What simply occurred? Doubtless drained ready for a Microsoft moveable console, one artful modder took issues into his personal palms. Redherring32 has managed to create the world’s first moveable Xbox based mostly on the unique console, whereas detailing all the method by way of a sequence of posts on X.
{Hardware} tinkerer Redherring32 took the heart from a legit Xbox motherboard and packed all of it right into a surprisingly compact handheld kind issue.
To be clear – this is not a software program emulation or some knockoff PC handheld, it took some actual {hardware} abilities and customized PCBs to make this attainable. It seems fairly nicely made, too, with a stage of polish you possibly can solely count on from an officially-produced unit and the form of design that’d go extraordinarily nicely with the Xbox mannequin that began all of it.
I constructed a conveyable Xbox.
This is not a PC handheld, it is not emulation, it is a actual motherboard from an actual Xbox. It has a 9″ 480p show, pure digital video/audio, 100W USB C cost and play, and I am at the moment including WiFi 6 for wi-fi Xbox Dwell performance.Sure, actually. pic.twitter.com/yK7p0vPqUn
– Redherring32 (@redherring32) October 18, 2024
Upfront, the console rocks a 9-inch 480p show. It additionally options 100 watt USB-C charging that juices up a lithium-ion battery (capability unknown) and even an built-in, fully-functional Xbox controller.
After all, pulling off this sort of modding was no stroll within the park. Redherring32 says he needed to reverse engineer and redesign quite a few printed circuit boards from scratch, to not point out work out methods to reliably trim down the chunky Xbox motherboard into a conveyable footprint. Solely very particular motherboard fashions had been even suitable. The method took a whopping 4 months.
“I needed to analysis Xbox motherboard trimming fully from scratch, a activity that took me a bit over 4 months. No person had ever tried it earlier than,” he wrote. He additionally added that the venture is made attainable by 12 completely different “totally customized” PCBs he designed.
Subsequent up, Redherring32 plans so as to add Wi-Fi 6 assist for wi-fi Xbox Dwell multiplayer on-the-go.
In the event you want to comply with on this legend’s footsteps, he has made your complete design open supply, together with an in depth information, schematics, and PCB supply information. Nonetheless, really assembling one in every of these could possibly be an enormous technical problem.
It is price mentioning that Xbox boss Phil Spencer has been dropping not-so-subtle hints about wanting a conveyable Xbox for years now. Simply final June, he name-dropped handhelds just like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally, praising their capacity to play video games regionally.
“I feel we must always have a handheld, too,” he informed IGN in an interview.
Nonetheless, precise work on such a tool would not appear to have kicked off but over at Microsoft HQ. With the hand held gaming market persevering with to surge, although, the tease seems like the largest sign but. For now, this bodacious creation will suffice.