I'm a sad panda.
Zeksha and I roamed over to Albany yesterday for me to return a shirt I bought, and we ended up at the mall.
Since I hadn't been into Tilt (the arcade) for a while, we stopped in.
Well, wonder of wonders, Tilt is again doing their annual Christmas arcade game sale.
Of course, this year, they're selling a good condition Showcase cabinet with a 31" monitor and a cool game (SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos) for $695.
God damn them.
I can afford to pick it up, and anyone who knows me knows that I've had a hard-on for a Showcase cab for a LOOOOONG time.
One problem - while I can afford it, the purchase of the cab would nullify my ability to buy a second car, which I'm still shopping for.
This blows ass. Serious amounts of it.
So, we were cleaning up the house today, and I came across my box of spare parts that I bought to refurb my games, and I'm debating on whether or not I even want to deal with these things anymore, or if I want to just sell off the stuff.
I'm sure that if I don't sell it, I'll end up getting back into my arcade game kick, and hitting them up all hot-and-heavy, but right now, I'm on my gun kick, and I see the games out in the shop every time I go out there, and I think "Hey, I could sell those and buy gun stuff...".
Arrrrgh.
Video game aims to fight childhood obesityWednesday, January 25, 2006; Posted: 10:43 a.m. EST (15:43 GMT)
CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- West Virginia, which has one of the nation's worst obesity problems, is expanding a project that uses a video game to boost students' physical activity.
All of the state's 157 middle schools are expecting to get the video game "Dance Dance Revolution," and officials hope to put it in all 753 public schools within three years. A pilot project began in 20 schools last spring.
Students 10 to 14 years old are being targeted first because it is a key point in children's development, said Linda Carson, a professor at West Virginia University's School of Physical Education in Morgantown.
Those are the ages "when children really begin making more of their own decisions and a time when they could easily choose to be more sedentary," said Carson, who is conducting an ongoing research project into the video game's health benefits.
Game players move their feet on a special mat to correspond to arrows that scroll on the TV screen. The player must tap the same symbols on the mat at just the right time to do well.
The game is not meant to replace physical education and health classes. Rather, it is one more option that may appeal to students who often dislike other sports.
"If we can get children to change their behavior at a young age they hopefully will grow up to be healthy, active adults, which would have a positive effect on health care costs," said Carl Callison with Mountain State Blue Cross.
West Virginia is consistently among the top three states for obesity, with about a third of its residents considered obese and even more overweight, according to the state Bureau of Public Health.
Nearly 46 percent of 31,000 fifth-graders screened in a coronary artery risk project from 1999-2005 were considered overweight or obese, according to the Institute of Medicine guidelines.
Extra weight can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, some cancers and other problems. West Virginia leads the nation in high blood pressure and is fourth in diabetes.
"One out of three children born in West Virginia today will have diabetes by the time they grow up," said Nidia Henderson, health promotions manager for the public employees insurance program. "That's a devastating statistic and not acceptable."
The state also has turned to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for help.
The school project starts with the state's 64,880 middle school students and then calls for an expansion into high schools. By year three, state officials hope to have the project set up in the state's elementary schools.
Overall, the game is expected to be available to 279,788 public school students statewide.
The statewide project is expected to cost $500,000, with part of the funding coming from PEIA and Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield. Game manufacturer Konami Digital Entertainment in Redwood City, California, has agreed to provide $75,000. The state is seeking private funding for the remainder.
Each school is to receive a game console, at least two dance pads and software at a cost of about $740.
I swear, the government must be scanning my brainwaves.
I had this idea a while back, only I was gearing it towards my own fat ass.
I'm not going to play this in public - no fucking way.
However, if I could find a DDR machine, or a Pump It Up or something for a fair price, I'd buy it in a minute, and use it as my personal (and private) aerobic exercise machine.
The music kicks ass, it actually does provide a pretty decent aerobic workout, and it's a hell of a lot more fun than a treadmill or an elliptical.
I could always go buy the PS2/Xbox version, but it's just not the same. The pad's too small for my big-ass feet, and the whole light/sound experience just doesn't cut it on the console.
Kudos to the schools, even if they are using the console version. Such a great idea.
So, I think I'm going to setup a webpage here on kythri.net for the local arcade stuff.
Something that covers Lebanon, Albany, Corvallis and possibly Salem, with the remote possibility of Eugene (as time allows).
I'm thinking something broken down by city, obviously, that lists who has arcade games, what games they have, and possibly going as far as detailing issues with them (such as joystick/button problems, quarter-eating, etc.).
I'll list area distributors/vendors/operators, and have a list of links to places I've found useful.
I don't know that it would see much traffic, but surely, there's got to be other people in the area that are into arcade stuff as much as I am...
So, I called up an arcade place I was at a few years ago, to discover that they've gotten out of the coin-op amusement business.
They're still around doing vending machines, so the same people are there.
They pointed me to Mountain Coin Machine Distributors, where I've already been, and Specialty Coin Products, which I had no clue existed.
Well, I had to drive up to Clackamas today to deliver some old Taurus SHO parts that I've finally sold, and these guys were close by, so I decided to stop in.
Well, first, I dig their showroom. A number of games and pins on free-play, and they have no issue with you playing them, unlike Mountain Coin, who has a screamer sitting in the corner, ready to leap out and berate you for touching machines on the show floor.
They've got a two or three Neo Geo machines, and they look to be in pretty decent condition, unlike Mountain Coin, who had one MVS board in a shitty cut-corner Dynamo cabinet.
Price of Specialty's Neos? $600. Price of Mountain's Neo? $995.
Not only that, Specialty had about half-a-dozen MVS carts for sale. I picked up Fatal Fury: King of Fighters and King of Fighters '94 for $30, which is pretty damned good.
The other stuff they had was either dupes, or stuff I already had.
They've also got a Virtual On game there that I really want, but I'm sure it's going to be at least $1500.
We'll see - I'm hoping to get back there after Christmas, when things have settled down a bit (they had a bunch of stuff going out the dock today) and can talk to the guys there a bit more.
I hope to make these guys my new best friends...
So, we went out to "The Pizza Factory" again tonight.
Good pizza, decent enough place, and they have some decent arcade games.
Only one problem - half of them are broken.
You can't play as the left player on the Neo Geo they have there, because the coin mech is fucked.
The pinball game has some bent deals inside that trap the ball, and the right flipper is fucked, it won't hold itself up.
The Tekken 4 game has shitty joysticks and shitty buttons.
The NBA Jam TE game is in a shitty spot, so only 2 or 3 people can play at a time, and it's buttons are gooshed up.
The Area 51 and Offroad game appear to work OK, but those aren't my favorites, dammit.
Oh well. I'm going to call the Operator tomorrow, and tell him to fix his shit. Hopefully he'll do it, because I want to play it!
Picked up my MK II cabinet today, with all the extras.
Stopped by the big arcade distributor in Portland, and they gave me an empty cabinet that they were throwing out, which was quite nice of them...
Dunno what I'm going to do with that - was debating the possibility of a MAME cabinet...
SCHWEEEEEEEET.
So, as mentioned yesterday, the Neo Geo returned home today.
Today, I started doing some of the initial teardown of the cabinet.
As is normal with a lot of games placed in restaurants or stores, where the owner isn't around them constantly, mine has a heavy-duty hasp installed on the coin drawer door.
I don't like it.
The upper coin mech door is seriously dented in, leading me to believe at some point, some assclown kicked the thing, denting it.
A strange metal plate was bolted down to the left of the coin mech drawer. It's removal explained why.
Some peckerwood dug through the MDF to put a hole in the board, allowing them to trip the coin mech with a pen, or perhaps their finger, giving them free games.
Due to the damage to the coin doors, and the damage to the panel, I'm looking at replacing the whole thing entirely.
Examination of the cabinet makes it look like the removal of a few screws would allow me to remove the entire panel, coin doors attached.
Now, I need to decide if I want my cabinet 100% operationally authentic, with working coin mechs and everything, or if I should just go the easy/cheap route, and build a new panel, wiring the power switch and the service and test buttons to the front of the machine, bypassing all of that.
I suppose that's going to depend on what I find out in the next few days - if I can find an intact panel from a gutted MVS cabinet, then I'm going to restore the fucker. If I can't, well, I suppose that'll answer that.
On a different note, I'm now completely out of my larger storage unit, leaving me with a single 5x10, costing me $50/month.
Obviously, the goal is to get out of it, but $50/month is a lot easier to handle than $131/month.
Just in time for Christmas, too.
Sweet.
Well, after 2 years of storage, my baby has returned.
One of my roommate's and I pulled the Neo Geo MVS out of storage, and it's currently in my shop, awaiting it's restoration.
Everything still works as it did before, which, unfortunately, means my Alpha Mission II cartridge is still fubared.
Sucks, because "Mutation Nation is a faggy fucking game.
I need to order some more carts, and soon.
Anyhow, hopefully the MVS will be joined soon by one, maybe two, siblings - I've got a line on a couple of JAMMA+ cabinets for an awesome price.
Yay arcades!
Argh. Just got done moving my arcade game into storage (Neo Geo, baby!), with the help of my brother and cousin.
Then, we helped my cousin move his gun safe from his garage to his downstairs office room.
ARCADE GAMES ARE NOT LIGHT. NOR ARE BIG STEEL GUN SAFES.
ARGH.
But, it's all done.
Now, I need to re-arrange my living room, get some nicer looking furniture, and a new carpet deal...
Then my apartment will be medium-pimpin...