New Book "Game Console Hacking"

[Dyne]

sounds like a good read.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/press_release.php?aid=5051

Rockland, MA - October 20, 2004 - Syngress Publishing, Inc., today announced the publication of "Game Console Hacking: Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Atari, & Gamepark 32" (ISBN: 1-931836-31-0), a book written by Joe Grand, Frank Thornton, Albert Yarusso, and featuring a special foreword by Ralph H. Baer, the "Father of Video Games."

Amorette Pedersen, Vice President, Syngress Publishing, said, "Covering the 'old favorite' consoles of yesterday, right up to the latest machines from Microsoft and Sony, this book has something for everyone--from the beginner hobbyist with no electronics experience to the self-proclaimed gadget geek. Whether you like to get your hands dirty with hacking hardware or whether you're an aspiring game developer, this book shows you how to take an ordinary piece of equipment and turn it into a personal work of art."

Hacks include:

# Revive your retro console! Turn your old Atari 2600 into a fully featured PC.

# It's Independence Day! Hack your PlayStation 2 to boot code from the memory card.

# GP32?! Experiment with the Gamepark 32, the unfamiliar yet extremely hackable handheld system.

# Have you played Atari today? Create an arcade-style Atari 5200 paddle controller or transform the Atari 2600 joystick into one that can be used by left-handed players.

# You can do that? Run Linux on your Microsoft Xbox.

# Let there be light! Add an Afterburner LCD frontlight to your GBA.

# Avoid the flashing blue screen! Fix the infamous cartridge slot on the Nintendo NES

Chapter topics include: Introduction to Hardware Hacking, Tools of the Warranty Voiding Trade, Case Modifications: Building an Atari 2600PC, Modern Game Consoles, Xbox, PS2, Handheld Game Platforms, Nintendo Game Boy and GBA, GP32, Retro and Classic Systems, Nintendo NES, Atari 2600, Atari 5200 SuperSystem, Atari 7800, and Electrical Engineering Basics.

BOOK DETAILS

ISBN: 1-931836-31-0

PRICE: $39.95 U.S.

PAGE COUNT: 592 PP

[AstroBlue]

# Avoid the flashing blue screen! Fix the infamous cartridge slot on the Nintendo NES

Aww, I'm fresh out of luck, I have a flashing GREY screen.

[Dyne]

must be a PAL thing

[animegirl]

You can get all this information for free on the internet, but it's nice to have it all in one place. Why would you want an Atari 2600 PC?

[johnk_]

interesting that there's no mention of Dreamcast, arguably the king of homebrew hacks..

or this is hardware hacking only??

"# It's Independence Day! Hack your PlayStation 2 to boot code from the memory card."

this suggests otherwise.

[Dyne]

You can get all this information for free on the internet, but it's nice to have it all in one place. Why would you want an Atari 2600 PC?

the same could be said about any video game related book......or really any book for that matter.

[OmegaFlareX]

Xmas list +1

[K3V]

There's a similar book called "Gaming Hacks" from O'Reilly coming out this month:

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/gaminghks/index.html

Full Description

It doesn't take long for an avid--or just wickedly clever--gamer to chaff at the limitations of videogame software or hardware. If you want to go far beyond the obvious--whether you want to modify your console controller to work on other consoles, create your own text adventure, or modify your Game Boy--there's an awful lot of fun you can have for cheap or free, using the creative exploits of the gaming gurus. Gaming Hacks is the indispensable guide to cool things gamers can do to create, modify, and hack videogame hardware and software.

Everything from social exploits and tips to be used in MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) to soldering-iron heavy hardware hacks is covered in this extreme-cool hack guide written by gamers for gamers. Gaming Hacks offers a stunning variety of hacks, exploits, and other creative acts on both modern and archaic console hardware and today's PC hardware--one hundred detailed, ingenious hacks are included.

Gaming Hacks also includes detailed software-based looks at MMO (massively multiplayer) titles, FPS (first-person shooter) games, machinima (real-time movies created using game engines), emulation, save-game hacking, and many other miscellaneous subgenres and topics.

Gaming Hacks shows hardcore gamers how to configure the best FPS peripherals, hack the Nuon DVD Player/Gaming System, modify their Game Boy, watch movies and listen to music and their Sega Dreamcast, and much, much more.

Gaming Hacks shows you how to do things you didn't know could be done. If you want more than your average gamer--you want to explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts, make your games do what you want them to do Gaming Hacks will show you how. You don't need to be gaming guru to pick up Gaming Hacks; you'll be one when you put it down.