At $2,999 for the ULTRACADE system, including the cabinet, monitor and one game pack, the ULTRACADE is an excellent value. New upright cabinets with one game usually cost significantly more, and the ULTRACADE comes with several proven games. Extra game packs start at $249.

While we normally use PCs for gaming, there is nothing quite like an upright cabinet. Playing a MAME emulated game on your PC, or even in a hacked together upright cabinet, just does not deliver the arcade feeling. A key difference about ULTRACADE is that it does not use MAME, which cannot be legally shipped with commercial products, and that it features licensed games-which protects the interests of the copyright owners and manufacturers who developed the games originally. In addition, because the games are licensed, Quantum3D can ensure that the ULTRACADE version matches the original game in look and feel. I'm the type who always stops by the classic section of an arcade, and with ULTRACADE, any arcade can have an instant classics section.

The relationship between Quantum3D and 3dfx goes back to both companies' roots. Ross Smith, a co-founder of 3dfx, is also a co-founder of Quantum3D, and several other members of Quantum3D were originally with 3dfx.

3dfx actually started life as a hardware developer for arcade, part of what Quantum3D is doing today. 3dfx made their big move to the PC when they realized they had designed hardware that was faster than the PC competition. Their Voodoo1 proved that to be the case when it took the PC industry completely by storm, and was principally responsible for making hardware accelerated 3D-gaming a reality. The Voodoo1 was not a 3D "decelerator" like the competition of the time.