Arcade-In-A-Box

[EvilstEEEvE]

I just saw this on http://dragonsden.emuunlim.com/  I was wondering if anyone has this and if its worth it.  I'm new to Mame and not quite sure how it all works yet,  but if i were to buy this and hook it up to my tv and use my pc would it be better than gettin a cabinet.

[Redfrick]

IMHO: Hell no!   You'd be missing half the fun.  It was a blast to put together my cab.  Frustrating at times but well worth it.

And anyway, if you were gonna sit in front of your tv to play a game you might as well play a console.

Trust me, if you have the time and money nothing beats playing real arcade games in a real arcade cabinet.

[Howard_Casto]

Your completely missing the point man.  These games are intended to be played on an arcade cabinet, not though a device hooked up to your tv like a pitiful console system. Now this is a rather stark opinion, but in my book if you don't appreciate the games enough to a least WANT to be able to play them as they were intended to be then your not worthy of playing them.  It's like being a warez kiddie but for roms, no respect what-so-ever.  

[EvilstEEEvE]

Don't get me wrong I would love to build a cabinet and plan on having one of my own someday.  It's just right now I have no room for arcade cabinet.  Unless I wanna start sleeping on the floor.  What was the cost of you complete cabinet because I don't think I have enough funds for that either.
 

[Lilwolf]

One quick option is make it general purpose and then you might have room

Get a smaller cabinet.  Many are 3feet x 3feet.   then add this type of equipment.

ATI ViVo Radeon.
Nice DVD drive
athlon 1.8xp
SVid TV

with swappable control panels.  One of them would be a keyboard and a mouse.

make sure that the cabinet monitor doesn't sit at an angle.

Now you have for a few feet a full (and I mean full) entertainment and computer workstation.

1)  TV and DVD with digital recording and all the cool TiVo support.  (btw, this is why you don't want the monitor in the cabinet at an angle... sucks for watching TV)
2)  Arcade machine
3)  Computer workstation
4)  MP3 player / CDRom

IE, make it worth the space you have.  You might even consider looking for radio cards for the computer and things like that.  

But I've never heard anything bad about

[Lilwolf]

Other things to add.  XBox, PS2, PS, ect connection with the SVid TV is a huge bonus for small spaces.

[Redfrick]

My cabinet cost me about $1200.  I definitely could have saved a few bucks.

Here is what I spent too much on:

Cabinet:    $100  should have waited for a freebie
Marquee:  $100  I had one custom printed
Sideart:     $85   impulse buy

If you have a spare pc you can use and you don't make any foolish purchases like me you could spend a lot less than $1200.

[joe]

if u dont have much room build a side-by-side cocktail. they are great, dont take up much room and can play all the games a large one could, it might not be as good as a standup for all games but it would be better than an arcade-in-a-box and not be too much more expensive if u shop right.