Andre LaMothe is the creator of the XGameStation, a do it yourself kit for making your own gaming console. Yes, I am talking about hardware here. Get the technical details for example for the XGameStation Micro Edition on the website. On a meta level this console kit is about the following:

“Imagine understanding how video game systems are designed and developed at an engineer’s level. Imagine writing your own games for a piece of hardware you’re personally capable of building. This isn’t a field trip to the factory — this is decades of video game hardware development boot camp compressed into a single product designed to upgrade your brain and take you to the next level of skill and understanding. It was estimated that only 100-200 people on the entire planet understood the workings of the legendary Atari 2600 and its design. What if you could design machines like this and beyond?”

If you want to dive into self-written games on your custom console then you will prefer HYDRA.

“The HYDRA Game Development Kit is a complete edutainment platform to learn multiprocessing game development, graphics and media applications on the HYDRA Game Console. Based on the new Parallax multiprocessing Propeller Chip. For beginner to intermediate coders, you need only basic programming experience in any BASIC or C-like language to get started with the kit. The HYDRA Game Console is based on a socketed 40-Pin dip version of the new Parallax Multiprocessing Propeller Chip. The Propeller chip is simplified cell processor very similar in concept to the Sony ‘Cell Processor’ used in the Playstation 3.”

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Pictures and quotes from XGameStaion website