I'm looking to fiddle with some good old fashioned soldering and assembly language or low level programming and thought one of these video game kits might be fun
Are there any other kits?
What are your opinions on these kits? Ease of assembly/use?
Oh and I need to learn to solder too - its something I have never mastered and I've melted a lot of stuff trying.... so any hints there would be real good!
A few of my friends were working with the Parallax Propeller. One of those friends has some journal entries about it. I'm not sure how close it is to what you're looking for, but it sounds similar.
Those kits are a bit ambitious for a beginner. I suggest starting with a microcontroller kit like those at Lady Ada. The POV kits are a simple introduction to hardware and embedded programming, and fun to play with when you're done.