X-Box Based Cabinet Looking Better!

[creepfactory]

Hey all, I make Tablecade  tablecade dot com, and am seriously thinking an X-box basedarcade cabinet is looking better all the time. Mainly because of the fixed specs, people can write hardware specific routines and fine tune MameX to work perfectly on the X-box, as opposed to making it work on the pc that has thousands of combinations of pc processor, video, etc etc. Also I see there is an exploding scene of emus like Genesis, SNES, Atari etc. and now I saw Final Burn is ported and 100% perfect! Now that you can get an X-box for a hundred and fifty BUCKS, doesnt this seem awesome for putting in a cab? I mean ANY decent PC based cab and key encoder etc. is going to run abut $500+ any way you slice it, we all know this. Anyone else been considering dong an X-Box cabinet? With no Keyboard ghosting, you have all the x-box controls to use, like 12 buttons or something to solder into some happ controls. I am sure it isnt perfect yet, but the more people get on the quicker it will get better! and man I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a cabinet that doesnt have a whirring PC fan in it! Not to mention no boot time or windows navigation. I think I know what my next cab will be!
James Widmark

[SNAAAKE]

finalburn gives you only couple of games and mame gives you 3500..

You still need to mod your x-box in order to use FBA and that cuts you off from using LIVE but you could always use like toggle switch to turn the mod ON/OFF(i never did this yet but guessing its possible).

I would still say invest little more on a PC and you have more games(unless money is a ONLY issue here then whatever you can for the time being).

good luck

[Dave_K.]

Hey all, I make Tablecade  tablecade dot com, and am seriously thinking an X-box basedarcade cabinet is looking better all the time. Mainly because of the fixed specs, people can write hardware specific routines and fine tune MameX to work perfectly on the X-box......

Did you forget that you must mod your xbox with an expensive modchip?....which in turn voids your warranty, and Xbox Live usage.  Then you are stuck with a version of mame that is only supported by a bunch of hackers (that only release upgrades once a year) and never works with the latest roms.  Oh yeah, you are stuck with whatever roms they think are cool on the DVD...you can't add more.  Unless you were talking about running Linux under Xbox (with xmame), which is a completely different story (you are back to the PC problems as before).

BTW: there is a whirring fan in the Xbox.  Also who cares about mame if you got an xbox in an arcade cabinet!  

[SNAAAKE]

how about a freaging dreamcast buddy (think...about...the...fighting..games.. )atleast you get to play more games then the b0x(my x-box is collecting a LOT of dust because i am always playing around with other stuff)

[Jakobud]

Not to mention the fact that the xbox sucks to begin with... I'd much rather have a real PC in my cabinet that I can actually CONTROL.  I can actually boot it up to a real OS.  I can play whatever I want to play on it and I can upgrade it anytime down the road.  XBox is only running ~700Mhz anyways.  There are tons of Mame games that you can't even run at full speed with that.  XBox is just lame.  It's just another area that Microsoft is trying to dominate (and obviously getting their @$$ handed to them by Sony).

[creepfactory]

WOW! The anger! Sheesh! I do see the point, but really if it works for a lot of games, even with a mod chip its like $200 bucks. Yes mame is better on a pc, but the spec to play games like MK3 etc is 2 gigahertz!! Your looking at a grand to have a pc ready to play mame decent for all games, and even THEN some games are too slow like Cruisin Usa etc. Look I love mame cabinets with a pc in them, yes tons more options and control, etc. my point was for a few hundred you could get a cabinet or hell even play some mame on your tv in the living room. Sounded cool. I don't think Dreamcast ever got a good version of Mame working anyway. OH! What about PS2 Mame? (commence flaming)
Pee Out!

[SNAAAKE]

MK3 etc is 2 gigahertz!!

 I don't think Dreamcast ever got a good version of Mame working anyway.

mk3 need 1.2(could use 1ghz but i never tested) ghz to work perfect 60fps.

i meant "play ACTUAL dreamcast fighting games"..not emulators for dreamcast.There are many out there you know..FUN ! to play..

[eightbit]

Hey all, I make Tablecade  tablecade dot com

Have you sold many of those table top things? Thats an interesting button layout. I've seen seen 6 buttons in 3 rows and 2 columns before.

An xbox option in a cabinet would be cool for xbox games. I don't think it would be good for x-mame. DOA3 would be cool with arcade controls.

[Jakobud]

The anger ...hehe

At least Sony was smart enough to release the whole PS2 Linux bundle and encourage people to mess with the PS2.  It's moves like that, that make me want to support them over Micro$oft.

btw, I'm only running 1.2gig Athlon in my cab and MK3 runs fine.

[Gopherboy]

DREAMCAST! DREAMCAST!!!

OMFG! - Powerstone 2, MVC2, Jo-Jo's Bizarre Adventure, Bangai-O, Virtua Tenis, VF3tb, Dead or Alive 2 (yes, x-box has three, but this is decent!) - Geez - the list could go on forever!

Still looking for a couple of decent, cheap, non-analog controller so that I can hack them for my up-coming cp.

gb

[SNAAAKE]

you forgot...

cvs2
ikaruga
mars matrix
soul caliber(how could you do this to us )
zombie revenge
virtua striker
zero gunner
all street fighter 3 games plus alpha 3
mk gold
..okay maybe i should stop already ..there many more though .

[Dave_K.]

I'll chime in with HOTD2, and Confidential Mission for Dreamcast.  (Since everyone has been complaining about a good lightgun solution).  DC gun works with both TV and VGA monitor, and 2 players simultaneously (unlike the PC).  LOL !
Why wait for Act Labs to get their crap together.

[SNAAAKE]

thats right..which guns you have btw..i bought 2 starfire guns last week..i am seriouslly in heaven with hod2 and  Confidential Mission.not to mention i only paid $20 for 2 guns and both are brand new never open.. .

Eb games always have somthing to buy..hehe..

[Mani]

creepfactory,

unlike it seems most people posting here, i actually have an xbox running mame.

it is amazing!!! it runs metal slug at full speed. same with many more awesome mame games. of course, it plays the classics perfectly. while i have a dedicated mame cabinet with 25" arcade monitor, it's just really cool to sit on my couch and play final fight on my big screen.

i also tried final burn but found that mame for xbox is much better. the reason being that final burn didn't compensate the screen size for the overscan typical on a television (pretty significant, a good 5% of the screen is cut off on top and on bottom). also for some reason the picture is sharper and brighter with mame-x.

on the other hand, the xbox is probably not an ideal choice for a dedicated mame cabinet. the main reason being that you'd have to install a mod chip which, while not hard, is not trivial either. also there's so much more you can do with a modded xbox that it's kind of a shame to just leave it playing mame. my modded xbox does the following:

- progressive scan dvd player (by hacking the dashboard and using the hdtv kit)
- play online games via xbconnect (xbox live not needed, not even a mod chip)
- store a whole library of xbox games on its 80gig hd which i put it
- snes emu with library of games
- genesis emu with library of games
- gba emu with library of games
- divx player

and more .... you get the idea.

-Mani