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Pre-Build Arcade Machine Discussion

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LedFinZep:
It is both amazing and kind of sad to see companies coming into this hobby and starting to sell complete systems. While the price tag may be high (Hanaho = $4000 plus shipping and Sharper Image = $3000), it won't be long before having a MAME machine in your home isn't as unheard of as it is today. Part of the appeal/cool factor of building my own machine was that I knew that very few people in the world had such a device. With companies coming into the hobby, owning a arcade machine will no longer be about learning how to build one and enjoying the process; but about having enough money. Oh well, I guess that is the way of the world.

Comments??

LedFinZep

tubuku01:
I agree wholeheartedly.  before i started on my cabinet, i thought about just saving and buying one preassembled, but i wanted one with MY options in mind.  in the long run, i built my own (almost there), and the rewards were TREMENDOUS!! I didn't know that i was capable of woodwork of any kind.  one rotary saw, one jigsaw, a drill, and a lot of blood and sweat later, there it was(almost) built all by my self. ;D

now that the project is 80 percent done, the wifey saw my small talent in researching, planning and building potential, and is suggestingly asking for a big shelf to build for the stuff in the garage. ("but sweetheart, these things take research, and time" i say "IF YOU CAN BUILD THAT DAMN THING, THEN A SHELF SHOULD BE NO PROBLEM FOR YOU!" says she) funny, how before the arcade project, she wouldn't trust me to even check the oil in the car. :-/

well, sorry to rant but to get to the point: if you build your own, then not only will you have  created much greater confidence in your abilities to actually plan, research, and build a seemingly impossible project(to people that know nothing of emulators, etc), but you'll have the pride, and satisfaction of looking at people's faces when you tell them, that you didn't buy it, but built it from scratch. ;) :o
well, thanx for reading.

Howard_Casto:
Don't worry about it guys.... it's quite obvious who the real arcade freaks and the stupid lamers are.  Lamers are guys who either buy a pre-built cab or a used cab and stick premade controls in them.  Not only do they take this shortcut but they do absolutely nothing to their cabs/controls, (custom paint job, or restoration of the original artwork) often making them look tacky as they aren't supposed to go together.  And to pour salt on the wounds they put up a site about how they "built it theirselves" by going all the way to the phone, buying the dang things and maybe tightening two screws together.

There are guys who buy a stock sports car and then there are the guys who get and old junker, tweak out the engine, give it a custom paint-job and make a true work of art.  

Don't worry, a real arcade fan is not impressed by a pre-made p.o.s.

Fight the power!!

jammadave:
hmmm, well, in my situation i could have certainly done the woodwork if i had the room and the tools, which i do not, but i cannot, repeat cannot, do the whole soldering-wires-to-leads-and-such thing, i seriously would burn my damn house down.

that said, my emu-driven star wars/esb machine was built by my tech and fellow collector and sold to me, and the MAME i'm getting in the next month or so is being built by a DIYer like you guys and not a company, so where do I fall in the gamer vs lamer category?  (heh, once i get them i have the task of setting up the software how i want it and such, and on the new one i'll be getting art together for its sides and such, but that's about it.)

just curious as there seems to be a definite divide...

cheers
dave

jammadave:
MAN, i said "and such" too many times there.  probably sounded like an imbecile.  doh.

cheers
dave

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