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OSwhatever wrote:The coin-up was basically having its golden years in the 80s and the HW is basically based on that era.

...because by mid-1980, the arcade market was dead, dead, dead.

What about Japan?

(You might want to note that I, a once-die-hard Amiga fan, would say that the Amiga died in 1994, which is somewhat different from what the die-hard fans of today would tell you. I don't wait for the last breath of a computer platform; being left behind in the dust is enough for me to declare deceasement.)

Solar wrote:

OSwhatever wrote:The coin-up was basically having its golden years in the 80s and the HW is basically based on that era.

...because by mid-1980, the arcade market was dead, dead, dead.

Out Run - 1986
Mortal Kombat - 1992
Daytona USA - 1993
Virtua Cop - 1993
House of the Dead - 1996
Dance Dance Revolution - 1998

Nowdays, it's usually a mid-range gaming PC inside running Windows Embedded (sometimes full Windows, rarely Linux), and a high resolution LCD monitor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31029865@N06/6979106819/

Video arcades are still popular in Australia. You generally find them near movie theatres, and those 1980 games are rare compared to the modern HD-era/LCD ones.

an 8086-based game console is actually kind of an interesting idea. not that it would be marketable, but it would be a fun little toy to design. you wouldn't even need multiple CPUs. just a single 8086 combined with a decent hardware tile/sprite video generator could blow away the NES.

throw in sound circuitry like what a sound blaster has, and you're set.

miker00lz wrote:an 8086-based game console is actually kind of an interesting idea. not that it would be marketable, but it would be a fun little toy to design. you wouldn't even need multiple CPUs. just a single 8086 combined with a decent hardware tile/sprite video generator could blow away the NES.

throw in sound circuitry like what a sound blaster has, and you're set.

You can't get 8086's anymore. They're also a nightmare to wire up because the address\data lines are multiplexed. There was a chip that demultiplexed them for you, but I'm sure that's even harder to find than the 8086.

If you want to create an x86 console, I'd go with something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813157228

My laptop is an E-450 based system, and the power usage idling is quite a bit below 10 watts for the entire system. I'm not sure how well the GPU is documented though (if at all), so you might get stuck using just the CPU. If you run long mode though, you'll have the 16 XMM registers to play with though.

Rudster816 wrote:

miker00lz wrote:an 8086-based game console is actually kind of an interesting idea. not that it would be marketable, but it would be a fun little toy to design. you wouldn't even need multiple CPUs. just a single 8086 combined with a decent hardware tile/sprite video generator could blow away the NES.

throw in sound circuitry like what a sound blaster has, and you're set.

You can't get 8086's anymore. They're also a nightmare to wire up because the address\data lines are multiplexed. There was a chip that demultiplexed them for you, but I'm sure that's even harder to find than the 8086.

If you want to create an x86 console, I'd go with something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813157228

My laptop is an E-450 based system, and the power usage idling is quite a bit below 10 watts for the entire system. I'm not sure how well the GPU is documented though (if at all), so you might get stuck using just the CPU. If you run long mode though, you'll have the 16 XMM registers to play with though.

i designed/built an 8088-based SBC, and you're right they're a pain in the @$$ to wire up. i had to get almost all of the parts i needed from old, dead motherboards.