It’s the classiest videogame console you’ve probably ever seen, the R-Kaid 6, built awesomely out of wood by Love Hultén.
For a good while recently, gaming machines have been trying oh so hard to capture that cutting-edge look when it comes to outward appearances; I can understand why though. To be the latest hottest piece of tech, you got to look like the latest hottest piece of tech — that PlayStation 3 (the original at least) or Xbox 360 seems more alien hardware than traditional game console, frankly.
Although the same can’t be said of the R-Kaid 6 Console by do-it-yourself-er Love Hultén, who’s wonderfully crafted together their gaming machine totally out of wood. How awesome! It’s suppose to be inspired by the classic Atari 2600 and other retro consoles of gaming past, but I have to say, it looks like something you might see get appraised on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow, not that I’ve seen that show personally…
The the R-Kaid 6 (get it? R-Kaid = Arcade, haha good one) comes standard with two six-button layout arcade sticks, also finely custom-built out of wood, which when aren’t in use, can be fit into a recess atop the console much akin to similar videdogame systems of the pre-Nintendo age, like the ColecoVision or the above mentioned Atari 2600. Oh, it even has red glowing light on the front too!
Now, if you’re wondering about what kind of games Love Hultén’s machine plays, the R-Kaid 6 runs the popular MAME emulator, but with a special version called the Maximus Arcade interface that seamlessly manages all different types of arcade and console emulators, and they’re a lot of them, under one program. That’s actually running on a ten year-old computer, which obviously, is the true power source of the R-Kaid 6, and not pixy-dust magic as I had originally thought.
Either way, the R-Kaid 6 is a splendid piece of hardware and art. It’s just amazing what one person can do, like a gingerbread geodesic dome or another custom-built gaming machine, the Lenovo ArcadeDockX1. You should so check that one out while you’re at it, it’s also cool.
