☆ 8 Bit Retro Gaming Power That Fits In Your Wallet! ☆ @bateskecom #Retrogaming #GamersUnite

I've been taking a look at this cool Kickstarter that is looking to create a video game system the size of a credit card to play super cool retro styled games much like a miniature version of the original grey brick Gameboy…..

Have a look at the cool things that I have discovered bout this tiny marvel of engineering and geekery…..

1. "By The power Of Arduino!"

Yes, that's right the ArduBoy is powered by the Arduino board and this is key to its size as it enables for a super slim credit card like design.

2. "8 Bits Is Enough Bits"

The Arduboy is a true retro system with 8 Bit games being its bread & butter.

3. "Play Nicely Boys & Girls"

To be precise, Play, Make AND Share nicely. You can use the ArduBoy to do all of these things, how cool is that?! The creative minds of the retro gaming and Indie Dev communities will have lots of fun with this pocket dynamite.

4. "Touchy Feely"

The look and feel of this pocket rocket is key as the designers have gone to great lengths to make sure it feels and looks right in the hands of the gamer so it has some cool features such as:

• Brilliant OLED Display
• 6 Soft-Touch Tactile Buttons
• 2 Channel Piezo Speaker
• Durable Metal & Polycarbonate Construction
• 8+ Hour Battery Life & Rechargable
• Fully Programmable

5. "I'm Freeeeee To Do Whatever I……"

The Arduboy is an open platform for people to play, create and share games and yes you can choose your games from the completely free Arduboy Arcade. Every game published on Arduboy Arcade will be free, open source and available to be edited. The designers have sent out over a hundred developer kits and here are already a few launch titles the community has created.

6. "You Learn Something New Every Day"

Built on Arduino software, it’s a great way to learn how to program and make your own unique gamesgames, Arduboy is a game system the size of your imagination!

7. "Black & White Is The New Colour"

The black and white screen takes you back to the early days of gaming where your imagination filled the spaces left by the simpler graphics and hardware.

8. "Think Of The KIDS!"

There is a plan to use the Arduboy to teach kids how to program and what a great way this is to get them involved in software development by giving young people the power define their own game worlds.

To encourage the use of Arduboy in classrooms the designers of Arduboy are offering an education kit reward that includes 10 Arduboys at the same price as the early bird units along with a printed booket and free online coursework for an entire lesson plan for learning C++ on the Arduboy.

9. "The Fact Is That Size Matters"

Arduboy has the same dimensions as a credit card (85.60×53.98 mm)

It's built to be as wafer thin as possible and yet incredibly life resistant. The designers spent an entire year working out the best way to balance thickness, durability, practicality, and cost.

At just 5mm thick, they have created a device that can easily live in your pocket, wallet or in your sock (probably best not to put it in your sock)

As a development to the Arduboy they would like to make it even slimmer! (watch this Arduboy space)

At the minute you get a polycarbonate front, ultra thin circuit board, and stamped metal back which finishes the product off nicely. The rechargeable lithium polymer battery provides over 8 hours of battery life and you use the same charger cable to download new games. Very smart for such a small device.

10. "Spectacular Specs"

• Processor: ATmega32u4 (same as Arduino Leonardo & Micro)

• Memory: 32KB Flash, 2.5KB RAM, 1KB EEPROM

• Connectivity: USB 2.0 w/ built in HID profile

• Inputs: 6 momentary tactile buttons

• Outputs: 128x64 1Bit OLED, 2 Ch. Piezo Speaker & Blinky LED

• Battery: 180 mAh Thin-Film Lithium Polymer

• Programming: Codebender, Arduino IDE, GCC & AVRDude

HELP ARDU BOY SAVE THE RETROGAMING WORLD!

The Arduboy need your help (YES YOU) to reach the final stages of manufacturing.

For over a year they have tirelessly been working on prototypes, learning about industrial design and manufacturing and are now ready to produce Arduboy for ALL.

The Arduboy collective want to build a strong gamer / dev community around creating and sharing games.

YOU can help achive all of this by backing the awesome Kickstarter 

HERE >>>>>> "Arduboy Card Sized Gaming"

A successful Kickstarter campaign will help the Arduboy gang hire more game devs and spend more time creating even more awesome games by the time the wee Arduboy ships..

Will YOU Be Coming Along For The Ride With The Arduboy?