Game Cabinets, Inc: Home Theater Joysticks

A lot of CEDIA Expo attendees will be temped to "get their game on" at the Game Cabinets Inc. booth, David Flagg, president, says.

The manufacturer of classic arcade games recently released a product geared toward the home theater market. It will be fully set up in the booth and integrators can swing by and have fun with it, he promises.

The Stinger is a joystick controller that has a full computer inside, Flagg explains.

"Anything you can do on your home computer you can do through this joystick on your TV." That includes surfing the Internet and having fun with online gambling, using Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition, loading in PC games and using its DVR function, he says, adding that it also has a DVD drive.



The product provides a nice bridge between classic gaming and cutting-edge gaming-room technology, he explains. The integration clients who have or want gaming rooms are probably Generation Xers who grew up playing games like Centipede and Missile Command.

The Stinger control panel -- which is 28.5 inches wide by 13.75 inches deep by 5 inches high -- has controls specifically designed for those classic games. "It can also be your media center and gaming center," Flagg says.

Flagg leaves it up to the experts when it comes to how integrators can incorporate the Stinger into their product offers. He suggests, though, that with an MSRP of $499, it can be a nice add-on to a gaming system or home theater purchase or can even be a giveaway on ambitious gaming room sales.

Although it's making its CEDIA Expo debut, Game Cabinets has been around for six years. Flagg says it has grown with the dedicated gaming room category of home integration -- and expects to continue to do so. Unlike many gaming room components, however, the Stinger is "somewhat portable," he says. "You can unplug it and bring to your friend's house."

Its most important characteristic, Flagg says, is its ability to bring things together. It brings nostalgia together with modern technology and it merges the media room into the gaming room. "It wraps everything into one. The functionality is cool because there is so much you can do with it."

On display in the booth for demonstrations will be Game Cabinets' base product lines, Flagg says. There probably won't be any of the company's classic arcade style games.

That is not to suggest, he adds, that a classic arcade game might not look great -- and drive traffic -- in an integrator's showroom.