Build Your Own Arcade Kit

Shawn Walters writes "Xgaming, Inc., has announced availability of the new X-Arcade BYO Arcade KIT, a $60 solution designed to allow users to create an authentic arcade machine in their home powered by any PC, Mac or game console, no advanced technical skills required." Heck of a lot easier than building your own.

Comments

You'll also need ArcadeVGA

[tepples]

If you're trying to convert a standard JAMMA cabinet or a Dance Dance Revolution cabinet for use with a PC, notice that Most VGA cards can't easily output video at horizontal scan rates below 31 kHz, the scan rate of a 480p monitor. However, arcade monitors that follow the JAMMA standard expect RGB video at 15.7 kHz, the same as 240p or 480i TV. You'll need a special video card to handle this, namely Ultimarc's ArcadeVGA.

Re:You'll also need ArcadeVGA

[stratjakt]

Most ATI cards can, especially older ones based on Rage3D or early Radeons.

Luckily, these are the ATI cards that work well with linux. I'd suggest running linux with advanceMAME, or even X Windows with some custom modelines, because that way you can be sure that Windows won't accidentally try to set it to some bad resolution and as-plode your monitor.

Of course, every modern card comes with TV out, and for a homebuild cabinet, an $20 27" TV from the Sally Ann is as good a choice as a $900 27" monitor. If you have SVideo input, the picture will be just as good.

Frankly, I'd rather rebuild arcade cabinets as they are than shove a MAME box into one. It's just not the same. I'd rather have my dedicated Bad Dudes vs Dragonninja cabinet than something jammed with 2000000 mahjong variants. But then, I'd rather collect SNES carts than download roms. I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to retro-gaming.

Re:Easier than building?

[shoolz]

What they are selling is essentially a 2 player X-Arcade joystick, minus the wood box to hold all the components together.

Board 59.95 + Joysticks/Buttons 19.95 + PC Adapter 19.95 = $99.85 VS. Buying it pre-assembled and paying $149.95

And as for quality... I have an X-Arcade and I have beaten the stuffings out of playing SF-style games and Metal Slug 1-5, and all the components still work perfectly after a year of abuse.
When I originally bought it, I had concerns about quality and switch life, so I ordered 20 extra buttons and 2 extra joysticks... and they all sit in their unopened packages because I haven't had to replace one yet.

*shakes head*

[enrico_suave]

I suggest Ultimarc's ipac encoder or groovy game gears Key Wiz which is what I used in my mame cabinet, fwiw.

and you'll want the obligatory (and sadly missing from the main post) link to Build Your own arcade controls site and very helpful forum/community

Although I used x-arcade parts on my cabinet, I think you'll be happier in the long run if you order from happs directly or buy happs parts from bob roberts.

e.

Depends on the card

[tepples]

Some older VGA cards will clock the RGB output down to TV rate (which is what you want) in TV-out mode because they're running both the TV output and the VGA output off one RAMDAC. However, newer VGA cards with TV-out have dual RAMDACs, which scan the screen at two different rates. The VGA signal is too fast, and the TV signal is composite or S-video, which will only look black-and-white because most arcade monitors don't have a decoder.

Or you could get an actual TV and connect it to the TV-out, but then either you miss what's in the overscan portion of the display, or more commonly the video card shrinks and blurs the display to fit within the overscan.