Posted by rmfx on January 02, 2002 at 02:40:13:
In Reply to: Re: What's the best multi-emu frontend? posted by Howard Casto on 1, 2002 at 9:42 PM:
I think that console games belong perfectly well in a cabinet. Where else should I play my old C-64 games, or my Windows based 3d Pacman/Centipede? How about Tomb Raider, Doom, and all my flight-sims? Why not on the only machine that I've optimized solely for the purpose of GAMING--the one with the fastest graphics, the best speakers, the sturdiest controls, and the largest monitor?
Do I need to waste time and money building a second gaming machine that I keep in the living room, hooked up to the TV just so I can get that "great console experience?" What about the people here who have built actual consoles into their cabinets, complete with video switchers to allow Mame gaming as well. I don't think there's technically THAT much of a difference between the function of an old Atari stick, a Nintendo gamepad, and a Happ 4-way or 8-way. Not enough to drastically affect gameplay.
And there has been plenty of cross-over from console to arcade as well. Remember the Nintendo Playchoice -- basically, NES guts in arcade clothing? How about the big Quake multi-player thing they used to have at Gameworks?
As far as multi-emu FEs, someone was kind enough to point me to Game Launcher, but I know there are others out there. I remember another one that had icons of the original consoles/cabinets rotating in a 3d ring a-la Tomb Raider, though I don't recall the name.
And, it's just MY personal opinion that a good frontend is just a list of games with a nice big screenshot in the BG or off to the side, plain and simple. I don't need no spinning 3d cabinets or flyers for which I have to provide content, no fancy-shmancy graphics to eat system resources. Just let me see the games and get me to them ASAP, using only my control panel. And FEs like that are few and far between.