London – 18th May, 2011 – element14, the first collaborative social community and electronics store for design engineers and electronics enthusiasts, and modding guru Benjamin J. Heckendorn, a.k.a. Ben Heck, transform common gaming tools into a game share controller designed to promote parent-child interaction in support of the Games for Health Project on today’s episode of “The Ben Heck Show.” Ben Sawyer, co-founder of the Games for Health Project, and his son, Everett, also stop by Ben’s workshop to lend a helping hand.

“It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with Ben Sawyer again,” said Ben. “I always enjoy bouncing ideas off him, because he’s so innovative in the video game world. With his experience and my ‘Bengineering’ skills, we were able to build some great components that contribute to an awesome cause.”

The episode covers key components of the game share build that features two controllers, a dance pad and a slam bar – from prepping the master controller to ensure everything works in sync, to designing a mock-up PCB accessory controller that allows children to play and learn alongside their parents, without having to worry about the complexities of the game. Ben Sawyer also helps Ben work through the design and testing process to ensure everything functions according to plan. Once complete, the two Bens and Everett were ready to get gaming!

“We were excited to see Ben bring this project to fruition,” said Kevin Yapp, chief marketing officer, Premier Farnell. “The Games for Health Project is a great cause and mirrors element14’s efforts to unite a community of like-minded individuals to work together toward a common goal. In this case, two Bens were even better than one.”

Fans of the latest episode are invited to join the discussion online at element14 to send Ben a challenge for a future build or submit videos of their own builds. Also, mark your calendars for this weekend’s Maker Faire Bay Area, May 21-22, 2011, where Ben will be at the element14 booth demonstrating some awesome DIY modding projects and taking ideas for the show.

About “The Ben Heck Show”
“The Ben Heck Show” is a bi-weekly online television series aired in English that’s dedicated to the science and art of system and hardware modding with a global audience of design engineers, students and electronic enthusiasts. Sponsored exclusively by element14, each episode spotlights Ben’s mods of popular electronic devices while educating viewers on the underlying technology powering each project.
www.element14.com/tbhs

About element14
Launched in June 2009, element14 is the first, innovative information portal and eCommunity specifically built for electronic design engineers. It provides product data, design tools and technology information, whilst incorporating Web 2.0 functionality to facilitate communication, interaction, collaboration and information sharing between colleagues around the world. Users can consult experts, discover trends, post blogs, articles and comments in this world-wide forum.
Since its launch element14 has surpassed all of the targets set, has garnered overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers and suppliers alike, and is now attracting more than 24,000 visitors a week with new user profiles created each day.
element14 is an innovative offering from Premier Farnellplc (LSE:pfl), FTSE 250, a leader in multi-channel distribution and specialty services for electronic design engineers throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. It has a stocked range of 450,000+ products, and access to 4,000,000 more items from 3,500 top manufacturers. The company has group sales of £990.8m and over 4,100 employees globally.
For more information visit: www.element14.com.

Media Contact:
Jonathan Roberts
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Pinnacle Marketing Communications, Ltd
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8869 9339
E-mail: j.roberts[at]pinnaclemarcom[dot]com

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