(Credit: Flipper Devices)
Hardware startup Flipper Devices is teaming up with Raspberry Pi on a new attachment for its Flipper Zero multitool called the Video Game Module.
The attachment allows Flipper Zero owners to connect their device to a TV or external monitor via the module's video out port. It can also turn the Zero into a controller for Flipper app store games or other programs. And yes, it can run a version of Doom.
Flipper Co-Founder and COO Alex Kulagin tells PCMag that his team had long admired Raspberry Pi's tech when Raspberry Pi reached out to Flipper last year to explore a collaboration, which eventually led to the creation of the Game Module.
The Game Module team overclocked its built-in Raspberry Pi silicon chip, Kulagin says, which can also be used separately without the Flipper Zero via the module's USB port.
The new Module costs $49 and can run applications coded in C, C++, or MicroPython.
While the Flipper Zero's screen is just 128-by-64 pixels, the game module is able to upscale the resolution so that it's pixelated—but not blurry—on even 4K screens, Kulagin says.
Flipper's Game Module has a built-in motion sensor, gyroscope, and accelerometer, meaning users can tilt and wave the controller as well as press the Flipper Zero's buttons to move around in games. The Game Module can also turn a Flipper Zero into a remote mouse for presentations on computers, for example. By itself, the Flipper Game Module is similar to a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller with an IMU.
"Developers can use its motion capabilities to develop new games," Kulagin says.
Raspberry Pi Founder Eben Upton says he and his team have been "enormous fans" of Flipper since the Flipper Zero was first released back in 2020. "[The] Video Game Module leverages our unique programmable I/O subsystem to add DVI-D output to Flipper Zero. We can’t wait to see what new Flipper applications emerge from this collaboration," he says in a statement.
Since its inception, Flipper has sold over half a million devices and generated about $100 million in revenue, according to the company.
A big part of Flipper's appeal is its open-source approach and ability to be what Kulagin calls a technological "Swiss Army Knife," but its capabilities have recently raised concerns among Canadian regulators. Last week, Canada's Minister of Innovation announced the country would ban the importation, sale, and use of "hacking devices, like Flippers," which the minister claimed are capable of unlocking vehicles.
Flipper responded to the claims requesting evidence, and stated that the company is not aware of "any events" of Flipper devices being used to steal vehicles.
“Flipper Zero can’t be used to hijack any car, specifically the ones produced after the 1990s, since their security systems have rolling codes,” Kulagin previously told PCMag. “Also, it’d require actively blocking the signal from the owner to catch the original signal, which Flipper Zero’s hardware is incapable of doing.”