​

GingerOfOz, a hacker known for creating portable consoles, has released a video detailing his newest project, the PS2 Eclipse, a portable PlayStation 2 console. It is a fully-featured, 3D printed console that has a battery life of roughly two and a half hours. The Eclipse runs off of a real PS2 motherboard, though drastically trimmed down, so the games are running on original hardware, avoiding the slowdowns and imperfections of emulation. It doesn't support discs, however, as the disc drive would be too large and bulky to reasonably attach to a handheld. Instead, attached to the motherboard are the internals of a PS2 memory card running Free McBoot, a homebrew application that allows your PS2 to run backups and homebrew off of a USB drive.

This does lead to some issues, however. Since the PS2 uses USB 1.1, the load times can be considerable, closing in on an minute for some titles, according to GingerOfOz's video, Another known issue is that the PS2 will not recognize the controller on "quite a few games," rendering them unplayable, though GingerOfOz seems confident these issues can be addressed through software fixes. While there's no compatibility list available, he says that if a landmark PS2 title isn't shown running in the video, it's likely because it wouldn't run. (For reference, some of the titles shown running on the Eclipse include the Super Monkey Ball games, the Grand Theft Auto trilogy, Persona 3 and 4, Kingdom Hearts, Katamari Damacy and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence.)

GingerOfOz will not be selling the Eclipse on commission as he has for his other handhelds in the past; however, he is encouraging users to create their own. His video gives an overview of the process and his website points to some extra resources, and will reportedly be updated with more details in the future.

 

[Kioku]

ITT: People who still don't know, or care to know why projects like this exist.

I think it's pretty cool.. Minus the controller issue. I always love seeing people take real console hardware and condense it as far as they can. Makes for an interesting watch, or read.

 

[Xzi]

ITT: People who still don't know, or care to know why projects like this exist.

I think it's pretty cool.. Minus the controller issue. I always love seeing people take real console hardware and condense it as far as they can. Makes for an interesting watch, or read.

I dig repurposed original hardware as much as the next guy, but once you get rid of the disc drive, that's the point when I'd say you're just as well off emulating.

I also wonder if this is as far as the concept can be taken for Playstation consoles, since PS3 would no doubt have heat issues in a portable form factor.

 

[MariArch]

ew p4 ps2. unholy chie. plz only play ps vita or pc version

 

[Bladexdsl]

you guys realize this is never getting released to the public right? it's just to show off. sony will have his ass if he ever tries to sell them.

 

[zxr750j]

I don't really care for ps2 games but I love this project.

 

[NelGibs]

I love ps2. The quality games are high in numbers, will be my go to system for the next decade. OPL with USB is picky, defragmented game files will not boot or stuck. Defragmenting them take a long time. In my case, two deframented games take 6 hours or more to defrag on i3 9100f pc (usb is external usb 3.0 2.5" 5400rpm hdd). I add and delete games regularly, so maybe this is the cause of defragmentation.

 

[subcon959]

I dig repurposed original hardware as much as the next guy, but once you get rid of the disc drive, that's the point when I'd say you're just as well off emulating.

I don't think changing the software medium has a major impact on the overall experience if you're still using original hardware. It's not really that different to using a flash cart.

 

[D34DL1N3R]

The thing sounds like a piece of shit.

 

[newo]

I am thinking about when they have PS5 portables. yeah, order that.

 

[EsseDiElle]

Sorry if this is annoying but I'm just trying to get to 5 messages. Sorry to bother you

 

[hobbledehoy899]

PS1 compatibility?

 

[ciaomao]

PS1 compatibility?

OPL has POPS support.

 

[Jayro]

UnIess they're making a DIY kit, or mass-producing these, I could hardly care less.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I don't get this boner with portable devices, if I'm not at home I have stuff to do other than playing video games, and if I'm at home I don't want to play on a tiny ass screen

Some of us don't like being tied to a living room TV.

 

[subcon959]

I love how someone just going about their own hobby is getting shat on because it appeared in a news post on temp.

 

[Jjones]

a portable online ps1 is what dreams are made of.

 

[WiiU_user]

It looks like a wii u gamepad