Space Invaders returning to arcades...

From: der Mouse <mouse_at_Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
Date: Fri Dec 5 16:28:47 2003

["Dwight K. Elvey" <dwight.elvey_at_amd.com>, writing about a $2,772 price
for a new Space Invaders arcade box]
> One thing to consider. If they were making so much money that it was
> a overwelming gouge, other would compete against them.

Good point.

> Arcade machines are not cheap to make.

Also true - and don't forget that while you can maybe put together a
MAME box running the game for $500, you need not only that but all the
original human-interface devices (joystick etc), _and_ they need to be
able to stand up under years of arcade-level punishment, including
exasperated gorillas getting fed up with the game and shoving the
joystick hard enough to shake the whole box.

I have a spinner connected up to one of my parallel ports. The
human-interface part of it is a $75 optical shaft encoder. It works
fine for me, but it couldn't handle people getting rough with it; even
at quantity-1e4 prices, I wouldn't want to put anything less than $100
into the spinner. (Space Invaders may not use a spinner, but the
principle applies.) The cabinet is another $100, perhaps more after
you include all the artwork...by the time you add it all up and add a
couple of layers' markup, $2772 doesn't sound unreasonable.

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Received on Fri Dec 05 2003 - 16:28:47 GMT

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