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Star Wars Flight Yoke
Marvincade:
It could possibly be made to look like the old. I am personally not sure of the legal claims Atari might have on an exact reproduction. That may kill the idea entirely. I should say I got a tour of the company which was pretty cool. They make the flight yoke for the Apache helicopter, among other things. The president was pushing for new and improved but he did say an exact repro could be done.
paigeoliver:
Atari as an arcade entity doesn't really exist. I wouldn't worry about them coming after your yoke repro, they haven't come after any OTHER repro makers, including the ones bootlegging their games, so your yoke should be quite safe.
You would be best to do an EXACT copy of the Star Wars one, that way classic collectors and mamers both would buy them.
No matter which design you select, might I suggest getting yoke overlays made so prospective buyers can order an overlay with their yoke?
Marvincade:
Unfortunately the whole enterprise is somewhat risky. If I wanted to build 100 units at $200 a shot, that is $20K. I do not have any thing close to $20K, so the there must be a demand or it is not worth it. I love arcade gaming but getting stuck with 50 SW yokes in my basement would not be funny.
paigeoliver:
You might want to simply hook up one of the arcade repro companies with the contact info and have them do it.
Or, you can take pre-orders and not have them built until you get 100 pre-orders.
This is something that should probably be done by Oscar or Slickstick or Andy or someone already in the business.
Xiaou2:
I think if you get a nice working prototype manufactured... take some nice pics from all angles... You will get many orders for the units.
Many Starwars cabs are still out there that could use a new yoke... as well as so many mame'rs that have played starwars in the arcade and want a perfect yoke.
The only thing Id do is to have all the buttons seperately wired. That way, you'd be able to have 4 buttons instead of 2. Arcade installers could just wire the extra's together.
Once you get the website up... then start taking pre-orders. If for some reason you can not get the stuff produced... just refund the pre-order.
As for the comment about 'Oscar or Slickstick or Andy' doing this... well that is not really nessessary.
Oscar had not shown much interest in making the yokes... or if memmory serves right... didnt attempt due to high costs. This is a valid reason... however... If anyone can effeciently and effectively build a flight yoke...its a yoke manufacturist! Nice call. :)
You may need to get a loan to start the process though. And it couldnt hurt to get help from various sources of information.
Btw - he said arround 200$... but at what quantity? Make sure low quantities will stay the same costs...as well as if high quantities are able to be realized.
Obviously, you should go to other manufacturers to ask for comparison pricing quotes. Quality is not compromisable though.
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