The only gaming company actually listed as such in the CEDIA catalog was Game Cabinets Inc. which sells MAME-loaded gaming cabinets.

While I found the cabinets surprisingly pricey and their disco-fied CrystalCade immensely gaudy, I was very impressed with the guts of their machines and their incredible take on pinball.

All of their machines come with computers and DVD drives built into them, including their table-top StingerPlus, which probably explains some of the high cost. They also use Cherry Microswitches and Happ parts, which probably accounts for the rest of the high cost. The end result? A beautiful feeling set of controllers that not only give you precise, arcade-like gameplay but will, in my experience, last you quite awhile. I tested out their StingerPlus playing MAME versions of Joust (for the buttons) and Street Fighter II (for the sticks) and the play was fluid and amazing.

While I was impressed with the parts used in the controllers, GCI isn't the only company that uses them for controllers. They are, however, the only company that has GCI Pinball. The company obtained the rights to a slew of actual pinball tables and used a blend of computer graphics and actual photographs to replicate the tables in digital form. While the ball graphics weren't the best I have seen and the plunger control, which uses one of the joysticks, was a little wonky, this was still by far the best digital Pinball I've ever played. It was amazing to play games like Hook or The Simpsons on a big screen and have it look and feel just like the real thing.

GCI's uprights sell for $5,000 to $10,000 and come with built in LCD monitors and speakers. The Cocktail system sell for $5,000 and the Stinger controllers sell for $3,100.

I still can't justify the price, but if you have the money it's likely worth it, especially with that proprietary pinball.