Exercise Your Thumbs and Eyeballs With a Tiny Space Invaders Cabinet

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Exercise Your Thumbs and Eyeballs With a Tiny Space Invaders Cabinet

Posted by timothy on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @12:32AM from the thinkgeek-needs-to-get-on-this dept.

dotarray writes with this piece on GamePron with a piece of game pr0n: "If you're big on nostalgia, but small on space, we might just have the solution for you. A clever gentleman has created a teeny-tiny '80s arcade cabinet that will fit happily on your desktop – and while it might look like a mere mock-up, this one actually works, playing Space Invaders on the miniature screen."

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so by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-12 00:39 · Score: 0

he's taken a game boy and packaged it so it's even harder to use
awesome
cute, but meh
Another similar comment from yesterday by tepples · 2011-07-12 00:48 · Score: 1

Yesterday's story about Donkey Kong had a comment about the same sort of machine.
1. Re:Another similar comment from yesterday by Yvan256 · 2011-07-12 04:21 · Score: 1
  
  And vcoleiro1 is also a member of the Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forums.
  What's funny is that both cabinets use the same miniature joystick, Grayhill Inc. GH7455-ND.
  So, as far as scale is concerned, you can guess the relative size of both cabinets by the joystick.
Brilliant! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2011-07-12 00:48 · Score: 2

As a horribly mediocre programmer, I am currently working in systems administration instead. If we can but seed the world with these tiny geek-attractants, carpal tunnels everywhere shall be reduced to smoldering masses of scar tissue and unalloyed agony! Then I shall be the finest programmer still capable of typing with something other than his toes!

Who could have thought that the solution to tech-sector unemployment could contain so much 80's arcade nostalgia?
1. Re:Brilliant! by rbrausse · 2011-07-12 03:22 · Score: 1
  
  As a horribly mediocre programmer, I am currently working in systems administration instead.
  kind of offtopic but I don't feel like I'm forced into server administration because I'm a bad coder.
  both jobs are interesting and require skills and knowledge (when done well)
so what? by TheGratefulNet · 2011-07-12 00:49 · Score: 1

The whole thing is just seven inches tall, and uses the electronics from a Game Boy Advance, a little MDF, some photoshopped artwork and perhaps the worldâ(TM)s most adorable joystick â" take a look.
I thought this might be some arduino ladyada article (again). at least she designs and builds things. this guy put an existing already working game into wood?
what's so slashworthy about this? I could think of 100 DIY things much more challenging or slashworthy than this.

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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
1. Re:so what? by Osgeld · 2011-07-12 01:20 · Score: 1
  
  wood
2. Re:so what? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-12 02:07 · Score: 0
  
  Because it's cool, dipshit.
3. Re:so what? by doti · 2011-07-12 02:59 · Score: 1
  
  and cute.
  
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  factor 966971: 966971
4. Re:so what? by tehcyder · 2011-07-12 03:16 · Score: 1
  
  and totally fucking retarded
  
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  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
5. Re:so what? by Yvan256 · 2011-07-12 04:24 · Score: 1
  
  Did you call moi a dipshit?
A video? Really? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-12 00:53 · Score: 0

Why a video when a series of photos would be more interesting and take less time and be more informative than ~7 minutes?
Not very impressive because he just took something apart and repackaged it. Had this guy created the actual circuitboard, coded Space Invaders (or downloaded the original code and implemented it) and set up the tiny cabinet to work like the original (i.e. two buttons to move right and left instead of a joystick) then it would've been interesting to see.
Plus it's been done before. Anyone can acquire a better version than this guy's here for just $25 saving you the hassle which ends up being more expensive.
1. Re:A video? Really? by Moryath · 2011-07-12 01:32 · Score: 1
  
  Ok, I'm gonna play devil's advocate here.
  #1 - as an appearance project, it's cool. It may have been done before, but it's still cool.
  #2 - You complain about having a joystick rather than two buttons for movement. Yet your "buy one here fore $25" spam link is a crapass, shitty little plastic piece of junk (I've actually seen and played one one) with a barely-functional joystick for movement.
  #3 - Using the magnets for a back slipcover is actually pretty ingenious. I've often thought about doing that to some of my own home projects.
  #4 - So he didn't make a circuitboard and recode the game. Big Fucking Deal. The upside of using the guts from the Gameboy Advance is that it can play a multitude of games with easily switchable cartridges.
  Essentially, he's made the miniaturized equivalent of a Mamebox with this unit. One of these years, perhaps I'll do the same with my old PSP. After all, there's no fucking use for the thing as a modern game console, but a miniaturized PSP-driven arcade cabinet kinda like this would be able to drive a hell of a lot of different games.
2. Re:A video? Really? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-12 12:14 · Score: 0
  
  And he felt he needed seven minutes to show something off that could've been exhibited in less time.
  I'd understand 7 minutes for someone doing a video about an arxiv abstract on astrophysics but this is weird.
GBA Case Mod by rla3rd · 2011-07-12 01:07 · Score: 1

Nothing to see here, please move along.
How about this? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-12 01:13 · Score: 0

what's so slashworthy about this? I could think of 100 DIY things much more challenging or slashworthy than this.
Maybe something like this? From February 2010...
http://moslevin.blogspot.com/2010/02/mini-markade-lives.html
get an iCade by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-12 01:47 · Score: 0

May as well just get an iPad and the recently-released iCade cabinet to go with it. You can have a desk accessory that's multifunctional, and you may even be able to get your work to cover the bulk of the cost!
"You will be redirected in 30 seconds" by L4t3r4lu5 · 2011-07-12 02:03 · Score: 1

I already am redirected, straight to the W and Ctrl keys. No eyeball time for you, kemosabe!

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1. Re:"You will be redirected in 30 seconds" by AmberBlackCat · 2011-07-12 03:21 · Score: 1
  
  Same here. I will never know what this thing looks like unless it shows up somewhere else. Also, the domain name led me to think it might redirect me to something other than a classic video game.
2. Re:"You will be redirected in 30 seconds" by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-12 05:27 · Score: 0
  
  Exactly, I'm not wasting my time to suffer through an ad to see the website... Classic fail.
3. Re:"You will be redirected in 30 seconds" by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-17 08:42 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, it is far too much effort to click "skip this ad".
screen orientation is wrong! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-12 05:43 · Score: 0

He has mounted the screen in landscape instead of portrait mode... tsk tsk tsk.
Should have gone with authentic software - fail by kobotronic · 2011-07-12 07:33 · Score: 1

It's a very nicel executed GBA case mod but the game on the screen has little to do with the experience of the original Space Invaders title eating quarters by the tons in the late 1970s: It had a monochrome television CRT tube (vertical orientation) and "color" achieved with translucent overlays. It is a shame that he didn't carry the effort through by using an emulator running the authentic software instead of the cutesy GBA version 20 years newer.
Cool, but... by JustAnotherIdiot · 2011-07-13 03:50 · Score: 1

...my wrists are screaming in pain just /looking/ at it.

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What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?