The Game Hive All-In-One Game System

About a year ago, I came across a cool little system that plays both NES and SNES games called the Retro Duo. Since then, I have seen a variety of similar systems that play a variety of games. Here is one example:

Some of you might think this is a cool device, and I would be inclined to agree - if I based that feeling on functionality. In my opinion, it looks ugly and doesn’t seem very durable. Also, I think it should be capable of more.

And with that, I designed the ‘Game Hive’, a system capable of playing many legacy systems, both console and handheld:

The first thing I did was make it look a little more grown-up and modern. This would make it look at home next to a PS3 or Xbox 360. And then I added a DVD drive to ensure it is capable of playing Dreamcast, Saturn, PSX, PS2, and other disc-based systems.

The biggest innovation I had in mind for the Hive was a revolving cartridge cylinder that has 5 slots available for NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, and Atari cartridges. This prevents having 5 slots mounted on top of the console, and helps keep the contacts dust-free, as there would be a ‘closed’ section to keep dust out. The User would simply turn the dial on the side to select a cartridge slot. The SNES slot is shown above. It is depicted as closed here:

This would also include a few slots for small card-based games (Game Boy, Turbo Grafx 16). A touch-screen interface would help configure the system and manage save files, which are kept in an on-board flash drive.

I will revisit this idea later and include matching all-in-one wireless controllers too.