Cabinet murder in China

[millercentral]

The Chinese government appears to really hate gambling gaming cabinets, as depicted in the horror of this bonfire:

Source: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/wired-aperture/2012-08/aperture-16-august/viewgallery#!image-number=1

[Nephasth]

Quite the photoshop job.

[BadMouth]

Quite the photoshop job.

I've seen the news story and pics on multiple sites.

EDIT: Removed unrelated cabinet burning pic from 2007

[shponglefan]

Quite the photoshop job.

Sadly it is not.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Caption: Damn, they burned one of those rare Shing Dang Pow 8 liners I've been looking for for years. 

Caption:  These must be the machines that go with the last 1000 games added to mame.   

Caption:  Fortunately all the classics escaped to Taiwan a few years back, Mahjong games only lost in the purge.

The photographer got a good shot of that torch in flight in the last pic. 

[Nephasth]

Theses ones looked like they were added to the pic...

[TopJimmyCooks]

I agree, the contrast of those machines looks high/weird, but you see them again closer in the last pic. 

[yotsuya]

I agree, the contrast of those machines looks high/weird, but you see them again closer in the last pic.

They look like they were added there, too.

[dfmaverick]

"Oh, the humanity!"


I was expecting a crapmame conversion photo of a classic.

[shponglefan]

Theses ones looked like they were added to the pic...

The contrast makes them stand out/look odd, but you can see the same machines in the other photos.

[Vigo]

Looks like a shop job to me, mostly because those two pairs of cabinets looks identical and really clean compared to anything else in the pile. The cabinet damage looks a bit fake as well; the cabinets overall are too identical to begin with, and the placement of the damage seems a bit weird, given how pristine they are other than the specific points of damage. I'm no fire-ologist, but for as high as the blaze in in that one photo, I'm pretty sure the marquee and plexi would be melting off on that orange cabinet....

I'm guessing that they were added to make the photo dramatic. Every cabinet behind them is upside down, busted up or otherwise hard to decipher. They are lackluster looking. Not that China would ever be anything but 100% truthful and accurate in it's media. 

[shponglefan]

It's not Photoshop guys.  You can see the cabinets in the other pics.

edited to add: There's even more pics at this page.  Including a second shot from a similar, but slightly different angle in the OP.

[Vigo]

Yeah, maybe, maybe not. There was a case, for a practical joke, where I was asked by a friend to photoshop 4 photos showing the same phony thing from multiple shots. I pulled it off. I'm not sure if this is shopped or not, but I am sure a professional could easily pull it off on the 6 or 7 photos if need be.

If they were not shopped, then they were propped there intentionally, because they look so out of place. Everything behind them is pretty much garbage slopped every which way. I just lean towards shopped because things look too fake, especially the cabinet damage. That and I think there would be a whole lot of melting of plastics going on with a blaze that high.

[shponglefan]

Yeah, maybe, maybe not. There was a case, for a practical joke, where I was asked by a friend to photoshop 4 photos showing the same phony thing from multiple shots. I pulled it off. I'm not sure if this is shopped or not, but I am sure a professional could easily pull it off on the 6 or 7 photos if need be.

But why go through all the trouble to photoshop in a few extra cabinets.  It makes no sense.  I really think you're looking for a conspiracy where there isn't one.

[Nephasth]

I think you're in on the conspiracy, a mole for the Chinese government...

[emphatic]

Who cares about these sad knockoffs being burnt besides hurting the environment? I used to own a Chinese candy cab replica and I almost wanted to set it on fire myself.

[Haze]

Unfortunately most of those probably aren't dumped, and the majority of the Chinese gambling games (especially ones from IGS) run with MCUs as their main CPU meaning dumping them will be hideously expensive, if even possible at all..

The couple of thousand sets added recently are 99% UK machines.

Maybe you were joking, but yes, it's important they get emulated, they represent the various parts of the industry just like any other, and quite often the arcade gaming branches of the likes of IGS, Konami etc. are actually subsidised by their gamblers so they're kinda important.

One thing I've noticed from working on the ones we have is a lot of people have no recollection of some of the machines we have roms for at all, yet they must have all had cabinet designs, artwork etc.  which may well have already been lost to time.

As games they're mostly ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---, yes, but so is 99% of the NES library ;-)

[Well Fed Games]

One thing I've noticed from working on the ones we have is a lot of people have no recollection of some of the machines we have roms for at all, yet they must have all had cabinet designs, artwork etc.  which may well have already been lost to time.

I think about that a lot... for instance, Mr. TNT is a favorite on my 4-way MAME cab, but there is literally nothing about it on the net other than the fact it had an early Atari computer port.

That's why I love to see roms dumped, instead of hoarded.

[shponglefan]

I think you're in on the conspiracy, a mole for the Chinese government...

You found me out.  Now please ignore the Chinese helicopters heading towards your house...

[Le Chuck]

I think you're in on the conspiracy, a mole for the Chinese government...

You found me out.  Now please ignore the Chinese helicopters heading towards your house...

They're easy to spot, they're the ones with the kid running behind with the remote control right?

[emphatic]

Unfortunately most of those probably aren't dumped, and the majority of the Chinese gambling games (especially ones from IGS) run with MCUs as their main CPU meaning dumping them will be hideously expensive, if even possible at all..

  I never considered this. My post were just about the POS cabinets, not the actual boards inside.

[mgb]

China has one of the worst human rights records and here we are bickering over if they are really burning gambling machines.

[hypernova]

That is weird.  In that first pic, the red ones look like they could go either way.  It's the gold ones that practically looked like they were cartoons.

[Le Chuck]

China has one of the worst human rights records and here we are bickering over if they are really burning gambling machines.

All those cabs are stuffed with second born sons and daughters if that makes you feel better

[SavannahLion]

One thing I've noticed from working on the ones we have is a lot of people have no recollection of some of the machines we have roms for at all, yet they must have all had cabinet designs, artwork etc.  which may well have already been lost to time.

I think about that a lot... for instance, Mr. TNT is a favorite on my 4-way MAME cab, but there is literally nothing about it on the net other than the fact it had an early Atari computer port.

That's why I love to see roms dumped, instead of hoarded.

There are a lot of games that received no art, cab or anything beyond the board. I have Monster Maulers which was a promotional give-away. No cabinet. Look at the Mr. TNT example. Three "owned" by VAPS. Did you read the comments? None are original boards.

[Well Fed Games]

One thing I've noticed from working on the ones we have is a lot of people have no recollection of some of the machines we have roms for at all, yet they must have all had cabinet designs, artwork etc.  which may well have already been lost to time.

I think about that a lot... for instance, Mr. TNT is a favorite on my 4-way MAME cab, but there is literally nothing about it on the net other than the fact it had an early Atari computer port.

That's why I love to see roms dumped, instead of hoarded.

There are a lot of games that received no art, cab or anything beyond the board. I have Monster Maulers which was a promotional give-away. No cabinet. Look at the Mr. TNT example. Three "owned" by VAPS. Did you read the comments? None are original boards.

Its too bad no history was kept (publicly, at least) about where the ROMs in mame came from. There had to be one board, at some point, and maybe the person who had it dumped knows more info. Of course I just like geeking out about game history, etc., and am always curious about where things came from.

[vanrose72]

I love Arcade Fire!

[danny_galaga]

I don't understand, why would we care on an arcade forum about illegal gambling machines being destroyed in China?

The police have pretty snappy uniforms I must say...

[Vigo]

I care about the defenseless photoshopped cabinets more than the PCB boards to be honest.  It looks like some good monitors may have bit the dust.

[danny_galaga]

I care about the defenseless photoshopped cabinets more than the PCB boards to be honest.  It looks like some good monitors may have bit the dust.

I'm guessing there aren't a lot of arcade/mame freaks in China, so I still don't see the tragedy 

[brad808]

I wonder if that's how they "properly dispose" of all those electronics we keep putting in those e-waste recycle bins.