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Aruze Develops Linux-Based Arcade Machine System

Posted by simoniker on from the pervasive dept.

Thanks to GameSpot for its news that Japanese arcade/pachinko giant Aruze has announced a Linux-based arcade game system for Japanese release this year. Apparently: "Aruze plans to release twenty games for the AP-3 by the end of March 2005, and aims to persuade third party publishers to develop games for the board as well", and furthermore: "The company expects the adoption of Linux to cut development costs for software developers... Aruze also cited the system's high versatility and consistent updates as other factors in its decision." It's also pointed out: "Taito announced in June a similar PC-based arcade board named Type-X. In contrast to Aruze's AP-3, however, Taito's board uses a special edition of Microsoft Windows XP."

111 comments

  1. Consistent updates by Brento · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Aruze also cited the system's high versatility and consistent updates as other factors in its decision."

    Consistent updates? Maybe I'm missing something, but it feels like my Windows boxen get security updates at least once a week when the root-of-the-day exploit comes out.

    Oh, you mean that's NOT a selling point? Oh.

    --
    What's your damage, Heather?
    1. Re:Consistent updates by rf0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well just recompile the kernel once in a while to get that 1% extra performance

      Rus

      --
      Cheap UK and US VPS
  2. You don't expect me to believe this?? by PowerBert · · Score: 4, Funny

    I know Aruze when I see one.

    1. Re:You don't expect me to believe this?? by Quobobo · · Score: 1

      Pronounciation: ah-roo-zay

      Yes, I'm a humourless bastard (living in Japan). :)

  3. well.. by borgdows · · Score: 3, Funny

    nobody will ask if this thing run linux at least!

  4. But.. by welshwaterloo · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Yes, but does it run System 22..?

  5. some other companies use linux also. by junkymailbox · · Score: 4, Informative

    all the touchscreens i've seen in sportsbars and etc use stuff made by Merit Industries and AFAIK they all pretty much use linux.

    1. Re:some other companies use linux also. by chuckfucter · · Score: 0

      they use BSD

    2. Re:some other companies use linux also. by Inda · · Score: 1

      As a leader and innovator in the coin-op industry for over 25 years, Merit is creating new and exciting products, developing user-friendly software and redefining new technologies for the future.

      ooooo mega.

      Seriously, they should sack their chief marketer even if he's been with the company 25 years.

      --
      This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
    3. Re:some other companies use linux also. by bubbaprog · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That's funny, because I was playing megatouch in a bar about a year ago and the thing kept rebooting. DOS. I kept feeding it quarters just to enjoy seeing autoexec.bat load for nostalgia's sake.

    4. Re:some other companies use linux also. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not positive, but I think games made by uWink (Nolan Bushnell's latest company) are using linux under the hood.

  6. Aruze != Good Games by oasis3582 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's just hope they don't use this technology to make more banal mediocre games like Shadow Hearts for the PS2. Now there's a case of squandered potential...


    Doubt the sequel will be any better.

    1. Re:Aruze != Good Games by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Interesting
      ...more banal mediocre games like Shadow Hearts for the PS2.
      Ever been in a Japanese arcade? Shadow Hearts is nice and soothingly normal compared to the games sou see there. Think 'Extreme beach volleyball' for the Xbox, only more bizarre (in case you don'tt know this one: it's beach volleyball, but you first have to convince your opponents in the game to play with you, by bribing them with gifts & flowers in your hair). Head-to-head pancake baking (I kid you not), shooting elves with crossbows... and those are the games where you can at least understand the objective.
      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:Aruze != Good Games by oasis3582 · · Score: 1

      Haha wow. No, I have never been to Japan, but I can see the influence of Japanese games (since I import a lot) permeate our videogaming "culture." It always amazes me how games like DOA:BV, 0 Story, etc make it over here. I guess we do have some gems though such as Animal Crossing, Pikmin, etc. All I was trying to say is that this is a big step, but I would feel better if companies other than Aruze were at the helm.

    3. Re:Aruze != Good Games by DeadScreenSky · · Score: 1

      The grandparent post was talking about how bad the games are that Azure makes, not necessarily how weird Japanese arcade games are. And a relationship sim isn't that bizarre of a game design, really.

      --
      There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
  7. Games for Linux? by MurkyGoth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder if they're going to licences the games to run on standard installations? Not free or open source (they've got to make money somehow!) but pre-packaged binaries for the most popular distros. They could also get more revenue by creating 'authentic' arcade gamepads for standard PCs. Imagine being able to (legally) play your favourite arcade games at home!

    1. Re:Games for Linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm.. You mean like this type of stuff?

      Sorry, it's being done, and has been for years. Next idea.

    2. Re:Games for Linux? by Hatta · · Score: 1

      I'm more interested in the video drivers on this thing, hope they're open sourced.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  8. This is pretty cool by polyp2000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Presumably that means we can expect Linux to be garnered with an influx of arcade quality, native games now.

    --
    Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
  9. Seeing Linux growing is such a good feeling by Neo's+Nemesis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Its beginning to be seen that Linux is making waves all over now. First on Servers, then on PCs, then on mobiles/handhelds, and now as a base OS for a game.

  10. imagine by millahtime · · Score: 1, Funny

    imagine a beowolf cluster of these....

    And we shall call it an Arcade

    --
    Evolution or ID?
  11. Finally! by cafard · · Score: 5, Funny

    After all those years of Gauntlet or D&D...
    Nethack: soon in an arcade room near you! :)

    Do you think we'll get a bargain on credits for playing tourists ?

    --
    This post is awesome.
    1. Re:Finally! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Do you think we'll get a bargain on credits for playing tourists ?

      I doubt it. No cash, no credit, no problem.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  12. Obligatory link by polyp2000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Looks pretty good .. Appears to be links to a Linux Package (SDK maybe ?)

    http://www.aruze.com/ir/16_linux/global/info.htm l

    Time to get coding !

    Nick ..

    --
    Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
    1. Re:Obligatory link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No SDK, only the sources to the standard linux base components. Their kernel package maybe worth a closer look, in case they include some interesting custom stuff.

  13. Games are what will make Linux succeed by Ridgelift · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not everyone will agree with this, but games are what will make Linux succeed as the #1 desktop in the world. When you can buy the same games for Linux that you can for Windows and anyone can install them, there will be a massive push behind Linux as an operating system.

    Games push hardware, which sell more computers, which spur the development of faster machines. Microsoft used to do a good job of releasing bloatware that forced companies to upgrade their work PC to keep doing the same jobs (word processing, spreadsheets, databasing & communication apps).

    If your a Linux fan like me, having a Linux-based arcade machine is a very, very good thing. Linux will definitely succeed in the desktop arena - we have games coming.

    --
    Ruby on Rails Screencast
    1. Re:Games are what will make Linux succeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft used to do a good job of releasing bloatware that forced companies to upgrade their work PC to keep doing the same jobs...

      You aren't suggesting that this is a good thing, are you, or something that Linux ought try to emulate? I believe we have quite enough bloat, thanks.

    2. Re:Games are what will make Linux succeed by pandrijeczko · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Not everyone will agree with this, but games are what will make Linux succeed as the #1 desktop in the world.

      You're probably right but I don't see why it's that important that Linux is #1 in the world. Surely, it's more important to have open standards globally such that you can view any web site with any browser, exchange documents with anyone else's operating system & applications, etc? What does it matter what OS people choose to use to achieve that - sure, you and I porbably use Linux but others choose Windows which is fine also, as long as they have a genuine choice.

      When you can buy the same games for Linux that you can for Windows and anyone can install them, there will be a massive push behind Linux as an operating system.

      Unfortunately, the major problem here is that, like it or not, Microsoft DirectX provides a more readily available suite of games APIs for developers than does the cross-platform OpenGL standard and that's probably the biggest thing stopping games companies producing for Linux. Those that do, like ID, can do it because they work in OpenGL in the first place.

      Games push hardware, which sell more computers, which spur the development of faster machines.

      I'm not sure this is necessarily a good thing. In the days of the classic 8-bit and 16-bit machines like the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amiga, etc, upgrades were virtually unheard of and games developers were force to push the machines to their limits to achieve certain features in games. My personal belief is that this made games of old generally much better than most modern games - sure, graphics are thousands of times better now but I don't think that addictiveness or playability has got any better in all but a handful of titles.

      having a Linux-based arcade machine is a very, very good thing

      There may be some developments as a result of Linux going into the arcades but it's important to realise that although the Linux OS in these machine is Open Source (it has to be), the games definitely won't be (and don't have to be) so it's not as though you'll be able to play these at home unless a games publisher decides to releases them for home usage.

      Any games exposure for Linux is a good thing but it always boils down to financial concerns in the end and games developers will only release Linux games if they are confident they can make money from it.

      --
      Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
    3. Re:Games are what will make Linux succeed by LDoggg_ · · Score: 1

      You're probably right but I don't see why it's that important that Linux is #1 in the world.

      If not #1 at least a bigger chunk of desktop market share would be nice. Imagine if linux increased to 25% of desktops. Hardware manufacturers would be crazy not to develop linux drivers. Desktop software manufactures would be much more likely to do native ports.

      Unfortunately, the major problem here is that, like it or not, Microsoft DirectX provides a more readily available suite of games APIs for developers than does the cross-platform OpenGL standard and that's probably the biggest thing stopping games companies producing for Linux. Those that do, like ID, can do it because they work in OpenGL in the first place.

      What about Nintendo & Sony? They don't exactly use DirectX. Many game companies these days license 3rd party engines that have many rendering paths & input/sound abstraction.
      Sure some comapnies use DirectX only, but a huge portion doesn't.

      There may be some developments as a result of Linux going into the arcades but it's important to realise that although the Linux OS in these machine is Open Source (it has to be), the games definitely won't be (and don't have to be) so it's not as though you'll be able to play these at home unless a games publisher decides to releases them for home usage.

      I don't think any is arguing this point. I have no problem paying for a decent game to play on an open source OS (i bought all but 2 loki games)

      Any games exposure for Linux is a good thing but it always boils down to financial concerns in the end and games developers will only release Linux games if they are confident they can make money from it.

      And this will make more and more financial sense the more market share linux can take from windows.
      Some ports now are just done for the cool factor, or that the developer happen to like using linux.

      --

      "If they have both, tell them we use Linux. And if they have that, tell them the computers are down." -Dave Chapelle
    4. Re:Games are what will make Linux succeed by glinden · · Score: 1
      • Not everyone will agree with this, but games are what will make Linux succeed as the #1 desktop in the world. When you can buy the same games for Linux that you can for Windows and anyone can install them, there will be a massive push behind Linux as an operating system.
      Along these lines, I'd love to see a live CD version of Linux (e.g. Knoppix) that contains a collection of the better, easier to use, free Linux games. Even better, several emulators and collections of older games from console or older PC systems (although getting rights could be an issue here) with some kind of trivially easy to use interface. Or even just a simple live CD with nothing but Quake or another popular first person shooter that comes up clean and easy on all systems would be appealing.

      I think a free CD that you can drop into your PC and start playing games would attract a lot of new users and give them their first introduction to Linux.
    5. Re:Games are what will make Linux succeed by Whyrph · · Score: 1

      They already have this, with Enemy Territory: https://shop.linuxit.com.au/product_info.php?produ cts_id=168

    6. Re:Games are what will make Linux succeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see why it's that important that Linux is #1 in the world.

      I think it is important that any attempts to lock people in with closed systems should fail. If Microsoft ever comes out with "MSHTML", such that you can only surf certain web sites with MS Windows, I'm opposed to that. So I hope Linux will prosper. As long as it's big enough to be a counterweight to MS, I'm happy.

      And for developing countries, Linux really will be #1. Why should a Thai person want a crippled version of Windows instead of a full-on copy of Linux? The Linux is FREE so it's cheaper than the crippled Windows.

      In the days of the classic 8-bit and 16-bit machines like the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amiga, etc, upgrades were virtually unheard of and games developers were force to push the machines to their limits to achieve certain features in games. My personal belief is that this made games of old generally much better than most modern games - sure, graphics are thousands of times better now but I don't think that addictiveness or playability has got any better in all but a handful of titles.

      Um, dude, the games were better because they were better. If you could get Star Raiders to run on a 1 MHz 6502, you ought to be able to get a game as fun as Star Raiders on a CPU clocked 1000 times faster. Shoe-horning the game into a pathetic little computer doesn't make the game better. (It does make it more likely that the game will be a bite-sized tasty snack of a game; games that come on 12 CDs are not my thing, I mostly like short arcade-style games.)

      I think it's just that the older games were labors of love. These days you need a whole team of guys to make a game with all the 3D models, textures, effects, sounds, voice acting, motion capture, etc. The older games were crafted by one person or a very small team, and perhaps a little more of the creator's personality can peek out from the game.

      But there are still games like that around. Check the WWW. And of course you can still play the old games on your computer; I have a few old Atari 2600 games I love to play on Stella (emulator) under Linux.

      Finally, remember the old rule that 90% of anything is crap. We remember the best of the old games fondly, but we allow ourselves to forget the lame games of the past. There are some games being made today that are gems too, and they will be remembered fondly. But there are so many games out now, that they won't be UNIVERSALLY remembered. When Tempest came out in the arcades, everyone paid attention to it; if some person writes a cool new game these days, how many people will even notice it?

    7. Re:Games are what will make Linux succeed by Corngood · · Score: 1

      What about Nintendo & Sony? They don't exactly use DirectX. Many game companies these days license 3rd party engines that have many rendering paths & input/sound abstraction. Sure some comapnies use DirectX only, but a huge portion doesn't.

      First of all, Nintendo and Sony have fixed hardware platforms, so writing to the hardware is at least a possibility. On a PC it's not a good idea.

      As for the abstraction middleware, stuff like Renderware, Gamebryo (Netimmerse), Unreal, etc. don't actually abstract the hardware level. They all provide native implementations for consoles, while on PC they just sit on top of... DirectX.

  14. Before someone starts to whine... by News+for+nerds · · Score: 4, Informative

    Aruze Linux source code site

    Click "English" in the right to go the English web site for Linux source code distribution.

  15. Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Aruze plans to release twenty games for the AP-3 by the end of March 2005

    All twenty of them?

  16. Let's talk to Taito by tacarat · · Score: 1

    Wow. Somebody running XP just to play games? Sounds like they've got some /.'s over there. I can't help but laugh at the image of somebody getting messenger service spam while playing something. "Want to score? Let us show you how!"

    --
    "Common sense will be the death of us all"
    1. Re:Let's talk to Taito by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty damn common in MMOs for a party member to get lagged or kicked when they get a pop-up.

    2. Re:Let's talk to Taito by KangXii · · Score: 1

      People like you are why Windows gets a bad rep. You simple DISABLE the messenger service and you worry nothing of it. I'm sure even you know that, but you are just trying to troll. Windows only seems to cause problems to people that don't know what the hell they are doing anyway, so trying to get those same people to use Linux is kinda stupid.

    3. Re:Let's talk to Taito by tacarat · · Score: 1

      I just said it would be amusing. You mean you wouldn't find the idea of a pop-up spam during the middle of a game the least bit amusing/interesting (not including games you are playing)? Besides, it's entirely possible the custom WinXP they are using doesn't have the messenger service installed/enabled. And if the games aren't networked, there isn't much concern about hacking the box. At that point, it's all about physical access (as opposed to network access), and arcade machines are rarely left unprotected due to the money they contain.

      BTW, I like and use WinXP as well as Linux, and work tech support at a large (4k+ users)company that runs Win2K. So don't take it too personally when I say your attitude is why Windows/Linux/Computer tech heads have a bad rep. If you're going to act superior, at least throw in in "RTFM" when showing me my place. It's kind of expected after your first week of posting on /.
      ...Oops, that won't be until tomorrow.

      Yeah, yeah. I already know this comment is flamebait. It's worth the mod down.

      --
      "Common sense will be the death of us all"
  17. What Linux brings to gaming by melonman · · Score: 1, Funny

    "And now you can drive your avatar by typing XML!"

    --
    Virtually serving coffee
  18. Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Something I can comment on, if only I could remember my pass so I didn't have to AC it.

    I work with a lot of SWP type machines (Skill With Prizes aka Quiz machines) and the overwhemly large majority run some form of Windows, either NT, XP or embedded. I can tell you this, Before PC's turned up in arcade machines, they were great fun to work on. Normally they are quite simple electronics for a reason, simple doesn't normally break as often. I'm not even going to start on the amount of BSOD I used to see on a daily basis because my company thought it was a good idea to use Dial-Up to push down updates like videos/new games.
    At least one company I know use Linux in their terminals already, some German/Austrian firm who make the MegaTouch series. I remember being very impressed seeing Linux booting for the first time in a Arcade cabinet!

  19. Forget it by imsabbel · · Score: 1

    Remember the Xbox, a slightly modified pc? How many native xbox titles are converted to the pc, and how long does it take?

    There no way that they will just sell those games for linux pcs. It would be as sensible for them as it would be for nintendo to release their next mario game on ps2...

    --
    HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
  20. Young man, you know not what you say! by numbski · · Score: 3, Interesting

    These are the same geniuses that tried to rip off SNK/Playmore by using KOF characters in some casino games.

    Wonderful....although the idea of a Linux machine at the arcade is kind of interesting, especially given the fact that a few games have started to utilize net connections to share stats.

    It's more than a little tempting to find out the local aracade's IP, nmap it, see if the machine shows up, if sshd is up by default, and uh...oh...Trinity, you around? :)

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

    1. Re:Young man, you know not what you say! by Minwee · · Score: 0
      "It's more than a little tempting to find out the local aracade's IP, nmap it, see if the machine shows up, if sshd is up by default, and uh...oh...Trinity, you around?"

      Wouldn't you rather ask these girls to help?

    2. Re:Young man, you know not what you say! by huntybunz · · Score: 1

      Dude, I hate to tell you, but bailing out a bankrupt company doesn't count as "ripping off". SNK was in MAJOR trouble when Aruze bought them out and floated them until SNK could reform as Playmore and buy back their IPs. Aruze obviously saw some good in the arcade industry, so they're trying their hand at it, and I'm overjoyed that they're doing so; I've been waiting for a Leeenooox-based "MVS" cabinet for a long time. I was about to buy an Atomiswave, but now I'm going to wait and see how this does.

  21. Or by rf0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Get youself a copy of XMame

    Rus

    --
    Cheap UK and US VPS
    1. Re:Or by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I prefer Advance MAME for Linux because it has hella more features. It's what I use in my Linux based arcade machine.

  22. More specifically... by numbski · · Score: 4, Informative

    The exact frame.

    The interesting part of this is:

    1. It uses RPM.
    2. NFS? On an arcade machine?

    Ooooh, this could get interestin'. ;)

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

    1. Re:More specifically... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Well what doesn't make sense is that it has both NFS and RPM. If it didn't have a package mangler then it would make sense to use a network filesystem for updates. As it is, it would make more sense to install ssh and use sftp to move packages to the system, then ssh in and install them. It would be interesting to find out what the logic is.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  23. ironically by numbski · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That's precisely what many of us MAMEer's do.

    I mean, I have an arcade cab that I've salvaged, and most cab owners will install Windows because, aside from MAME, most of the better emulators run on Windows only.

    Nebula and Kawaks are two for starters that drive me nuts. They add some absolutely AWESOME enhancements to CPS2 and Neo Geo titles, such as transparency, and 4-8 player games in Capcom's vs. Series and KOF, over the internet no less!

    I'm trying to get some of my favs working in Wine, and I'm getting there...slowly. Now I have to get it to take command line params, and load it up in a front end I'm happy with. Yay....

    Anyway, sorry for the dissertation, it's just amusing that what you do every day is what many of us try to do as a hobby at home. And you hate it. :P

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

    1. Re:ironically by BigJimSlade · · Score: 1

      If you get them working in Wine, please post the settings that you use so the rest of us Linux-lovin' emulator users can benefit :)

  24. Linux game just waiting to be coin-opped by NiceGuyUK · · Score: 1

    Frozen Bubble - now there's a Linux game just crying out to be a coin-op. Time to bid farewall to that pocketful of loose change methinks....

    1. Re:Linux game just waiting to be coin-opped by Wicksta · · Score: 2, Informative

      It is based on a coin-op. Puzzle Bobble, or Bust-a-Move depending where you are playing it, a classic NEO-GEO game from the 90's. And having it on my debian based advancemame arcade machine I can say its probably twice as addictive as Frozen Bubble!

    2. Re:Linux game just waiting to be coin-opped by kahei · · Score: 0


      I realize I'm about to be modded down for implying that Open Source is not the fount of all innovation, but...

      Frozen Bubble is a clone of popular arcade classic Puzzle Bobble.

      --
      Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
    3. Re:Linux game just waiting to be coin-opped by NiceGuyUK · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Ok, my bad. Not being a frequent arcade game player (but a frequent Linux user!), I wasn't aware of the inspiration. I commend myself to the nearest games arcade for re-education :-)

    4. Re:Linux game just waiting to be coin-opped by rivercityrandom · · Score: 1

      I'm personally waiting for the arcade port of Tux Racer myself... Come on, someone had to mention Tux Racer in a post about Linux gaming :)

  25. Okay, geekspeak time. by numbski · · Score: 1

    Question...do messenger service popups, pop over DirectX fullscreen apps? I've never had it happen since I always disable that service right out of the gate.

    If it does...yeah, we're going to see some interesting things at the arcade, especially if they're hooked to the net for high-score sharing, or playing vs. people across the internet. Without a firewall.

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

    1. Re:Okay, geekspeak time. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Messenger service popups will pop up over full-window directx games, but not over directdraw or direct3d games which create a new screen as opposed to a full screen window.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  26. Cue the BSOD jokes by erroneus · · Score: 1

    Alright, since someone is making arcade games on a special edition of WinXP lemme try one or two that come to mind.

    BSO-MDK ?

    No... that sucked. Blue Screen of Fatality! Eh... not funny. Okay I can't think of anything good... ned coffee...

    Next!

    1. Re:Cue the BSOD jokes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have seen Konami's BeatmaniaIIDX booting. It is run from Windows XP in Japanese.

    2. Re:Cue the BSOD jokes by Al+Dimond · · Score: 1

      Just 'cause you've never got one doesn't mean that it's impossible. My home XP partition takes a lot of abuse (heavy use, leaving on for weeks at a time, running 80 programs at once, etc) and has never crashed in 2 years as I can recall. My XP box at work is a more powerful machine under much lighter use (mostly just Firefox and Vim 8 hrs a day) and blue screens randomly about twice a day (besides that when I try to print from Word without first connecting to the proper VPN it goes nuts and crashes explorer). Memtest reports no errors, I've tried all sorts of supposed fixes to no avail, have the latest off all drivers, don't have any viruses or spyware... so it's not always user error.

    3. Re:Cue the BSOD jokes by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The preview button has two functions. One of them is so that you can check your post for HTML and other errors. The other one is so that you can read your jokes and find out if they're funny, or if you were just jacking off...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Cue the BSOD jokes by tacarat · · Score: 1

      Actually, XP is made so it won't BSOD. It reboots instead. Unfortunately, that means you loose all the debugging information that a good BSOD would provide. Fortunately, you can change that setting..

      --
      "Common sense will be the death of us all"
  27. Jump-start Linux gaming by Sir0x0 · · Score: 1

    While some people have made good points that the games this directly involves may not be released on Linux, it will still end up jump starting the Linux game industry.

    Companies working on the games will begin realizing what a viable platform Linux is for gaming, and begin developing titles for Linux PCs. (Note that "the AP-3 will incorporate hardware based on PC components.")

  28. Linux Arcade Systems Already Here by Perl-Pusher · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was playing guitar in a bar one night and the power died. The bar had about 10 of these arcade games with touch screens that had about 20-25 games each with great graphics. I've watched people dump alot of money into these games all night. When the power came back on I was pleasantly suprised to see everyone of those machines going through an init with a bright green OK after each step. After closer examiniation each system was running RedHat 7.3. I've played these games several times and never realised they were running linux. These games were really quite good.

    1. Re:Linux Arcade Systems Already Here by doon · · Score: 1

      One of my friends has a MegaTouch (the game you are referring to), and I too was surprised when we turned it on and I saw the boot messages.

      --
      To E-mail me, replace the first period in my domain with an @
  29. Cool by pommiekiwifruit · · Score: 1
    And they should try converting other famous linux games to the arcades, for example Tetris and Pacman.

    Oh wait...

  30. in other news.... by TeKn0wLeD-G · · Score: 0

    Aruze's website is all Japanese character set.... thus rendering my browser experience null.... bastages

  31. Great! Always good to see another one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Global VR is already shipping games with a Linux base.

  32. This just in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They expect to have a playable version of pong out somewhere around 2007.

  33. Xbox to PC ports by tepples · · Score: 1

    How many native xbox titles are converted to the pc

    General rule: If it's on the Xbox and the PS2 or on the Xbox and the GameCube, then it's almost surely also on the PC. Explanation: If a studio makes an Xbox game, and its publisher doesn't get paid big bucks by Microsoft for a 6-month exclusivity deal, the publisher will usually prod the studio into making a PC port. "It's just a recompile!" they say.

    1. Re:Xbox to PC ports by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It's more than just a recompile right now, but if this microsoft XNA thing (that is the acronym, isn't it?) comes off it will just be a recompile and then you'll see even more crappy PC ports. Even Microsoft can't seem to get it right, Halo was a buggy POS, as fun as it admittedly was when it wasn't exploding.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  34. Roxor Games' In The Groove by tepples · · Score: 1

    In The Groove, a music game produced by Roxor Games and touted as the successor to Konami's stagnant Dance Dance Revolution series, also runs on a Linux OS on PC hardware.

  35. It's time for a new Tetris by tepples · · Score: 1

    Pac-Man is still a classic, but the modern tetramino games for PCs (such as TOD) have far surpassed Atari Games' 1988 arcade port of Tetris. I guess the problem is that nobody wants to bring Arika's "Tetris The Grand Master" series to the States because it'll have to compete with Dance Dance Revolution, the only arcade game still bringing in consistent quarters.

  36. Linux-Based Game System? by ddelrio · · Score: 1

    Great. I can finally play a decent version of Hextris in my living room.

  37. new cabinets by SubtleNuance · · Score: 1

    It would be great if new Japanese sit-at-style cabinets will be born of this effort (a starter jamma cabinet google search). If MAME could run on this cabinet, you could get the both the *newest* arcade-quality games and your old favorites from MAME.

    Very interesting.

    1. Re:new cabinets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As listed in an earlier post Xmame *already* runs on linux. However, it seems much slower then the dos/windows counterparts.

  38. If it doesn't play Kolf by NIN1385 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If it doesn't play Kolf, it isn't shit...

    --

    If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
  39. Heh, even in the 26th century... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 1

    ... *still* no-one is using IPv6!

    1. Re:Heh, even in the 26th century... by Qzukk · · Score: 1

      Not only is it the 26th century and IPv4 is still standard, and people haven't patched against 500 year old exploits, the off-by-one error is still around. You'd think by then they'd realize that nodes 21-48 would be 28 nodes, not 27...

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  40. Midway & FreeBSD by Lazaru5 · · Score: 1
    Course, this is old now, and I'm sure it's been discontinued, and it was for bars, etc, but here it is:

    http://www.happcontrols.com/midway/Touchmaster/Inf _Countertop/60068_3_cover_pdf.pdf

    --

    --
    My comments and opinions completely reflect those of anyone and anything I am remotely associated with.
  41. Tux Racer is in arcades... by Dr.+Blue · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There's an arcade version of Tux Racer -- there's one in our local Chuckie Cheese. Surely they wouldn't commit the sin of putting Tux Racer on a Windows-based arcade platform, would they? Makes me think the claim of these people to be "the first" may not be 100% accurate.

    1. Re:Tux Racer is in arcades... by JasonAsbahr · · Score: 1

      Yep, it runs linux.

  42. FYI by Call+Me+Black+Cloud · · Score: 1


    For those that weren't aware, "Aruze" translates to "Phantom".

  43. Tuxracer anyone? by gotem · · Score: 1

    about a month ago I went to the arcades near my house, and was surprised to see a TuxRacer machine. I don't know if it runs linux, I wonder how many linux arcade machines are already there, just we don't notice

  44. Aruze is evil by mr_angry · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Aruze nearly killed SNK. They didn't respect the license contracts. Think they also got sued by the Japanese government for tax fraud. I know they got sued by SNK/Playmore.

    And some rumors of ties with the Yakuza have been around for a while...

    I'm wondering if they'll do things correctly with this Linux project and i can't say i'm too excited by Taito's WinXP platform.

    --
    100% of statistics are wrong.
  45. BS Aruze was found guilty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BS, they were found guilty.

  46. Bally/Midway did this years ago by ExoticMandibles · · Score: 1
    Remember "San Francisco Rush: 2049 Edition"? I think the official release was built on Windows, but they later ported it to Linux. Its never-released sequel "Hot Rod Rebels" was Linux only.

    At CA Extreme over last weekend I also saw a game called "Crossfire Extreme Paintball" that had crashed to a Linux prompt.

    It makes a lot of sense to run Linux on arcade machines. You won't have to extend it much (if at all) to get at all the machine's hardware, and it'll save you some cash per-unit.

    larry

  47. What? by NEOtaku17 · · Score: 1
    Am I the only one who judges a game on how fun it is and not what OS or platform is uses? I'd take a fun game over a game that runs on Linux anyday.

    P.S. If you think you can't make Windows secure you guys really need to read the NSA white papers on securing Windows.

    --
    Creative Demolition
    1. Re:What? by what+the+dumple+is · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'd take a fun game first. I don't care what platform it is. But as far as the NSA white papers on securing Windows... do you mean disconnecting it from the network?

  48. Required Post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That sounds nice and all, but does it run.... oh crap, nevermind.