Is this Ms. Pac-man “consolizationâ€
Moderator:Moderators
I am trying to figure out if it’s possible to “consolizeâ€
Actually, since you have a modern HDTV, RPG input would probably be possible in some way or another.
If not, look at http://jrok.com/hardware/RGB.html
If not, look at http://jrok.com/hardware/RGB.html
As for the screen rotation, that could be more than a little tricky. If you wanted to rotate 180 degrees, that's easy, but 90 degrees? That would be very tough. The joystick is certainly doable, in fact I have done things like that myself quite a lot, it's really quite simple. Actually, if you already have the pac man board, and it works, I might suggest you drop the extra $300 or so it would take to build a real game cabinet around it, or to pick up an old and beat up Pac man cabinet and restore it. It would probably cost you about that much by the time you consolize the game anyway, especially seeing as how you will have a hard time with the 90 degree rotation circuit. BTW, I have never heard of such a circuit before, but that doesn't mean it's impossible, just that it's probably either very hard, very expensive, or both.
Edit: re-read your post, and here is what I think; you should think about rebuilding one. However, I must warn you that having multiple games on the pac man board is hard to do, there are more differences than you might think. Pac man boards are common on ebay... if you don't mind having to fix them. Working ones, on the other hand, are much harder to find, and are coveted by collectors. If you want to go the cheap route, you could build a MAME cabinet and put Pac Man in there. If you want to drop some money ($1200 or so) you could find a rebuilt one at a local arcade shop and just buy the whole machine.
A good place for nice joysticks is on this website: akihabarashop.com
He is currently reworking his website, I have ordered from this guy in the past, he is a very good seller. Very high quality joysticks, good prices, and they are the very best ball top joysticks you can get anywhere, period. If I were you I would steer clear of HAPP's joysticks if you wife has small hands, their joysticks are not exactly ergonomic.
Edit: re-read your post, and here is what I think; you should think about rebuilding one. However, I must warn you that having multiple games on the pac man board is hard to do, there are more differences than you might think. Pac man boards are common on ebay... if you don't mind having to fix them. Working ones, on the other hand, are much harder to find, and are coveted by collectors. If you want to go the cheap route, you could build a MAME cabinet and put Pac Man in there. If you want to drop some money ($1200 or so) you could find a rebuilt one at a local arcade shop and just buy the whole machine.
A good place for nice joysticks is on this website: akihabarashop.com
He is currently reworking his website, I have ordered from this guy in the past, he is a very good seller. Very high quality joysticks, good prices, and they are the very best ball top joysticks you can get anywhere, period. If I were you I would steer clear of HAPP's joysticks if you wife has small hands, their joysticks are not exactly ergonomic.
Emulation isn't accurate. There is no substitute for real hardware!
I hope you don't mind that I quoted you out of order here, it was just easier for me to organize my thoughts this way.
I've been doing research on this and its just not really a good idea.
Some people have suggested how it might be done at Assemblergames using a FPGA at this link in case anyone is curious:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/sh ... hp?t=16935
It seems like its possible to do it, but aside from being really expensive, and really difficult, it probably wouldn't look so great after all that manipulation.
I've actually been thinking of possibly trying to create a way to rotate our television.
I have no idea how we would do it. It's a 40" widescreen LCD. There's no way to turn it on its side that I know of.
I suppose theoretically, a stand could be built that would raise it up and then rotate it to vertical.
Perhaps some people at AVS forum might know if that is do-able.
As to how it would look with black spaces on the top and bottom, some people think that would look weird, but then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
We haven't ruled out emulation, though that is our last resort after we've exhausted all of our other options.
Even if we totally give up on this project, I think we will definitely try and pay someone to make a joystick that is easy on my wifes hands. The big thing is to make a 4-way joystick that she doesn't have to hold. Like something put on the top of a cabinet kinda like a nightstand at hand level for sitting on a sofa. Perhaps I could get someone to make the actual joystick and then I could install in into some sort of cabinet myself...
Thanks for the suggestion for rebuilding a cabinet... that is definitely our long-term goal...
Turns out to be both.arfink wrote: It would probably cost you about that much by the time you consolize the game anyway, especially seeing as how you will have a hard time with the 90 degree rotation circuit. BTW, I have never heard of such a circuit before, but that doesn't mean it's impossible, just that it's probably either very hard, very expensive, or both.
I've been doing research on this and its just not really a good idea.
Some people have suggested how it might be done at Assemblergames using a FPGA at this link in case anyone is curious:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/sh ... hp?t=16935
It seems like its possible to do it, but aside from being really expensive, and really difficult, it probably wouldn't look so great after all that manipulation.
Agreed. At some point when we get out of this tiny apartment, we will probably do that. For the same reason there's really not room to have a second monitor to rotate on its side.arfink wrote: Edit: re-read your post, and here is what I think; you should think about rebuilding one. However, I must warn you that having multiple games on the pac man board is hard to do, there are more differences than you might think. Pac man boards are common on ebay... if you don't mind having to fix them. Working ones, on the other hand, are much harder to find, and are coveted by collectors. If you want to go the cheap route, you could build a MAME cabinet and put Pac Man in there. If you want to drop some money ($1200 or so) you could find a rebuilt one at a local arcade shop and just buy the whole machine.
I've actually been thinking of possibly trying to create a way to rotate our television.
I have no idea how we would do it. It's a 40" widescreen LCD. There's no way to turn it on its side that I know of.
I suppose theoretically, a stand could be built that would raise it up and then rotate it to vertical.
Perhaps some people at AVS forum might know if that is do-able.
As to how it would look with black spaces on the top and bottom, some people think that would look weird, but then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
We haven't ruled out emulation, though that is our last resort after we've exhausted all of our other options.
arfink wrote: The joystick is certainly doable, in fact I have done things like that myself quite a lot, it's really quite simple.
I will have to check out akihabarashop.com when his site is back up, as it is down right now.arfink wrote: A good place for nice joysticks is on this website: akihabarashop.com
He is currently reworking his website, I have ordered from this guy in the past, he is a very good seller. Very high quality joysticks, good prices, and they are the very best ball top joysticks you can get anywhere, period. If I were you I would steer clear of HAPP's joysticks if you wife has small hands, their joysticks are not exactly ergonomic.
Even if we totally give up on this project, I think we will definitely try and pay someone to make a joystick that is easy on my wifes hands. The big thing is to make a 4-way joystick that she doesn't have to hold. Like something put on the top of a cabinet kinda like a nightstand at hand level for sitting on a sofa. Perhaps I could get someone to make the actual joystick and then I could install in into some sort of cabinet myself...
Thanks for the suggestion for rebuilding a cabinet... that is definitely our long-term goal...
Hey, I wish you luck with this, I built an arcade cab myself, and I thought it was a lot of fun, and by brothers and sisters and my dad all have a blast playing it at home while I'm here at college. One site to look at for things related to arcade is www.byoac.com
That is where I got all my info for my first build, and it's been a very helpful site. That akihabarashop is something I found on my own though.
Guys at the BYOAC don't know 'bout it really.
If you want a comfy arcade machine to play sitting down, look at doing a "Candy Cab" like they have in Japan. You could build it yourself, just with the Japanese dimensions instead of American ones. In Japan they're smart, they play at the arcades sitting down.
If you look at this link you can see pictures of what they look like: http://www.hardmvs.com/xml/jpn/jpCabs.htm
Look at the Neo 50-II model, it has that stand in front of the TV that has controls mounted on it. I have seen people make just a stand like that and hook it up to the TV (put in front of couch for maximum gaming comfort!) , and put the computer/mobo/console or whatever inside instead of a coin box. In fact, I think he posted it to this forum.
That is where I got all my info for my first build, and it's been a very helpful site. That akihabarashop is something I found on my own though.
Guys at the BYOAC don't know 'bout it really.If you want a comfy arcade machine to play sitting down, look at doing a "Candy Cab" like they have in Japan. You could build it yourself, just with the Japanese dimensions instead of American ones. In Japan they're smart, they play at the arcades sitting down.
If you look at this link you can see pictures of what they look like: http://www.hardmvs.com/xml/jpn/jpCabs.htm
Look at the Neo 50-II model, it has that stand in front of the TV that has controls mounted on it. I have seen people make just a stand like that and hook it up to the TV (put in front of couch for maximum gaming comfort!) , and put the computer/mobo/console or whatever inside instead of a coin box. In fact, I think he posted it to this forum.
Emulation isn't accurate. There is no substitute for real hardware!