Check out this "restore"

To play devil's advocate, he did say on his website that the cabinet was empty and only had a control panel. At least he built a control panel and didn't cut up the original. I'm all for restoring a game to original, but I have to imagine it's hard to even find parts for Computer Space. Looks like he's already catching some flack over at BYOAC.
 
This is what gives MAMErs a bad reputation..

This is wrong on so many levels

Please stop gutting rare machines for MAME!

Pick a Dynamo or even a common Pac Man is you have to use a classic..

And stop calling a cleaned up cabinet restored!! Restored is a word used to describe "brought back to it's original state"
 
Actually, I think he did a good job. If you go to his website, which, in a lame move, is only mentioned at the end of the YouTube video (mechanicalarcade.com), he's got pictures of what he started with. The cabinet had already been converted to something else, and all the original internals were gone.

What else are you going to do in that case? It's not like you can find replacement boards or parts for a Computer Space - let alone the two player version. It's just an empty, cool looking green cabinet.

And, the way he modded it, I don't think he modified the cabinet at all - the control panel just bolts in where the old one went, and the monitor fits on a shelf added to the old monitor supports.

Might as well have some kind of game living in that cool cabinet, othewise it's just a lifeless empty shell waiting for parts that will never be found.

Although, man, that menu system is fugly...

-Ian
 
To play devil's advocate, he did say on his website that the cabinet was empty and only had a control panel. At least he built a control panel and didn't cut up the original. I'm all for restoring a game to original, but I have to imagine it's hard to even find parts for Computer Space. Looks like he's already catching some flack over at BYOAC.

I kinda agree with this. If he's not putting it into a worse state than what it was when he found it, then the cleanup/restore he does on it would make it easy for anyone else to actually restore it back if they want to put the time and money into it.

I've got a hacked up Gorf mini that's been turned into an Arkanoid. I'm planning on restoring the cabinet back to Gorf but with a PC for MAME. When I'm done it will be 100x closer to Gorf than it was when I found it, and if I ever decide to put a board in there and get a new CP, it will be ready to go. In the meantime, what's the harm in MAMEing it?
 
Why in the hell does some guy need to do what everyone else thinks is right TO HIS OWN GAME??? I get it, its a computer space. But its HIS game.

People here crack me up with all the bashing that goes on. If it were in fact gutted as he says it was would it be better if he turned it into a fish tank or would he get the same amount of shit?

I think its an Anti-MAME thing. Some of us dont have basements or room for 85,000 machines so we have to do what we have to do...

I think that the game looks cool and that he did a good job.
 
Let's say I had a 1957 Dual Ghia sitting in the garage:

1957_Dual_Ghia_Convertible_For_Sale_Front_resize.jpg


These things don't grow on trees. This is one rare and desirable car. As such, it's also super difficult to find parts to finish one, and I'm not having any luck doing so.

But man, it's got a really cool body. Maybe I could go ahead and just put a Chevy small-block in there, or an electric motor? I've always wanted to drive a car with a Chevy small-block motor; I've also always wanted an electric car. And it'd look so cool `cause the shell is unique, rare, and conversation-worthy!

Or, maybe I should find another more common car to do that to, and sell this rare shell to another Ghia collector who either needs it to finish his project, or has more patience to look for parts than I do?

Yeah - I think I'll do that.

And there's my take. :cool:
 
And there's my take. :cool:

Everything else in this post was completely made moot by saying this. That's the complete essence of the matter distilled down to one sentence. I'm not usually for messing with rare cabs, but it's the guy's cabinet. He can do what he damn well pleases with it, and god forbid he screws it up enough to make it worthless, than better off for the people that own a working one, theirs just got more valuable.

I'd have a bit more emotion if it was something other than him just tinkering with the cabinet..it's not like it's electronics, the soul of the machine. No, it's just skin....more like dead skin, since there's nothing original under it.

I'll agree that "restore" is a total misnomer though...
 
Everything else in this post was completely made moot by saying this. That's the complete essence of the matter distilled down to one sentence. I'm not usually for messing with rare cabs, but it's the guy's cabinet. He can do what he damn well pleases with it, and god forbid he screws it up enough to make it worthless, than better off for the people that own a working one, theirs just got more valuable.

Yes, it is his cabinet, and he can do whatever he wants with it. Similarly, others have the right to rip him for it as much as they'd like. We're not telling him he can't do as he pleases; we're just slamming him for doing it.

Also, the "destruction of one thing makes someone else's same thing more valuable" argument isn't one a "collector" uses. Collectors in the purest sense of the word are more about preservation than $$.

I'd have a bit more emotion if it was something other than him just tinkering with the cabinet..it's not like it's electronics, the soul of the machine. No, it's just skin....more like dead skin, since there's nothing original under it.

I disagree. My analogy addressed this.
 
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Looks like the guy did a nice job of putting together a MAME cab. He just picked the wrong cab.
 
Mature Movies menu selection at 3:29. Why the hell would you want to watch dirty movies on an arcade cabinet?
I have MAME cabs, but Computer Space cab is just such a bad choice for anything but a restore. Its weird looking and the control panel angle sucks for sticks. Pretty much any traditional wood cabinet would have worked better.
 
Parts are out there you just need to look harder. I admit a 2 player board set might be near impossible to find but not totally impossible.

I managed to score an extra set for a 1 player years back.

With just the board set everything else could be rewired, I guess finding the control panel could be difficult but I would think there would be someone with a destroyed cabinet out there that would do a parts swap.

My opinion: Hideous. :D
 
Worst EVER. I've seen a lot of fucked up hacks but man that one takes the cake.

Edit: After reading the rest of the thread, to clarify, It's his right to do it, and he can do what he wants, but it's still a fucked up thing to do.
 
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I think you are missing the fact that he hasn't actually modified the cabinet or original control panel. The panel he made, dispite looking original, was made from scratch - from blank aluminum. He didn't hack up the front of the thing to mount an aircraft carrier control panel on it, he didn't drill holes in the side for pinball buttons, and he didn't mount huge car speakers in the sides. He just made new parts to fit into an otherwise gutted cabinet. He even cleverly mounted the pause button inside the coin return, in a little plug of wood so he wouldn't have to drill any holes or modify the coin return.

There is nothing stopping him from putting it all back to original if the parts became available.

That said, the control panel is a bit busy, and the menu is ugly as sin. He probably should lose the trak-ball or one of the joysticks. But he hasn't destroyed or hacked anything - you have to give him credit for that.

-Ian
 
This is what gives MAMErs a bad reputation..

This is wrong on so many levels

Please stop gutting rare machines for MAME!

Pick a Dynamo or even a common Pac Man is you have to use a classic..

And stop calling a cleaned up cabinet restored!! Restored is a word used to describe "brought back to it's original state"

It was already gutted... but the guy isn't too bright. He could have sold the cabinet and bought 10 Dynamo cabs...
 
I would comment on this, being a Computer Space Fan as I am, however I have no leg to stand on given I MAME'd a Tron many years ago (long story, I regret it, I'll restore it someday, please forgive me, etc.)

The owner of this machine emailed me about his restoration and I am very impressed. I did ask how he manages to play Street Fighter on it (he has an additional controller) so I agree, the usability of this mod is questionable.

Still a cool if questionably ethical use of a 2-player machine.

Hey EVB where the heck did you find that pic of the alien head in the cabinet???
 
It was already gutted... but the guy isn't too bright. He could have sold the cabinet and bought 10 Dynamo cabs...

exactly, that's my thought. instead of turning that cab into a mame'd piece of crap, he could've sold it to someone that maybe had parts and was looking for a cab, etc. and made a good amount of cash to buy a less desireable cab to destroy however he wanted.
 
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