Maybe it was the recent Atari 2600 milestone anniversary that fueled nostalgia for the golden days of computer and console gaming. Every Game Boy must ponder his roots from time to time. But whatever is driving the current retro gaming craze, one thing is certain: classic games are back for a big second act, and they're being played in both old and new ways. Whether you've just been attacked by Space Invaders for the first time or you've been a Pong junkie since puberty, Chris Kohler's Retro Gaming Hacks is the indispensable new guide to playing and hacking classic games. Kohler has complied tons of how-to information on retro gaming that used to take days or weeks of web surfing to track down and sort through, and he presents it in the popular and highly readable Hacks style. Retro Gaming Hacks serves up 85 hard-nosed hacks for reviving the classic games. Want to game on an original system? Kohler shows you how to hack ancient hardware, and includes a primer for home-brewing classic software. Rather adapt today's equipment to run retro games? Kohler provides emulation techniques, complete with instructions for hacking a classic joystick that's compatible with a contemporary computer. This book also teaches readers to revive old machines for the original gaming experience: hook up an Apple II or a Commodore 64, for example, and play it like you played before. A video game journalist and author of Power Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life, Kohler has taught the history of video games at Tufts University. In Retro Gaming Hacks, he locates the convergence of classic games and contemporary software, revealing not only how to retrofit classic games for today's systems, but how to find the golden oldies hidden in contemporary programs as well. Whether you're looking to recreate the magic of a Robotron marathon or simply crave a little handheld Donkey Kong, Retro Gaming Hacks shows you how to set the way-back dial.

The worldwide video game console market surpassed $10 billion in 2003. Current sales of new consoles is consolidated around 3 major companies and their proprietary platforms: Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. In addition, there is an enormous installed "retro gaming" base of Ataria and Sega console enthusiasts. This book, written by a team led by Joe Grand, author of "Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty", provides hard-core gamers with they keys to the kingdom: specific instructions on how to crack into their console and make it do things it was never designed to do. By definition, video console game players like to have fun. Most of them are addicted to the adrenaline rush associated with "winning", and even more so when the "winning" involves beating the system by discovering the multitude of "cheats" built into most video games. Now, they can have the ultimate adrenaline rush---actually messing around with the soul of the machine and configuring it to behave exactly as the command. This book builds on the motto of "Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty" and will appeal to the community of hardware geeks who associate unscrewing the back of their video console with para-jumping into the perfect storm. Providing a reliable, field-tested guide to hacking all of the most popular video gaming consoles Written by some of the most knowledgeable and recognizable names in the hardware hacking community Game Console Hacking is the first book on the market to show game enthusiasts (self described hardware geeks) how to disassemble, reconfigure, customize and re-purpose their Atari, Sega, Nintendo, Playstation and Xbox systems

Aimed at avid and/or highly skilled video gamers, 'Gaming Hacks' offers a guide to pushing the limits of video game software and hardware using the creative exploits of the gaming gurus.

In thousands and maybe even millions of homes, basements, and antics all around the world are boxes and boxes of old technology. Old phones that will never make another call, an old high school calculator with someone’s initials etched on it. While these old bits of tech are interesting, they are not what this book is about. This book is about that box containing the stuff your mum didn’t want to throw away when you moved out. The stuff you had spent hours, days, and months with. The once brand-new Nintendo Game Boy Advance and the twenty or so games you saved up and purchased. “It’s in the attic if you want it” your mum says, “I saw online those Game Boys and games are worth a bit now”. As you open the box you remember that you kept each game box and it’s all still there. Everything is in great condition. Mario Cart, Rayman Advance and even your favourite Pokémon Leaf Green Version. As you get home and set yourself up on the lounge with a coffee and your newly reclaimed box of goodies, you start to remember just how much fun this was. Thinking back to when you would lie on your bed for hours levelling up your newly evolved Pokémon and visiting Brock’s Gym. What a great time, even if your homework was left undone. In this book, I discuss Retro Gaming. What it is. Why it’s a thing and my journey and all the learning and fun I’ve had along the way.

This useful book gives Windows power users everything they need to get the most out of their operating system, its related applications, and its hardware.

Podcasting does for Internet audio listeners what TiVo does for television viewers--it puts you in charge of when you enjoy a program. Podcasting is a web-based broadcast medium that sends audio content (most commonly in the MP3 format) directly to an iPod or other digital audio player. You subscribe to audio feeds, receive new files automatically, and listen to them at your convenience. As you can imagine, podcasting is taking the "blogsphere" by storm. A podcast is a professional-quality Internet radio broadcast, and like blogging and HTML before it, this revolutionary new way of publishing to the Internet has become the new outlet for personal expression. If you've got Internet access and a copy of Podcasting Hacks, you can find out just how easy it is to listen to and create your own Internet audio programs. With Podcasting Hacks, Jack Herrington, a software engineer with 20 years of experience developing applications using a diverse set of languages and tools, delivers the ultimate how-to of podcasting for anyone looking to get the most out of this hot new medium. Since August 2004 (the month that iPodder.com editor Adam Curry considers the start of podcasting), audio blogging has exploded. Podcasts cover every conceivable topic, including sex, relationships, technology, religion, home brewing, recreational drugs, rock 'n roll, food, entertainment, politics, and much more. There were podcasts from the Democratic National Convention in Fall 2004, and some programs on Air America and NPR are also podcasts. Podcasting Hacks offers expert tips and tools for blogging out loud--for transmitting (and receiving) audio content worldwide with ease. This groundbreaking volume covers both entry-level and advanced topics perfect for aspiring and experienced podcasters. Herrington shows you how to get started, create quality sound, use the right software, develop a great show, distribute a podcast, and build an audience. More advanced topics include audio editing, podcasting on the go, and even videocasting.

Baseball Hacks isn't your typical baseball book--it's a book about how to watch, research, and understand baseball. It's an instruction manual for the free baseball databases. It's a cookbook for baseball research. Every part of this book is designed to teach baseball fans how to do something. In short, it's a how-to book--one that will increase your enjoyment and knowledge of the game. So much of the way baseball is played today hinges upon interpreting statistical data. Players are acquired based on their performance in statistical categories that ownership deems most important. Managers make in-game decisions based not on instincts, but on probability - how a particular batter might fare against left-handedpitching, for instance. The goal of this unique book is to show fans all the baseball-related stuff that they can do for free (or close to free). Just as open source projects have made great software freely available, collaborative projects such as Retrosheet and Baseball DataBank have made great data freely available. You can use these data sources to research your favorite players, win your fantasy league, or appreciate the game of baseball even more than you do now. Baseball Hacks shows how easy it is to get data, process it, and use it to truly understand baseball. The book lists a number of sources for current and historical baseball data, and explains how to load it into a database for analysis. It then introduces several powerful statistical tools for understanding data and forecasting results. For the uninitiated baseball fan, author Joseph Adler walks readers through the core statistical categories for hitters (batting average, on-base percentage, etc.), pitchers (earned run average, strikeout-to-walk ratio, etc.), and fielders (putouts, errors, etc.). He then extrapolates upon these numbers to examine more advanced data groups like career averages, team stats, season-by-season comparisons, and more. Whether you're a mathematician, scientist, or season-ticket holder to your favorite team, Baseball Hacks is sure to have something for you. Advance praise for Baseball Hacks: "Baseball Hacks is the best book ever written for understanding and practicing baseball analytics. A must-read for baseball professionals and enthusiasts alike." -- Ari Kaplan, database consultant to the Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, and Baltimore Orioles "The game was born in the 19th century, but the passion for its analysis continues to grow into the 21st. In Baseball Hacks, Joe Adler not only demonstrates thatthe latest data-mining technologies have useful application to the study of baseball statistics, he also teaches the reader how to do the analysis himself, arming the dedicated baseball fan with tools to take his understanding of the game to a higher level." -- Mark E. Johnson, Ph.D., Founder, SportMetrika, Inc. and Baseball Analyst for the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals

Sure, it's just what you've been clamoring for: an ultra slick, portable version of the most popular console gaming system in the world. But Sony's new PlayStation Portable (PSP) isn't just a handheld gaming device. Beyond its killer graphics and spectacular widescreen LCD for unparalleled game play, it also sports wireless connectivity and a variety of multimedia features, including video, music, and digital photography. Your wildly versatile, endlessly powerful PSP practically begs you to hack and repurpose it to your liking. To save you the trouble and show you how to make the PSP do more than you ever imagined--and more than Sony ever intended--PSP Hacks is one succinct volume of 50 of the coolest, most useful, up-to-the-minute hacks for this amazing device. You'll learn how to open your PSP's hardware and what to safely plug into it. You'll explore and put to good use every hidden feature of the device. You'll be able to move all sorts of multimedia onto your PSP and find ways to extend its wireless capabilities. And you'll find out how to get the very best experience out of online game play. With PSP Hacks, you can accomplish a whole lot more than good gaming on the PSP. You'll quickly learn to surf the Web with a PSP, chat in IRC, and use the PSP to read web comics, ebooks, and RSS feeds. Other expert tips and tools allow you to sync an address book to your PSP, watch UMD movies, fool iTunes into thinking the PSP is an iPod Shuffle, and much more. The innovative hacks, tweaks, and how-tos in this essential guide make it easy to customize your PSP, take full advantage of features, capabilities, and functionality far beyond what's listed in the PSP user manual, and make your PSP perform countless tricks that only an all-in-one portable entertainment unit as remarkable and revolutionary as this one could.

Even if you've finished Halo 2 in Legendary Mode, you're not done with this game. Not by a long shot. You know there's a lot more you can squeeze out of Halo 2, and with the clever hacks we have in store, you'll turn the game into a whole new experience. Halo 2 Hacks is the creation of consummate gamer and Microsoft insider Stephen Cawood, an original member of the Halo 2 beta test team. He's got it all, whether you're into single or multiplayer games, a level 25 or above, or even a complete n00b. If you are a beginner, you may not yet appreciate that Halo 2 for Xbox is the biggest game to hit the galaxy. Ten million copies have already sold, including 2.4 million on the first day it hit the shelf. So you're in good company, even if you've never played its predecessor, Halo: Combat Evolved. Pick up this book and you'll be able to fully appreciate the Halo 2 universe. Halo 2 Hacks is packed with a horde of great hacks for weapons, levels, vehicles, game play and mods. You'll learn how to perform expert tricks, exploit glitches and find Halo 2 Easter Eggs - including the famous skulls. And discover all the nooks and crannies you didn't even suspect were there. Each hack has a thermometer icon to indicate its relative complexity, whether it's a beginner, moderate, or expert hack. Each one stands on its own, so you can either read the book from cover to cover, or jump around until you see a hack you want to try. This title was created with the help of numerous gamers from the Halo community. Whether it was a trick, a glitch or a mod, Cawood went straight to the source and gathered all of the necessary information to help you complete the hack. The mod section of the book features contributions from Grenadiac, MrMurder, Iron_Forge, GTJuggler, The Swamp Fox, and many more. Halo 2 Hacks also features a foreword by Ducain (the admin for HighImpactHalo.org), Louis Wu (the admin for Halo.Bungie.org) and Grenadiac (the admin for HaloMods.com). For all the brave souls who want to learn how to trick Halo 2 into running the hacks and mods of their choice, Halo 2 Hacks is a must read. Roughly half of this title is dedicated to creating your own Halo 2 mods. If you're a fan of tricking, glitching or modding, then this is the book for you. But only for gamers who think they're worthy of the distinction.

The 1980s and 1990s were a glorious era for gaming! In just twelve short years (1982-1994) we had the Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, and Atari ST; NES, SNES, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, and Saturn right up to the Sony PlayStation. The pace of change from bitmapped graphics, through to sprite scaling and eventually 3D polygon graphics was breathtaking. We're still nursing sore thumbs from endless button-bashing. This book shows you, step-by-step, how to turn Raspberry Pi into several classic consoles and computers. Discover where to get brand new games from, and even how to start coding games. If you're brave, we'll show you how to build a full-sized arcade machine. This book will help you to: Write a classic text adventure Create a Pong-style video game Emulate classic computers and consoles on Raspberry Pi or Raspberry Pi Pico Create authentic-looking replicas of classic machines right down to their cases Discover controllers and other retro gaming hardware to enhance your experiences Connect Raspberry Pi to a cathode-ray tube (CRT) display Rediscovering retro games is a fantastic hobby. You get all the thrill of nostalgia, and replay classic games that still hold up today, and you learn how computers and consoles work in the process.