Every so often, that console-modding Benjamin Heckendorn wanders away from his lair at benheck.com to share some interesting projects with Engadget.

History is littered with game systems using far-too-stubby of controller sticks. From the Intellivision's "disc of doom," to Coleco's "shaft of stiffness" (quiet, you!), and even now, in this high-tech age, the Sony PSP's "sliding nub of death." It's unfortunate that the PSP is saddled with that thing -- it's a pretty slick system otherwise, with a library of almost 5 games! (Please don't key our cars.) Well what if you could augment that sliding nub with something more useful, like an actual analog control stick? Well now you can!

In part 1 of this article we'll show you how to wire up an analog stick (from a PS1 / PS2 Dual Shock controller or an original Xbox controller) to your PSP. It's a lot easier than you might think. In part 2 (coming soon) we'll walk you through making a swell "clip on" joystick enclosure for the stick (or you can simply roll your own in the mean time). Ready to do this thing? Get in there!