> 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 Any uP design is obsolete within 6 months to a year.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
I'm not sure that $3k is really that much on the high side. As an example, the board for SNK Vs. Capcom started out at something like $1600, normal Neo-Geo games start out at less that $1k, but are only a cartridge, this is the first one that they've released in a long time that was a Jamma PCB. Also a brand-new cabinet isn't exactly cheap. Of course the arcade systems based on modern 2D or 3D technology will cost you even more, the Neo-Geo games are based on mature hardware that's about 12-14 years old.
Still, in the case of Space Invaders, I'm wondering if they don't just have a PC in there with USB controllers. In that case the only real cost is the cabinet, and they are gouging.
Zane
--
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh_at_aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
Received on Sat Dec 06 2003 - 02:18:51 GMT