Ben Heck crams Xbox 360 controller into Atari 2600 joystick

As we've seen, a little Atari 2600 is a sure way to liven almost anything -- cakes, candles, landfills -- and it looks like the Xbox 360 is no exception, as none other than Ben Heck has proved with his new so-called 3600 controller. As you might expect, Ben didn't exactly take the expected route to wind up at this creation, instead opting to use the guts of a Guitar Hero 3 controller, which he somehow managed to squeeze into the base of everyone's favorite one-button controller (even leaving room for a guide button and ring of light on the underside). Be sure to hit up the link below for a must-see video of the controller in action and, of course, plenty more pics.

[Via Xbox-Scene]

[eli @ Jan 9th 2009 4:54PM]

Why??

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jan 9th 2009 5:07PM]

Because he is Ben Heck, that's why!!

[CraigJ @ Jan 9th 2009 5:13PM]

Because it's goddamn cool, that's why. Now if they could just Adventure to work on the Xbox...

[kal326 @ Jan 9th 2009 5:42PM]

Interesting and all, but I think its becoming about as bad as the days of "What can we get Linux to run on now?". Its getting dangerously close to the not really worth doing because its horribly impractical, like running linux on a wrist watch.

[dave @ Jan 9th 2009 6:25PM]

@eli

...why the Heck not?

[Alex @ Jan 9th 2009 6:54PM]

Ooooohhh!


That was cringeworthy.

[Frankenstein Black @ Jan 9th 2009 11:08PM]

Hey, even Mod-Gods can sometimes have a "swing and a miss". Just Sayin...

[Nick @ Jan 9th 2009 4:55PM]

WHY?
Thats all I gotta say!

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jan 9th 2009 5:08PM]

Reference my reply to eli...

[Bwkrazyness @ Jan 9th 2009 6:15PM]

Because the Xbox 360s D-pad Wasn't crapy enough.

[STINK @ Jan 9th 2009 4:57PM]

If the 'nets were Star Trek, Ben Heck would be Scotty.

[CraigJ @ Jan 9th 2009 5:15PM]

And the RIAA are the Klingons.

[Andir3.0 @ Jan 9th 2009 5:32PM]

Wouldn't the RIAA/MPAA be Ferengi?

Microsoft/EA = Borg

I'm not sure who would be Klingons... maybe the US Military.

[CraigJ @ Jan 9th 2009 5:37PM]

Maybe in the TNG universe, bur the Ferengi were not part the the original Star Trek universe. When Scotty was around the Klingons were the bad guys.

[Tankyu @ Jan 9th 2009 5:01PM]

Guess the dual analogs aren't really that necessary.

[w00master @ Jan 9th 2009 5:04PM]

I was wondering this as well. What about the other stick?

[htd @ Jan 9th 2009 5:04PM]

or he could have painted this black

http://www.madcatz.com/Images2/products/enlarge/4758.gif

http://www.madcatz.com/Default.asp?Page=319

[Boarderwoot @ Jan 9th 2009 5:07PM]

wtf? Funcional? yes, practical, no. I think most of his stuff is really great, this one however, is awful, its just better looking than that 360 in a PS3 hackjob from a couple weeks ago but on the same plane.

[ProfessorKaos @ Jan 9th 2009 8:18PM]

I quite agree, not practical whatsoever, more of a hack and slash quick job. Ben is better than this.

[Giroro @ Jan 9th 2009 5:17PM]

Start should be on the right, Back should be on the left.

[Hashbrown Hunter @ Jan 9th 2009 5:24PM]

I bet the d-pad on this is still better than the original's.

[jonneyt @ Jan 9th 2009 5:26PM]

doesn't the 360 have shoulder buttons?

Fair play to Ben for technical achievement, but I thought he had higher standards.

[Timm @ Jan 9th 2009 5:40PM]

Ben Heck sure can waste time...

[Rekit @ Jan 9th 2009 6:13PM]

Reminds me of the days when there was only one button on a controller and I was actually good at video games.

[Patriks7 @ Jan 10th 2009 7:22AM]

And now the standard is like 15 buttons on consoles and a billion of shortcuts on PCs :p
But I think it's a *bit* more functional than one button now :p

[SlappyWag @ Jan 9th 2009 8:09PM]

Pshh.. that's nothing. I am making a full-size arcade console controller out of an Xbox 360 WIRELESS controller. My parts order shipped yesterday. All out of frustration of playing Pac-Man on the pad/joystick. I think I am going to wire up my PS2 wired controller as well, just to make it work with my game emulators.

[SlappyWag @ Jan 9th 2009 8:18PM]

Well, OK his is wireless, too, but where's the button to associate it to a different Xbox without taking it apart? :-)

Mine will have that button on the outside.

[smp @ Jan 9th 2009 11:23PM]

"As you might expect, Ben didn't exactly take the expected route"?

[kev @ Jan 10th 2009 10:56AM]

To Eeiy (2413) cant you tell he is a guy not a girl. You say nothing better to do. Appears you dont have nothing better to do but post on here stupid commits.

[Matt @ Jan 10th 2009 12:11PM]

ok, if you click on the link you can get the FULL story of why and how he did it, if you weren't intelligent enough in the first place. Second, he did this in 5 FREAKIN HOURS! Let's see what you can do in that time people.

[ClassicRULZ @ Jan 15th 2009 11:35AM]

This project is great, very smart idea to use the GH board, not much room inside that stick to accomplish what he did. If you don't have the skills or time for such a hack, Legacy Engineering is selling a USB Atari styled joystick that works on PC, Macs and even Linux boxes too:

http://www.legacyengineer.com


For $14.99, you can't beat the price, pre-orders from all the way back in September were finally shipped out and Retroblast.com has a great review of the stick and photo's of the inside - its hackable...