MSP430 Based Gaming Console, GamingPack
GamingPack is plugin module that convert your MSP430 LaunchPad into a full fledged gaming console complete with audio / video output and two Nintendo controller sockets. Just connect GamingPack to your computer monitor, plug in a controller and you can enjoy classic games in no time. At this time, three classic games are available for this project: Breakout / Brick Breaker, Tetris, and Space Invaders. This project is built based on Gameduino, gaming console shield for arduino.
This boosterpack is designed around a Xilinx Spartan 3A 200K Gate FPGA. It implements the same sprite rendering core as the Gameduino and communicates to the LaunchPad via SPI. The FPGA bitstream configuration is stored on an external EEPROM which was programed using a FTDI FT2232D development board and Flashrom in Linux. The FPGA 1.2V internal core voltage is provided by a TI TLV70212 low drop out regulator.
A resistor DAC provides the various voltage levels for the VGA interface and audio is achieved by passing 2 channels of digital audio through a 4KHz low pass filter. An optional SPI EEPROM can be installed to store large game data such as images and level maps. Two status LEDs indicate power and SPI data transfer to the FPGA.
The project features 400×300 Pixel VGA output, 256 16×16 Pixel simultaneous sprite images, Up to 256 colors per sprite, and 2 Nintendo (NES) controllers. The GamingPack is designed by Max Thrun, Brittany Finch, and Kathleen Foster.
