Router manufacturers have long marketed their devices as "gaming" products, but under normal circumstances, routers often can't run a game on their own. However, two hardware enthusiasts felt the need to bust this myth with an unprecedented adventure.

A new project shared on KittenLabs describes a real gaming router - a network device that can be programmed by hackers to run a specific game with the help of an external GPU (AMDRadeon connected via PCIe). This router is TP-LinkTL-WDR4900, and the selected game is the classic action-adventure game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" launched by Rockstar in 2002.

"TobleMiner", one of the two hackers behind this feat, mentioned on Mastodon that he has always "really hated" companies that advertise and sell so-called "game routers." Together with "Manawyrm" they decided to make what they believe to be the first true gaming router ever.

The TL-WDR4900v1 is a "very interesting" Wi-Fi router, as explained on the project page. It is based on the PowerPC CPU made by NXP, rather than using a MIPS or ARM CPU like other typical routers. This CPU provides a full 36-bit address space and sufficient computing performance for a router released in 2013. The processor also includes a "brilliant" PCIe controller for connecting the CPU to the onboard 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi chipset. "

Before installing OpenWrt and the Debian Linux 32-bit distribution, modders must add a miniPCIe slot to connect the external GPU required to run the game. Some additional work was also required on the software side, ultimately using older Radeon drivers to provide sufficient compatibility with 32-bit operating systems.

The two hackers chose to run an unofficial version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City called ReVC, a reverse-engineered version of the game that Rockstar is trying to wipe from the internet via lawsuit.

After days of tinkering and code tweaks, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is finally running on a custom gaming router that supports keyboard and mouse. Judging from the video testimonials posted by the hackers on YouTube, the graphics appear to be okay, although the speed isn't impressive, which is what you'd expect from a 22-year-old game.

The gaming experience isn't perfect either, with interactions with in-game NPCs broken and resulting in graphical distortion. The world is empty, but the GTA series' excellent soundtrack remains.