Almost Universal Wireless Gaming Client

Narik

Member
As project completion was my top priority in order to keep the wife happy (ie...cleanup the mess!), here I am again posting completed project number two!

First, I just want to say that I take no credit for the originality of this idea, as this is just an extension of the outstanding Xbox 360 and PS3 Wireless Visual Interfaces that Techknott has been so gracious as to share with all of us.

Again, if it had not been for Techknott's projects, I most likely would never have thought of making this. Hmm wonder if Nintendo would have thought about their Wii U interface as well?......We might just have Techknott to thank for that!

Anyways, after reviewing Technott's amazing work, I began work on my project quite some time ago.

The nuts and bolts.....
For the housing, I used two AG-85 cases from PolyCase.com. Found here http://www.polycase.com/ag-85

I used only the thin back covers from the cases and butted them together to create a thinner case to work with. I then shaved down and smoothed one of the top plate covers to complete the case housing.

For wireless control, I used a wireless combination PS2, PS3, PC controller called a Thrustmaster T-Wireless 3-in-1 Rumble Force. I originally purchased it from Amazon, but it is now showing as unavailable.
This also had the added bonus that there are PS2 Dualshock adapters for almost every game system, including the Neo Geo Aes, which allowed me to adapt that specific adapter to my consolized Hyper Neo Geo to play those games through this as well.

The actual buttons are a combination of Sega Saturn D-Pad/buttons, and third party PS2 controls. The "Zelect" and "Ztart" buttons are two Sega Saturn Z buttons. All four back trigger buttons are from a third party PC controller.

You will notice at the top right side of the front of the unit, there is a black square with a circle in it, this is a wireless micro trackball. At the top left, you will see two Sega Saturn C buttons. These are the left and right mouse buttons for the trackball and are installed with clicky tacts.

My whole reason for the trackball is the ability to have mouse-look while playing FPS PC games. Left analog to move around, while looking around with the trackball. Having that kind of precision really cannot be achieved with a look-spring on an analog stick. Just my opinion...

The screen is a 4.3" lcd from priceangels.com. Found here http://www.priceangels.com/4.3-inch...ideo_Monitor_with_Windshield_Mount_p8211.html

Using the front half of the lcd raised up off the face of the unit, allowed me to have complete internal space to work with inside the gaming client housing.

The + and - symbol buttons are the volume up and down for the integrated external battery powered mp3 amp and speakers. The speakers ended up being so loud, that there really was no point in placing sound vents within the unit.
The sound output when playing games on this is really amazing. I think I paid $10 bucks for this mp3 speaker system at Frys electronics.

The audio and video transmission is with a 5.8ghz wireless av transmitter and receiver. There are numerous setups, options and frequencies that would and can work here as well.

Power is provided by two 3.7v 5000mah LiPo's from batteryspace.com, wired in series for 7.4v with protection circuit and smart charger. Voltage is stepped down to 3.3v for the wireless trackball, wireless controller and the audio amp using the standard method presented in threads for N64p's. I also installed a three way switch for battery-power/Off/Play-While-Charging.

I honestly have ran this for about 12 hours and then finally needed to charge it. Sound volume begins to drop when it needs to charge. Other than that there are no other effects.

Range is crystal clear to about 30 feet. This is usually towards the limit of the wireless trackball and controller, so it's a good balance.

So far I use this to play games via controller adapters on my PC, PS2, Consolized Hyper Neo Geo and Xbox 360. I would love to use this for my GameCube, but for some reason both Dualshock to Gamecube adapters I have, end up leaving one Gamecube button unmapped, which ends up meaning I cannot do certain, usually important things within the games. Hence the "Almost Universal".
I also didn't include a "Home" button on the unit since I don't own a PS3, but that can be added later if I decide to buy a PS3 at some point.

Well here are the completed pics!

wirelessdescription.jpg


wirelessback2.jpg


wirelesstop.jpg


wirelessbottomview.jpg


wirelessssmenu2.jpg


wirelesspc.jpg


wirelessoblivionpc.jpg


wirelesssf4pcingame1.jpg


The full album can be viewed here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nariks/sets/72157626980464086/

Gameplay videos coming soon!
Edit: Gameplay videos now available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/Narikzs?feature=mhee#p/a/u/2/xTWZTRR0LmU
 
Such a useful project, so beautifully done. The contrast of black and white is outstanding. You have severe skillz on cases.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome!

@Σigma
Thanks! Unfortunately I can't find the link to the exact one I ended up using for this project, but here is a link to a really small 5.8Ghz receiver that I think would be outstanding for future projects. Really since this looks much smaller than the one I currently have installed, a future device could be even smaller. Just something I've considered. You will find an assortment of transmitters there as well. http://hobbywireless.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=407

@StickfighterTV
Yeah my favorite controller D-Pad of all time was the Saturn pad. Of course I'm from the old school Street Fighter II era, so fighting games have always been my bread and butter so to speak.
 
Thanks techknott!

peppie132 said:
are there tutorials for this? because I want to make one for my ps3 so I can play my games outside.

Sorry there aren't really any tutorials for this, just the basic concepts throughout the forums. The basic idea is to take a wireless controller of your choice, and then use a wireless AV transmitter/receiver set to transmit audio and video to the receiver that provides the video to your lcd screen of choice and then audio to a battery powered audio amp of choice.

Bundle the wireless game controller, lcd screen, wireless AV receiver and batteries into a single case. You just need to make sure to regulate the voltage from the batteries to the individual voltage requirements of each component of the project.

Hope this kinda helps you see the nuts and bolts of how this type of project comes together. The concepts involved really are no different than any of the other types of projects being completed and shared with everyone. There is a vast array of information about the construction of handheld portables that will also apply in this situation.
 
I keep forgetting to comment on projects! This is awesome, dude. Are you still planning to do a video? I'd love to see it in action playing various systems.
 
Kyosho said:
I keep forgetting to comment on projects! This is awesome, dude. Are you still planning to do a video? I'd love to see it in action playing various systems.

Thanks Kyosho!
I just updated the main post with the link to the youtube videos.
Enjoy!
 
So for the two halfs of the case how did you manage to screw them togethor? If I went about it I'd drill through one so basically the srew threaded through one side and but nuts and bolts on the other side
 
modsinstuff said:
So for the two halfs of the case how did you manage to screw them togethor? If I went about it I'd drill through one so basically the srew threaded through one side and but nuts and bolts on the other side

You will notice in the picture of the back-side of the unit, there are 4 allen screws that I picked up at the local hardware store. These were thick enough to create threads into the already drilled plastic holes, but short enough to not go all the way through. I then picked up 4 rubber covers for the front-side of the unit to cover the screw holes.

This made it possible to not have to use nuts on one side, and overall made it look much cleaner. The plastic of polycases products is pretty thick to begin with, so it is a pretty tight fit when the allen screws are tightened up.
 
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