Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Edgedamage on April 06, 2004, 09:33:52 pm
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Found this site that explanes the guts of a ultracade.
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/articles/quantum3d_ultracade/
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Arcade Gaming
While we normally use PCs for gaming, there is nothing quite like an upright cabinet. Playing a MAME emulated game on your PC, or even in a hacked together upright cabinet, just does not deliver the arcade feeling. A key difference about ULTRACADE is that it does not use MAME, which cannot be legally shipped with commercial products, and that it features licensed games-which protects the interests of the copyright owners and manufacturers who developed the games originally. In addition, because the games are licensed, Quantum3D can ensure that the ULTRACADE version matches the original game in look and feel. I'm the type who always stops by the classic section of an arcade, and with ULTRACADE, any arcade can have an instant classics section.
They are taking a shot at us here ;D. Also for all of you building Cabinets for sale read the Red
A key difference about ULTRACADE is that it does not use MAME, which cannot be legally shipped with commercial products,
Illegal to use mame even without the roms?
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Yes...
you are not allowed to use mame to help sell a product...
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Then sell your cabinets as:
"for sale cabinet with computer inside"
Or:
"for sale computer ready cabinet just add your own computer and away you go"
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It appears this article is grossly out of date (April 22, 200), nearly four years old.
The SharkyExtreme article mentions "Up to eight games can be made available at any one time to players". But I believe this is no longer true. I think you can select any game installed now.
Also it appears that Ultracade has redesigned their website. Much better, and it shows some new products such as the Dragon's Lair & Space Ace cabinets.
There is a brief history of Ultracade on thier site (only up to 2002 though), and it mentions the acquisition of Hyperware's emulator in 1997, so that must be the emulator they are using underneath (not MAME or "ripped" MAME code). It also mentions that Ultracade was split off from Quantum3D in 2002 (another place where the article's info is lacking). Also, it's interesting to note that Ultracade got it's roots in 3DFx (as same people started Quantum3D later), and 3DFx got it's start in the arcade hardware industry. They've come full circle now.
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I should also mention that the new side art on their cabinets look much better than they were. It's now a collage of different arcade classics which would tell people at a glance what's in that box. The old art was confusing.