Heads up arcade gamers, version 0.119 of MAME32 and the Windows command line version of MAME were both released today and are now available for download in my MAME section.

In the coming days MAME OS X (Mac), MacMAME (Macintosh) and XMAME (Unix) should be updated too. Enjoy!

Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator allows you to play almost any old-school arcade/console game right on your computer.

MAME has been around for quite some time and is used by thousands of gaming geeks on their Personal Computers.

Some people, including myself have gone all out and built custom MAME cabinets so we can have the full arcade look and feel right in our home.

I love MAME and that’s why I was really happy to find out MAME has been ported for the Xbox.

If you haven’t noticed, I have a page dedicated to the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.

It’s geektastic when someone comes up with a cool hack like this.

Just imagine every single old-school game you own accessible via a slick, simple interface and playable right from your Xbox. Sounds pretty cool, right?

Here’s what you will need:

• A modded Xbox
• MAMEoX (v0.84.3b)

Don’t have a modden Xbox? You can learn more about modding your own Xbox at Xbox-Scene.

The MAMEoX project offers the entire source code you will need to compile a working copy of MAME.

If you’re unfamiliar with compiling applications on your XBOX, you’ll need to find the pre-compiled binaries. You can download it here.

Keep in mind that the Xbox version I’m offering for download is an older version (v0.84.3b) but it will get you started.

Install and have fun!

Be sure to let me know how your Xbox hack works out.

Just a small heads up to my gaming, arcade and MAME friends that I’m now offering up a version of MAME that supports Mac OS X on my MAME page.

As most of us in the gaming community know, the MacMAME project has been dormant for over a year, so this is a nice bit of news for people who want to run the latest version MAME under OS X and yes, this version does support Intel based chip sets.

For the Apple geeks in the room, this latest release is designed to take advantage of all the latest OS X technologies, like Core Video, Core Image and OpenGL. This not only ensures the best performance but allows real-time Core Image filtering on the emulation output.

The other versions of MAME will be updating in the coming days, so be sure to check back for more information.

Raphael of raphnet.net decided to take NES Super Mario Bros practice to a new level by dedicating a NES console to run the arcade version full time.

This is more than merely a MAME ROM loading exercise, there are several differences between the NES and it’s dedicated arcade sibling, the Unisys VS.

Memory was upgrade, several IO pins are tapped and brought out for manual access via the newly added controls up front.

Check out his detailed specifications and project notes of this geektastic hack.

As most of my friends and readers know, I’m a huge fan of classic video games; you know the ones that took a single quarter to play from the early 1980’s to early 1990’s.

Most of the video arcade games from back then actually had some entertainment value and didn’t involve being a gangster or a car thief. Amazing.

The sad thing is almost all of my favorites are virtually impossible to find in a modern arcade but thanks to projects like MAME and my personal video game collection, I can play them any time I want.

Ok, moving on to the reason for this post… last night I was talking with a few of my classic video game collecting friends about what we felt were our personal top 20 games that we actually own either the full upright or cocktail table version in our collections, so without any further delay, here is my personal top 20 list:

1. Ms. Pac-Man
2. Tempest
3. Pac-Man
4. Centipede
5. Galaga
6. Asteroids
7. Star Wars
8. Donkey Kong
9. Tron
10. Joust
11. Donkey Kong Junior
12. Robotron: 2084
13. Defender
14. Space Invaders
15. Frogger
16. Battlezone
17. Galaxian
18. Space Duel
19. Q*bert
20. Dig Dug

It’s great having my own personal arcade. Everything is set to free play. No quarters required. I’ve spent many years and 1,000’s of dollars to restore and revive my childhood memories of the local arcade.

I’m a hero to the kids in my neighborhood when the garage door is open but sometimes I have to be a bully and kick them out. I’m not a baby sitter… but it is nice to let the youth of today see what real arcade fun and entertainment is all about.

It does take up a lot of room having full size games in my garage but it’s so cool when I have friends over for a BBQ or just to hang out and remember the days of playing Galaga as a kid.

If someone would have presented an XBOX 360 for me and my friends 20 years ago, I’m pretty sure we probably would have fainted.

When you compare similar games from the mid-eighties with today’s top notch video and computer games, the difference in graphics is quite amazing.

Here’s an interesting comparison of 5 games from the 80’s with todays killer games:

Double Dribble (Nintendo, 1987) vs. NBA Live’06 (XBOX 360, 2006)

Karate Champ (Nintendo, 1986) vs. DOA 4 (XBOX 360, 2006)

Tennis (Nintendo, 1983) vs. Top Spin 2 (XBOX 360, 2006)

Rad Racer (Nintendo, 1987) vs. PGR 3 (XBOX 360, 2005)

Punch Out (Nintendo, 1987) vs Fight Night round 3 (XBOX 360, 2006)

I still love the classics. Time to blow the dust off my Nintendo. Ah, 8 bit graphics. The good old days