RetroBlast! - Articles/Reviews

Hardware Reviews ( 71 items )

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RetroBlast! Review: Devastator II by Treyonics by Kevin Steele, 2004/04/01

It’s not often that you get to talk to the designer of a product when you’re doing a review of that product. It’s even less often that the designer hand-delivers the product to your door, yet that’s exactly what happened for this review.

RetroBlast! Review: Bits Limited Smart Strips by Kevin Steele, 2004/04/01

As a very happy owner of a Smart Strip, I recently re-visited the Bits Limted web site while surfing (yes, only a true MAME-cab junkie surfs power strip sites! ;-). I was pleased to see several new versions of the Smart Strip on the site, and I contacted Bits Limited about the possibility of reviewing one of them, the LBG1 “Brownout Protector.”

RetroBlast! Review: SuperBrightLEDs.com by Kevin Steele, 2004/01/01

GloWire.com's Lazer LED products, you already know I'm a big fan of these new light sources. Far brighter than yesterday's LEDs, the new ultrabright LEDs open up a new world of possibilities, especially when it comes to illuminating your arcade cabinet. They use less power and produce much less heat than incandescent lamps (an LED is typically 90% effective in turning electricity into light, an incandescent bulb is only about 10% effective). Plus, with a life span measured in decades rather than hours, LEDs are a "one-time" purchase for your cab. Install them and forget them.

RetroBlast! Light Gun Shootout by Kevin Steele, 2003/10/01

Just as it's not the same playing a trackball game with a mouse, playing a shooting game without a light gun just isn't right. There's nothing quite like stepping back, taking aim, and blowing some alien away with a well placed shot.

RetroBlast! Review: ACT-Labs PC USB Light Gun by Kevin Steele, 2003/09/01

After building an arcade cabinet with joysticks, a trackball, and spinner on it, the next logical gaming controller to add to the system (at least, in my eyes) was a light gun. However, choices in the PC arena are pretty lean for light guns. ACT-Labs, however, has come to the rescue with their “PC USB Light Gun,” a light gun for Windows-based PCs that is specifically billed as being MAME-compatible.

Being the only game in town, does the ACT-Labs light gun measure up? Or are PC gamers still stuck with using a mouse to “pretend” they're shooting in arcade shooters?