Maximum PC Special Issue

[SirPeale]

I was suprised no one mentioned this earlier (not that I could find, anyway)

Maximum PC has a special issue on the news stand this month.  On the cover it pretty much states you can trick out your PC and tweak it to the max.

Inside is an article to...you guessed it...how to make your own arcade cabinet.

The article, which is several pages long, gives huge kudos to...you guessed it...this site.  Gives a screen shot any everything.  Also mentioned is Oscar's Site, RandyT's Site, Andy's site, and a bunch of others.  It's a pretty good read.  I'm sure that some of our newer members might have been driven here by the article.  It states that their cab, a converted Mortal Kombat III cabinet, couldn't have been build without our help here on the message boards.

I was a bit ticked, however, that as a subscriber to the magazine, I didn't get the special issue.  I had to find it at the store.

[MameMaster!]

 

...thanks for pointing out the issue. Too bad I had to pay $10 for it because it has that useless CD utility disk.

Oh well, I am enjoying the article...it's probably the best one I've read to date on this topic...and even through I've come across everything mentioned in it....I seem to have this insatiable need to collect this stuff.

Thanks!
The MameMaster!

[saint]

Gah, my local B&N says they won't have it for another week.  Feh.

[OSCAR]

I picked it up from Borders today.  It is a very nicely written 10 page step-by-step article to building a whole arcade machine.  The author mentions nearly every parts supplier and websites that I can think of pertaining to building your own cabinet.  Pretty detailed info, too, right down to how to wire up the buttons & joysticks, installing & configuring an ArcadeVGA and connecting it to a D9200, etc...

[Sephroth57]

sweet, im gonna try and find that =)

[EggZilla]

Hey Saint, if you'd like to just message me with your snail mail address, I can send you a copy. That's my cab in the article (which I guess makes me the author), and considering that I wouldn't have known how to even begin if this site didn't exist, I think the least I can do is swing you a copy of the mag.

By the way, thanks everybody, for the kind words about the article. It was a real pain to cram everything into just ten pages, but it worked out in the end. It had to -- I was building the cab whether the MaxPC guys wanted the article or not, but I needed the commission to pay for the Arcade VGA and D9200!

Cheers,  

Eric

[saint]

Hey Eric - congratulations on the article and thank you for the offer!  I'm heading to the mall tonight to look at a couple of bookstores, and if I can't find it then I'll take you up on your generous offer  

Thanks!

--- saint

Hey Saint, if you'd like to just message me with your snail mail address, I can send you a copy. That's my cab in the article (which I guess makes me the author), and considering that I wouldn't have known how to even begin if this site didn't exist, I think the least I can do is swing you a copy of the mag.

By the way, thanks everybody, for the kind words about the article. It was a real pain to cram everything into just ten pages, but it worked out in the end. It had to -- I was building the cab whether the MaxPC guys wanted the article or not, but I needed the commission to pay for the Arcade VGA and D9200!

Cheers,  

Eric

[saint]

Just picked up my issue, excellent article!  Thank you for the kind words too by the way

I'm going to ask Maximum PC for permission to host a copy of the artiicle on the web site here if you have no objections?

[shmokes]

I would love that Saint.  I can't find a copy of the blasted thing anywhere.  I have a subscription.  I feel gypped whenever they do these newstand only things.  It would make a helluva lot more sense to have subscription-only specials to entice more people to subscribe.  

[saint]

I've fired off an email to the editors, but even if they agree I will only post it if Eric is willing to allow it as well. It's well done -- Waiting to hear back

--- saint

[Brax]

I just stumbled on this article today myself. I should have figured someone would beat me to it. (posting it, not WRITING it. heh) I'm glad the folks around here are getting their due. I too was impressed at how well written it was.

The only tiny point I could see was when Eric was talking about not needing superfulous buttons on your control panel because on the I-Pac shift function, and yet he still added the "extra" mouse buttons on the sides of his control panel. (still a minor point though) Many people are wiring up player 2's button 5 & 6 as mouse buttons now to clean up your control panel. Mame uses the mouse buttons flawlessly.

More of a preferance than anything that was "wrong" though.

It was a real surprise to stumble on it and an even bigger surprise to see it was well done.

[Goz]

I had been considering starting my project before I read the write up in Maximum PC, but as with many other things I tend to procrastinate until I have enough info.

Thanks for the great site, the info, and inspiration.

Unfortunately I think I am now an addict.

-Goz

[EggZilla]

I've fired off an email to the editors, but even if they agree I will only post it if Eric is willing to allow it as well. It's well done -- Waiting to hear back

--- saint

I'll check with them when I go into the office tomorrow. It probably won't be a problem, though I think it's company policy that we request the hosted version doesn't go up until the actual issue which contains the article goes off sale. So, we might have to wait a few weeks or something.

I personally would be very flattered, so on a personal level, you have my blessing. I had hoped to do a construction diary, like so many of the other fellows around here, but I have no website of my own, so that didn't exactly pan out.  

[saint]

So you're a regular staff member at the magazine?  I was thinking you had done the work freelance.  Very cool

--- saint

I've fired off an email to the editors, but even if they agree I will only post it if Eric is willing to allow it as well. It's well done -- Waiting to hear back

--- saint

I'll check with them when I go into the office tomorrow. It probably won't be a problem, though I think it's company policy that we request the hosted version doesn't go up until the actual issue which contains the article goes off sale. So, we might have to wait a few weeks or something.

I personally would be very flattered, so on a personal level, you have my blessing. I had hoped to do a construction diary, like so many of the other fellows around here, but I have no website of my own, so that didn't exactly pan out.  

[SirPeale]

So, Eggzilla, why do those of us with a subscription not get a copy?  Or, for that matter, even a blurb about it in the mag itself?  I had to hear about it thirdhand.

[IG-88]

So, Eggzilla, why do those of us with a subscription not get a copy?  Or, for that matter, even a blurb about it in the mag itself?  I had to hear about it thirdhand.

Ya, I've been a subscriber for over 2 years!! Whats up with that!!  

[EggZilla]

So you're a regular staff member at the magazine?  I was thinking you had done the work freelance.  Very cool

--- saint

Well, yes and no. I'm not a staffer at MaxPC, but I'm reviews editor for PSM, one of the publisher Future Network's other mags. All of Future's mags are just down the hall from one another, and we're all pretty closely knit, so we tend to do a lot of freelance for one another. My mag is all about PlayStation 2, but I also write a lot for our Xbox mag, they do some PS2 reviews for me, we borrow stuff from MacAddict, talk about how great KotOR is with the PC Gamer guys, and so on.

The arcade feature actually began clear back when I was at Next Generation, as the brainchild of one of the other editors. When that mag died, I adopted the cabinet, restarted the research from square one, and eventually built the cab. One of the MaxPC guys and I had been talking about it all the time, and when I told him I was done reading and ready to turn the key on it, he suggested I write it up for them.

As far as Peale and IG-88's questions about the subscribers not getting the special issues, I'm not sure about all the ins and outs of it, but I believe it's tied into the fact that much of the content (not my particular article, though. It was too big to fit into a regular issue, so rather than squeeze it into four or six pages, it just went into the special ish) is repurposed from the regular issues, and to send it off to subscribers would force Future to raise the overall yearly subscription rates, which we're loathe to do.

I know, it kind of stinks, but it's one of those things where the publisher has to make a choice between two less-than-perfect scenarios. PSM does the same thing with our annual code book, which collects and reprints all of the cheat codes we've ever run. We wouldn't want to charge subscribers extra to read the same thing twice, but the extra cost is just too great to send off to everyone. Just part of the trevails of doing business, I suppose. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Peace!

Eric

[shmokes]

Nobody has it!!!

Wal-Mart, the grocery stores and the B Dalton bookstore near me all carry the regular Maximum PC (which I already have as a subscriber) but nobody has this special edition.  

 

[Goz]

I saw 5 of em at a local store today. I've had mine for a while. Very good writeup as mentioned before.

If anyone is really jonesing for a copy PM me and I can pick some up and snail mail them your way.

[Buddabing]

I was suprised no one mentioned this earlier (not that I could find, anyway)

Maximum PC has a special issue on the news stand this month.  On the cover it pretty much states you can trick out your PC and tweak it to the max.

Inside is an article to...you guessed it...how to make your own arcade cabinet.

The article, which is several pages long, gives huge kudos to...you guessed it...this site.  Gives a screen shot any everything.  Also mentioned is Oscar's Site, RandyT's Site, Andy's site, and a bunch of others.  It's a pretty good read.  I'm sure that some of our newer members might have been driven here by the article.  It states that their cab, a converted Mortal Kombat III cabinet, couldn't have been build without our help here on the message boards.

I was a bit ticked, however, that as a subscriber to the magazine, I didn't get the special issue.  I had to find it at the store.

Which issue (month) ?

[SirPeale]

Which issue (month) ?

It's a special wintery issue.  I wish I could be more descriptive of it, but I don't have it.  I couldn't justify spending $10 on a magazine for one (really cool) article.

[MameMaster!]

....OK guys....if you want to read this special issue....if you NEED to read the most comprehensive article on BYOAC....the bidding on this now highly prized issue will start at $50.00 (no reserve).

The utilities CD that came with the issues will be an additional $25.00 plus shipping and handling ($7.95).

Let the bidding begin!!!!!

The MameMaster
(just kidding!!!.....really I'm just kidding. I'm waiting for the bids though....I guarantee you not everyone will read this far down!!!).  

[Goz]

When I went back to acquire the last 5 mags in my local area, they were apparently pulled because of some contractual agreement.

[MameMaster!]

When I went back to acquire the last 5 mags in my local area, they were apparently pulled because of some contractual agreement.

....wow, the pricing just went up on this rare and hard to find edition! ....bidding starts at $75.00