my arcade project is an exercise in frustration
\Begin rant. Grrrrrrrrr......grrrrrrrrrr. Skip this post if you hate rants. My arcade project seems destined for the garbage pile. Here is where I'm at with things:
1. Buy huge ass computer monitor (27") for dirt cheap - Great so far
2. Get my old computer to run the arcade games on - Excellent cheap idea
3. Try to play arcade games on said pc only to watch them run at 12 frames per second - So much for that idea
4. Go to arcade auction to buy an arcade cabinet for cheap (cheap is a recurring theme with me. Hey, I'm on a budget alright!) - Crashed and burned
5. Watch ebay for other empty arcade cabinets to buy - Lots of choices, good plan
6. Read up on the MAME community forums to learn more about making MAME run better on older pcs - Should have thought of that the first time!
7. Get hyped up when I manage to get quite a few games running on the old pc - Woo Hoo!
8. Rage in burning anger when the CD drive won't recognize the CD-RW's that have all the game files on them - Not good. This is not good...
9. Reflect on how much this is going to cost to build. Around $400 using the old pc. Around $800 if building a new pc - Ouch. Starting to lose it
10. Thinking about the cost some more while noticing those purty graphics on the next-gen video game consoles - wipe drool off chin
I'm currently debating on giving up the whole arcade cabinet. I'll still be able to play all the arcade games on my laptop whenever I want, it just won't have the "authentic" feel of the joysticks and buttons. Right now though, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking.....you know what?......Screw "authentic!" I can save a bunch of that money I would spend on "authentic" and get an Xbox 360 or PS3. I'll still be able to play the "oldies." It's like having your cake and eating it too. It's like a chocolate/vanilla twist ice cream cone. That sounded dumb - let me try again. It's like having not only Dana Scully on the case, but Fox Mulder too! That makes even less sense.... Ok, one last time. It's like, uh, it's like....uh...
So anyways, what good is a next-gen console without an HDTV?
(What am I getting myself into?)
I think I need to just take a break from the whole arcade project for a while and figure out what I really want to do. End Rant/
3 comments:
If you really wanted that arcade feel, I'm sure you could easily...
(I say easily because its easy-er than to have actually done it myself)
...take an existing arcade stick from any system old/new. Older better=cheaper! and mod it to your heart's content with a USB cable that would plug right into your laptop- yet still be portable for easy storage! HUGE arcade stick with all the trimmings and none of the mess...sort of.
Eh? Huh? what? WHAT?? OKAY!!!
So before you pull the plug (yeah, that was coming) I'd give this one last shot-
If it still doesn't work.....
....then I got nothing.
Remember though, you have plenty of chums that have video game systems that they'll always be glad to have you over to play.
Jeff out.
Dan, I would really like to see more in your series of comic books from your youth. I keep coming to this site hoping to see more, but get disappointed every time. As a fellow comic book fan, I really enjoyed your last one. Keep them up
Joel, I keep meaning to post more of comics from my collection, but I keep running out of time. Stay tuned though, I've been trying to get to that soon.
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