Space Invaders returning to arcades...

From: Dwight K. Elvey <dwight.elvey_at_amd.com>
Date: Fri Dec 5 15:44:26 2003

>From: "Teo Zenios" <teoz_at_neo.rr.com>
>
>
>
>> Its ridiculous price gouging, the cost to put such a unit together is
>under
>> $400. Midway has been doing this same thing for a while with its Ms Pac
>> Man/Galaga units, Atari has a Missile Command/Millipede/Centipede machine
>> out there and one thing that article doesn't mention is just like the
>Midway
>> machine, the Taito unit is also a dual machine with both Space Invaders
>and
>> Qix together...
>>
>> These are already available in the US, Frontgate has them for $3495 each,
>> you can also find them through Amazon.com and Walmart.com as well... all
>> way overpriced.
>>
>>
>> Curt
>
>Companies need to make a profit, they more they can squeeze out of a
>customer the better. These units are for arcades I assume, where the
>operator will make the money back and hopefully then some from kids with
>pockets full of cash. Not many home users would spend $400 let alone $3495
>for a cabinet with just 1 or 2 games in it.
>
>I would pump a few quarters into a pacman machine if I ran into one
>somewhere just because I played quite a few games on them when they were
>originally released (more quarters then I care to think about).
>
>

Hi
 One thing to consider. If they were making so much money that it
was a overwelming gouge, other would compete against them. Arcade
machines are not cheap to make. Doing 10K units of a 10 year lifetime
is not a large run. The CPU board is most likely designed in house
because they can not depend on outside vendors to keep an obsolete
design. Any uP design is obsolete within 6 months to a year. They
need a longer product life. Knowing the methods used to create
these arcade machines, I would say that $3K is a little on the
high side but not all that much. One wouldn't stay in business doing
these for anything less then $2.5K. Maybe you know something I don't.
Dwight
Received on Fri Dec 05 2003 - 15:44:26 GMT