Keyboard Hacks Obsolete (IMHO)

Save  yourself the frustration!

I received an e-mail from a reader asking why I didn't include a chapter about hacking keyboards. The answer: because this is the NO BULL MAME Arcade Guide.
The fact is when you can buy a mini-pac for less than $30 (plus shipping) or for about $5 more get a similar controller from Groovy Game Gear, spending hours first learning about things like matixing, ghosting, and blacking and then actually taking apart and figuring out how to hack your keyboard is just a waste of time.

Sure, ten years ago, it was a great option, but thanks to Andy and Randy (the owners of Ultimarc and Groovy Game Gear) it's just not worth the effort. Now, if you are a masochist there are several good webpages devoted to hacking keyboards (1, 2), but you will not find me wasting either of our valuable time discussing it.

End of an Era -- Gameroom Magazine Closes

No, the No Bull MAME Guide isn't RetroBlast
Recommended. But I hope Kevin's back soon;
I'd love to send him a copy.

It's a sign of the times, with so many arcade companies going under this year. But this one really hurts. Not only was Kevin, the publisher, a great guy, but he'd improved the magazine so much in just a few years. In the end, subscriptions dropped as did advertising. I know several arcade builders who dropped their ads in the last couple years.

Thew good news for subscription holders is that Kevin isn't leaving them high and dry. He's giving everyone a free PDF edition of every issue. That's a class act.

I for one, hope that Kevin brings Retroblast.com back. Maybe as a blog?