Costco starts selling arcade machines.

[boatofcar]

http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/arcades/costco-starts-selling-arcades-138196.php

http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/791539L.jpg

So Costco is all about selling arcade machines now. Could it be because Target started selling them? Could be. Except readers are saying the Target ones are puny and suck. Costco’s better not suck with their system costing $2500. The full sized cocktail version is available for those who prefer the old-school Ms. Pac Man feel of games. They also have a regular, full size standing model. But for $2,500, you don’t get screwed in the games department. You’ll get kick ass titles like Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, Tempest, and tons more. So now you have a choice between a thrifty, sucky model from Target, and a super-expensive kick ass model from Costco. Which will you choose this holiday?


EDIT: Target's got a midway one:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/target-to-sell-classic-arcade-system-138006.php

[Lady Jaye]

Well, it's from Ultracade... at least the one on the photo.

In other words, it's licensed emulation.

http://www.ultracade.com/arcadelegendslist

Still, the Costco buyers are usually pretty good -- at least the ones here.

[PDorr3]

Reading the comments on it, the people there say it is getting bad reviews as the screen is very small and the cabinet is cheaply made (this is for the midway cabinet from target) and just look how hunched over that guy is, it must be a pretty small cabinet.

Though the one from costco seems awsome and many say its worth the money.

[boatofcar]

Reading the comments on it, the people there say it is getting bad reviews as the screen is very small and the cabinet is cheaply made (this is for the midway cabinet from target) and just look how hunched over that guy is, it must be a pretty small cabinet.

Though the one from costco seems awsome and many say its worth the money.

I agree. You get what you pay for. Although $2500 could buy me a cockpit Star Wars....

[Arcade Antics]

They aren't "arcade games" though. They're "arcade styled games." Ugh. LOL

[DKTheArcadeRat]

Just a side note but when I was in BJ's yesterday I saw a Taito arcade game for about $900 so i guess they are following suit.

[Raedon]

cheaper to build my own machine.

[Cryomancer]

Yeah, if it's ultracade...i don't think I'd be able to support that even if I magically won a million dollars. MAME has their heart in the right place.

[Ed Oscuro]

Yeah, if it's ultracade...i don't think I'd be able to support that even if I magically won a million dollars. MAME has their heart in the right place.
That's exactly what I was thinking. They're not getting my moneys ;)

[NE146]

Yeah there's a difference between an arcade game and some computer with mame put into some case that resembles an arcade cabinet ;)

That being said, I've seen both of them. The Target one totally stinks. But the one at Costco is 10x better. It aint too bad really.

However you still wouldn't catch me with either of them in my house :P

[InsaneDavid]

Okay...

First, Costco has been selling these for about two years now, but only around Christmas time. They also sell an arcade quality air hockey table that is of very good quality.

Over in the thread about the "Play Midway" arcade cab I (before getting my posts trampled over by a bunch of Metal Slugs) posted that Target is also selling these "Arcade Legends" cabs in their online catalog and they ARE in fact built from arcade components and I believe they run StarRoms (legal licensed emu downloads). HOWEVER the majority continued that ALL the cabs at Target (now refered to as "Target cabs") are "total crap" even though the "Play Midway" and the mini cab which is a rip off of Lunacade's "Atomic Jamie" MAME cabinet design are in fact total crap - whereas NO ONE over in that thread other than me at the time of me posting this has ever gotten their hands on an "Arcade Legends" cabinet.

Here's the link to the other post about the Target cabs, pay attention when reading it because a few of us TRY to bring up the Arcade Legends and other realistic cabs as well as true MAME units...

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=74073

I'm glad to see that this thread has gotten a few other DP'ers to take a good look at retail arcade cabinets OTHER than the Play Midway unit at Target. (Thanks, boatofcar, for bringing it up as it's own thread) The Arcade Legends cabs are quality products since they use true arcade components and displays and are based off the construction of the Ultracade route cabinets. (it's still the ugliest cocktail table ever, but oh well)

That said, Ultracade is still the devil after all the BS they threw on the MAME community about a year ago when the whole reason that Ultracade came to exist is because of the MAME community's insanely dedicated work over the years.

Still, if you don't want to build it yourself, don't want to have to deal with the maintenance issues of authentic antique arcade cabinets, have the money, and want a multi game arcade machine that you can just go pick up and be done with - then these "Arcade Legends" cabinets are a good alternative. And I think the majority of those that have posted in this thread would at least agree with that.

[koster]

Ok, I finally had a chance to try out the Ultimate Arcade (http://www.ultracade.com/ultimatearcade/141/ultimate-arcade) from UltraCade Technologies at a local Costco. Not bad - the game selection includes several favorites (Mr. Do! and Ladybug), but the $1999 price was a bit of a shock. I didn't get a chance to try Snow Brothers 2, although I am curious how it compares with the original Snow Brothers.