5 Dec
2003
5 Dec
'03
10:44 a.m.
From: "Teo Zenios" <teoz(a)neo.rr.com>
Hi
One thing to consider. If they were making so much money that it
was a overwelming gouge, other would compete against them. Arcade
machines are not cheap to make. Doing 10K units of a 10 year lifetime
is not a large run. The CPU board is most likely designed in house
because they can not depend on outside vendors to keep an obsolete
design. Any uP design is obsolete within 6 months to a year. They
need a longer product life. Knowing the methods used to create
these arcade machines, I would say that $3K is a little on the
high side but not all that much. One wouldn't stay in business doing
these for anything less then $2.5K. Maybe you know something I don't.
Dwight
Its ridiculous price gouging, the cost to put
such a unit together is
under
$400. Midway has been doing this same thing
for a while with its Ms Pac
Man/Galaga units, Atari has a Missile Command/Millipede/Centipede machine
out there and one thing that article doesn't mention is just like the
Midway
machine, the Taito unit is also a dual machine
with both Space Invaders
and
Qix together...
These are already available in the US, Frontgate has them for $3495 each,
you can also find them through Amazon.com and Walmart.com as well... all
way overpriced.
Curt
Companies need to make a profit, they more they can squeeze out of a
customer the better. These units are for arcades I assume, where the
operator will make the money back and hopefully then some from kids with
pockets full of cash. Not many home users would spend $400 let alone $3495
for a cabinet with just 1 or 2 games in it.
I would pump a few quarters into a pacman machine if I ran into one
somewhere just because I played quite a few games on them when they were
originally released (more quarters then I care to think about).