Here comes a new challanger

Holy crap, I never expected this to happen in this day and age. A generic electronics maker is getting into the arcade hardware business. They're not just making cabinets, or buttons or something asinine like that, but they've actually planned out, engineered, and built a low-cost, low-maintenance, multi-purpose arcade board. The company is SI Electronics, and the board has the creative moniker of System Board Y2. The specs are low-end, but perfect for 2D stuff like shooters. One catch is that the video output is not HD, maxing out at 800x600 (SVGA), which limits the sort of games the system can handle, since most big arcade guys have jumped onto the HD bandwagon already. The system specs are as follows:

• CPU: Custom 32-bit RISC architecture clocked at 266MHz (PSX-class)
• GPU: 2.5 million sprites or 100 million polygons per second
• Audio: 32 channels
• Media: ROM's (fuck yeah!), 1.7GB maximum capacity, 256MB for audio
• I/O: Video: 15-pin D-sub; Audio: RCA L&R, Interface: JAMMA

SIE will be showing off the system in the AQ Interactive booth at the upcoming AOU 2009 show this weekend. The first game running on the system will be AQI's own 2D mahjong game. Between this, IGS' PGM2, and Examu's mystery board, there's hope for a NAOMI successor, and a home for all the little guys who can't, or don't want to put their stuff on something like the Type-X2.