CHANGE
HISTORY
CHANGE
HISTORY5/28/00 Multi-Jamma
Somewhat off topic but of interest nonetheless... Clay Cowgill has released his Multi-Jamma kit for sale. Being an arcade collector as well as a build-your-own enthusiast, one day I'll have one of these kits for multi-game play in a Jamma cabinet. Very slick! --- saintFree Atari System 1 cabinet in San FranCisco. --- saintCustomArcade was kind enough to pass on to us one of their secrets that goes into their excellent arcade consoles and cabinets. Anyone can push "T" to tilt your pinball game, but what if you could just whack the side of your controller to do the same... pinball anyone? Thanks Ray! --- saintThis one is way overdue - they emailed me back in the end of March (yipes). Enter the OzStick, a commercial startup.The OzStick is a slick looking single arcade desktop joystick, with 4 buttons, interfaced to the game port. They offer 3 different button layouts, and feature Happ Controls Ultimate joysticks and pushbuttons. They cost $125 AUS (roughly $73 US) including postage and handling, and are only available COD. Obviously, they are based in the UK. I'd love to hear feedback from anyone purchasing from them! Welcome to the party OzStick!
I heard from another two vendors as regards their current status:The other vendors I haven't heard from, so what follows is my best understanding of their current status:
- ArcadeSolutions is presently not taking orders. They have a few orders outstanding that are being completed. Their web site is still available and they will probably be taking orders in a few months. The owner of Arcade Solutions is still in the midst of real life(TM) - moving into a new house, new job, new marriage... Presently his plans are open-ended, but we might see them return when things calm down :)
- Arcade2000 is presently restructuring. They ran into several of the difficulties that often strike new businesses. Presently they are working to make things right with their customers, and reworking some issues with suppliers and such. They can often be found on the chat room for those who want to talk to them directly.
- Stick-It was expected to start shipping the Stick-It 2 in April of 2000. They did not meet that date, and currently they are not returning emails. I've heard 3rd hand that they are restructuring their finances and expect to do business again shortly. There are a few reports from people who've pre-ordered who haven't heard from them.
- ZipStik appears to have disappeared altogether. Their old web site appears defunct, and their new domain they moved to no longer exists. They have not returned emails. The last word I had some time ago was that I was to receive a unit for review. I don't know anything further about ZipStik.
- ArcadePC/HotRod/Hanaho has not had a chance to give me an update, but is very much alive and active. Most recently seen at E3, Hanaho's products continue to be available.
- Mas Systems has never in 2 years answered a single email of the many that I've sent them. I heard from one person who finally got ahold of them on the phone and ordered a product. The person said their order arrived promptly. Draw your own conclusions.--- saint
Many folks are using keyboard encoders from Hagstrom - be it the LP24, KE24, KE72T, etc... I'm interested in collecting config files for the encoders and making them available for download. Got one you want to share? Send it my way. Thanks! --- saintIn order to 1. Get faster responses to people looking for help, and 2. cut down on some of the email that would be best answered elsewhere, I've changed the main email link to point to a new "contact" page. Please give me feedback - is this annoying or helpful? There are times people have waited weeks for me to tell them "the answer is on this page" or "ask on the message board." Also, I'm beginning to think of tweaking the look and feel of the FAQ somewhat to make it easier on the eyes, so comments on the look and feel of the contact page are welcome as well. Thanks! --- saintWeb site still in development, but online ordering apparently operational. Vektorlogic.---saintBarcadeis temporarily offline. The link still works, but he no longer can update it because that account is no longer active. When he has a new site we'll announce it here. ---saintSkygodd's done it again - enter his 4th(!) arcade cabinet, the Mark IV! This one is not only fairly cool, it's also for sale :) This one features an I-PAC! --- saintI *think* this came from Retrocade, though I cannot swear to that now. At any rate, any arcade aficionado should take a look at Syzygy magazine. Looks like it's going to be cool :) Added to the links page. --- saintc0nsumer sent me updates to the control panel template he sent earlier. These are in Pagemaker 6 format, and there's a 6 button (250kb) and an 8 button (256 kb) version. Thanks again c0nsumer! --- saintMagnet Eye passed on to me heads up about another N64 to USB interface called the Adaptoid. It not only allows you to use your N64 controller on a PC via USB port, it also supports rumble-to-force feedback. If you've already gotten one, you need to download the latest drivers if you haven't. From their web site:The latest driver is 1.2.78 (beta) which has a brand new rumble effects engine which greatly improves DirectX force feedback over the previous driver. As with the last driver release, it has support for Win2000, rumble support for multiple adaptoids simultaneously, allows rearranging of the controller button ordering, and has a driver installer/uninstaller. See the readme file for complete details.Looks great - thanks Magnet Eye! --- saintAdded gravutil (176kb) - a utility to test your gameports, joysticks and buttons, with support for various Gravis products and generic joysticks. Thanks Mikey! --- saintAdded Johnny's MAME cabaret cabinets to the examples page. One of the two cabinets is a driving cabinet, with steering wheel and pedal, that should be of interest to anyone looking to run racing games. Very cool. This makes #134 and #135 on the page now! (Should that count as 1 or 2 projects? Let me know) --- Tom61The author of the emu front end MEWL sent me word that he's also got his own arcade cabinet project - Sith's Arcade. This is an in-work cabinet with one heck of a big control panel, 2 joysticks and a trackball, networked, etc... Very nice. This makes #135 on the page now!Added MyArcade to the examples page - a from-scratch built cabinet based on the Defender cabinet, with swappable control panels. Still a work in progress but looks good :) This makes #136 on the page now!Added Commando MAME Project to the examples page - a PC2Jamma project made from a Commando Cabinet. This makes #137 on the page now!Added the PsyStick to the examples page - a SNES pad hack with a well done web page. Very neatly done, with a nice shopping list summarized. This makes #138 on the page now!Added Emulaxian to the examples page - an I-PAC driven arcade cabinet project featuring a customized front end, an overlay you can printout to use yourself, and a slick web page design. Very cool - this makes #138 on the page now!Added another comment/review on the I-PAC to the reviews page. (Short form: It's positive :) )...Another one I've had for a while - Greg sent in a review for the Arcade Solutions console he purchased, and he's quite pleased. It's a heck of a control panel, with 2 sticks, trackball and spinner, side handle for easy transport, and a slew of buttons. Added to the reviews page.Well, that was a bit of a catchup :) I still have 300 email messages I've let stack up to go through, yipes! More to come!
5/24/00
I sent email to all the arcade control vendors to see if they could give me their current status - taking orders, shipping orders, new products, etc... So far I've heard from only one vendor... CustomArcade! Here's what they have to say:Here is the "Official" Status on CustomArcade. Currently we are Not accepting orders during our restructuring. The Long and Short of our current trouble is A- One of the founding members of CustomArcade has left the company and created a HUGE vacuum that I am currently trying to fill. B- some basic problems arose when we started shipping the first batch of controllers. Mostly with interchangeability and our soon-to-be-completed front-End. We have stepped back and have several things happening in the background. 1- A web site redesign, 2- CustomArcade Front-End Development, 3- A New Investor.Definitely exciting news - good luck Ray! If/when I get news from the other vendors, I'll post it here :)Our Target is to be back in full swing by CGE2000, but a lot of it is going to depend on Some Third Party Support Vendors we are Currently working with.
Dondi sent me his new project, Coctail Arcade Project! It's a very cool cocktail cabinet, with a spinner and two sticks on one side, a trackball and two sticks on the other. This makes project #133! (Yes, this is a repeat #. Somewhere we got off-track by 1.)In case anyone's interested, here's the breakdown of the new PC I bought. Everyone's advice was very helpful and convinced me to change a few decisions. The machine absolutely rocks - zero glitches, games are a scream, 3d graphics rock, I'm watching TV on it as I write this up, and did I mention it's fast? :)
- Pentium III 600Mhz
- 128 MB SDRAM @ 133mhz
- ATI All-In-Wonder 128 PRO video board
- Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live Value
- 19" monitor
- 10x DVD (Heavy Metal (the movie) wide screen rocks)
- 20 gig IBM Deskstar hard drive (7200 RPM, UltraDMA 66)
There's a Galaga MAME cabinet for sale.Fultra Spinner has updated their web site with some reviews from a few of their customers. I've got them mirrored here. I should be getting my hands on one soon :)If you missed this update on Retrogames last week, be sure to visit GameFont - a site with Windows True Type fonts ripped from arcade games. Very cool for arcade cabinets :) Added to the links page.Also already mentioned on a few other sites, but last week HotRod emailed me with some pictures they snapped at E3. Very cool :)Chris of the Arcade Macstick wrote me with his newest project. He hacked an Apple USB keyboard to use as an interface, and wrote up his findings. Thanks Chris!Once again I'm behind on my email. New projects to add, more things to talk about... I'll try to update soon :)
5/1/00
I'm buying a new PC so that I can use my current one in my arcade cabinet project. I've posted a message with the specs I'm looking at - your opinions are much wanted, please read the message and let me know what you think :)Thanks!