Some of us find ourselves drawn to the unique charm of retro hardware. One new creation that captures this sentiment is Game.Work by Abe Haskins - an innovative piece of art inspired by the vintage aesthetic.
Abe Haskins has meticulously crafted a retro gaming console that harkens back to the days of yore when plastic hardware and chunky cartridges were the norms. The Game.Work system, built around a Framework mainboard, showcases a custom case inspired by the TurboGrafx-16 while still integrating modern functionality.
The console also features cartridges that serve as storage media for games, with labels flaunting game artwork to replicate the retro experience. These cartridges are connected through a custom slot on top of the machine.
The console’s case is primarily 3D-printed but boasts additional hardware like an acrylic board for the motherboard attachment, a metal back plate for stability, and rubber feet to keep it stationary during gameplay. The entire project has been made open source by Haskins, allowing enthusiasts worldwide to recreate or further develop their versions of this nostalgic gaming system.
The Game.Work console integrates the Framework mainboard, from a modular laptop specialist with easy upgradeability.
For those eager to dive deeper into this unique project and witness it come to life, Haskins has shared an official project video on YouTube. Follow him for more updates.
It’s a testament that sometimes, you really can’t escape the plastic nostalgia!
Laptop mobo sounds like overkill for retro gaming compared to a pi clone or some such.
True, but if you’re already replacing the mobo (say for an upgrade, which Framework laptops are designed to let you do), then you can use your old one for this rather than having to buy a Pi clone or some such
Still overkill and uses way to much power. Now, as a server that just happens to also be a retroconsole… :')
If you have access to the BIOS, you could always just underclock and undervolt the system to give more power efficiency.
Though a small server with a retroconsole attached is also not a bad idea for the excess juice.
Your concern is power consumption, but then want to use the same board as a server running it 24/7?
It all depends on your needs tbh. I personally think the framework mobo is perfect for a powerful 24/7 server. Smb, router, media center, …
I personally dont need something like that and just have an sbc running pihole and smb 24/7 ( +/- 8w@230v power usage )
depends on which system you are emulating, and what framerate etc. maybe this could support lagless data input, or 4K upscaling or torrenting in the background.
It also depends on the accuracy of the emulator. Cycle accurate emulators demand horsepower (or an FPGA). Less accurate (but still perfectly playable) emulators can run on potatoes, but I can feel the difference on games I grew up playing. I’m almost as good as I was as a kid when I play on an accurate emulator or FPGA, but on a Raspberry Pi I tend to be noticeably worse.
That may not matter to everyone, but it matters to me.
Framework should officially make a handheld gaming device that people can use their old internal for
IMO its a waste of time for their in house industrial designers for that. this kind of project should 100% be a community effort. a startup company does not have infinite resources.
They just got a bunch of VC funding though so I’m sure they can afford it. Plus it would give a good use case for the internals after upgrading
the funding likely was for plans they disclosed to the shareholders. its still simethinf they shouldnt pursue because its already on its own a very niche usecase.
for example, they didnt outright produce the desktop case themselves, they handed off production of that essentially to coolermaster.
the handheld gaming case is a niche (repairable laptop owners), in a niche (people who are on their second fw13 board), in a niche(is a gamer), in a niche (willing to trade off performance and size due to board size and slower ram speeds). there is very little momey in that and the project makes sense more for the community than the company itself (which some in the community has already started/finished)
