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Games Entertainment

All-In-One Arcade Console 152

Posted by CmdrTaco from the well-isn't-that-special dept.
ArcadEd wrote in to plug his Arcade in a Box which is essentially a PC ready to play MAME, but built into a console with true arcade parts for the buttons and joystick for a more authentic arcade video game experience. It's not quite as realistic as, say building your own cabinet, but it definitely is a lot less time consuming ;)
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All-In-One Arcade Console More

All-In-One Arcade Console

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  • Niche market, indeed! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mekkab ( 133181 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @05:18PM (#3954589) Homepage Journal
    However I think this *might* miss the boat.

    Yes, I have wanted the true arcade experience at home. The rich buy the cabs outright. The crafty either refurb or make their own mame boxes.

    But is there enough market for people who kinda want the arcade experience at home, without sweating for it? Aren't they served very well by most consoles?

    It seems to me that this is not die-hard enough for the truely rabid arcade fans. However I would love for their sales figures to prove me wrong!

    • no -- don't think so (Score:3, Insightful)

      by lingqi ( 577227 )
      Arcade-quality stuff can be very beneficial to the home user if they just *sells* the damn things

      consoles suck at giving me the enjoyment i want:

      1) every single gun i used for the console sucks ass. (compared to Time Crisis II guns in the arcades)
      2) think DDR (dance dance revolution). you know how flimsy the "home" pads are? many people resorts to building their own, or ebay (it's popular), or buying a machine outright (it's a 5k machine!).
      3) some of the more specialized contronls (just a *tad* specialized) are completely un-available. think any racing game. you have any idea how cheesy the logitech steering wheels are?

      but at the mean time -- if they just sold some high quality stuff, (that can be used for more than one game), you bet i will get them.
    • screw the web, I'm tired of using Microsoft Internet Exploder and Netscape Complicator...

      I believe the proper browser slur would be Nutscrape...
    • ... one of these [xgaming.com]? Just get the USB model, and there you go.

      (for Canadians who want one, try here [microwarehouse.ca])

  • Can't do that! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Zaphod B ( 94313 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @05:19PM (#3954593) Journal
    Hey, someone call the FBI, he's distributing modified hardware and violating the DMCA!
  • does it run kaillera? This thing would be even cooler if you could hook it up to the net to play against other people. He would win in style points alone.
    • from what I understand, yes it does support kaillera, but it doesn't come with it...but slashdotting sucks, and I only caught part of it.
    • Yes, it has a built in NIC card so you can plug it into your home network or cable modem and play using kaillera.

  • Wow, that is ass (Score:4, Insightful)

    by laertes ( 4218 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @05:23PM (#3954614) Homepage
    Am I the only person in the world who thinks Taco's cabinet looks like ass. I mean, the Jubei Chan motif--while odd--is excusable; but the plans are almost inexcusably unauthentic. Seriously, while the "Arcade in a Box" isn't authentic, neither is Taco's.

    A couple of guys I know tore out the guts of a Mortal Combat cabinet, bolted in a PC and soldered the microswitches from the Cabinet's controls onto a keyboard's innards. That's authenticity.

    • You may indeed the only one. I think his cabinet looks pretty sweet. Who cares if it doesn't look like the one from the arcade exactly. When you build it yourself, you should take the liberties of making whatever design decisions you feel like.
    • The fact that you would consider Jubei odd is just biazarre. Should I ever make a cabinet I wouldn't try to carve bold new directions for cabinet making ("I'm no longer King of the World, I'm an unpronouncable symbol, ) - I'd want the traditional beauty, and I'd fill a sock full of quarters and go after Cmdrtaco's cabinet. It's fucking cool.
    • I'm with you. The top part looks okay, but the section where the controls are just looks so forced and hackish.

      Better than me and my Dpad controller though :)
  • Asteroids, Space Invaders, Q-bert, Battlezone and a gazillion other memories of lost years at the arcade. I probably won't shelling out $500-1200 on one any time soon, but the reminiscing is worth it!
  • Sweet, now I just need a way to interface this into my server management software. Punch, Kick, Reboot.

    Now I just have to see if I can convince the boss to let us have it for our "State Of The Art" Ops desk.
  • According to the FAQ on that website this unit is patented? WTF? People have been making these years? Can you say prior art? And is Cmdr Taco infringing?
    • Why is it that so many people posting to this weblog fail to understand patents? Do they not realise that you can hold a patent on a specific design of something even if it has been done before different? Can you understand what prior art means?
      • I understand what a patent is and I understand what it is for. I just fail to see anything truely unique in this design. I personally have a problem with a patent system that lets someone make minor changes to something and call it unique, or for that matter patent something generic or in common use. As for prior art I remember seeing sites and having friends build MAME cabinets and such very shortly after MAME came out, and seeing as I don't have a copy of the patent application I can't make a judgement on anything but what I see and I don't see anything that makes this guys MAME console differnt from the one a buddy of mine built a couple years back. But maybe that doesn't exactly meet the legal definition of prior art since it wasn't "published at least 1 year before the patent application or in common use.....blah blah blah". But that is my opinion.
    • I think Title 35, United States Code section 103 which basically says that a worker of ordinary skill, knowing the prior art, would have found the patented invention obvious. Hmmmm, I am a worker of ordinary knowledge and from what I see this invention is pretty obvious. But who knows, that is my opinion

      • Hmmmm, I am a worker of ordinary knowledge and from what I see this invention is pretty obvious.

        I'll show you how a computer science student with no electrical training could have thought up this mod.

        The Apple II, C=64, Amiga, and Atari ST computers had their keyboards built into their cases. Some desktop x86 PC cases, and all notebook computers, are the same way. Call this piece of prior art "Keyboard In PC Case".

        Some users have suggested modding a PC keyboard using microswitch buttons from an actual arcade machine, or otherwise connecting a JAMMA joystick to a PC using the PS/2 keyboard interface. Call this "Keyboard With Arcade Buttons".

        Keyboard In PC Case + Keyboard To Arcade Buttons = what Ed is selling. Given the design goal "arcade enclosure for a device that runs software designed for Microsoft Windows", and given the prior art, I don't see how anybody with a CompTIA A+ certification [comptia.org] could not have come up with such a mod.

        Ed, could you provide more information on relevant patents so that we can know what you invented?

  • much fun (Score:5, Informative)

    by ArsonSmith ( 13997 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @05:30PM (#3954664) Journal
    I bult my own arcade about 6 months ago. In my quest I went through a lot of trouble and problems of all kinds. I had certian things that I had to have ( 4 player controller, 27" monitor ) and a few things I wanted to have (linux frontend)

    After some shopping around I bought a 27" tv an older desktop pc and visited HappControllers [happcontrolers.com] to get the arcade items I wanted. Home Depot for lumber. I wanted to use AdvanceMame [sourceforge.net] on this arcade except the tv out support on linux really sux. not to mention the s-video support on AdvanceMame isn't that great. I ended up settling with windows98se running wine32.

    The stability isn't great but it does work alright. I haven't seen windows crash during a game yet but between games durring selection and such it hasn't been all that great (long term as this box stays on all the time)

    If anyone is looking to do this here is what I would suggest.

    hagstorm [hagstromelectronics.com] electronics has a great keyboard encoder ke72t

    buy a used arcade (look on ebay sort by stuff near you) make sure it has the size monitor you are looking for and a decent cabinet.

    lots of ram and 1.2+ghz if you want to play newer games

    64M and 233mhz if you are just in it for the clasiscs.

    have fun with it.
  • Where's the substantial noninfringing use?
    • starcraft is acually kinda nice on an arcade trackball. quake and other 1st person shooters are not all that great though.

      I havent tried Neverwinter nights but I bet that could actually work out quite well.

      Then there are of course all the freed and hand made roms available on the net (most of them suck)

      of corse the primary use would be to play the 3500 illegal roms that are available to a diligent googler, that would be the primary use of something like this.

    • Where's the substantial noninfringing use?

      Where's the infringing use? There are hundreds of PC games designed for use with a keyboard or digital joypad, such as Jazz Jackrabbit (proprietary) for PC, Street Fighter II (proprietary) for PC, or any of EA's console-style sports sims (also proprietary). Plug in a light gun and bind the joystick to WSAD[1] for a natural control setup for a first-person shooter. (Point your gun at the side of the screen to turn your character.) Or you can plug in a Visoly Flash Advance Linker and play Game Boy Advance games that you've bought at Best Buy, through the VisualBoyAdvance [emuhq.com] emulator. Loading licensed copies of those games onto a licensed copy of Windows creates fun without violating Title 17, United States Code [cornell.edu].

      Or you could just throw on Mandrake 9 and an open-source game such as Tetanus On Drugs [pineight.com], a GPL'd clone of Tetris that will make you hallucinate. Available for Windows, Linux[2], and Game Boy Advance. Or try any of the other excellent open-source games such as Doom, Tux Racer, etc. Some of the gnome-games work well with the included trackball.

      I don't see how the arcade software publishers could even think of attacking this fellow.

      __________

      [1] Yes, I know, "We Suck At Deathmatch." But are there really any advantages to EDSF over WSAD in the typical FPS game?

      [2] Linux binaries aren't available because the distros' ABIs vary and because I have only so much space on my web host.

  • My friend and i... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by PovRayMan ( 31900 )
    ..are building our own mame cabinet.

    Lemme tell you something. There is a lot more pride in building something yourself than going out and buying it premade. You actually work to get it, and there is a special feeling in that.

    Right now it's about half completed. We've got TONS of pictures, and I'm making the Mame Cabinet in POV-Ray for kicks. When it's all done, we'll be making a seperate page for it all and hopefully getting it posted on /. :-)

    It's too bad that this is really my friend's cabinet. In a way, I have selfishly acted as if it were my own. It's been such a project for me that I really wanna have one for myself. Unfortunatly it'll take a long time to make another. I don't know if I'll end up buying one or making one...

    -PovRayMan

    • I just finnished my about 6 months ago. I wish I had some pictures and a real website to put up but I dont.

      Do you have a website that I could check out and see what you have done so far?

    • I totally agree. I have helped a few people build arcade boxes but how they want them. I was just here to answer questions. I have no problems helping out as well.
    • just finished our cabinets on Wednesday. We built 2 simultaneously. Like everyone has said, there is a lot of pride in building one from scratch. We bought our control panel from www.slikstik.com Its a pretty good layout and I dont think we would have made it better ourselves. I still have a few bugs to work out with it, but it works great. here are a few pix of it during the building phase. the finished pix wont be up for another few days, www.williamsongraphics.com/cab-pix
  • ...that has rolled their own cabinet. [reagansnet.com]

    There are also some really cool examples [arcadecontrols.com]at the Build your own arcade controls FAQ. [arcadecontrols.com]

    For the price of a high end PC setup (around $2,000US) you can have your self a kickass arcade machine, including the dedicated PC it takes to run MAME. I took the plunge last year and havn't regretted it for a minute.

    Wife hates it tho...:)


  • Authenticity (Score:3, Informative)

    by El_Smack ( 267329 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @05:37PM (#3954705)

    I have built 2 MAME machines myself, both out of old cocktail style cabinets. It is my opinion that if you try to build a "do it all" control panel you will be sorely disappointed. The best control panel is one set up like the game you are emulating. It is easier if you like the classics (like I do), because their controls are similar. These monster CPO's do let you play many games, but if you are after the same feel as you remember, here are some pointers:

    Keep it simple. Build more than one Control Panel if you have to play lots of games.

    Use leaf switch joysticks and buttons. I used micro-switch types in my first CP, and replaced them with leaf style within a week.

  • From the "Overview" page...
    AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.2ghz Processor
    256mb Kingston 150mhz SDRAM
    ATI Radeon 32meg Video Card, w/ TV out

    Anyone else think this is overkill for simulating machines that generally had < 1 MHz of processor, < 64k of memory and graphics in the 320x200 range (if you were lucky)?

    They might have a better market if they just sold their button-box... Or better yet, some sort of lego-like button box where you could "plug in" buttons, trackballs, joysticks, &c, to get the same config as the original machine.

    • games are EMULATED. one needs that much power for lots of newer games, and quite a bit more than 1MHz for even the classics.

    • Er, sport, cruise the site. They do sell just the button box... $475, you supply the motherboard + power supply.
    • Obviously you've had little or no experience with MAME.

      Yes, for the 'classics' its' quite overkill. I've got MAME .36 running on a 486, and it runs Pac Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, etc quite well.

      However, when I want to bust out and kick some ass in Mortal Kombat III, the 486 just doesn't do it justice. Out comes the Athlon, and watch the body parts fly.

      For more information on MAME, see news://alt.games.mame [games.mame] or http://www.mame.net [mame.net] or the alt.games.mame website at http://www.tombstones.org.uk [tombstones.org.uk] (where you can also see my mugshot, ugly as it is)
    • Not necessarily. There are quite a few games in MAME and other emulators that require a lot more power than a piddly p200 could ever give them. Even my old lowly C500 can't run the Neogeo games at 100% frame rate. The Atari polygonal games, which use software rendering, won't even hit 10%!
    • Anyone else think this is overkill for simulating machines that generally had

      Of course not! The high processing power is not for the simulating machines themselves, but for the underlying OS (w98)

    • Overkill? No way. First law of emulation: It's Always Too Slow. Faster processor always means less noticeable slowdown.

      I have a PIII-600, 256meg memory and a Geforce2MX400, and believe it or not, Street Fighter Alpha 3 (in xmame 0.59.2) is playable but it isn't exactly smooth, even when the original game had only an 11MHz 68000, 8MHz Z80, and a QSound sound chip... =)

      hell, I can't even get the VICE emulator to emulate a 1MHz Commodore 64 at full speed! I was completely amazed when I transferred one demo to my real C64 and ran it there... "Wow, this is so fast." =)

      Okay, so this 600MHz machine runs a 1MHz machine definitely passably. That means that, um, a 12GHz machine could emulate a CPS-2 box passably? I guess there's some need for assembly optimizations and JIT core in MAME, then =)

  • Authentic? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Naikrovek ( 667 ) <jjohnson@p[ ]com ['sg.' in gap]> on Thursday July 25, 2002 @05:56PM (#3954832)
    Want authentic? Do what I do, buy arcade cabinets (real ones) and put games in them (real games). OR do Mame the "Right way". Read on...

    Mame is great, and mame is an arcade emulator, however, most people who run mame in an arcade cabinet run it on a PC monitor which is the absolute laziest way of doing it, not to mention the ugliest. If you're not afraid of DOS you can make your DOS mame display on an arcade monitor, which is both authentic and prettier. I mean who has a 38" computer monitor?

    Home made cabinets are ASS unless they're designed (DESIGNED, not "based") on real cabinets. Control panels are often too big, monitors are too small. A lot of money went in to the design of the real arcade cabinets, finding out exactly which height was most comfortable (and therefore profitable), which you just can't duplicate with a homemade cabinet unless you use antoher cabinet as a guide. and if you have another cabinet, why build your own.

    Buying cabinets is also much cheaper than building them, and much less of a pain in the ass. Arcade Infinity [arcade-infinity.com] has lots of cabinets that are less than $600. (look for Jamma cabinets in the gallery)

    If you're going to do it, do it right. get a J-Pac (www.ultimarc.com [ultimarc.com]), use a computer for the sole purpose of sitting in your mame cabinet, and for God's Sake, please don't build your own cabinet unless you want to watch your friends wince at your effort when you have finished it.
    • I'm a bit on the tall side (6'3", 191cm), so if I built a stand-up cabinet, I would probably make one a little taller than the ones you find in an arcade. Although, if/when I build an arcade cabinet for home, I will probably build a sit-down, Japanese-style one. Here's a picture so you get the idea. [arcade-infinity.com]

      • Oops. It seems like Arcade Infinity only sells Japanese-style cabinets. Maybe I'll just buy one of those instead of trying to make one.

        • Assuming those are the same sort that I used when I went to Korea, the Japanese-style cabinets are definatly the way to go. Standing up is okay, but generally if your going to have some sort of seat in front of it, the height isn't so much of an issue anyway. As the parent said, if you can buy one for a couple hundred, why give yourself the headache of making one totally from scratch?
          • if you can buy one for a couple hundred, why give yourself the headache of making one totally from scratch?


            Especially considering that a new arcade monitor will cost several hundred dollars by itself.

    • Wow... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Nindalf ( 526257 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @09:15PM (#3955745)
      That is the most incredibly pathetic brand of snobbery I've ever witnessed.

      We're talking about toys here. Most people are already going to be a little embarrassed to put so much time and effort into such a childish indulgence, let alone becoming some sort of expert on it. And god forbid someone should want to make something of his own design with his own hands...

      No... wait... the most pathetic was that time I was in a gaming store and saw a morbidly obese man with poor personal hygiene loudly deriding some 14-year-old kid for buying the plain dice. This is just a close second.

      If you want to give suggestions, I'm sure people will appreciate it, but talking about how "home made cabinets are ASS" is just sad.
      • Most people are already going to be a little embarrassed to put so much time and effort into such a childish indulgence /me looks up from painting wargaming miniatures and winces in shame.
      • No... wait... the most pathetic was that time I was in a gaming store and saw a morbidly obese man with poor personal hygiene loudly deriding some 14-year-old kid for buying the plain dice. This is just a close second.

        not unlike what you just said to me, except this time its not to a 14 year old. do not critisize others unless you yourself are prepared to recieve the same criticism. what i stated was an opinion. you stated your opinion. do not expect readers to ignore my post after they read yours.

        why don't you be a bit more constructive next time and state exactly why you feel my post was "the most incredibly pathetic brand of snobbery [you've] ever witnessed" instead of attempting (and failing) to make me feel inferior.

        have a lovely day. I'm going to go make love to my girlfriend.
        • I'm not trying to put you down for liking arcade games, or putting lots of time, effort, and money into them. As someone who posts on /., I'm obviously not exactly making the best possible use of my time myself. It's for being openly derisive of people who don't put as much time, effort, and money into them.

          Some people are boastful about their skills, talents, and accomplishments, and derisive of others who don't measure up to the same standards. This is rude, but not pathetic (unless they're making stuff up), because at least they're talking about positive traits. Being a snob about your indulgences, especially ones commonly seen as childish, is sad, sad, sad.

          Incidentally, the "I'm not pathetic, I have sex!" defense is now a pathetic cliche.
          • Incidentally, the "I'm not pathetic, I have sex!" defense is now a pathetic cliche.

            Yes, i know. Its funny though. I know i was basically invalidating myself but i found it funny enough to do anyway.

            no hard feelings (of course), and thanks for your opinion.
      • No... wait... the most pathetic was that time I was in a gaming store and saw a morbidly obese man with poor personal hygiene loudly deriding some 14-year-old kid for buying the plain dice. This is just a close second.

        If I witnessed that, I would have yelled out at the guy and said "Shouldn't you be playing everquest right now?"

        Hopefully the rest of the store would join in with mocking laughter.

    • Amen. I started out inspired by CmdrTaco's Jubei project, bought a bunch of wood, started cutting it into the right shapes and decided it was too much like real work. So I gutted my Super Sprint [irace.net] (work in progress photos) and used that instead. I'm very happy with the results. Someday I'll finish it. It's a linux box running Advancemame [sourceforge.net].

      I wimped out and used the VGA monitor approach. I spent *months* trying to get my MK3's monitor to work and finally gave up.

      "Me too" on the J-Pac. Killer product. Don't get into MAME without one.

      Last suggestion if you're into this: get your buttons and supplies and stuff from Happ Controls [happcontrols.com].

  • haaa!! i've been telling my friends that i'm gonna do this for 4 years. Kinda funny that its reported on by slashdot, there are tons of people that have done this? has this been posted just cause he is selling it? If so, hmmmm.

    as an aside, did cmdrtaco make that cabinet or is he hosting it for someone else? If you made it, props to ya, i think its the coolest project out there, and not too expensive, or hard to do. And the reward is great!

    if anyone needs some more info, the forums and site at www.arcadeathome.com [arcadeathome.com]

  • Ultimarc parts (Score:2, Informative)

    by JojoCoco ( 413962 )
    For those of you looking to build your own cabinets or consoles like the one shown Ultimarc [ultimarc.com] is a great company thats makes the keyboard interface used in the Arcade in a box. They also mak emayn other very nice products.

  • Semi Off topic, new emu vivannono (Score:3, Informative)

    by t0qer ( 230538 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @06:02PM (#3954860) Homepage Journal
    Story still pending..

    A namco system 22 emulator (ridge racer, ect) has been release called vivannono.

    You can find out about it here.

    http://www.geocities.com/viva_nonno/
  • www.ultracade.com

    I played this one a few times and it's really good. Probably what I would want to get if I had the cash.

  • Atari Controller/Console (Score:3, Informative)

    by hendridm ( 302246 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @06:07PM (#3954898) Homepage
    A cheaper device [firebox.com] for Atari aficionados...

  • Preserve the classics (Score:4, Interesting)

    by AtariKee ( 455870 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @06:28PM (#3955039)
    If anyone decides to put together your own MAME cabinet [arcadecontrols.com], please, for the love of all things holy, do NOT use a rare classic cabinet to do it in!!! There are a ton of cabinets built for conversion kits, and crappy JAMMA games can be had for $50-$200 in these cabs.

    If you come across a classic cabinet in your hunt for a machine to "MAME," please consider restoring it. There are many resources available on the net and usenet [video.arcade.collecting] for parts and assistance in doing so. I've put many a converted classic back together and it's a real thrill to see a long-dead machine come back from the dead.
  • there... [thinkgeek.com]
    I can't get over thinking that they are some sort of /. affiliate :)
    • Actually it is just me, one person building these. I love doing it. I never expected to even get published on slashdot.
    • What you see at ThinkGeek is the X-Arcade. That's an arcade controller. The Arcade In A Box is a complete PC _inside_ the case of an arcade controller. Not exactly the same, and not exactly at the same price either.

      Please at least click on the colorful little bits of underlined text in the stories before posting, there are pretty pictures on that site that everyone can understand even without reading.
  • I think the exposure will be great for MAME and arcade emulation in general. I made my own arcade cabinet this year, and it was a fun project. I take pride in what I built, and playing games on it have a unique feel you can't get when emulating games on a computer with a keyboard. Something about standing up with real arcade joysticks in your hands... good stuff guys. I encourage anyone who has the time and an interest in old school gaming to build their own... don't buy one :)

  • Let me say a few things (Score:5, Informative)

    by ArcadEd ( 596049 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @06:35PM (#3955084)
    OK, first off I am a true fan of arcade and MAME and I would never do anything to violate that. I make these boxes for those that wish to have the arcade expercience at home, and don't have the time or knowledge to build their own cabinets or boxes.

    My website does not say the product is patented, it is pending, I am working with lawyers to see if it is legit. If you take the time to read my reasoning for patenting, maybe you will understand. I was torn between this for quite sometime. After posting messages at www.arcadecontrols.com and mameworld.com I came to the conclusion that I should try it. Everyone I chatted with agreed. This is not final, and I may not even go through with it considering how high the cost is.

    There is nothing illegal in the box, or any modified hardware. It is no different than buying up computer parts and piecing one together to sell to a user, like most computer stores do.

    My sales are not hi, and I don't expect them to be, I take great pride in each unit that I build for someone. Every piece of the unit is custom designed for the users.

    Trust me, I don't have the time to be making 1000's of these and I don't plan on that. I enjoy making people happy that want to relive their childhood.

    I built my first mame cabinet almost 4 years ago.

    If have questions, please feel free to email me at arcaded@arcadeinabox.com

    To set the record straight, in my dealings with BYOAC (www.arcadecontrols.com) and other custom built arcade cabinet sites, no one has ever created a box like this.
    • I can see a good reason for Ed trying to patent it... to prevent someone with a much larger bank account from coming along, using inferior equipment, and churning out thousands of ready-to-break clones of work done by him or others.
      Yup, patent law can be nuts, but in this case it would be doing what it's intended to... protect the owners of small business.

  • Hint: (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Get an old arcade cabinet ($100 ?). Don't put a CRT in it, use, an old 19" TV ($20). They have the wings on the CRT to be put smack in place. Strip the TV from the box and get the CRT and circuit boards seperate.
    Mount the boards on the side of the arcade cabinet or wherever is safe.
    The look and feel from a TV is much less blocky than that from a .28 pitch monitor. Trust me ;)
    It definitely preserves the 80's feeling. I've been running mine on a Pentium 200 for about 4 years now.
    Oh and get a TV-out VGA card that does whatever your TV wants or some kind of converter. Playing arcade games in a cabinet is way different from playing on a PC. Get that authentic feeling. Works for me :))
    Joysticks ? get a broken keyboard/new one and find out how the lattice works and solder it into the real ones. The PCB has solder connections... play with it :)
  • Mine [uprightjoe.com] has a place to set your beer.
  • Nothing nothing nothing replaces the real thing. Don't get me wrong - MAME is fun when I'm flying or stuck on the train, but then again I can only play keyboard-friendly games. Even with this console, the gameplay is radically different for any game that doesn't conform to (basically) the JAMMA standard.

    When people *sit down* in my star wars machine, hold the *controller* and watch the vector graphics on a *low-resolution* 25" wells-gardner monitor, they see why MAME is LAME (don't take that the wrong way - you know what I mean ;) People that play in my arcade never feel quite the same about playing MAME versions of the game afterwards.

    In my opinion people tend to fall into two camps - either they are into games and want to collect them and will play MAME on their PC (because it just wouldn't make sense to have a MAME arcade machine) or they are 100% MAME-based and don't want to get into the business of having a bunch of 250 lb. room-stealing boxes sitting around. The problem seems to be that once you get one game, you get the itch and fall into the former camp - thus giving you no reason to buy a product like this. I hope the people behind this product are doing it just for the love of gaming and not for profit as the market just isn't there... But that's just my opinion.
  • For all you DDR freaks out there, (myself included) you may want to check out the following page as well.

    http://www.geocities.com/ddrhomepad/

    This guy gives detailed instructions on how to create your own Arcade Style Metal Dance Pad for $135.

    I'm on step number 5, and this thing is turning out great!
  • Yes -- The sweet smell of sawdust and a $80 router blade (for the t-molding) that I may never use again....Never had a high as good as building my own cabinet. Kudus to the BYOAC guys...You rock.
  • Excuse me, but outside of nostalgia, why would anyone want an arcade cabinet in their home? Is there some hidden joy in standing up while playing a game? Or in being inches from the display (usually a low res TV screen).

    At home, the console paradigm works much better: Sitting or laying down somewhere comfortable, using a hand-held controller on an extended cord, viewing the TV screen from afar. And heck, you can even use that very same TV for other everyday uses! Like watching programs, viewing DVDs, recording on your VCR/PVR, and routing pr0n videos though your TV-out and onto the bigger screen. Did I just say that last one out loud?

    But seriously, can you name one good reason to have big honking stand-up arcade cabinet? Unless you run your home like a real arcade, it's doubtful.
    • Nostalgia is basically the only reason, but that doesn't make it any less cool.
    • > Excuse me, but outside of nostalgia, why would anyone want an arcade cabinet in their home?

      My guess would be that there are some people out there what want a "real" cabinet for that "arcade experience". Instead, IMHO, they should do what the rest of us collectors do and go and buy real games and boards instead of snarfing ROMs... :/

      > "Sic 'em up, little buddy"

      Sam -n- Max? :)

      Peace!

  • The FAQ says ROMs can be obtained from mame.dk [www.mame.dk]. Unfortunately, they've stopped offering ROMs for quite some time. Best they offer now is some nifty info about the games and a couple of links to ROM link sites.
  • Someone should provide every game ever made on one of these things... ULTIMATE GAME SYSTEM!

    But you need to buy them illegally. Definately a market for it.
  • No, no, no, no, no pal.. I just rather hack my own, even if it doesn't look cool. Why buy something ready made? Where is the point in that? Where is the FUN in that? Besides if this becomes a trend and we are seeing more of these devices, you can bet your ass arcade copyright owners will start sueing people. Someone is actually making money out of their ancient ROMs - no company can tolerate that.
  • You can grab the template I used at the link below. I put together a whole machine but my CPL is removable and can be used as a stand-alone controller. http://www.sithspawn.net/arcade/data/files/control %20panel%20(eight%20button).pdf -Sith

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