The original 1989 Game Boy was an iconic handheld console but, as anyone would tell you, it requires a constant flow of batteries to keep it going. Now, a team of researchers from Northwestern University and Delft University of Technology have developed a new take on the classic console, replacing its four AA battery arrays with solar panels and a set of five rows of buttons that cut off the power you play.
This engage, as the team has told their device, is theoretically capable of playing any game made for the original Game Boy, and if you want to insert the original game cartridge, a slot has also been found on its back. It’s about the size of a paperback book, but like C.N.E.T. Reports say it weighs half as much as the original handheld.
It also comes with many limitations. It has no sound for one thing, and its LCD screen is fairly small. Oh, and it also tends to shut down every 10 seconds or so. It’s hard to cut enough power to stay consistent, so Engage is built to close with a button mesh and get back to life without losing any progress (surprisingly difficult feat). How long it lasts, according to the report, varies by sport. Tetris May last a little longer than Super Mario Land, For example. And obviously Pokemon Blue, Its large memory requirements and a minimal button to power supply, it’s a nightmare.
Suffice it to say that this might not be the best way to revisit Game Boy’s classic library of games, but that’s not really the point. Engagement is meant as a research project: a way to find out how future sports consoles can be made more sustainable and environmentally friendly. The console alone draws a lot of power, but the modern battery uses lithium, a rare earth mineral that has significant environmental costs for the mine.
“We need a kind of radical, crazy approach,” says Josiah Hester, one of the project’s co-creators. C.N.E.T.“One of the most basic things we can do is throw away the tree and rethink how we make these devices.”
The engagement is set to be unveiled on September 12 at the Virtual UBIComp conference, after which its design, hardware and firmware will all be unveiled on GitHub. In the feature published by you can read all about its development C.N.E.T..
