Been away for a few years, what's new and exciting on the scene?

[Popcorrin]

My job has taken up all of my time over the last few years.  I've been away from the scene for nearly 5 years and I was wondering what has changed.  Any new games or great innovations worth noting. 
Has mame changed much? 
What about frontends? When I left, hyperspin was relatively new and becoming quite popular.  Mamewah and atomicfe were past their prime. Fe3darcade was no longer being updated.  GameEx was very active and seemed to have quite a following.

Also, when I left, virtual pinball machines were becoming more poplular, but the  Future pinball project had just closed.

Ultimarc and GGG were the primary suppliers of encoders, buttons, and other gear.

Dave Foley was awaiting indictment.  Did he ever get incarcerated? 

60-1's were all over the place and we were starting to see the 1000-1's(chinese mame boards)

Touchscreen jukebox software was getting quite good.

Oh, and when I left Mission Control hadn't been completed.

[jennifer]

     OH, and we STILL don't know what Saints "secret" project is.

[DaOld Man]

Welcome back popcorrin!
The projects have gotten very good in the past few years. They look more professional on each one.
This may be the major difference you see.

     OH, and we STILL don't know what Saints "secret" project is.

I heard he was working on a recreation of the freezing robot from Logan's Run???

[Popcorrin]

Welcome back popcorrin!
The projects have gotten very good in the past few years. They look more professional on each one.
This may be the major difference you see.

     OH, and we STILL don't know what Saints "secret" project is.

I heard he was working on a recreation of the freezing robot from Logan's Run???

Thanks.  It's been awhile.  I think you were just Da Man when I was last on here.

[BadMouth]

Has mame changed much? 

Current builds require a beefier computer, but the emulation is more accurate.
The major thing added is HLSL which uses the video card to simulate CRT screen attributes on an LCD screen.
The addition of fruit machines, gambling machines, & mechanical machines (without the mechanical parts simulated) have made the romset huge.
I'm not a fan of it, but I understand their mission of preserving "everything".

Check out these emulators which I use as much as MAME anymore: Demul, Supermodel, to a lesser extent Dolphin.
Also check out the Taito Type X games which originally ran on embedded XP.  They've been hacked to run on any PC.  No emulation necessary.

What about frontends? When I left, hyperspin was relatively new and becoming quite popular.  Mamewah and atomicfe were past their prime. Fe3darcade was no longer being updated.  GameEx was very active and seemed to have quite a following.

With the front ends, it's a matter of taste for most people.
Hyperspin has a huge following and good support.  It's downside is that it requires a decent PC and lots of storage for the themes.  Despite being customizable, everyone who uses hyperspin uses the same themes so you never see it customized to match a cabinet.
Lots of people still find Mamewah and atmicfe as useful as ever.
I haven't seen anyone use the 3darcade thing in a very long time.
GameEx probably has the best support and most active development.
I still use Mala because it's easily customized and DaOldMan's plugins allow for things like automated screen rotation (check out the automated projects subforum!).
Mala development is pretty much non-existent at this point though.  Some changes in newer versions of MAME have caused issues when using Mala, so it may get left behind.

Also, when I left, virtual pinball machines were becoming more poplular, but the  Future pinball project had just closed.

There have been some sweet ones in the projects subforum in the last few years, but the quantity being built seems to be in steep decline.

Ultimarc and GGG were the primary suppliers of encoders, buttons, and other gear.

Still tops in my book and owners are active on this forum.  http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/ has come on strong.
I usually get my Japanese style stuff from www.focusattack.com

Dave Foley was awaiting indictment.  Did he ever get incarcerated?

Was sentenced, but keeps getting stuff delayed.  He's had a 4k streaming box that has supposed to be released every month for the past few years.  Would you like to invest?

60-1's were all over the place and we were starting to see the 1000-1's(chinese mame boards

Not sure why, but the boards with more than 60 games never really took off.  Probably because they were underpowered PCs running ancient version of MAME anyway.
The 60 in 1's are still all over the place if you go to an auction.

Touchscreen jukebox software was getting quite good.

Haven't kept up on this, but the touchtunes clone that I always wanted never materialized.
People seem to confuse Jukebox with MP3 management software.  There are only a couple out there that don't look like MP3 management software.

Oh, and when I left Mission Control hadn't been completed.

Most epic reveal video ever.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,13118.0.html

[Generic Eric]

Check out these threads
I completed my project! I posted a pic and a link to my project thread
Hall of fame worth projects

What you missed:
LED buttons that light up based on the game you selected
Hyperspin FE
Inward singing
Rotating Monitors
LED Marquees
The rep system and its near immediate downfall.
A surprisingly good website to buy an AVR to make your own KADE encoder; they have since sold out.
Year of Star Wars: Part 1
The online arcade and the absence of any posting for about 3 days.
Why custom arcade art doesn't cost $20.
Explosion of Bartops.
R-Pod

[horizon]

Inward singing

Discovered that we were only rocking half the time.  The other half, we were breathing, in!

[DaOld Man]

Thanks.  It's been awhile.  I think you were just Da Man when I was last on here.

Yeah, sucks getting old LOL

[DeLuSioNal29]

Let's not forget the Vigolix!   

D

[ChanceKJ]

And just for clarification: the rep system went down in a firery blaze of glory.

[jennifer]

   #6.... I started a new long term pin project "Jennifers hot new pin"....And PBJ deleted like all his posts and disappeared for like a year.

[UFO]

My cab still isn't finished, and I'm five years older...

[yotsuya]

   #6.... I started a new long term pin project "Jennifers hot new pin"....And PBJ deleted like all his posts and disappeared for like a year.

Actually, I thought it was determined that PBJ was Dave Foley? 

[pbj]

Meh I'd do six months for Dave Foley's money

[bulbousbeard]

The only truly interesting thing that's happened in the past year is that Raiden II and Zero Team got emulated.

Pretty much everything else is a snooze festival.

[bulbousbeard]

What about frontends? When I left, hyperspin was relatively new and becoming quite popular.  Mamewah and atomicfe were past their prime.

I released a frontend around a year ago.
https://sites.google.com/site/bigbluefrontend/

[bfauska]

Since I had a pretty similar absence this thread is handy. I did manage to check in a few times since my major activity though and caught the reveal of Mission Control.
I'm impressed with all the familiar members that are still active. I'm also impressed with some of the major contributors who've arrived since my departure that seem to do some great work and share it well with the masses.

[Haze]

I'll post these in every thread like this but for MAME/MESS in 2012/2013

http://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2012-a-year-in-mame/
http://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2013-mame/

currently writing the 2014 one (and have the basics of some older ones that I might publish at some point)

[Minwah]

I'm pretty much out of the loop too but the correct discrete sound emulation (replacing samples) in Donkey Kong caught my eye in a fairly recent version of Mame. And the colours look better.