As a child of the 70s and 80s, I am an absolute arcade game addict. To this day, I love going in to a good arcade and playing video games on an upright cabinet. There is just something ingrained about arcades in my DNA. Heck, standing next to my desk is a 4-player Konami X-Men arcade for 1992…I can literally spin my chair around right now and play me a game of X-men whenever I want to take a break.

Nothing is more satisfying than standing at an arcade cabinet and playing a video game. Unfortunately, while the old-school games are fairly cheap to get (anywhere from $100 up to $2500 or so, depending on the game), the full-sized cabinets take up a lot of space and, if you’re like me, most homes don’t have enough room for every game you want to get.

Lucky for all of us, the folks at X-Arcade have the answer to our prayers: the X-Arcade Machine Cabinet. And that, my friends, is what arrived fully assembled on my doorstep last week, a present from my wife. My wife is awesome!

The main thing you need to know about the X-Arcade Machine Cabinet is that is is set up to run as a Mame Emulator and can connect to your favorite game console as well. That’s right, if you have 5 minutes you can switch out the PS2 machine included in the X-Arcade and load it up with a PC, XBox, GameCube, WII, PS3 or just about any other machine you can imagine. However, the “Mame Emulator” is the important part to remember. Mame is a piece of software which allows you to load up and play just about every arcade and console game ever made — Pacman to the latest Mortal Kombat, and Atari to Playstation. The system comes with 190 preloaded games, but a quick search online will have you downloading thousands of more to drop on to your machine.

To me, that was the key to picking the X-Arcade video game cabinet over getting more old-school dedicated cabinets. With the X-Arcade I can play thousands of games without having to fill up my house with 400 pound arcade cabinets! If nothing else, it makes my wife happy for me to only have a couple of machines instead of the 10-15 I had be wanting to get!

The X-Arcade unit I received came strapped to a pallet within about 2 weeks of ordering it. And I have to say, the machine is a beast! The driver told me it weighed over 400 pounds and, eye-balling it, the thing stands a little over six feet tall. It is every bit as sturdy as the old school arcade cabinets I’ve got, and comes with a huge 27″ monitor. With the big monitor, ability to play thousands of arcade games and high quality construction, I think the X-Arcade Machine Cabinet is the perfect option for someone looking to spruce up their game room, office or family room. I’m trying to convince my brother to get one for his garage so we can play over at his place as well.

If you’re a video game junkie like I am or have always wanted your own video game arcade machine, then the X-Arcade Machine Cabinet may just be the answer to your question. Check it out! www.xgaming.com

-Mat N., the Nifty Nerd
http://www.TheNiftyNerd.com