in this book include Atari, Nintendo, Playstation, Xbox, and Gamepark 32.

About the Author
oe Grand is the President and CEO of Grand Idea Studio, Inc., a product design and development firm that brings unique inventions to market. An electrical engineer, many of Joe's creations, including consumer devices, medical products, video games and toys, are sold worldwide. A recognized name in computer security and former member of the legendary hacker think-tank, The L0pht, Joe's pioneering research on product design and analysis, mobile devices, and digital forensics is published in various industry journals. He is a co-author of Hack Proofing Your Network, Second Edition (Syngress Publishing, ISBN 1-928994-70-9) and Stealing the Network: How to Own the Box (Syngress Publishing 1-931836-87-6). Joe has testified before the United States Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on the state of government and homeland computer security. He has presented his work at the United States Naval Post Graduate School Center for INFOSEC Studies and Research, the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the USENIX Security Symposium, and the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Joe is a sought after personality who has spoken at numerous universities and industry forums.

Frank Thornton runs his own consulting firm, Blackthorn Systems and as a detective and forensics expert has investigated over 100 homicides and thousands of other crime scenes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Syngress; 1 edition (January 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931836310
• ISBN-13: 978-1931836319
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #491,751 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Major Hacks for Game Console Machines, December 28, 2004

By	Dale F. Farris "leado" (Groves, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a fascinating, over-sized book that is filled with major hacks for various of today's video game consoles, including the Xbox, PlayStation 2, Nintendo NES, along with the Atari and Gamepark 32. The material assumes some degree of comfort with electronics and electrical engineering, although you do not of course have to be an electrical engineer to perform the hacks. You will need to be comfortable with working with integrated circuits, electrical assembly, soldering wires, and dis-assembling electronic devices. Of course, you will also need to be comfortable with possibly ruining beyond repair the discussed device, if you fail to successfully complete the described hacks.

This is a highly specialized book that specifically targets a unique audience, namely those confident in their skills and abilities to follow the excellent hacking instructions and step-by-step "how to hack" photographs that are replete throughout this important book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More hardware hacking books pleaseeeee!, December 3, 2004

By	Joseph Duart "JD" (Milpitas, CA) - See all my reviews

I just received this book days ago and I have read it cover to cover, of course I haven't been able to do all the hacks since it means cracking open many of my systems, but I was especially excited about the Atari 2600 stuff, since I am more into old programming and hacking. This book is one of a kind and I am glad people are starting to write books and develop products that show people how the hardware works as well as the software. I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to experiment with hacking their consoles, also the book is fascinating as a general read. And if you liked this definitely check out "Hackers" by levy, "supercade" by burnham, "once upon Atari" DVD and definitely check out the XGAMESTATION retro game system at www.xgamestation.com if you want to build some oldschool game hardware.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Breathe new life into your old classics..., November 21, 2004

By	Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Have you got an old Atari 2600 sitting around that you don't know what to do with? Game Console Hacking will give you some interesting ideas on how to recycle those old gaming consoles.

Chapter list: Tools of the Warranty-Voiding Trade; Case Modifications: Building an Atari 2600PC; The Xbox; PlayStation 2; Nintendo Game Boy Advance; Gamepark 32 (GP32); Nintendo NES; Atari 2600; Atari 5200; Atari 7800; Electrical Engineering Basics; Coding 101; Operating Systems; Index

Although I'm not into gaming so much any more, my kids have had most of the more recent consoles at one time or another. And growing up, I had one of the Atari 2600. But after the latest and greatest comes out, the older gaming systems end up gathering dust. Game Console Hacking is an interesting book on things you can do to breathe new life into the old classics. This book is heavy on altering hardware components, so you need to be comfortable with a screwdriver and a soldiering iron. But even if you're not as experienced in that area as you'd like, the book has an abundance of photos to show exactly what you should be doing at any given point in the process. At the end of each chapter, there's also a section on homebrew game development as well as additional resources on the Web for that particular console. So even if you're not wanting to hack your hardware, you will be able to find information to push your gaming fun even further.

For me, my favorite hack was using an Atari 2600 console to contain a full-blown PC. I thought that was just too cool. I could imagine showing up at a user group meeting to do some software demo with an Atari 2600 under my arm, and blowing people away when I boot it up as a regular PC. I don't know that I'll get around to doing it, but it's an intriguing idea.