Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/01/the-polycade-home-is-the-arcad.html
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If you’re already bored at home you might as well go the extra mile and build one yourself.
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I wonder how many games available on Steam are playable with that control scheme (joystick, trackpad, eight buttons). It may be possible for some retro games, but it’s not exactly ideal for older games designed for a controller, even if it just had a direction pad and some buttons.
For $3900 you can get a top-of-the-line gaming PC and a library of modern games. A Steam-capable gaming PC is overkill if you’re just running a selection of some emulated retro games, and you can’t ever use that extra power because so few modern games would be playable with these controls. Retro gaming with this set-up is doable with a hundred bucks of hardware, and the case shouldn’t cost $3800. This doesn’t even sound like it comes with any games. For that price, it should have all of them. This is so perversely backwards (and wildly, wildly overpriced even for what it is).
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The description is apt; it does look like an ATM, and one of the more boring ones.
I’m not crafty enough to build my own DIY cabinet, but I’ve spent a lot of time researching various retro game cabs/bartops/cocktail setups and for nearly 4 grand, you should be able to get a sweet full-size arcade-grade setup with every conceivable control (trackball, spinner, light guns, etc) for 4 players and a 32+" screen, lit marquee and pro vinyl graphics, coin-op, LED accents, the whole nine yards… and then buy another for your friend.
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But we already have video-game consoles, and televisions.
The only reason to get an arcade cabinet at home is nostalgia, and this is not a vintage product. There are no teenage memories of trading quarters for dopamine hits to be had here. It’s a console mounted into a fixed position on a wall for 20× the price.
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I like the look of it. I’d like to get a bare-bones cabinet and put my own equipment in it.
It looks like it’s capable of receiving video calls from Dr. Floyd on Space Station V.
Okay, let’s say you’re a purist and refuse to use an emulator. Still… Jamma cabinets are a tiny fraction of this price (how many Street Fighter cabinets do you think are rotting away in warehouses…), and all you need to do to change games is switch the board. Not as quick, but very cool.
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For, I’m guessing, around $800 dollars, max.
The issue there is the CRT. It’s probably dead and no one makes them anymore.
Funny thing is that the CRTs are actually really cheap. There were so many made that they’re pretty easy to find. Now finding one for cheap without any burn-in…
I used to fix cabinets up and sell them/give them away to friends. It’s ridiculous how many parts are out there that people haven’t recycled.
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Late-stage capitalism? On BoingBoingStore???
There’s a difference?
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Polycade? Does it play Polybius?
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