WOW! Contemporary arcade cabinet designs

[mr.Curmudgeon]

http://www.surface-tension.net/

I completely stumbled across this site while looking for something else and thought I'd share it here. Searched and hadn't seen it posted.
These cabs are slick...absolutely perfect for a more post-modern house. Might even impress the wife! (For those who need to *hide* the arcade-y stuff)
Since they have smoked glass and hide-away control panels (I believe; hard to tell)



More pics in the gallery section: http://www.surface-tension.net/gallery.html

mrC

[squirrellydw]

ugly IMHO

[mr.Curmudgeon]

 


mrC

[horseboy]

3200 Euros. Ouch.

[freddykreuger666]

actually its not a bad idea
if u actually made it look good, and u had a nagging wife
u could easy get away with that looking like a table
cos of the invisiable monitor when turned off
and stow away cp
let ur wife decide on the look of it
or copy a design of what she wants, but turn it into a secret arcade machine, jukebox etc

[AtomSmasher]

I like it, but then I've been planning on making a similar type thing the size of a dining room table so I may be a bit biased.

[RayB]

Very cool!

[Grasshopper]

It's actually

[Witchboard]

You can still spill beer on the CP.  Flawed design...

[Noobert]

I know my wife would like that, but luckily she's also excited about building a standup cab.  Looks like you'd have to sit on the floor to play it.

I like it, but then I've been planning on making a similar type thing the size of a dining room table so I may be a bit biased.

Now there's an idea!  How about a separate monitor and controls for each seat at the dining room table?  The whole family can sit and blast away at the same time during dinner!

[rdagger]

I know my wife would like that, but luckily she's also excited about building a standup cab.  Looks like you'd have to sit on the floor to play it.

It looks too low and the angle of the CP looks uncomfortable.
I like the idea, but if you are going to make a coffee table, I think the CP would need to come up and possibly the monitor too.

But on the other hand they're not really authentic looking so I wouldn't get any feelings of nostalgia from playing on one.

It does have more of a console feel than an arcade.  You might as well just leave the monitor out, add a second CP and hook it up to a TV.

[ArcadEd]

You could even put a much larger monitor in it and have some groovey screensaver or background on it while you don't play . 

But I agree with most, it's pretty ugly, but a cool idea.

[RayB]

Ugly? You must have a house full of that traditional wood furniture, huh?

[ArcadEd]

Well I live in the desert .  All of our furniture is the rustic wood look, which I like.  Never really been into the whole modern look thing .

Ugly was a strong word, should have said.  It's not my style

[AtomSmasher]

I like it, but then I've been planning on making a similar type thing the size of a dining room table so I may be a bit biased.

Now there's an idea!  How about a separate monitor and controls for each seat at the dining room table?  The whole family can sit and blast away at the same time during dinner!

Just thought I'd throw out my old thread if you want to see the direction I'm planning on going with it.  I decided to hold off on it because my work has slowed down the past few months and I don't want to have to compromise the design from lack of funding.  Actually the more I think about it, the more I think I'm going to have to get rid of the tv and use something that won't make me have such a huge base, maybe find a used flat screen tv or something.  I could go with 4 smaller monitors, but then you couldn't play someone across from you.  Anyways, its still in the planning stages so I have plenty of time to figure it out.  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=50651.0

[Stingray]

I really like the looks of the wood one. The price is completely nuts, but it looks good.

-S

[Fozzy The Bear]

Incidentally, for anyone in the UK thinking of building one of these tables, those legs are sold at B&Q!

"B&Q" is owned by the same company as "Home Depot" so in the USA they probably have them as well. They also own a French DIY chain, although I forget the name of that one. The Company is Kingfisher Retail.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[jelwell]

That first picture doesn't do it justice. They also have wood grained versions. And the control panel recesses into the cabinet when you don't want it around. The part I like the most is that, when off, the screen is a black surface. So it doesn't appear to be anything more than a regular coffee table. Personally I like advertising my cabinet, but I can see the benefit in hiding it away.
Joseph Elwell.

[sWampy]

For those $, I'd think it would be better to have wireless controllers that you could store in drawers that pulled out from the table.  And there would always be the problem of getting power to a table in the middle of your living room, without it being seen.

[Level42]

It's an LCD. YUGH !

[Santoro]

I'll bet it isn't very comfortable to play.  I am getting Carpal Tunnel Syndrome looking at that thing. 

I am not much for metal and glass either btw.  Cold and impersonal, it is.  Give me stone, wood, and other natural materials anyday.   

That said, it is a nice looking design if you are into the contemporary thing.

[Lilwolf]

I like the consept.  And all problems seem pretty fixable. 

Does the control panel rotate back and hide?  I LOVE that idea. 

I also like the idea that the monitor would be invisible when turned off. 

So take the same basic idea... (sure change the metal to wood if you want...)  Make the control panel near flat when opened.  Shouldn't be hard, but will make the controls to move back a bit.  Or force a low profile controls... oh well.. but still should be doable.

Next, Make it monitor turn off when the drawer is closed....

so it looks like a cocktail table... with finished sides.  Then you open it and a monitor turns on... and boom your playing!

That would be cool!

And if you could get a quiet pc (in whatever way you can... water cooling or maybe an EPIA board)... or heck, just a fast computer with hibernate...  And your good to go with a very cool hidden cocktail table that maybe even a wife would love.

[Lilwolf]

One more idea to this generic idea..

have it all wood.. And have your screen save be a picture of a wood panel with some detail.

Then a smoked glass to make it not so obvious that its a monitor... but wood itself.

That would be funny.

[horseboy]

I don't think it would be very good for the screen to display the same static picture 23 hours a day, but it would be funny.

[squirrellydw]

I like modern furniture, that's just not my taste.  Ugly might be a little harsh.

[97thruhiker]

Its a good option if you want something discrete.  Only problem is all of the photos on the site show it sitting out in the middle of the room (coffee table placement) but I see no power cords.  Unless you have a receptical mounted in the floor your gonna have to run a cord to it somehow which wouldn't look too good I'd imagine.

[yalborap]

Personally, I like the design of it...


As a table.

As an arcade cabinet, it looks VERY uncomfortable to play. I'd rather raise it up to cocktail cabinet height, at the very least.