Gaming on the Go with GameShell

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I can remember going to GenCon in the summer of 1991 and while people remember it being the debut of Vampire: The Masquerade there was one booth that sticks out in my mind.

Atari.

Atari had a booth showing off their latest handheld console which was the Atari Lynx. This was a superior handheld console that was in color and had great graphics and sounds. This paved the way for many other handheld consoles that allowed you to game on the go. As time passed these consoles have grown in power and speed. Now the folks over at clockworkpi have created their latest masterpiece called the GameShell.

The first thing you will learn upon opening the box is that you need to assemble this console. Now don’t be alarmed! You don’t need to do any soldering as everything is plug and play and if you follow everything step by step you will have your console assembled in no time flat. The instructions are crystal clear on how to assemble each of the components and how each of these fit into the case. This unit also comes with a 16gb micro SD card that has the operating systems and games on it. If you wanted to upgrade the memory of the system you can do so however, there is no way to take out the card without disassembling the unit. However, once you put a bigger card in the unit you will have more space to place games and media that you can use on the go. There is an onboard speaker but there’s also a 2.5mm headphone jack that you can hook up either earbuds or headphones. There is also an HDMI out jack as well so you can play games or watch movies on a giant screen.

After the console is assembled you have to charge the battery (with the included cable) and you can charge it through a wall charger or your computer. Once this is charged it boots into a very simple menu that will allow you to run a variety of programs. There are some included emulators however, you also get RetroArch as well which include a myriad of emulators included with it. So you would be able to play anything from the Atari 2600 all the way up to the original PlayStation. I tested some of the games on various platforms and all of them ran flawlessly as I didn’t have any problem setting them up or playing them on this console.

Now the price for this console might be a bit steep for some as it costs around $159.00 on Amazon. However, if you want a console that you can build, hack and play with for hours upon hours of fun then you need to check out the GameShell. For more information on this and other products head over to https://www.clockworkpi.com/ and get ready to game on the go.