Blog On Hold

Something I need to mention... in case you are wondering what is going on with the blog and the lack of posts in recent days, I have decided to put it in a holding pattern until I have resolved -- or at least made progress with -- some personal issues.

To my friends, I have always tried to be honest about personal issues, or at least honest in that I am having them because I don't like to keep people hanging, wondering what's up or why I might be acting differently. I need to sort priorities and F As In Fun is not one of them. Not at this point in time. But I wanted to let you know.

I will hopefully return and things will be back to normal but to be honest I just do not know when that will be. It may take six weeks or six months or even longer, I don't know. But I am hopeful. I ask for your support and good vibes because I am going to need it.

As always, thank you for being here and I hope to see you soon.

Mr. Fun

Spring Is In The Air

And that means the start of my busy season! Parties will be ramping up once again and I am very much looking forward to spinning!

If you're thinking about having a get together, let me know. I'm affordable and I guarantee you'll have a freaking fantastic time!

Head over to my DJ blog for updates and more info...

My Yu Suzuki Interview Part 3

Here is the conclusion of my 2000 Game Developers Conference interview with Yu Suzuki...

PART 3

THE FUTURE

GameWEEK: Are you trying to focus at all on networking? Broadband?

Yu Suzuki: I am not focused on bandwidth but I am interested in networking. Rather than width, I am concentrating on latency. With the right compression techniques you do not need large bandwidth. We can still do more with narrowband.

GW: Do you see any latency breakthroughs in the near future?

YS: (starts doodling a sketch of the Earth) Light is the fastest speed known. But even light can only go around the world 7.5 times in one second. We are limited. If you find something that is faster, please let me know! (laughs) Really though, to play Virtua Fighter against someone on the other side of the planet is not possible.

More notes by Suzuki-san. Note the "Earth" doodle

and the number "7.5"

GW: What inspires you?

YS: I watch many movies -- lately, around 30 each month. My all-time favorite is Cassablanca. "Bogey" is the best! I like The Matrix too, although doing that as a game would be very difficult... almost impossible. One other movie I enjoy is Die-Hard. That would be an exciting game, don't you think? I do not usually watch movies for enjoyment but I do study them to aid in my research.

Yu Suzuki is a big fan of the movie Die-Hard

and thinks it would translate into a great video game.

Sega did eventually publish Die-Hard Arcade
but that game had little to do with the actual movie

GW: What do you think of PlayStation 2? X-Box?

YS: (pauses) PlayStation 2 is good at games like Ridge Racer V and Kessen. Lots of motion capability. A game like Shenmue however, would be almost impossible to do on it since it needs to rely heavily on texture memory. X-Box? It sounds very impressive.

GW: Do you like the hard-drive on X-Box?

YS: The hard-drive does not really interest me. You do not need that as much as you need the rendering power.

GW: What can you tell us about Hikaru, Sega's new arcade board? How much more powerful is it than Naomi -- one and a half times, perhaps?

YS: Hikaru is a lot more powerful than that; a lot more powerful than Naomi. (looks at Sega publicist) I would like to tell you but I cannot say more than that right now.

GW: How many total chapters do you think we'll see in the Shenmue series?

YS: Chapters are different from game releases. Shenmue 2 will probably cover chapter two through six.

A scene from Shenmue 2. The game was published

as a Dreamcast title in Europe and as an X-Box game

here in North America

GW: How many releases total, though, do you think?

YS: I do not know yet.

GW: Can you tell us anything about Shenmue 2?

YS: As you probably know, it takes place in Hong Kong. Currently, we are doing tests on what can be done. Shenmue -- the first game -- is a child. By that, I mean it is the first game of its kind that we have done, so it will mature over time. Things you will see in Shenmue 2 will be very much improved -- graphics, gameplay... everything. I am saying 50 characters on screen at one time! There will also be much more action and a faster pace. We are working on new ways to get more out of Dreamcast, which I cannot reveal at this time. Shenmue 2 will demonstrate this, though. By Shenmue 3, I will turn the first game into a dinosaur!

As the interview ended and we gathered our things, Yu Suzuki's translator pulled me to the side and said, "He really likes you. He likes the questions you ask and he says you know so much about Sega. He wants to know if you would like to talk more outside." Naturally I accepted the offer. Once outside the convention center Suzuki-san offered me a cigarette and a chance to ask more questions. "He is happy to answer more of your questions," the translator said.

Smoking our cigarettes, Yu Suzuki and I continued our conversation with the translator present. We talked about everything from movies and games to sports cars and women; all the stuff two guys talk about when they're hanging out. Much to my surprise, he asked me for my honest opinion regarding Dreamcast and its position in the North American market. I voiced my concerns. Suzuki-san also said he wanted to tell me a secret -- on the condition I would not divulge it in print. I gave my word.

It is now 2010 so I feel I can safely speak of the secret. Suzuki-san explained that Dreamcast was underperforming and looked to be in trouble. He also told me that Sega was working on games for the X-Box... and that Shenmue 2 and even Shenmue 3 would likely be X-Box exclusives! I could not believe he was telling me this.

As we shook hands to part ways, Suzuki-san extended an invitation for me to stay at his residence should I visit Japan in the future. I had actually bonded with one of my idols. It was surreal.

My Yu Suzuki Interview Part 2

It was March of 2000. As my great friend and editor Ben Rinaldi and I sat across the table from Yu Suzuki during the Game Developer's Conference in San Jose, we couldn't help but become enamored. Here was a man who literally helped change the course of video game development with titles like Hang-On, Space Harrier, Virtua Fighter -- and now, Shenmue! Through his translator and publicist, Tomoaki Inoue, Suzuki-san very pleasantly answered questions and offered his perspective on gaming in general...

PART 2

COMING TO AMERICA

GameWEEK: You are directly overseeing the localization of Shenmue, is that correct?

Yu Suzuki: Yes, that is correct.

GW: Are there American voice actors involved?

YS: Yes. There are subtitles, but there are also English voice-overs for all of the 350 characters. We auditioned and came up with 200 voice actors for these roles.

A cut scene in Shenmue

Shenmue: A world so rich and detailed,

even the soda machines are operational

GW: What about all of the signs and nameplates? Will they be changed to read in English?

YS: In the American version, when you view a nameplate, it zooms in close and reads in Japanese, but there is also a subtitle below in English. The street maps are in Japanese and English.

Notes written by Yu Suzuki during the interview

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS

GW: What is it like to work for the console market, versus the arcade market?

YS: For Shenmue -- for console -- the main difference was the size of the team. There are other differences though. To do arcade titles we have to look at a lot of things like motion control and cabinet design, for example.

GW: Arcade or console... do you have a preference?

YS: Designing for both console and arcade is a lot of fun. When I made F355 Challenge for the arcade, I was able to go to the circuit to gather data. I went to Maranello to meet with the Ferrari people. Not only that, but there was a great restaurant across the street from Ferrari headquarters! (laughs)

GW: When might we see F355 Challenge on Dreamcast?

YS: (Sega publicist quickly jumps in to discourage a response) I cannot say that right now.

NOTE: Not long after this interview I was able to pry the truth regarding F355 Challenge out of an industry friend... Acclaim (or Ack-lame as I used to refer to them) had contracted to publish the game. I can't recall why this was the case, maybe low sales expectations on Sega's part?

F355 Challenge was a beautiful Dreamcast game

and -- with the exception of not being rendered on

three screens -- faithful to the arcade version in many ways

GW: Outrun was a popular game in America. Might we see a sequel sometime?

YS: (glances at Sega publicist) Uh, next question? (laughs)

GW: How many projects do you oversee at any one time?

YS: No more than two at once so I can stay directly involved.

GW: Are there any differences in the work environment since CSK Corporation took AM2 under its wing?

YS: Not many. I am currently trying to come up with a new company name.

GW: What are your feelings about the decline of the arcade market?

YS: The small, dirty places in Japan will disappear soon. The big, clean locations will survive. This will actually benefit Sega. (referring to places like GameWorks in the U.S.) Sega is also planning to connect locations with fiber optic lines to offer network play. I'm not sure when that's going to happen, but... (Sega publicist jumps in again) Uh, I did read in the paper recently that our president said he has a goal in mind...

GW: Would that goal be sometime this year?

YS: Not too far away.

GW: Sega's arcade divisions -- AM2, for example -- have always been known for innovation. Suzuki-san, you've contributed so many unique gameplay concepts and many times others imitate those concepts. You do Afterburner, Namco does Ace Combat. You do Virtua Fighter, Namco does...

YS: I am glad you brought that up. After I completed the first Virtua Fighter for arcades, one of my leading members left to become a Namco employee. He also took a few programmers with him.

GW: Tekken...

YS: Yes, Tekken.

Tomorrow: Part 3, the final installment of my interview with Yu Suzuki

My Yu Suzuki Interview Part 1

While working in the video game industry I was incredibly fortunate for many reasons. To be perfectly honest it was dream come true, that's really the only way for me to describe it. Not only did I work with so many amazingly talented people, I made friends with dozens of awesome individuals who loved gaming as much as I did. I was also able to meet some of my heroes inside the industry; people like Shigeru Miyamoto, Dave Perry, Yuji Naka and Yu Suzuki.

When I was employed with GameWEEK as managing editor, I sat down to interview Sega's Yu Suzuki during the Game Developer's Conference in San Jose. It was, without question, one of the shining moments of my career and I will never forget it. As part of my salute to Shenmue and its 10-year anniversary, I decided to bring you that interview, originally conducted in March of 2000. It is broken down into three parts.

Here it is, part 1 of my GameWEEK Yu Suzuki interview...

PART 1

INTRODUCTION

Throughout all of the good times and bad times over the last fifteen years, Sega has owed much of its staying power to one man. His name is Yu Suzuki.

Graduating from The Okayama University of Science, Yu Suzuki joined Sega Enterprises in 1983 with an Electronic Science major in hand. It didn't take the young programmer very long to get noticed by company officials. Two years after starting his employment, he finished his very first arcade game, Hang-On. It was an instant success. Since that time, Sega's creative front man -- who turns 42 years-old this month -- has managed to come up with hit after hit for the coin-operated amusement industry, with many titles making their way to Sega's home consoles such as Genesis, Saturn and more recently, Dreamcast.

Currently positioned as corporate VP of software R&D, Suzuki is best known as the mastermind behind Sega's Virtua Fighter series. So much so, in fact, that The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has a Virtua Fighter cabinet on display in Washington D.C.

And then there's Shenmue, Sega's "do or die" Dreamcast game. Taking five years and a reported $40 million to produce, Shenmue is the most ambitious, most expensive video game ever assembled. A sort of "RPG/Adventure/Fighting" hybrid, the game was released in Japan late last year and was praised not only for its innovative approach, but its sheer size and scope. A four GD-ROM set, Shenmue is currently undergoing localization and is scheduled to release in the U.S. this fall.

A whole hell of a lot is riding on Shenmue's release in America and no one knows that better than Sega itself. How will gamers in this country react to Shenmue's unorthodox gameplay? How tightly will players embrace a game so heavily steeped in Japanese culture? No one knows for certain but in the meantime Suzuki was kind enough to sit down with GameWEEK for lunch during the recent Game Developer's Conference in San Jose. Here's what the "King of All Arcades" had to say...

THE PURSUIT OF REALITY

GameWEEK: What kind of feedback have you been getting so far from Shenmue players in your country?

Yu Suzuki: The fourth disc in Shenmue -- the Passport disc -- lets users go online to the Shenmue homepage and allows us to receive data from those users. We are getting a lot of feedback. Only one out of 30 responses has been negative. With the Passport disc, users can go in and leave specific comments regarding what they liked or what they did not about the game through the BBS we have in place (this will likely be the case with the U.S. version of Shenmue as well -Jim). Some users are telling us they would like the control to be improved in Shenmue 2. I will see to this.

GW: Are there things that you would have liked to include in the first chapter, but did not due to time constraints?

YS: There are many. Some of these we hope to include in Shenmue 2.

Shenmue's immersive world is like no other

GW: The sounds... dogs barking; children playing; the gurgling water from the Koi pond... did it take a long time to put it all together?

YS: Yes, it consumed a lot of time and data. I worked with many sound effects people in the movie industry (grabs a pen and begins to sketch on Sega company letterhead). Let's say there's a shop here playing music. Then there's a speaker attached to a pole down on this end of the street playing a different song. So when the character walks through here, you can actually feel the sound of one song fade and the the other song get louder. Let's say there's an icy spot, a snowy spot, a dirt spot, a concrete spot and a puddle. The sound of Ryo's footsteps changes as he walks over these different surfaces.

GW: With regard to realism, how far do we have to go to experience the ultimate "living world" in a game?

YS: I did not pursue realism. I pursued reality. It's different. (pauses) If I could pose a question to you, how many interesting or fun things happened to you last week?

GW: Very few.

YS: (smiles) Yes, that is realism. Realism is boring. In a game you have to have one exciting event at least every ten minutes to make it entertaining.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

GW: The QTEs (Quick Timer Events)... we like them a lot. What's the feedback been on them? Will you continue to feature QTEs in future chapters?

YS: There are barely any negatives on the QTEs so we will probably include more in the future. The QTEs are very easy to grasp for all players.

An example of a QTE in Shenmue

GW: There was a bit of concern here in the states that the QTEs might be a bit unexciting, similar to the gameplay introduced with Dragon's Lair. Are you familiar with the laserdisc games of the mid 80's?

YS: Yes, I am familiar with the games you are referring to. For QTEs though, the options are more complex, and you can try over and over. For the type where you only get one chance, the timing is a bit broader, a bit easier. For QTEs the game branches off the story depending on the result. As you make each attempt at a QTE, the timing shifts so that if you fail, the next try will be a bit easier. This makes it totally different than Dragon's Lair-type games.

GW: The Free Battle system... there's a lot more complexity there. How satisfied were you with this portion of the game?

YS: Hmmm... sixty, maybe seventy percent. If I tailored it to the complexity of Virtua Fighter, normal people wouldn't be able to play it. The timing in a real fighting game is very critical (begins thumping his fingers on the table)... it's all about how fast you can react. An RPG is a game where you have to use your brain. Shenmue is a totally different type of game. Having a real, true type of fighting game in Shenmue would not be good. What I am saying here is that the Free Battle system in Shenmue is totally different from that of Virtua Fighter, so you can just randomly press buttons and win in Shenmue (starts pounding his fingers on the table at a frantic pace).

Virtua Fighter 2

GW: I understand... we refer to that as "button mashing" in the U.S. Was this done so that young children would be able to play as well?

YS: Yes, but most kids are pretty good already!

GW: Do you enjoy playing games?

YS: I do enjoy Puyo Puyo very much, but I do not have much time to play. I also like playing air hockey with my daughter. The games with the hammer and the little animals in the holes is a lot of fun, too!

GW: You need a Whack-A-Mole game in Shenmue 2!

YS: I will try!

The YOU Arcade in Shenmue

GW: The slot machines in Shenmue are very realistic...

YS: Yes. The payout rate is different for the machines. If you go to the fortune-teller, she will tell you your "lucky number" for the week, say, number 16. Then you can try that machine for better results. Every week the casino manager changes the payout rate. The slots were made with high accuracy. We've done enough tests to meet the standards of Las Vegas machines. They were tested 50,000 times. Of course, we had the computer do it! (laughs) Another thing... the jukebox in the game is the same model as the very first jukebox Sega ever made.

GW: Unbelievable. That is serious dedication.

YS: Going back to your earlier question about what I wanted to include in Shenmue, there is one thing I wanted to do but I did not have the time. There's a pool table in the back of the MJQ bar. I really wanted to make the perfect 9-ball. I love billiards and I would very much like to do that in Shenmue 2.

Tomorrow: Part 2 of my interview with Yu Suzuki

Shenmue Is 10 Years Old

On November 6th of this year, Shenmue (Sega, Dreamcast) will be ten years old — at least to gamers here in North America. The game was released in Japan in 1999 so technically Shenmue is already ten years old. Hard to believe.

The reason I even bring this up is due mainly to Sega's recent release of Yakuza 3 for the PlayStation 3. Yakuza 3 has me thinking a lot about Shenmue and just how great and special that game was for its time. Yu Suzuki introduced a lot of fresh ideas and he created the first game world you could feel as if you were actually living in. Not only were the graphics better than any other console game at that time, the gameplay was incredibly unique.

Shenmue on Dreamcast (Sega, 2000)

Yakuza 3 on PlayStation 3 (Sega, 2010)

I am not afraid to admit, Shenmue was not perfect. But even if you factor in some of the game's missteps — the lengthy cut scenes and terrible English voice dubbing to name two glaring examples — it was truly an amazing piece of work and way ahead of its time, thanks to one man: Sega's Yu Suzuki.

During my time at GameWeek I sat down to interview Yu Suzuki. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Through his interpreter, Suzuki-san answered many questions I had regarding the state of Dreamcast, the creation of games, and the video game industry as a whole. It was almost an out-of-body experience to be sitting at a table with such a well respected game development icon and one of my personal idols. At the end of the interview, Suzuki-san joyfully signed my copy of Shenmue.

Yup, that was ten years ago. As part of my tribute to Yu Suzuki and his magnum opus, I am planning to post the interview, in its entirety, very soon.

My Burger King Rant

First of all let me just get this out of the way right now: Burger King's french fries are the very definition of fail. Only a mentally deficient ass-wad would savor the taste of those godforsaken shit fries. The texture is terrible and they have no flavor. Why in the name of Jesus and baby Jesus did they ever change their fries? I don't know of one single person who has defended those fecal fries, not one. I mean, yeah, I understand experimentation to a degree. Change things up a little, see what happens. Maybe sales go up. But Burger King's fries suck it hard. It's pretty sad when you can make better tasting fries using the frozen ones from the grocery store. Coke changed their product years ago... but when everyone and their brother bitched and moaned about the inferior taste of "New Coke," Coke went ahead and did the right thing... THEY CHANGED IT BACK!

Okay so that wasn't really my rant. Here's my rant. I went through a Burger King drive through a few weeks ago and ordered a variation of my usual Whopper with cheese, no tomato. This time I asked for a Whopper with cheese, no tomato... and extra lettuce.

I give my order to the chick on the other end of the craptacular speaker box. She says back to me, "Okay, you aware that extra lettuce costs extra?" I said, "Um. Okay. But I asked for no tomato... if you are taking the tomato away and replacing it with lettuce then why does the extra lettuce cost extra?" The stupid chick says, "Okay, I see. Pull around."

She didn't charge me extra for the lettuce because I called her on it. But think how many millions of dollars Burger King has made off of people like me. In all seriousness, I know the extra 30 cents or so is no huge deal... but every once in a while I see something that I have to call out based soley on principle or just pure common sense. I wanted to make a point with the extra lettuce thing and it made me feel a tiny bit vindicated.

And furthermore... based on this "toppings pricing formula," every time I ask for no tomato (which I have been doing for more than twenty years) shouldn't Burger King DEDUCT 30 cents from the price of my Whopper? Shouldn't they... seriously? F#*%ing assholes.


So I just Googled "Burger King charges extra" and I found something interesting. It involves Burger King and the fleecing of America with its evil "charge extra for toppings" policy. The embed wouldn't work but here, watch this video clip from an ABC News affiliate in New York.The bottom line is this. Other than telling them that they need to wake up and realize they have the absolute worst fries on the face of the earth, I would like to say one thing to the executives at Burger King: IF A CUSTOMER IS ASKING FOR ONE CONDIMENT IN PLACE OF ANOTHER CONDIMENT, WHY THE F#*% ARE YOU CHARGING THEM, YOU EVIL F#*%S?

Rant over.

Happy Saint Pats

I'm Irish but to be honest I don't really give a shit. This picture's nice though:

Circus Liquor

... where it's nothin' but a party 24/7!

Actually, this place is for real. It's located in North Hollywood, California. When I lived in L.A. back in the mid 90's my best friend in the world and I stopped here one day to pick up some kegs for a party. Liquor and clowns... a nice combo. And they treat you like family.

Seriously though, I always admired the unique vibe. Makes you wanna party even harder when you see how much fun it is to be a clown. Here's a shot of the place lit up at night:

Circus Liquor has even been featured in movies -- three of them, according to IMDb: Clueless, Spun, and Alpha Dog.

Great Mysteries Of The Universe #1 In A Series: Urinal Pubes

I'd like to know who the dude is who can't keep his pubes to himself. Who is this mystery guy?

Everywhere I go they are there. Pubes. They just appear like magic. And it doesn't make sense.

I have never -- at least no time that I am aware of -- ever floated one of my pubes onto a urinal while taking a leak. Ever!

What, is the dude scratching his patch? Is he plucking them out?

I can almost understand maybe seeing them in a truck-stop bathroom. Or a rest area men's room. But I see them everywhere. Doesn't matter if it's a fancy restaurant or even a cruise ship in the middle of the Caribbean, the mystery pubes are there.

Is it really so hard to take a leak and not shed pubes onto the bowl? I guess the point of my post is this: seeing someone's dirty pubes on a urinal just makes me angry. What do you think, does it piss you off too?

By the way there's a "Biggest Urinal Pet Peeve" poll you can take over at Poop Report dot com. Click here.

The Chronicles of MAME

Back in November I picked up an old, gutted-out arcade cabinet off of some dude on Craigslist. The plan was to refurbish the beast and convert it into a MAME machine (the original post can be found here.) Now, four months and many 12-packs later, the transformation is complete.

* Note: you can click on any of the pictures for a larger view

The gutted cabinet

First let me tell you something upfront before I go any further: If I can do this, anyone can do this. I am an artist by nature but -- much to the chagrin of most people, even those who know me well -- that does not qualify me as a builder or a woodworker of any kind. I am pretty much the last person on earth qualified to pull this off. Almost everything that could go wrong... did go wrong. If there is a bolt to be lost or some wood to be cracked apart, I will most likely be involved. Even the simplest of tasks... for me they are an exercise in torment. It's not that I'm technically stupid (at least I'd like to believe I'm not), it's just that I'm really, really clueless when it comes to woodworking and assembling and it takes me forever to get it right. But by the grace of Jesus and baby Jesus this MAME thing all came together in the end. Again... unless you are truly, certifiably mentally retarded, you can do this because I am living proof. One nice thing to come of this should you take on the challenge of building your own MAME setup is that you will learn a lot about woodworking and all sorts of other shit. If you are planning a MAME project it is my hope that you will read this to gain tips and learn from my mistakes.

It has been a long and winding road but now that the smoke has cleared I'm pretty happy with the results. In this post I will detail the process I went through from beginning to end, complete with pics, links to some of the items I purchased and the total cost of goods.

The Journey Begins

After unloading the cabinet from the Craigslist dude's rusty POS van (parked behind a Taco Bell near Cleveland Hopkins) and into my garage, it was time to go to work. The cabinet was vintage, one of my favorites from back in the day: a 1980 Centuri Phoenix. Like a dirty old whore, there was no doubt this machine had been ridden hard and put away wet; cleaning her up was no easy task. When I removed the back panel I discovered insect carcasses and crud and god-knows-what inside. I also painstakingly removed a ton of decal residue from the two woodgrain laminate side panels using Bug & Tar remover (worked great btw). The sticky shit was all that was left of the original (and beautiful) Phoenix side art. I'd estimate clean up time at around 4-6 hours. The carnage is depicted below:

The light fixture for the marquee was pretty much shot

Layers of dust

View from the rear with the back panel removed

Once I had the cabinet filth-free I started sketching out my game plan. The only thing I knew from the very start was that I wanted this to be a decent quality one- or two-player MAME machine and my plan expanded from that point. I weighed a lot of options before committing or buying anything. Since I didn't feel comfortable with the idea of building a custom control panel from scratch, I decided to incorporate the X-Arcade Dual Stick control panel I had purchased several months earlier. I also planned to buy and mount a mid-sized LCD monitor (I hate those jumbo 25 inchers, they just look ugly to me.) More on that later.

The X-Arcade Dual Stick

After removing all of the screws, nuts and bolts and after stripping off the pitted and warped t-molding, I disassembled much of the paneling. I then sanded, wood-filled and primed the internal areas and -- with the exception of the two woodgrain laminate side panels -- all of the exterior portions.

When I sanded the black paint from the lower front panel (must've been three layers) I uncovered the original woodgrain laminate. I seriously considered leaving this panel unpainted since it looked similar to the woodgrain sides but I decided against it because the bottom was chipped so badly there was no way I could see myself being able to match the woodgrain. I ended up mounting 1x4's along the bottom perimeter to conceal the horrible gouges as well as the corner that appeared to have been hit with a truck. I gave the 1x4's three coats of matte black paint.

I sanded the living fuck out of almost everything...

this pic shows the bottom front panel

The bottom right corner had massive damage...

there was no way to seamlessly recreate the woodgrain

so I had to come up with a plan B

And because most of them were scuffed up I also removed, sanded and repainted the head of every single carriage bolt. There must have been fifty or sixty of these.

The Phoenix cabinet originally featured a single mono speaker which I would replace with two satellite speakers. I bought a ceiling fixture cover plate to conceal the 4" speaker hole. I then bored-out two smaller 2 and 1/2" speaker holes and mounted metal grates above them.

The large hole in the center housed the original

mono speaker for Phoenix and would soon be

concealed by a circular cover plate

One of the speakers, shown with grill

I carefully measured out, balanced and mounted my X-Arcade controls to the area where the original Phoenix control panel once was. I used eight steel L-brackets to make sure the sucker would withstand furious pounding from above.

The Monitor

My next challenge turned out to be the biggest of the project: what monitor would work best and how the fuck was I going to mount it? The entire mid-section of the cabinet was gutted... even the brackets for the original CRT display were gone... so how was I supposed to secure a screen inside? This was the most critical portion of the project; I knew that if I fucked this up it would derail the whole thing. I went after a 19" LCD monitor with an old school ratio of 4:3 because I wanted both vertical and horizontal games to display at a decent size. People say that if you look long enough you will eventually find some amazing deals on Craigslist and sure enough I hit pay dirt! Some dude was selling a $250 Samsung LCD that was only a year old and in near mint condition... for fifty-five bucks! I couldn't believe it!

The Samsung monitor I obtained is similar to this one

I decided I would bolt the monitor to a wooden platform supported by 2x4's -- which I pried off of an old beat-up bunk bed. First I removed the LCD from its stand. I then bolted a steel plate to the back of it and threaded three large bolts through that plate and through the wooden platform. The bolts were secured firmly behind the platform with washers and nuts. The entire platform, with the monitor attached, was secured to the left and right insides of the cabinet using four L-brackets. I strategically mounted the LCD platform at a slight angle and then attached L-brackets and Velcro to support a plastic bezel and Foamcore surround. You wanna talk about a pain in the ass? Ho shit, yes indeed this was. But it worked.

Something Rotten

The bottom panel was the only unsalvageable portion of the cabinet. It was rotted from what appeared to be water damage, so I replaced it with a fresh piece of 3/4" plywood and added leg levelers with the help of my son Doug.

We spent almost an entire afternoon working on this section because we knew it was important: this was literally the support base for the cabinet. Rather than buy each leg leveler component individually I purchased a kit from The Real Bob Roberts (Bob is a very stand-up guy by the way and I recommend him highly.) In any case, before attaching the leg levelers, Doug and I bored-out three vent holes with the hope that they would help to keep the PC from overheating.

Speaking of ventilation, I added another vent hole to the back panel so it would be directly in line with the exhaust fan on the PC.

After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally time to prime and paint the non-woodgrain panels. As recommended by many MAME builders, I used foam rollers and a couple of those wedge-shaped thingies to apply the matte black paint and it went on nicely. Three coats were applied.

Home Stretch

From this point it was a matter of tying up loose ends. I purchased a new light fixture from WalMart for seven bucks and attached it to the marquee area.

Some things I purposely left for the final phase, such as t-molding, outer hardware, the plexiglass and graphics, and the "gotta-have-it-or-it-just-ain't-an-arcade-machine" coin door. With regard to the t-molding... I needed special offset t-molding designed for Centuri cabinets and the only place that had it was The Arcade Shop. T-molding isn't that hard to install, you just have to take your time with it and do it six to eight inches at a stretch. It also helps immensely to use hot glue and a heat gun (or blow dryer). Try to get someone to help you with this. As you juggle the hot glue and heat guns it's nice to have a sidekick spool off the t-molding and keep it off the floor as you go. Again, my son Doug helped me immensely here.

The Graphics

I weighed so many options here. For the longest time I wanted to do that "big, bad MAME machine" vibe like so many others have done, maybe with the neon blue color scheme. But my mind kept drifting back to Space Invaders. There's just something about it that is so iconic, so bold. I ended up going for it. I would print out S.I. art for the front glass and marquee. And I would add that "moon" somehow. I really wanted that moon. I printed off the graphics and pieced them together between two sheets of plexiglass. For the moon, I spray-mounted a print out onto a piece of Foamcore and cut it with an Xacto. I then scored and bent it to create a base which I attached to the inside, behind the glass. This created the dimensional effect I was after.

The "moon" standup floats back behind the front glass

Limp Dick Or Full Power?

I had a shitty old PC and with some exceptions (anything more current than Street Fighter II) MAME ran fairly well on it. My plan -- almost up until the very end -- was to use that PC to power my games. Then one day I stumbled onto an awesome deal at WalMart... a very well-equipped, fast-as-fuck eMachines model for only $399! It was too good to pass up. At 2.7Ghz speed, the eMachine can handle almost anything thrown at it, including games like Daytona and Mortal Kombat 3.

The Relay

Finally, I added the speakers, a slide-out keyboard drawer, and a relay switch. Even though I had a power strip mounted just inside the coin door bay, I still needed a way to power-up the PC without having to get inside the cabinet. I asked my friend (and technical genius) George for advice. A relay switch was the answer. George got me the parts I needed and helped me wire it up to the power actuator inside the PC. Now every time I want to power-off or power-on the computer, all I have to do is reach up and hit the metal button on top of the cabinet. Works like a charm -- I highly recommend it to anyone thinking of building a MAME cab.

Before and After

The Tab

Gutted Centuri Phoenix cabinet: $25

Lumber and hardware: $60

Sandpaper, liquid nails, misc. materials: $20

Paint and brushes: $25

Leg levelers: $18

Plexiglass: $20

Monitor bezel: $20

Foamcore monitor surround: $5

Marquee light fixture: $7

Drawer glides: $6

PC power relay switch and wiring: $8

T-molding: $15

Coin door (new): $62

Power strip: $10

Speakers with subwoofer: N/A

HyperSpin front end: N/A

6,000+ game ROMs: N/A

X-Arcade DualStick control panel (new): $120

19" LCD monitor, Samsung, 4:3 ratio (used): $55

PC, eMachines, model ET1331G-03W (new): $399

External hard drive, 1TB (new): $60

TOTAL COST: $935

Considering all of the games and all of the joy this thing provides -- and will continue to provide for years to come -- this MAME cab is worth every penny as far as I'm concerned. From a pure home entertainment standpoint this is one of the best investments I have ever made.

The black plastic bezel is held in place with Velcro

and fits perfectly around the edges of the LCD

A Giant Thank You Goes To:

• Keith for the front end and games

• George for moral support, technical advice, and that kick-ass power relay

• My son Doug for moral support and all of the hard work

• My wife Pam for supporting me and my (seemingly stupid and immature) hobby
• All the friendly cats on the KLOV boards for their very helpful advice and links

Hope you enjoyed the rundown. Take care and don't hesitate to post a message or shoot me an email if you have any questions! LONG LIVE MAME AND OLD-SCHOOL GAMING!!