Finally...

I've been wanting to update the site for quite a while, actually. Finally got around to doing it. On the outside, it may just look like new colors and a slightly different design, but on the backend, all the code is cleaner, and it will be easier for me to add and update stuff now (which was the big thing for me). If anyone notices if I "broke" anything, let me know.

More than five months since the last artwork update; sorry about that. Part of that was due to the site update, and part due to "other stuff." Anyway, it's here now, so let's get started:

• Mikonos from Zona Arcade brings us some more goodies. Today, we have Prehistoric Isle and Dyger from the BYOAC / CAG artwork, Juno First, and the Journey bezel has been updated to the real thing (the last one had the bottom cut off). Thanks to Gene at Vintage Arcade Superstore for loaning that one out.
  
• TrevEB noticed that the bezel for Us Vs. Them is almost identical to M.A.C.H. 3. So with photo evidence in hand, he took the current artwork for M3 and adjusted it for UVT.
  
• Trevor also scanned the bezel for Warp Speed some time ago. Antny took it upon himself to complete the task, and even started working on it before the game was added to MAME.
  
• Roberto Fresca added some new roulette games to MAME over the past few months that work better with artwork, so he created it. Grab the files for re800v1, re800v3, and kas89.
  
• Thanks to inspiration from kelly, I gave the Mr. Do bezel the proper treatment. I taught myself how to use the pencil tool properly in Photoshop, and based on the scan from the BYOAC/CAG artwork, and various photos, I'm finally happy with the end result. We also learned that the original Mr. Do bezel had a pink border around the screen; the blue border version is for conversions. This updates the files for mrdo, docastle, sraider, and jjack. Mr. Do also includes the marquee, which is based on zorg's vector work, the BYOAC/CAG version, and photos, to make sure that I got the colors and alignment on the inside of the marquee correct. I'll add the control panel and instruction sticker later, once I finish them correctly.
  
• Grab the files for Seawolf and Seawolf II. I took the uncropped artwork from the "other" page and stuck them in there, for reference.
  
• Earlier this year, code was added to MAME for marquees and control panels. Metal Slug 2 has been updated to finally use this, so you can see what kind of plans I have for this. It includes every piece of artwork on the cabinet (except for sideart). Default is all artwork on. If you wanna just use the normal bezel view that has always been around, simply turn off marquees and control panels. There is also views included that only show the marquee, control panel, and instruction card. These are there for people that have a second monitor to display this info to, or if you just wanna pause the game and read the instructions, they are now available. I plan to also have moving sticks and buttons on the control panels later, so stay tuned.
  

On to the other artwork... back in February, hatefulgravy pointed me to this site here. With the advent of widescreen monitors, everyone's always heard complaints of the gamescreen not taking up all space on the monitor. Well, here was a guy that wasn't happy that the artwork wasn't taking up the whole monitor, so he took exisiting arcade artwork, and created custom widescreen artwork for 80 of his favorite games. After downloading everything and checking it out, I thought it was pretty cool. I contacted hausjam to ask his permission to add it to the "other artwork" page, and he agreed. So head on over to the other artwork page and check it all out.

So back the the site update now... I don't ever want to go six months again without an update. Mostly, it's not fair for contributors that finish artwork to have to wait so long before artwork is officially "released." So now that the update is done, I think it's safe to say that I will now be able to "release" artwork soon after it is completed, instead of letting it pile up and having to do a whole bunch of it at once (which kills me).