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Classic Games (Games) Entertainment Games

Play Classic Video Games In NY, At Home 132

Posted by CmdrTaco from the emulating-the-classics dept.
Iphtashu Fitz writes "If you'd like to play classic arcade games from the 1980s, then it might be time for you to take a trip to New York, according to Wired News, since the American Museum of the Moving Image is holding an exhibition called Blip! where you can play a selection of the classics, including some of those referenced in an earlier exhibition. Also mentioned on their site is the X-Arcade cabinet for playing arcade-style classics at home through emulation." Much easier than building your own cabinet.
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Play Classic Video Games In NY, At Home More

Play Classic Video Games In NY, At Home

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  • No Pac Man I hear! (Score:5, Informative)

    by andy666 ( 666062 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @12:35PM (#8510469)
    I read in Wired that the Pac Man people wouldn't agree to being in it.

    • Sounds like Videotopia (Score:3, Interesting)

      by OECD ( 639690 )

      This sounds like the traveling Videotopia [videotopia.com] exhibit.

      It's quite a hoot to play games you used to rock at. I think they had Pac Man (not a fave of mine), although it's been a year or two since they came to my town.

    • Re:No Pac Man I hear! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by pomakis ( 323200 )
      This is something I've always wondered about... Why do I see Ms. Pac Man games everywhere, but hardly ever the original Pac Man? Back in their days, Pac Man was immensly more popular than Ms. Pac Man. Why, then, do I not see more original Pac Man games around? I'd especially expect to see it at an exhibition like this! But no, it's Ms. Pac Man again. WTF?

      • Re:No Pac Man I hear! (Score:1, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        There is a special path one can take in Pac Man to beat every level with zero chance of the ghosts catching you; theoretically a person could play for hours on a single quarter.
        • Just ask Billy Mitchell. [twingalaxies.com]

          However, I heard HE DID NOT RUN 'PATTERNS' when he accomplished the amazing feat of the world's first perfect game of PAC-MAN. By doing that, he MAXIMIZED the challenge and made the feat he accomplished even MORE amazing!

          The best I ever did was 'a coupla million' and yes I was 'running patterns' to do it.

          On the other hand, I do know what marathon videogaming feels like. It took me about 8.5 hours to see what happes to a TAPPER videogame after 'board 255'....

          There is a 'board 0

      • Re:No Pac Man I hear! (Score:4, Interesting)

        by jcoleman ( 139158 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @01:50PM (#8511148)
        Ms. Pac Man actually had more machines produced, was a bigger seller, and was a bigger profit-maker. The thing was that girls played Ms. Pac Man too.
        • My wife plays Ms. Pac Man but doesn't care for the original Pac Man.

          ...I just get to watch. =^)

        • In addition to the gender bonus (Which is debatable, honestly), Ms Pac Man is simply put, a better game. Just as PS2's are more common out and set up in living rooms now than PSXs, because they're more powerful, more interesting, but still duplicate the gameplay of the original.. Just as Ms Pac Man was more advanced, but still in the same vein as the immensely popular Pac Man.

          I assume most everyone here has played Pac Man in their lives, but to those who haven't: Pac Man uses completely static levels. I
      • Maybe part of the reason is that the Pac Man games were so popular that they all got worn out. The Ms. Pac Man games, being played less, are now in better condition and there are more of them to go around.

        Just a theory, anyway.
  • I remeber years ago in a pub in Ireland they had glass tables that had space invaders underneath. Way Cool

  • Original article text (Score:5, Informative)

    by RobertB-DC ( 622190 ) * on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @12:36PM (#8510474) Homepage Journal
    As part of my Ghosts of Slashdot [slashdot.org] project, I grabbed a copy of this article before it went "live". There was a Slashdot outage at about that time, so I don't know if CmdrTaco & co. decided to change the text, or if it was lost and had to be re-created.

    Same submitter, same "dept."... just the title and story text has changed.

    Play Those Classic Video Games Virtually Anywhere
    Posted by CmdrTaco in The Mysterious Future!
    from the emulating-the-classics dept.
    Iphtashu Fitz writes "If you're like me your introduction to video games decades ago was something like the Atari 2600 [atariage.com], and you also pumped untold hundreds of quarters into arcade games like Space Invaders, Defender, and Asteroids [www.hut.fi]. Well according to a Wired News article you can now play these and many more [wired.com] of those classic games in their original format on your PC, Mac, Playstation, XBox, or Gamecube. X-Arcade [x-arcade.com] has an emulator & arcade-style interface that they claim will let you play over 4000 of the classic games on any of these modern gaming systems. Or if you'd prefer to play the actual arcade games from the 1980's then it might be time for you to take a trip to New York where the American Museum of the Moving Image [movingimage.us] is holding an exhibition [movingimage.us] where you can play these classics. Game emulators can be found linked from the museums website as well as through Retrogames [retrogames.com]." Much easier than building your own Cabinet [cmdrtaco.net].
    • Pick up a copy each of Namco Museum and Midway Arcade Treasures. Plenty of arcade nostalgia! I have it for XBox, but I believe it is also available on other platforms as well.

    • Re:Original article text (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Believe it or not, the editors actually edit the submissions. On the stories I've sent in, they've moved/changed links, removed bits and reworded headlines.

      As others have noticed, they tend to occasionally add typos, too... :)
    • The only beef I have with X-Arcade is when people try and play vector games like Asteroids, Tempest, Battle Zone, etc on it's raster monitor. Just not the same!
      I might just have to build my own vector only cabinet based on this vector generator [zektor.com] and and old Tempest vector monitor
    • They Already have Arcades like this without the need for special occasions! same old ONE QUARTER per play too. Those of you in Portland, OR should all check out GROUND KONTROL [groundkontrol.com]. for a good time

  • Ouch (Score:5, Interesting)

    by FortKnox ( 169099 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @12:53PM (#8510559) Homepage Journal
    From the X-Arcade site:
    Want to download Mame Rom games directly?
    Easiest = Using Kazaa, or P2P engine
    Type MAME in a software search.
    Download Any MAME Related Searches

    Encouraging people to pirate roms. That can't be good for business (well, good for business until the government comes knocking).

    Or am I out of the loop and its all alright now?

    • Re:Ouch (Score:1)

      by krog ( 25663 )
      Is it really piracy, when the ROMs are unavailable through other means?

    • Re:Ouch (Score:2, Interesting)

      by British ( 51765 )
      Hey, it's not like I could play all those obscure 80s games(ie the ones not emulated on PS2, or those tv-game consoles) now, or legally buy them. Many of the vendors I assume are out of business.

      • Re:Ouch (Score:2, Insightful)

        by smothra ( 725684 )
        That's some nifty logic there. Because the copyright holder doesn't make the material available to you through other means, it's ok to steal it.

        Hey officer, my neighbor wasn't releasing his invention to the public, so I stole it! I mean, how else was I supposed to get it?

        NOTE: I too believe that out-of-circulation ROMS *should* be made available to the public for free. But it is a false rationalize to say that trading copyrighted ROMS without permission isn't theft.
      • But... with the GBA and all the cell phones that can play games, maybe these old games could make their owners a little money.
    • It is copyright infringement, but not piracy unless someone's making a profit (no matter what the RIAA says). That said, since most of those games are otherwise out of circulation, the publisher probably isn't going to kick up much of a fuss about it.

    • Re:Ouch (Score:3, Informative)

      by DroopyStonx ( 683090 )
      Uh, there's nothing illegal about that.

      I can put up on my website a Gameboy Advance emulator (which is legal) and say, "Want roms? Download them from alt.binaries.emulators.gameboy.advance". I'm not supplying the ROMs, just telling people where to get them.

      You might not agree with telling people where to get ROMs, but there's nothing legally wrong with it.

    • ROMs are NOT Illegal! (necessarily) (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      http://www.consoleclassix.com/

      Try reading their "legal" section. It's none of that "24 hours" BS, but some advice they got from the lawyers they've hired.

      Note that they also let you play NES and Atari games for free, whereas you can play unlimited SNES and Genesis games for a monthly fee (fair disclosure: I went there after the first Slashdot story on the site, I donated/helped out until I became a "charter member" and I now have free, unlimited service)

      Also, while I don't think that ConsoleClassix has

    • Re:Ouch (Score:3, Informative)

      by Eil ( 82413 )

      Mame roms: http://www.mamereactor.com [mamereactor.com]

      Or am I out of the loop and its all alright now?

      Depends on which Slashdotter you ask. :P

      No, it's not okay. Technically. It's still a violation of copyright.

      Unlike console games where one can just copy a CD or press a button on a cart copier, arcade games have anywhere from a couple to dozens of ROM chips that one has to figure out how to copy and that's only if you can afford the hundreds of dollars that one game will cost. In order to legally play the game, you h

  • Piracy in the high st (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    "free download of 4000 games" says the site, do you think Taito,Atari etc agree while this company earns 1000$ for a wooden mdf box ?

  • Instead of buying the x-arcade cabinet (Score:5, Informative)

    by goldcd ( 587052 ) * on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @12:53PM (#8510563) Homepage
    Rescue an unloved genuine arcade cabinet, pop in a PC made out of all those bits and pieces you have lying around your house and join them together with bits from http://www.ultimarc.com/
    Appreciate that special aroma in your home and the genuine cigartte burns around the joysticks.
    • Rescue an unloved genuine arcade cabinet,

      Yes! It's always great to have a new person get addicted [havokmon.com]

      pop in a PC made out of all those bits and pieces you have lying around your house and join them together with bits from http://www.ultimarc.com/ Appreciate that special aroma in your home and the genuine cigartte burns around the joysticks

      WHAT?!? a PC?! Blasphmer! Back you savage!

    • Or instead of buying the x-arcade cabinet, which doesn't look that authentic, buy a Slikstik [slikstik.com] Arcade cabinet with control panel for $1500, then go over to Wells Gardner [slashdot.org] and pick up a D9200 which happens to fit perfectly into it.

      Go to Retroblast.com [retroblast.com] and see how gorgeous this combination looks. It's the stuff of dreams, ladies and gentlemen.

  • When I was there, they had an xbox out playing Halo. I played Halo with this kid for like 30 minutes before his mom came over and told him they had to go.

    Thought it was pretty cool seeing a room that had everything from Halo to Space War together. :)

  • Ten games? Try 200. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by pashdown ( 124942 ) <pashdown@xmission.com> on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @12:54PM (#8510570) Homepage
    Ten games? Come to the yearly California Extreme [caextreme.org] and see all those plus another 190 vids and pins.

    • Re:Ten games? Try 200. (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Big whoop, 10 games??? I have that many games in my basement. If you want to really play some games, both arcade and console, go to the Philly Classic expo next weekend (3/20-21)
      http://www.phillyclassic.com/
      -Jeff
    • Ten games? Come to the yearly California Extreme and see all those plus another 190 vids and pins.

      I think you're slightly missing the point. This is the American Museum of the Moving Image. It's a very large museum dedicated not just to video games but also to film and television (and related industries). It is across the street from a working television studio (the studio where they filmed the most recent Cosby show, and whatever Whoopee Goldberg's last bit of TV nonsense was), and AFAIK the studio
  • For $1000, that had better be good. How much do you people spend to build your own cabinet?

    • Just buy a junked cabinet (Score:5, Informative)

      by Shiifty ( 704247 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @01:16PM (#8510809) Homepage
      $1000 is steep for a cabinet that doesn't even look like a real arcade machine. You have to add a PC and a TV to make it work.

      You can buy a scrapped cabinet for less than $100, or free if you know where to look. They typically include a coin door which is a real eye catcher, and just need a washing up. Attach a pre-made control panel ($100?) or make your own, drop in a TV + PC and Bob's your uncle.

    • For a $1000 cabinet, you'd be better off buying the Slikstik cabinet [slikstik.com], though, keep in mind that the wood and other materials needed to build only the cabinet cost about $150 or perhaps far less if you use a painted cabinet rather than using laminates or melamines and take off the coin door.

      I spent a total of about $1600 building my cabinet from scratch, but that includes all hardwareincluding the new 27" arcade monitor, computer hardware, and controls.

      Just set a budget (both for your money and your time)
    • My Cabinet [edmonton.ab.ca] cost me around $1200 canadian to build, and that includes the TV and computer unlike the X-Arcade. The X-Arcade is for people with more money than time. I found building the thing at least as much fun as playing on it.

      As mentioned BYOAC(Build Your Own Arcade Controls) [arcadecontrols.com] Is a great site for MAME cabinet related information.

    • http://www.arcadedepot.com/ has decent prices for cocktail cabinets. This guy http://cocktail.loungespot.com/ has a pretty decent write up on building his mame machine.

    • Not that much (Score:2, Informative)

      by Orien ( 720204 )
      Well it all depends on what games you want to be able to play, and how many parts you already have. I got my cab from a local retro arcade for $50. It still had the coin door, the neon light, the speaker, and all the buttons and such. It used to be a Street Fighter II cab so it has 2 players with 6 buttons each. Then I took an old 166 mhz Pentium and put that inside running Wind98. That cost me zero. Instead of investing in a TV I used a 17' monitor that someone had given to me. At first I did my own keyboa
  • For people not far from the MA/NH border where it meets the Pond, Hampton Beach and Salisbury Beach have large numbers of old arcade machines ripe for the playing. They've got the standards (Pac Man, Centipede, Galaga, Pole Position, Asteroid, etc) as well as some more obscure titles like Subroc 3D.

    It's worth the trip, as long as white trash doesn't bother you.
    • Actually, a better place is FunSpot [funspotnh.com] in Weirs Beach, NH. Something like 180 classic arcade games, in one room. I'm really looking forward to my next trip there.

      You can get discount coupons on their tokens, so games cost something like .08 a play, instead of a quarter
  • If you'd like to play classic arcade games from the 1980s, then it might be time for you to take a trip to New York

    If they want a killer, boffo tourist slogan to bring the huddled masses to NYC, I think they need to try something different.

  • Easier, but less expensive? Or nicer? (Score:5, Informative)

    by 2Flower ( 216318 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @12:55PM (#8510595) Homepage
    The X-Arcade cab is basically just a big wooden box, plus a nastily looking inserted X-Arcade double stick. (You can see the outlines of the arcade-shaped panel in the giant blocky panel. Ugh.) No PC or monitor are included. All that for 1000 bucks.

    You might be better off buying an ancient cab and gutting it, or building your own. I built a wooden cab right to my size (I have a physical disability, dwarfism) and it kicks much booty as a result. Having a customized cab, or an authentic cab with new guts, seems a better way to go than a generic black cab branded with X-Arcade logos and a somewhat questionable price tag.

  • xbox cab is a joke (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Arcadeshopper [arcadeshopper.com] has much better cabs for less money.

  • I HATE emulators (Score:4, Insightful)

    by stratjakt ( 596332 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @12:57PM (#8510623) Journal
    They are NOT the same. There are subtle differences in every game I've played. Noone notices since they dont have the original to compare too.

    If you really love arcade games, collect and restore the machines. I only have room for 3 or 4 upright cabinets, but I pick up old ones, restore them, play them till I'm bored of it, then sell them and start over.

    I usually turn enough profit to buy everyone I know a gummi bear.

    But, there are tons of subtle differences. Midi tempos are usually off, colors are off. The games dont look the same emulated, even through a real arcade monitor..

    Emulation is really neat, technically.. But if you truly love the old classics, keep the old classics around. Rescue that beat up SFII cabinet from the pizza shop, clean it up, repair/replace the controls.. Give it a little elbow grease..

    MAME cabinets are just so... ghetto.. Especially when people try and cram every possible control into them.. Two sticks, 12 buttons each, trackballs, spinners, meh.. They look retarded. Many real cabinets were works of functional art.. Look at an old defender control panel.. Designed to function for only one game..

    Or vindicators, a cabinet shaped like a giant tank with two crazy throttle levers for control.

    • Re:I HATE emulators (Score:4, Insightful)

      by PhoenixFlare ( 319467 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @01:12PM (#8510764) Journal
      Slight inaccuracies the emulator(s) may have, but they're still worlds better than most of the collections/re-releases out for consoles these days.

      The Gamecube version of Namco Museum comes to mind - for some reason, even at the largest display mode, all the games (except Pole Position and the original Galaga) are at about 80-90% of original size on the screen, not to mention being rather fuzzy. In contrast, I can fire up MAME and play all of them on my monitor with the correct sizes and resolution.

      It's nice that you can restore and sell cabinets, but not everyone has the extra cash to spend on buying them in the first place, not to mention the skill to restore them.

      Emulators are really the closest the majority of gamers can get to the originals, and I would hazard a guess that it's close enough for many.

    • Re:I HATE emulators (Score:4, Informative)

      by JSkills ( 69686 ) <jskills@goCOMMAofball.com minus punct> on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @01:12PM (#8510766) Homepage Journal
      Ghetto? What the hell dude? If you're clever enough and have the dedication to put together a MAME cabinet that plays hundreds of games - why do you feel the need to put it down like that?

      I used to own an arcade version of the "Main Event" - a pretty cool four player wrestling game. I loved it. Problem was - it was the same game and the cabinet took up a lot of room just for one game. Who the hell has room to collect several cabinets? Sorry if we're all not flush with cash and square footage like you ...

      • You gutted a Main Event cabinet to put in 90 trackballs and spinners and all that shit? Let me guess, you screwed in a little plywood shelf and stuck a TV in it. Then used black bristolboard to make the authentic-looking bezel. Oh, and used a jigsaw to cut out a hole for a keyboard drawer.

        Sorry, but that's ghetto. It looks stupid, as stupid as a homemade spoiler on a honda civic. Just because it was a lot of work doesn't mean the end product is appealing.

        If you read my post, I only have room for 3 or
        • Learn to read. I didn't gut the Main Event cabinet. I had it. I liked it. It got tired after a few years. I sold it on eBay.

          And buying old full sized games in cabinets is NOT a "cheap hobby". They run several hundred (if not over $1,000) each. I don't think most people have the space or the room for it.

          Cool your 'tude, you'll live longer.

    • Although there may be subtle differences the gameplay is the same. Who cares if the colours are slightly off? Those old crappy displays the arcades used back then were all burnt in and you couldn't find two machines that had the same colours anyways. However its a different story with modern machines now.

      I agree with you on those MAME cabs though, I want a cabinet to look and feel like a real arcade machine and take quarters. Most of the designs out there are horrible (X-Arcade included).

      • Actually gameplay can change due to slight timing changes in the emulated version. So people that spent decades playing a specific game will be able to "feel" the difference in the gameplay.
    • Really? So, for that Authentic Arcade experience, do you hire some mullet-haired chainsmoker to come over and perpetually hog the machine? Do you live for the visual of screen burn-in? Does the sound of a dying amplifier feeding a $.25 cent speaker bring you joy?

      For me, it's about the game. When I discovered I could still remember my super secret patterns for Pac-Man Plus on MAME, it was all good.
    • I have no mod points to help drag this down. This is about as insightful as George Bush attacking Iraq.

      I for one enjoy immensley the fact of just playing the games on my PC. The emulation is more than close enough, especially with MAME. I also can play ALL my old 80's favorites, not just 3 or 4 taking up a whole room in my house.

    • No doubt, I have the real thing when it comes to my favorite games... and for lesser games I emulate.
    • (Score:-1, Snob)

      Yes, having the original cabinet is nice, along with the original controllers and everything. However, an emulator mixed with a good joystick is going to be nearly as good as the real thing. Unless you only want to play a few of games total, buying the cabinets won't get you very far unless you happen to have a lot of extra cash/space.

  • HACKING video games! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Vo0k ( 760020 )
    Well, playing them was cool, but I always looked for ways to find hidden possiblities. Not only hidden treasures and easter eggs, but authentic bugs.
    Some way to squeeze through the wall outside the play area, walking endless desert then, or in a space shooter I found a position where I can kill all newly appearing enemies easily and managed to kill them all (yeah, just flew through empty skies without anything to shoot at, until I reset the machine with power switch), or climbing a ladder and shooting some
    • I used to have a pattern on the first level of the original Pac-Man that would let me pass through the red ghost as he was coming down and I was going up.

      That one would always freak everybody out in the arcade!!!
  • While you would THINK you want to go to something like this, just think about it, and soon you will understand why you don't.

    You will be standing in line for HOURS AND HOURS to play whatever game tickles your pickle. That doesn't sound entertaining to me.
  • With so many arcade game enthusiasts, wouldn't those playable arcades soon become out-of-service? Even $2.50 per token (now it is 25 cents) won't be enough to cover the costs.

  • dude (Score:5, Informative)

    by Naikrovek ( 667 ) <jjohnson@ps g . com> on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @01:05PM (#8510697)
    hah you can buy an arcade with a MUCH bigger screen for half the price at www.arcade-infinity.com [arcade-infinity.com]. Looks like the site is down at the moment - if it doesn't return you can google for "Japanese JAMMA cabinet" and that should find you something useful.

    the guy that runs http://arcade.madsmurf.com/ [madsmurf.com] can probably point you towards a cabinet vendor.

    I'm not an owner of that company or investor or anything other than a very happy customer.

    shipping is kind of expensive but the arcade cabs are very cheap in my experience. slap a windows PC in there and a couple bits from www.ultimarc.com (arcadeVGA adapter and the J-PAC) and you have every thing you need but the roms to play thousands of arcade games on this arcade.

    and there are a lot more than one type of cabinet - there are stand-up cabs, sit down cabs, two seater sega cabs, cabinets with dual monitors, cabinets with giant projection screen monitors, all kinds of stuff.

    have a look. they're good stuff.
  • Does anyone know a source for reasonable priced arcade cabinets in the UK? I rather fancy sticking a MAME box together, but don't have the time or inclination to actually build the cabinet.

    Failing that, how easy is it to convert older actual arcade cabinets over? Or is that a "how long is a piece of string"-style question...?

    Cheers,
    Ian

  • what no link to byoac? (Score:4, Informative)

    by enrico_suave ( 179651 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @01:08PM (#8510727) Homepage
    ArcadeControls.com (BYOAC site) [arcadecontrols.com] for shame!

    And man is the x-arcade "cabinet" just an ugly expensive bookshelf for a TV and PC with a shelf for one of their undersized controllers, or what?

    E.

    PS I of course like my cabinet better: UberCade =P

  • Ouch (Score:5, Insightful)

    by netfool ( 623800 ) * on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @01:08PM (#8510728) Homepage
    You know your old when people start putting your old toys in a museum.
  • The Museum had this exhibit a few years ago. It was kind of cool playing some of the older games, though the selection wasn't huge and some of them were broken. But I'd recommend it anyway, as the rest of the Museum has some really cool interactive exhibits. I'm not even a big fan of movies or TV but I still had a blast.
  • Has anybody considered building a cabinet for the home? Okay, that's not as stupid a question as it first sounds...I'm thinking a weighted pedistal, a platform for the controls and a slot that would hold a laptop so that the display was held at the appropriate angle.

    You'd end up with a much more visually interesting piece of furniture, and it wouldn't take up as much space as a cabinet. Yes, it doesn't have the back glass artwork, nor does it have the coin slots, but if it's a stand up microswitch joystick

    • and a slot that would hold a laptop so that the display was held at the appropriate angle.

      Arcade games were designed to look good on a 19" to 27" display. I'm not too sure a 14" laptop display would cut it. I'd suggest a shelf that could accommodate a VCR, a DVD player, a game console, or a closed laptop with a TV output.

      No wait, that's called a "home entertainment center".

  • The Best Collection of Arcade Games and Pinball (Score:4, Informative)

    by Transfan76 ( 577070 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @01:15PM (#8510804)
    That I know of is at Weirs Beach at FunSpot [funspotnh.com] You name a game, they have it there most likely. From old school Asteroids to new games that you actually have to move your body to play. Anytime I go there it's a blast!

  • arcade controls (Score:3, Informative)

    by Eil ( 82413 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @01:18PM (#8510818) Homepage Journal

    Save your link-whoring, Commander. Build Your Own Arcade Controls [arcadecontrols.com] lists hundreds of documentary pages written by people who've built their own acrade machines or controls.

    I finished my own professional-looking arcade control panel with real arcade machine parts just last week, but I haven't had time to post the info to my website just yet. For those looking for the ultimate arcade experience, you can't beat the feel of the real thing.
  • From the X-Arcade Website: Why buy 1 arcade machine like Pac-Man(TM) for $3000

    I'm not sure what a Pac-Man arcade game goes for, but you can get a used Ms. Pac Man around here (NJ/NY-Area) for $300-$500. A Used arcade cabinet in good shape goes for about $100. I've seen used arcade cabinets thrown away before because they were no good for conversion kits (Ie, Nintendo's playchoice).
  • I just picked up Midway Arcade Treasures for the PS2, and it rocks! It has support for the multitap, and comes with great games like:

    Gauntlet
    Joust
    Defender
    Spy Hunter
    Smash TV
    Rampage

    in all, something like 25 titles. It's only $19.95. You can build a cabinet and stick the PS2 in it, and then you can have all these classics for super cheap!

  • The Museum Rocks (Score:3, Interesting)

    by happyfrogcow ( 708359 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @01:26PM (#8510914)
    I went there not too long ago, though the subway ride was a pain in the arse from borklyn, er um brooklyn, and flat out broken on the way back (fire someplace nearby in the subway). A lot of interactive stuff, and good for kids and the young at heart. There was (maybe still is) an exhibit of Tim Burton's paintings. Fun stuff too, like making flipbooks of yourself goofing off in front of a camera, making little stop motion animations on computers with little plastic "actors", dubbing your voice over real movie scenes, fiddling with soundtracks, etc. Lots of fun stuff. They also had, for all you trekkies, an exhibit of hundreds of star trek action figures (and other movie/tv action figures).
    • Oh, one more thing. They had a huge exhibit of interactive computer art type things. All were usually custom programmed with things varying from openGL and C++ to Flash, or other more obscure systems. They were fun to fiddle with, and usually no wait to hop on and try it.

  • Try Ground Kontrol (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Ground Kontrol downtown Portland Or.

    Old style games at old style prices. And couldn't be in a nicer part of the country. Damn I miss living there.

    • Re:Try Ground Kontrol (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Ground Kontrol rules. They have a ton of great 'classics' plus a huge selection of atari/nintendo roms.
      • They have a ton of great 'classics' plus a huge selection of atari/nintendo roms.

        And our ROMs come complete with free plastic shells and labels!

        In other words, we sell the original cartridges. Just making sure Nintendo of America doesn't get the wrong idea ;-)

        -El D.

    • (Disclaimer: I co-own and operate GK, so this qualifies as shameless self-promotion)

      Yes, Ground Kontrol [groundkontrol.com] has all but one of the Blip exhibit's games and about 50 more. Our goal is to present arcade gaming's "greatest hits", spanning the decades, all for .25 a play in a true arcade environment, as originally intended.

      At the old-timer 'museum' end of the spectrum, we're refurbishing a 1973 QuadraPong. It's the first cocktail table game and only the third Atari produced. It's so early, the screen is a modifi

  • DUDE .. That Cabinet Rocks! WTG Taco-man !

  • Homemade Cabinet (Score:2, Informative)

    by z0ink ( 572154 )
    Making your own cabinet at home really isn't all that hard. I set out to do this about a year ago and accomlished the goal rather nicely + cheaply. All together the physical building costs only ran about 200 dollars (wood, paint, bits, blades, brushes, etc). The arcade controls, all purchased from Happ, are entirely authentic. It was nice to know I could purchase the same controls that are used in the arcades today. They have a minimum order of $50, so make sure you order all of your items at once. 2
  • For a few years in Seattle - probably from 1999 to 2002 - there was an arcade called Hi-Score that had a few of these classic games and some pinball machines. Great fun and they capitalized on the same market that'll go see the museum show.

    It was on Pine street on Cap Hill. An artist friend had painted their sign. Ahh, back in the days...

  • If you live in the midwest, you can see something like this at COSI [cosi.org] (the Center of Science & Industry museum) in Columbus, Ohio.

    From their website [cosi.org]:

    COSI has redesigned the SimZone exhibit area. Play Pong, Asteroids and all of your favorite classic video games, while learning the history, science and technology that makes it all possible. The new and improved SimZone is located outside i|o on the first floor. All games are free.

  • Online 80's Games (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Valiss ( 463641 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2004 @02:29PM (#8511636) Homepage
    Classic 80's games can be played here too:

    http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/games.html
  • The greatest classic arcade in the country is in Weirs Beach, NH, known as Funspot [funspotnh.com]. It contains over 170 different classic games and has been site to Twin Galaxies tournaments over the years. For a place near you, check out the classic arcade locations [classicgaming.com] site.
  • Check out Build Your Own Arcade Controls [byoac.com]

    Its a great place to start and an almost bottomless supply of links to vendors and parts sources. There are about a dozen or more arcade cabinet plans out there on the net and at least as many companies offering a far better product than the X-Arcade stuff.

    Gratuitous links:
    Lusid's arcade flashback [adelphia.net]
    Cocktail Cab Plans [arcadecontrols.org]

    Happy Slashdotting!

  • For a web database of video games, check out KLOV, Killer List Of Video games [klov.com].

    The page for Pac-Man is here [klov.com].
  • This photo [movingimage.us] from the exhibition sure brings back memories about arcades.... I hope visitors have to put in quarters for each play.

    The standard rule at the arcade was placing a quarter on the machine for "next game". Ah... such memories.
  • http://www.disneyquest.com has a floor dedicated to old classic arcade games that are free to play (well, not free as you pay an entry fee to get in there, but you get my drift) :) I had to get dragged out of the old Star Wars cabinet last time was there. Jonathan
  • Please tell me Zero Wing will be there!!!

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