Ben Heck Builds 1970s Atari-Style Xbox 360 in New Episode of element14's 'The Ben Heck Show'

CHICAGO, March 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

element14 (http://www.element-14.com/community/index.jspa), a collaborative social community and electronics store for design engineers and electronics enthusiasts, and modding guru Benjamin J. Heckendorn, a.k.a. Ben Heck, incorporate the old with the new, combining a 1977 Atari console with an Xbox 360(TM) laptop system in the latest episode of "The Ben Heck Show" (http://www.element14.com/TBHS).

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110307/CG57359)

"I was excited when Atari approached me to build this gaming system - it's the most 'Ben Heck' type project I could possibly build," said Ben. "It was a great experience taking consoles from two completely different eras and combining them. That's what art's all about!"

Ben takes viewers through designing the system with Adobe(R) Illustrator(R), routing each piece of the casing, re-wiring and connecting the Xbox 360 components, and prepping the circuit board inside the new LCD screen. Ben incorporates elements from the original Atari system such as wood paneling, sharp, contoured edges, Atari's classic metal switches, and even combines graphics from the original Atari joystick with the Xbox system's "ring of light."

"We are thrilled with the final build of Ben's custom Xbox 360 1977 Edition system," said Lee Jacobson, SVP of Licensing and Digital Publishing, Atari. "Ben had a lot of fun and it's great to see the classic, retro Atari design incorporated. The system exceeded expectations and we're sure any Atari enthusiast would be excited to use this unique system."

"As usual, Ben's humor and ease in which he explains his building process make for another fun and informative episode," said Alisha Mowbray, senior vice president of marketing, element14. "This latest creation will become yet another one of Ben's highly coveted builds."

About "The Ben Heck Show"

"The Ben Heck Show" is a bi-weekly online television series aired in English that's dedicated to the science and art of system and hardware modding with a global audience of design engineers, students and electronic enthusiasts. Sponsored exclusively by element14 (http://www.element-14.com/community/community/experts/benheck), each episode spotlights Ben's mods of popular electronic devices while educating viewers on the underlying technology powering each project.

About element14

element14 is sponsored by Premier Farnell plc (LSE: pfl), a leader in multi-channel distribution and specialty services for electronic design engineers, trading throughout the Americas (Newark), Europe (Farnell) and Asia-Pacific (element14).