Interview: Ben Heckendorn, Console Modder

I recently sat down with the king of gadget modders, Benjamin J. Heckendorn . Ben recently spoke at the Games for Health conference here in Boston, where he talked a bit about his Access Controller , which was born from a request for a controller that could be used with one hand by a soldier who had lost his arm in combat. Heckendorn also brought up the idea that Microsoft ought to make a "Brain Box" available for the Xbox 360, which would enable people to make their own controllers without having to deal with licensing issues. Microsoft would still make money by licensing and selling the Brain Box, while hackers and modders would be free to create unique controllers like the Access Controller without having to go through the expense and legal trouble of getting the controllers approved for retail sale. Sort of a standardized peripheral concept, if you will.