Major retailers selling Arcade Machine

[ChadTower]

It takes cartridges?? Now that is interesting. There hasn't been a cartridge-based game system released in what, 10 years? Chad, you played this thing right? Is it emulation or are the games ported? If it is emulation, beyond the fact of the cheap controls, cabinet construction and video connection, how is the emulation for accuracy? I wonder what kind of video signal could be tapped from it if it were to be hacked.

Anyone have any pictures of the cartridges? Do they have cool labels and stuff?

Hard to tell for sure since I'm not an expert in any of the Williams games but they sure felt ported.

The cart, though if you look at the connector, seems to have a/v outs.  Not a pinout.  That would mean that all it really is is a 4 in one style game designed for that cab... though not sure where it would be getting power from.  Maybe there is also a small PCB that plugs into that slot.

What would be interesting to see would be if you could get some gender changers and plug something ELSE into those jacks.

[arcadefever]

the cab doesnt look that bad, i know for a fact , that a lot of pepole dont even know about MAME or about restoring arcade, where i work some guys will go crazy to play robotron or joust again ....
even me, 3 years ago i didnt know nothing about the arcade world restoration , i own a few cabs and i've a cool game room but if this cab was release during that time who know ? i may be one of them who will buy it 

[RandyT]

Hard to tell for sure since I'm not an expert in any of the Williams games but they sure felt ported.

I think this is a given.  Authenticity doesn't appear to even have been part of the equation.

The cart, though if you look at the connector, seems to have a/v outs.  Not a pinout.  That would mean that all it really is is a 4 in one style game designed for that cab... though not sure where it would be getting power from.  Maybe there is also a small PCB that plugs into that slot.

My prediction as to what that is (having not seen one yet):

The 3 pin doohickies are Male RCA style connectors, one each for composite video, left and right audio.  Maybe only mono audio and one used for 5v power. 

The card slot probably just connects up the controls (JAMMA-like, if you will). 

If this proves to be the case, it's actually an interesting design.  Keeps the cabinet almost completely "generic" from a hardware standpoint.  Means you could even make an MP3 player module for JukeBox purposes and use the controls to run it.  Not that anyone would want to, but it seems possible.

It also could mean that this may be the first of many to come out.  Same cab set-up, but new graphics and "cartridge".  Who's next, Taito?

RandyT

[BobA]

How about the quality of this one.

[ChadTower]

This item will be released on December 20, 2005. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives.

[KDOG]

I saw a BJ's commerical that had an upright arcade machine it for 899.
not sure who it is done by and can't to seem to find it anywere on the net.

[KDOG]

bump
 
Has any one seen the Bj's wholesale commercial?

[Ed_McCarron]

My wife called me from BJ's last night with the comment "Why aren't you selling these things?  They have them for 900 bucks here?"

I had her check it out - very chintzy construction - she knocked on the wood for me and it sounded like cardboard.

[arcadefever]

we all been wondering how it look like
here is the review and picture !!!!!

http://retroblast.com/reviews/biggames.html

[PhoneGuy]

This months Retrogaming radio ( www.retrogamingradio.com ) has an interview with Jeri Ellsworth of C64 DTV 30-in-1 TV Game fame. The interview was taped a few months ago. She talks breifly about designing the hardware that runs this thing.  She says that the company producing this were going to use the original roms. It doesn't sound like she worked on anything but the hardware so she is not very specific. She says the controls they showed her felt pretty cheap. She mentions a trackball.

[Ken Layton]

How are these machines doing today? Are the stores still selling them or only online?

For those that bought these machines, how did they hold up? Did they crap out after a few weeks?

[RayB]

Yowza! Talk about dead thread revival!

I got the C64 device last christmas. It's great hardware, but like she said, the joystick is absolute garbage. Alot of games use "up" to jump" and this joystick is so horrible, those games are difficult to play correctly. It's kept me from playing the games at all.

It's on my "to-do" list to build a new joystick and case for it. (Maybe I should chop parts of a real C64 for it!)

PS: The hardware is also expandable. If you search for "hacking" and the name of that toy, you'll find instructions on adding a connector that can use the original floppy drive and a keyboard with it!

[BobA]

Take a look at the instruction manuals.  The cab is cut into so many small pieces that it looks like a jig saw puzzle. Only piece assembled is the TV and control panel.  All other panels must be attached.  Wouldn't want to lean on one too hard.   It says the scale is 80%.