Featured Image Credit: retrogamingdays / Instagram
Long car trips can get boring, and we can't help but think that things would be a whole lot better if vehicles had built-in games consoles to help wile away the time.
Yet, weirdly, as cars have become more and more hi-tech with displays like small TVs, they haven't necessarily got much better at connectivity where gaming is concerned.
Sometimes, you have to kick it old school, as demonstrated by American gaming Instagrammer @retrogamingdays, who has 381k followers.
They've shown off an absolute nostalgia trip by connecting their original Xbox to the infotainment system of what looks like a pretty normal car, and it's absolutely amazing.
The Reel is nice and simple, showing them plugging the Xbox's power cord into the car's 150W power supply before then hooking it up to the infotainment's AV ports - these are ports that cars rarely offer since they're barely used now.
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From there it's a simple matter of balancing the Xbox on the car's dash and the job is completed. Turning the Xbox on, its iconic power-up animation plays on the little display and in-car gaming is ready to go (with wired controllers, which is to be expected for this kind of retro set-up).
It's a glorious idea, and that screen looks just about big enough that you could have a fun time while parked and waiting for something, although we'd guess that split-screen gameplay would be a challenge on the eyes.
Since they obviously have the cords and connectivity required, it shouldn't come as a surprise that this isn't the only console that @retrogamingdays has hooked up to their car.
Other Reels show both the original PlayStation and the PS2 hooked up by the same methods, and both look absolutely great, too.
The real question left over is what games you'd play on the system, from classics like Halo to vintage Call of Duty titles.
This might not be the last we see of in-car gaming this year, and the future looks rosy as well - Sony recently showed off its own Afeela car, which can be driven entirely using a PS5 DualSense controller.
While that's pretty fun, arguably more useful is the fact that the car will have a PS5 built in so that you can easily play games on its display, which would likely be bigger than the one featured in these Instagram clips.
Although the Afeela just a prototype - and is unlikely to come to market - it shows that big tech companies are thinking more about marrying up gaming and vehicles.
