Submitted 5 months ago by sleepybisexual@beehaw.org to gaming@beehaw.org
The tech strore has a capcom arcade cabinet, its one of those multi game ones
Seems to be this model
arcade1up.com/collections/…/mvc2-arcade-game
The marvel vs capcom2 one
Why are cabinets so expensive?
I get they are bulky and licences exist but how do like 15 games make a 200 euro price increase
As someone who sometimes buys these, the price, when on sale, is often cheaper than buying wood and hardware to build my own outer cabinet, control deck and screen.
There’s trade-offs - the materials used aren’t quite as nice as I would pick, but then the included, already applied, art is very nice. And there’s the convenience of not having to plan out all the details like control layout, monitor, side art, top bezel.
To me, it’s really a piece of furniture, rather an affordable way to play the included games.
The CPU cores also only last about 5 years, for me. Which isn’t good, considering that a cheap modern computer will easily last 8-15 years.
I, personally, don’t give a ton of consideration to the included games. I’m really just buying the outer shell and licensed artwork. That’s what I’ll be looking at when not playing.
I’ll replace the innards with a Raspberry Pi when it dies, if not sooner. So I’ll play whatever games I want that fit the control scheme.
I also replace all of the controls, about half the time. The included controls outlast the CPU core, but don’t feel as nice to play on as a set that’s reasonably easy to replace them with.
So, they are just a fancy decoration?
So, they are just a fancy decoration?
Exactly. There’s so many better ways to play these games:
So the price is really due the piece of the decorated furniture off the cabinet.
If a new video game console is $500, a full size piece of furniture with custom art and a video console inside it sounds like a bargain for $600.
Not sure if that’s a good parallel.
The hardware in a console and a cabinet are very different
Yeah, the hardware in a console is mass produced, the hardware in an arcade cabinet is made in relatively small batches. Mass producing something is always a lot cheaper per unit due to economies of scale.
Depends on when it was made. A modern, multi-game cabinet could run entirely on a Raspberry Pi and cost far less to build than a console.
It’s a super luxury item with not just dedicated hardware but also carpentry and extra art
My internet tech came to setup a new ONT and had a bunch of time to kill so we talked about hobbies, I guess he builds arcade machines and was showing me pictures of all the wiring and woodwork he did plus programming to get it all functioning and the custom pc inside. It looked like a ton of work.
I gave him some spare 12th Gen i7 mobo combos for him to use in his builds as he said he was looking for more parts and usually puts in a 3080 video card in each
They can get really technical pretty fast
Nice :3
Didn’t think it would be that complex
Don’t look at the cost of Pinball machines.
Those things are complicated as fuck. An arcade cabinet is relatively simple compared to a pinball machine. Even modern ones still need all the moving parts for the board; video game just needs the computer, a controller and a screen.
The cabinet and it’s own electronics.
They have custom boards?
I thought they emulated nowadays
Yeah. You’re both right.
The board is a usually a cheap single board computer (usually running Android, and an emulator or two).
The board is custom to the extent that the operating system has been optimized to know that it’s running inside an arcade cabinet.
I own a couple actual vintage arcade machines and paid less for them than this. If you shop around you can find deals.
I also have one of these 1up cabs and it is definitely not like vintage. Software may be the same but it is using a modern monitor not a CRT. I think I paid around 300 for it several years ago. Not full size.
Oh, I’ve seen this cabinet in person! It’s much smaller than I expected and would be kind of awkward to actually use. I’m 6 foot, and I would have to look down at it to use it.
It’s cool, though. The artwork is really neat.
I think if I was going to get a cabinet, there were only two ways I would want to go about it.
I would probably make my own and spend a heck of a lot of time and money on it. It would be a pain to do, but the end product would be something that fits my tastes and works perfectly. Those cabinets that are essentially just big emulators seem to make the most sense to build imo.
acquiring a DDR machine. I have no idea if you can even build those. I mean, I guess you could, but those would probably be expensive as heck.
I built a custom GBA a while back and I think when it was said and done I spent around $300+ CAD on it? It was more expensive than it needed to be, but it was a fun project to try. I taught myself how to solder too, which was fun.
Yea. All retro games here are overpriced. I’ve seen bad condition gameboys go for about 100 euro
The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 5 months ago
IMO its a specialty market now, the demand isnt there to make a streamlined business model for a large enough profit for the investment