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David Foley - Ultracade - Pinball controller
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Xiaou2:
 
 Regaurdless of anyones personal feelings twords the evil buisnessmen...

 He is bringing out a cool pinball controller and updating the pinball software.   He also seems more respectfull - even if that was because he had to learn the hard way.

 Even if i do not agree with his tactics,  I still admire the efforts on the pinball side of things.  And, if he does bring out an affordable pinball sensor system, I may add that to my collection without any troubles of consiousness.   The fact is simple.. not many people possess the money and technical power to pull off such a thing.   You have to at very least, respect that he admires the classics.. I think.

 I hope, that the pinball controller will have a Plunger that controls very realistically.   IE:  Maybe geared pot system.. or maybe a hall effect sensor system would be better.   

 As for the rest, I would also hope that maybe he look into makeing some other arcade parts that are sought after.. like a good Quality coil drivin recoil gun.   Maybe a starwars controller.  Force Feedback board and driver rework for mame output would be awesome. (ie: outrun shaker support, simuchair motor driver support, t2 gun coil output support, light outputs like spyhunter display, ect)

 And as always, youd hope that they would actually make thier own Original games rather than just re-release the classics.   

 The idea of the PC controlled arcade machine may have actually killed the arcades even faster than thier normal decline inteneded.   However, there is hope if these new physics chips and multiple chainable graphics cards can be instituted... so that the arcade hardware will beyond the scope of the home system for many many years.  (ie: the casual games may not be able to afford 6 graphics cards)


 I do wonder if maybe it would be better to have a true pinball display controller
instead of the LCD.    The look is much better IMOP.   At least make an output port for one.. so there is the option of using it with a real display.   A coil driver
would be nice too.. so the coil thumps would be felt.   And or use of trasducers to make the thumps and even bass effects would be good.

 
KevSteele:

--- Quote from: Xiaou2 on September 05, 2005, 12:26:26 am ---  I do wonder if maybe it would be better to have a true pinball display controller
instead of the LCD.
--- End quote ---
Silver:
Mmmm yes the addition of an dot-matrix/LCD display would be good - and I think done by  people on this board before? Isn't support for them already built into one of the programs (or am I confused with daphne?).

Also the 'tilt' detector... all the ones I've seen in real machines (which isn't that many) are really really simple - you could make one in 5 minutes out of a coat hanger. Make a circle of metal (coat hanger would do), and a straight peice (also coat hanger metal). Hang the straight peice so it passes through the circle and hangs straight down (not touching the circle). Solder a wire to each, and then you've got a button input that will be pressed when ever the device is tilted. This is exactly like some I've seen in real pinball machines.
Rook3:
Since I work in the amusement industry, I'm glad UC is around. Midway hurt a lot of people when they shut the Atari/Midway games West facility down with no advance notice.

And Rush2049 was the best driver put out in years. But no more.
How many large coin-op companies do we have left? Namco and Konami are the big 2. That's it. Sega shut down their AM2 division which created most of their best games in the last 10 years, but no more.

It's hard for an operator to make money these days when new equipment costs $5,000 and it takes years rather than months to show a ROI.

Yes, playstation and xbox contribute to the decline of the industry, but a large part of it is people who keep saying "Arcades are dead." Nothing p!$$es me off more when people say that. Our arcade has seen profits EVERY MONTH this year since Jan 1st. Know what hurt us the most in the last couple years? Walmart coming to town. That's what.

Ultracade isn't doing anything wrong in it's business. Okay, I do admit their add-on game packs for the UC system (of which we DO own one) are a bit high priced. I'd love to have the Dragon's Lair games in our cabinet, but there's no way I'll convince the owner to pay an additional $700 for a unit that takes in $20-30 a week. It's hard to break even kids, on a game that costs $3,000 at .25 a play.

I don't want to get into the whole "they shut down auctions...blah, blah, blah" arguement because the facts are out there as to the reasons and rational behind the decisions. View the facts and make up your own educated opinion. I do however feel that by and large, they are putting out a route useable product at a so-so price. Something the amusement industry at a whole really needs. The big game companies of the past are a memory, and unless people really do "support your local arcade" the industry will die as a whole, leaving nothing but pool tables and digital jukeboxes behind.

Russ
jimjim:
It is not that UC was just trying to shut down auctions, he was also trying to shut down legitmate businesses.  All the way from cabinet businesses to marquee businesses by trademarking Mame.  As happy as you are that he is helping your arcade profit, think how upset people in the marquee and arcade cabinet making business were when they got their cease and desist notices.  He was trying to protect his interests, but went about it the wrong way.  According to Ahigh, it is possible (Don't know what parts are in his Mame machine), that his own employees are using things that Foley tried to control by trademarking Mame. 

I'm sure that the people that frequent your arcade are not the same people who were into the Mame scene.  I understand that he wanted to protect his investment, but I think he should of went about it differently.  I really don't think some of the owners of the businesses that received his letters will ever forgive him for trying to put them out of business.  If Mr. Foley would of distinguished between the home Mame cottage industries and the commercial arcade industries, I think many of these problems would of been avoided.  I never saw Mame in the arcades though.

On a more positive note, I think that Mr. Foley's pinball simulator looks awesome.  I would definitely be interested in purchasing one.  (How much is it going to cost?)  I am also impressed with the way Mr. Foley is going about this.  I also would like to see Mr. Foley get into making parts that people could use in their Mame cabinets.  Everybody would love to see a great duel light gun adaptor.  He could use that in his UC cabs in the arcades and make a bundle from Mame users.  Once again, two separate consumers.
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