GameShell’s Kickstarter page describes it as “the world’s first modular, portable game console with a GNU/Linux embedded OS.” I’m not sure about this claim, but the device surely looks promising. Console ships with two pre-loaded games — Cave Story and DOOM. It offers many retro emulators, which should enable you to play tons of games from NES, Atari, SNES, GB, etc.
Powered by Linux-based Clockwork OS distro, GameShell runs a Quad-Core Cortex-A7 CPU, 512MB RAM, and Mali GPU. You also get the Wi-Fi on-board module and Bluetooth 4.0. It also features a regular microSD card slot and a micro USB port. Linux distros like Ubuntu, Debian, and Raspbian are also supported.
The device mainly consists of five easy-to-assemble modules, which include mainboard, screen, keypad, battery, and stereo speaker. The mainboard is a single-board computer called Clockwork Pi.
Moreover, it can also be used as a tool to learn programming. It supports languages like C, Lua, Python, and Lisp. As it’s open source, you can modify the code and hardware.
GameShell has already surpassed its Kickstarter funding goal. Currently, it is available in the form of Early Bird reward that needs you to pledge $109. Earlier, it offered a Super Early Bird reward ($89) but it’s not available anymore.
