Project Arcade
David Kidd
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Sep 8, 2004 12:00 AM
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John Wiley & Sons |
RRP: $47 (time of review)
Overall Rating: 
User Rating: No user ratings.
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Project Arcade, subtitled Build Your Own Arcade Machine, takes a shot at being the definitive guide to sticking a PC into a wooden cabinet for the single purpose of playing retro arcade games. It's a big task, and author John St. Clair almost gets there.
Project Arcade, subtitled Build Your Own Arcade Machine, takes a shot at being the definitive guide to sticking a PC into a wooden cabinet for the single purpose of playing retro arcade games. It's a big task, and author John St. Clair almost gets there.
Starting with basic carpentry, the first chapters are devoted to sourcing plans, buying equipment, and sticking it all together. Later, we get into PC integration and get exposed to the world of hacking keyboard ports and gamepads. If you've never considered building an arcade cabinet before, this is a whole new world that blends hobbyist woodworking and PCs together.
It's packed full of links and online resources and the accompanying CD-ROM features software, drivers and colour versions of the poor quality black and white images on each page. Unfortunately, arcade building is getting more and more creative these days, and the guide glosses over other developments like Linux-based live emulator CDs, incorporating wireless networking, and using fileservers.
Ultimately, rather than being the definitive guide, it's a launchpad into home arcade building and a solid introduction for beginners.
This article appeared in the
October, 2004 issue of PC Authority.