June 03, 2004 - Years ago, there was much adieu about nothing, the nothing being Windows-based arcade machines as Microsoft attempted to break into the arcade business then dominated by Sega's Model 2 and 3 boards and Sony's PlayStation-compatible System 11 board. That venture failed, and Microsoft has been quiet on arcade gaming ever since.

Years later, things look about to change thanks to Taito. The arcade manufacturer announced today that it has been working with Toshiba Personal Computer Systems on the development of Type X, an arcade board based on Personal Computer components and Windows XP Embedded software.

Base specifications for the hardware include a Celeron 2.5Ghz central processor, Intel 865G chipset and an ATI Radeon 9200SE video card. The system will have a hard disk onto which games will be loaded. Copy protection will be achieved via a USB dongle that will ensure that only one board uses a given game at a time.

Taito and Toshiba hope that this setup will allow for cheap hardware production and easy game development. Developers will be able to use the familiar Direct X interface for their programming efforts. Hardware will be easily expandable thanks to the base PC technology of the system.

The effort on the software front will be spearheaded by Taito who plans on providing ten titles for the system, with five to seven appearing before the end of this financial year (March 31, 2004). Specific titles have yet to be revealed. The two companies hope that other developers will make use of the technology in their arcade development plans.

Sales of twenty thousand units are expected for the hardware, with sales outside of Japan beginning next year.