Global VR...anybody tried one?

[Donkey_Kong]

They now have a pretty impressive collection at my local casino arcade. Last time I was there I was thrilled to learn they picked up the mario bros, kong and kong jr cab...the galaga/ms pac cab and the Space Invaders/Qix deluxe. Today, I go in there and now in the middle of all that they added a VR Global Machine. Pretty nice machine!

Does anyone know what they have for sticks in those? All I know is that it had a circle restrictor and I was able to play 720 on it, and it felt pretty good. I wasn't able to devote 20-30 minutes to find out if I could play really well with it...but it seemed to have potential. Because of this fact, I'm very interested to know what type of sticks those have. If no one here knows I suppose I could email the company. Here is a link to the machine web page...

It has about 80 games listed here...
http://globalvr.com/products_gac.html

[RayB]

That's probably a rebranded Ultracade.

David Foley

^^ (that should guarantee he will Google this thread and come answer himself!  )

[retrometro]

I wonder how much these cabs go for.

[davidrfoley]

GAC is nothing more than a watered down UltraCade machine.  Global VR acquired the non exclusive rights to manufacture the machine, and the former CEO felt it would be better to rebrand the machine Global Arcade Classics, rather than use the widely known UltraCade name.  Becuase of contract disputes with me, Global VR did not acquire the Capcom library rights, and rights to other various games, which I had personally held onto so they had to reduce the number of games available on the platform.

He also tried to strong arm Chicago Gaming, who was using the UltraCade based system for Arcade Legends by raising the price and reducing the availability.  Chicago Gaming was smart, and turned to HanaHo Games and released the Arcade Legends II which was based on a proprietary GameRoom Classics hardware, using their own licenses and licenses to the Capcom library that HanoHo has.

So bottom line is that Global Arcade Classics is merely an UltraCade System with less games on it and a different title, and no upgrade options.

[HaRuMaN]

David Foley
^^ (that should guarantee he will Google this thread and come answer himself!  )

 
That's pretty funny!  It's like rubbing the lamp to get the genie to come out... 

[davidrfoley]

Global VR or UltraCade are just a couple of the many ways to rub the lamp.

[Gehrig]

I love some of the Global VR games.  The prices are just way too high for them.   Someday I will have the "Six Gun Select" game... oh yes.. I will.

[davidrfoley]

The Six Gun Select game was developed by UltraCade Technologies under contract for Global VR.  It runs on the same platform as the UltraCade System, and uses a customized gun that was simply taking the guts out of the Act Labs gun, and putting them into a custom six shooter housing.  If you get one, make sure to get some spare guns as Global VR no longer makes them.  Alternatively, you can use Act Labs gun parts to repair them if you have a problem.

[Gehrig]

Thanks... I will keep that in mind.

[Donkey_Kong]

So...anyone know what brand/model of sticks are included in that machine? 

[davidrfoley]

Happ Controls   50-6084-00
Betson Imperial   47-9075

[ahofle]

Hmm don't think I've ever even tried playing 720 with an 8-way Happ Super.  Weren't the turns jittery without an analog controller?

[davidrfoley]

somewhat, but of course, when building a machine around 200 games, compromises needed to be made. 

[wbassett]

Honest question... why compromise even more?  Wouldn't it be better to exclude a game that doesn't play right or have the same feel as the original version and just include another game that does work well with the existing controls?

I say compromise even more because no matter how good the quality of the buttons and sticks are, a multi-purpose cp always compromises game play/layout to some extent.  Why even include something that doesn't work quite like it should?

Dave that wasn't a shot at you or anything, just my thoughts on things.  Hell, I'd even settle for one less game on the list than have a game that doesn't play right.

[davidrfoley]

You have to balance costs along with game play.  To support every game, you'd have a two way, four way, 8 way, 49 way and analog stick.  None of them play perfectly, but we felt the 8 way Happ stick was the best compromise for game play and costs.  Remember, we had to build a kit that sold for under $1,000, including hardware, software, controls, and graphics.

[retrometro]

You have to balance costs along with game play.  To support every game, you'd have a two way, four way, 8 way, 49 way and analog stick.  None of them play perfectly, but we felt the 8 way Happ stick was the best compromise for game play and costs.  Remember, we had to build a kit that sold for under $1,000, including hardware, software, controls, and graphics.

How much are these cabs now?  David, are you working on any new cabs down the road?

[davidrfoley]

Arcade Legends II are the most inexpensive, I think they sell around $1,895.  They aren't cheap.  They are full JAMMA as the board inside them is a JAMMA board. 

I've got a bunch of projects brewing, I'll announce them as they come out.

[Ummon]

720 is in mame (obviously) and how do most people play that? With an 8-way stick, of course. Before .70 mame used the spinner. Sometimes I go back and try the spinner and I'm undecided. I'll have to try that again tonight.

I like the overall design of this cab. Of course it's a lot, it's a commercial product. I'm glad to see them pushing into the market - although if retro gets too popular, we might be back to pumping quarters - er, sliding cards. There could be mamecab witch-hunts. Scary.

[davidrfoley]

a spinner is really the optimal control for 720.

[Ummon]

Mmmm, I think a spinner with a finger hole would be best. Or, in lieu of such, have a rubber thimble close by. I'll have to get one.

[shardian]

I have checked out an Ultracade and a GAC in the last 2 weeks. The front end is identical, but the GAC had a much better selection of games. It also had the trackball. The GAC also lagged less than the ultracade, probably due to more powerful guts.

Either way, both of these machines has greatly increased my interest in the hyperspin front end.

[davidrfoley]

It's impossible that GAC has a "better game selection" as Global VR only offers about 1/2 of the games that were offered on the UltraCade product.  GAC is just UltraCade reskinned, and running on a P4 instead of a P3.  That is why there is less lag on the display.  GAC is a dead product as Global VR fired everyone involved with the product and has no plans on adding any new games to the product.

HyperSpin is a great front end and will improve over time.

[shardian]

Well then the ultracade must have only had the 'crappy games', and the GAC must have only had the 'good games'.  I didn't even recognize about half of the games on the ultracade. The GAC appeared to have mostly great games on it - it even had laserdisc games.

[davidrfoley]

Must have been the specific machine that you saw.  GAC ships with about 1/2 of the games that were available on the UltraCade platform including the laser disc games.  UltraCade shipped with 86 games on the base pack, and then we sold upgrades packs to add on various different games.  This was to keep the base kit price low because the licenses for some of the games was pretty expensive.

[CrazyKongFan]

A local truckstop has one of these (set to freeplay, no less! ), I couldn't figure out why they had Robotron set up the way it was. It had 2 sticks, but rather than using the right one to fire, you had to use the buttons.

[davidrfoley]

That's very strange.  In the UltraCade version, the default was setup that the player 2 joystick acted as the firing for Robotron.   Someone set the configuration wrong in the operator menu. 

[Popcorrin]

They must have forgot to reconfigure the default mame keys.   

[davidrfoley]

No, in the Operator menu, there is a cabinet configuration option and they probably set it to Single Player cabinet, instead of Two Player cabinet.

[Ummon]

WHOOOOSH.

[shardian]

Must have been the specific machine that you saw.  GAC ships with about 1/2 of the games that were available on the UltraCade platform including the laser disc games.  UltraCade shipped with 86 games on the base pack, and then we sold upgrades packs to add on various different games.  This was to keep the base kit price low because the licenses for some of the games was pretty expensive.

Well then you agree with me then that the GAC is a better setup out of the box than the Ultracade? The GAC may have had half the games, but it had all of the GOOD games.

[davidrfoley]

Definitely not.  I would consider games such as Street Fighter II, 1942, Mr. DO!, BombJack, and MegaMan some of the best games that Global doesn't ship.

[Malenko]

WHOOOOSH.

[Ummon]

WHOOOOSH.

No no, it's I have the cape so you make the whooshing sounds for me when I say so.

[arcader_1984]

Isn't there an even lower cost one, maybe its not from Global VR though?

Arcade Legends II are the most inexpensive, I think they sell around $1,895.  They aren't cheap.  They are full JAMMA as the board inside them is a JAMMA board. 

I've got a bunch of projects brewing, I'll announce them as they come out.

[davidrfoley]

Yes, Arcade Legends II is on a dedicated PCB designed and supplied by HanaHo games.  The UltraCade platform was PC Based.

[ark_ader]

David, did you eventually release any of the non Bluth laserdisc games for your machine?  I thought I saw a advert about it when you were selling your cabs?  Badlands was one of them, and maybe Super Don Quixote was the other one.

My reason for asking is to inquire if you have contacts for these copyright holders?

[davidrfoley]

We did not release them on the UC platform.  SDQ was published by Universal, who is still in business.  They have headquarters in Japan.  The focus on Casino gaming these days, but still license the arcade products.  Konami published Badlands, and are also headquartered in Japan and still license the classic arcade products.

[brandon]

"Global VR" is sort of a crap name.. what the hell does it have to do with Virtual Reality?

[davidrfoley]

the description matches the company.....but that's just my tainted opinion after dealing with them.  The VR came from the companies original product that is now called the VR Vortek.  It's a game machine that you put your head into a display / control unit that gives you a 360 degree rotation first person perspective.  They sold a lot of units and it was the only machine of its type that was successful in coin-op.  After that, they moved into the realm of porting PC games to the arcade.

[brandon]

ahh.. OK.  I think I played one of them.. It was some budget FPS game.. Beachhead?  I actually liked the way the hardware was set up.. didn't care much for the game though.  I can't remember if it was stereoscopic or not but I'm guessing it wasn't since I don't remember Any VR that isn't stereo is pointless..