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Is Foley really the devil..?? (Previously: RetroBlast is a traitor..??)

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RandyT:

Gahhh!!!  I can't take it any more  :D

Listen folks, an arcade cab is nothing more than a PC in a fancy entertainment center, with a nice place to mount your joysticks and buttons so you don't have to hang onto them.  THAT'S IT!!

It has nothing to do with MAME, or illegal ROMS or Foley or Steele or anyone.

I've had either home-built control panels or full size cabinets for an Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Odyssey2, and Amiga computers long before MAME ever found it's way into everyone's psyche.

You can buy compilations of the classic games at any BestBuy, Target or Wal-Mart.

You can go out on the net and find TONS of great freeware/shareware games that will be fantastic on a home arcade machine, many that are much better than some of the 20 year old curiosities that were actually in the arcades.  Some of those oldies have even been updated by private individuals to take advantage of all of this neat new technology we have around us now.

Building control panels and home arcade cabinets does not revolve around MAME or any of these high-profile (to us; the rest of the world doesn't know they exist) players that would like you to think otherwise.

Here are some opinions, if anyone cares ;) :

RetroBlast - You are watching a hobby transmogrify into a business.  You can't have utopian ideals and expect a business venture to succeed.  It doesn't get much simpler than that.

Foley - Ehh... whatever.  I think they are starting to take a "if you can't beat them, join them" approach, based on some of their recent offerings.  Ultracade is a relative newcomer to the home market.  They built their business and made their deals (from what I can see) on licensing that allows real arcade machine "operators" to collect cash for play.  If I went through all those hoops and saw people selling cabinets with fully functional coin doors and copyrighted images of game characters on the sides, ready for the local bar or laundromat, I'd probably be a little miffed too.

MAME - I love these guys for their determination and the whole "look what a pantload of talented people with unified goals can accomplish" thing.  Unfortunately, in the eyes of the sleazeballs that exist only to take advantage of their work, the project is far enough along that the developers have made themselves irrelevant.  I hope they keep doing what they do best and the ones who have no respect for their work leave them the heck alone.  I'm sick of seeing MAME(tm) compatible carriage bolts on eBay as well.

iROMS - As others have stated, if there were a real market, it would have long been tapped.  Think about it this way:  When the big companies can't keep a compilation of 10 or 15 of it's best classic arcade offerings out of the "Value Software" bin, what makes you think it will do so much better with a most likely higher priced service like this one?  This is not the music biz, where there are new titles coming out every day that people want to download.  There are no "new" 20 year old video games.  The business models aren't even close.

Perspective is what is required here.  This is, and in the greater scheme of things will likely remain, a niche market.  The market is currently overstated, as many newcomers to the "business" side can probably attest to (but they won't).  The best evidence is when the "big players" close up shop for a while when the "day job" gets too hectic.  A well-known company in a real market doesn't need a day job, nor would they want one (voice of experience from a past life :) )

Have fun with the hobby and take the politics as lightly as possible because  in reality, at least at this point in time, it's like ants killing each other for a sesame seed.

RandyT


SirPoonga:


--- Quote from: Tiger-Heli on June 13, 2005, 10:56:14 am ---
--- Quote ---Heh, I read the rebuttal.  It's obvious Tigerheli hasn't used an ipac.  he makes statements about what he thinks about the ipac that just aren;t true.

--- End quote ---
Which statements?

--- End quote ---
Come in to chat, I will discuss with you.  Such as you don;t seem to understand the keyboard programming the ipac has.


--- Quote ---
--- Quote ---Why does RandyT not like the review?  It isn't positive or negative. 
--- End quote ---

--- Quote ---
--- End quote ---
RandyT didn't like the fact that it got compared to the I-PAC when KevSteele said it would just be a review.  Also some nuances, like Kev saying that he preferred EEPROM to SDRAM, but not mentioning (or updating the review to mention) that the KeyWiz software has a "Virtual EEPROM" feature where it loads the last codeset on re-boot.  Stuff like that.

--- End quote ---
But you hav eto compare it in a review.  That's part of a review, to compare it to competitors so the reader can make up their mind of which one is best, assuming a non-bias review.

Something to discuss in chat, the EEPROM vs SDRAM is a big deal.  You need the software for the keywiz in order to use it then.  So if you use a linux boot cd you are screwed.

That and the keyboard LEDs are the two reason enough I think one shouldn't get the keywiz.  most people in this community are in this community to reproduce the arcade experience.  Having blinking start buttons that work as they are suppose it part of that experience.

The only thing bad about Kevin's review as I see it is he didn't cover all the possible uses for the features which is what most of your complaints are based on.  He covered the most common uses.  Like I said, he then didn't compare it to all the ipac features it doesn't have, just the common ones people use most often.

SirPoonga:


--- Quote from: RandyT on June 13, 2005, 11:15:00 am ---Listen folks, an arcade cab is nothing more than a PC in a fancy entertainment center, with a nice place to mount your joysticks and buttons so you don't have to hang onto them.  THAT'S IT!!

--- End quote ---
WRONG!  It's about recreating the arcade experience.  Physically that is all it is.  But that's not why people make them.  They don't make them just to house a pc and hang joysticks on.


--- Quote ---You can go out on the net and find TONS of great freeware/shareware games that will be fantastic on a home arcade machine, many that are much better than some of the 20 year old curiosities that were actually in the arcades.  Some of those oldies have even been updated by private individuals to take advantage of all of this neat new technology we have around us now.

Building control panels and home arcade cabinets does not revolve around MAME or any of these high-profile (to us; the rest of the world doesn't know they exist) players that would like you to think otherwise.
--- End quote ---
True, but you have to remember the main reason people are in this hobby is because of mame.  Not because of the thousands of shareware.  however, you find the shareware and you realize there is more than just mame.

MrTroy:


--- Quote ---For those of you that feel my reviews are too positive, I just finished a product review of something that I definitely feel is a piece of...erm...poop:

http://retroblast.com/misc/MG2005.html

 Wink
--- End quote ---

I don't see where the monitor plugs in :-\

SirPoonga:


--- Quote from: RandyT on June 13, 2005, 11:15:00 am ---iROMS - As others have stated, if there were a real market, it would have long been tapped.  Think about it this way:  When the big companies can't keep a compilation of 10 or 15 of it's best classic arcade offerings out of the "Value Software" bin, what makes you think it will do so much better with a most likely higher priced service like this one?  This is not the music biz, where there are new titles coming out every day that people want to download.  There are no "new" 20 year old video games.  The business models aren't even close.

--- End quote ---

there is a market.  Why do you think Atari pulled all those roms from starroms?  The Atari 80 game collection is $20 and not in bargin bins, been like that for many months.


--- Quote ---Perspective is what is required here.  This is, and in the greater scheme of things will likely remain, a niche market.  The market is currently overstated, as many newcomers to the "business" side can probably attest to (but they won't).  The best evidence is when the "big players" close up shop for a while when the "day job" gets too hectic.  A well-known company in a real market doesn't need a day job, nor would they want one (voice of experience from a past life Smiley )

Have fun with the hobby and take the politics as lightly as possible because  in reality, at least at this point in time, it's like ants killing each other for a sesame seed.
--- End quote ---
Exactly.  This community is about recreating the the arcade experience and have fun.

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