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

Umm,

[Anonymous Coward]

so building your own is a heck of a lot easier than building your own?

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.

Still Need a Cabinet

[Cylix]

I have no problem putting together a controller or ordering piece online, but I have some difficulty in obtaining an actual arcade cabinet.

Anywhere to get one of these online...

And I hate eBay... an old saying comes to mind... "A wretched hive of scum and villainy"

Easier than building?

[Murphy Murph]

Kit?
This appears to be nothing more than an arcade controller interface. This is nothing more than 1 part that you need to build your own.

The "arcade parts bundle" at the bottom of the article really scares me and is probably quite telling. $19.95 for 20 arcade-style buttone AND 2 arcade-style joysticks? Quality.

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.

Slashdot: Advertising

[sokk]

I'm getting tired of these advertisements disguised as "news". The story was even submitted by an employee of the business in focus...

Slow news day or what?

Re:Slashdot: Advertising

[OldMiner]

This gentleman is a troll. He's referencing an April Fools' story from a couple years back, intended to be ridiculous and poke fun at such buffoonery. Any time a product is mentioned in a /. story, there are boobs accusing the editors of accepting paid advertisement. Let's face it: almost any news story is going to be potentially beneficial to some businesses. Sometimes, more than others.

*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.

Please mod parent up

[Anonymous Coward]

Either Taco is getting some cash under the table or he's too oblivious to see that the story submitter is pimping his own site. If it's the former than slashdot should at least show some ethics and say this is a paid submission.

This does not belong here...

[Anubis333]

First of this is not a cabinet kit, this doesn't even include buttons or a stick! You would have to buy them from Happ Control. And this is nothing new, Ultimarc has been making these boards for years, they have some really great plug and play PCBs. Ultimarc's 28 input PCB is only $40, for years X-Arcade has been known for ripping off people that just didn't know better, nothing has changed. They didn't really used to hurt companies like Ultimarc, though now they will be edging into the PCB-only market, not to mention getting a sh1tload of hits from posts like this.

A while ago I built a pretty cheap JAMMA/Xbox/PS1/PS2/Dreamcast [link]. It was pretty cheap, but not $60.

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.

Holy self-absorbed Taco

[stratjakt]

Wow, a keyboard encoder. Those have been around for what, decades?

Admit it, you posted this just for the sake of linking to your goofy homemade MAME cabinet.

BTW, there are many, many, many better homebuilt cabinets out there than yours. Why not throw a few more links in?

Ok now read it again

[portwojc]

Look at it again. It's a lot more than just what you see.

It also brings your control panel compatability
with

Playstation One or Playstation Two
Xbox
Gamecube
Dreamcast
Apple

and your PC

A normal key encoder can't do this from what I have read.

Re:The game matters

[Horse Rotorvator JAD]

I can't understand why a lot of people loved this Arcade cabinet [arcadecontrols.com] stuff.

One word, nostalgia. The first video game that I ever played was at a corner pizza place in the late 1970's and I spent my entire 1980's youth in arcades playing video games. So for me, although the games are important, it is about more than just the games.

Asking why someone would build a cabinet when they can just use an emulator is kind of like asking why someone would restore an old classic car when they could just buy a new car.

Shameless Plugging

[LBt1st]

Since this whole article is nothing more then a plug I might as well post my site. I'm not selling anything. It's just a how-to on making your own arcade controls.

http://nuclearplayground.com/joysticks/