Newbie Question: Newer Games

[Earthworm]

I've tried to find the answer to this (not just dumping it on the forum).

Do people play new games like Half Life 2 or Battlefield 2 on their arcade cabinets (assuming, of course, that they have powerful computers/graphics cards)?

Do the newer games work well with control panels and trackballs for the mouse?

Thanks,

Earthworm
P.S. I'm starting to catch arcade fever. My poor wife.

[Earthworm]

I should also add that I did purchase the book and am reading it. Great tool!

[ikyoto]

Techincally yes you will be able to. Basically your controls are a keyboard - i.e. - they are returning keyboard signals. You could remap the controls in HL:2 to work with the configuration you have for mame. And the trackball is just a mouse.

The question would be, would you want to play this way? I find keyboard and mouse better for fps...but the only other controls I've played with are gamepads.

It's possible to play them (hardware willing) just depends on if you want to play them that way.

[RayB]

I could envision using a joystick + mouse, but not joystick + trackball.

[Skadar]

I could never use arcade controls to play FPS games.  However, I DO play games like Star Monkey and Ultra Assault on my cabinet.  These are modern games that use a 3D card, but they have classic shooter gameplay.

[Earthworm]

That helps a lot.

Would it be heresy to have a wireless mouse optical mouse for modern fps and, as above, use a joystick for basic movement?

Does anyone use a mouse with their arcade cabinets?

[pmc]

I've tried playing games like Descent with dual joysticks. It doesn't really work well. Never tried with j/s+trackball but it should work OK although I bet it's not much fun.

Here's a quake arcade cabinet that is buttons and a trackball.

Simpler stuff like Doom works OK but is more fun with a console controller.

I've played Quake III Arena, 1/2-Life, and Unreal Tournament on my Dreamcast in my cabinet, but to be honest it feels better with the original controllers. And in the end, I prefer a kb and mouse for that sort of thing. FPS isn't really and arcadie kind of thing I think.

-pmc

[ArcaMan]

one of the best FPS control systems ever was a joystick(flight stick) and trackball ... PantherXL.

Players used the joystick for lateral movement, trigger and buttons for firing / object use etc. and the trackball for looking around. 

That could be replicated pretty easily with a arcade cabinet.

Unfortunately, it does take a little getting used to.

[NoOne=NBA=]

The thing I missed most when trying to play FPS games with an arcade setup was the mouse buttons.
You can aim fairly well with a trackball, but having the five extra buttons available, and not having to use them with your main control hand, is a big benefit.

As far as using a wireless mouse on an arcade cabinet, it works fine.
The one problem it gave me was that I had to reposition the receiver inside the cabinet to get it to function properly.
I think the monitor was interfering with the signal with my first placement.

[Earthworm]

Thanks everyone for the help.

What about other new games beside FPS. What works well with arcade cabinets?

Also, any pictures of new games on arcade machines?

[Mark70]

One of the cabinets on the examples page of the main site here, is a nice oak cabinet.  The owner says he plays Rogue Spear on it.  He said he uses the trackball with his thumb and has two buttons near the trackball.  Obviously the stick controls movement.

[skarr]

Lego Star Wars is mucho fun in cabinet

[Franco]

I could never use arcade controls to play FPS games.  However, I DO play games like Star Monkey and Ultra Assault on my cabinet.  These are modern games that use a 3D card, but they have classic shooter gameplay.

Nice one for the heads up on those games, just downloaded the demos and they seem great. Its just a shame that you only get about 1 minute of demo play before it cuts off. It would have been nice to have at least a full level of the game for evaluation.

[tommy]

I can verify HL2 with a joystick and mouse works great for me. I also have 9 buttons on my one player cab witch seems to work out great and is enough buttons without having to go to the keyboard during HL2 play.