I hate to ruin the surprise, but I have a pretty good idea what my parents will be giving me for Christmas. I obtained this top-secret intelligence by placing the order myself.

I'm really excited about this year's gift. It's not really one single gift, but a bunch of parts that I'll need to construct the gift. The plan is to build a bona fide arcade cabinet which will house the necessary hardware to provide endless hours of classic gaming enjoyment for all.

Hopefully the end result will look something like this. With Brad's permission, Jamie and I plan on parking this beauty right in our office. This will undoubtedly increase the already high traffic to the Python Pit. Jamie and I are confident in our ability to defeat all challengers at Street Fighter 2.

All parts were ordered from Ulimarc Arcade Controls. Initially the cabinet will provide 2 joysticks with 6 buttons each, along with coin and start buttons for each player. The future holds plans to add a trackball and a spinner control. I plan on documenting the build process in the projects section of MrShoe.org, so check there for updates next month.