Do you remember how much a PC with a floppy drive cost at that time in history?
Anywhere from $1400-2000 for the most basic system. And how tempermental the floppy drives were? How often they had to be recalibrated? Putting that into an arcade system, adding on controls, monitor, money handling, and the cabinet with graphics would have made the unit too expensive. Most game cabinets TOTAL ran under $750 bucks. The logic boards were on a single, easily swapped board (so that the same ham-handed techs that serviced pinball and arcade bowling machines could keep them running). All solid state. No moving parts, and just one or two connections. Remember that the cost to play a game at that time was roughly 18 cents per play, and most systems ran on tokens not coins. So even with the top game system, there was no way to make the money back if you tripled or more the cost of the console. To see how truly revolutionary game system worked out, check out the long-term history of the Dragons Lair game. On 4/9/06, S. Isaac Dealey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hogwash. If it's a far superior game, then they could have afforded > the extra cash to build a better cabinet to house a machine with a > floppy drive in it. They just didn't because nobody wanted to risk > being the first. > > > Have you ever seen the logic boards from arcade game > > systems of that era? > > > There isn't the computing power to handle a disk drive, > > nor could the > > limited os available on those systems. > > > Also, knowing the cost and level of tech available to > > repair those > > systems, there is no way that a disk drive of that era > > could have > > stood up to the physical abuse those cabinets received. > > > On 4/9/06, S. Isaac Dealey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> I like how the CEO of Activation says how he can't get a > >> 5" floppy > >> into a 6' tall, 4' wide arcade game. :P > >> > >> > Check this out... > >> > >> > Pretty wild. > >> > >> > ;-) > >> > >> > http://youtube.com/watch?v=RLpP2uh-zmE > >> > >> > -- > >> > Yves Arsenault > > s. isaac dealey 434.293.6201 > new epoch : isn't it time for a change? > > add features without fixtures with > the onTap open source framework > > http://www.fusiontap.com > http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:203449 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
