OK... now I have to really get started on it... anyone have a Star Wars yoke?  

, I was thinking the same freaking thing.  If I ever get to a version 2 of the cab done, I'm going for a modular design so I can have one panel for a 2 player 7 button joystick setup (U360's) with a trackball (just to help out the Neo Geo a bit), 1 panel with 2 spinners with steering wheel attachments (for championship Sprint and other 360 racing games).  Finally, one panel with a 270 degree steering wheel for the rest of the racing games and top it off with a Star Wars Yoke.  Dare to dream...

Back on topic: I just became a beta tester and I can tell you that it's for real.  Wow!!!  I've not fully set it up yet, but the menu works well and is plenty fast on my rig (2.4ghz).  The size of the themes can be a bit daunting, due to the video file but it looks so great it's ok to sacrifice some storage space IMHO.  Look for a torrent sometime next week with everything included (not by me, that's part of how they will distribute it).

I also spoke with the developper on pinball support; adding Visual Pinball to the list of emu's supported SHOULD be possible.  We'll see, I'll begin testing tonight and will provide comments later no how easy/hard it is to configure.  From what I can see so far, it's not a matter of just clicking on a few buttons (some manual editing of .xml files is required) but it's also not rocket science.

Yo!  the public beta of HyperSpin was released yesterday and it's working pretty darn sweet.  If you want to try it out, there is a torrent available to download from the HyperSpin home page.

note #1 - there were a few errors with the overall package, a couple of files need to be switched and .ini's need to be adjusted.  Very minor stuff
note #2 - the download is 1 gig in size, as the themes (over 50) include the necessary flv's.
note #3 - the torrent download is setup so that once you've got it, you can run it right away (you'll have to adjust the necessary paths for your emulators though.
note #4 - a few people have been getting a black screen, not sure why though it appears if your video card is a bit old (guessing, but over 4 years?) there may be issues. I suspect this is a bug which the devs will be able to get a workaround shortly.

Q - why can't it use the avi's already on the net for the preview videos?
A - Because HyperSpin's themes allow full control over the placement of the videos', including it's angle, etc.  Full control over an AVI doesn't appear to be possible, thus the need to move onto a new video type.

Q - why is there only 50 themes included, my set of roms is over XXXX in size?
A - Creating themes takes time, that's why the community invites anyone to create the themes.  It looks like text support is coming soon so that even creating a wheel graphic won't be necessary but for now, that's the only limitation: the wheel graphics.

Q - Why would I want to load up a front end that takes 1 gig to play 50 megs?
A - The 1 gig download includes other stuff, such as full set graphics for the NES and NeoGeo Pocket and I think more (but these don't include the videos). Additionally, I'd say that 1 gig may be big, but its a small price to pay for something that just plain ol' looks cool!

Enjoy and stop by the HyperSpin board if you have any questions, I found these dudes VERY friendly and helpful.

Loaf

It won't be long that people will submit their own wheel graphics to be integrated into the system...

So Loaf... when do I clearcoat your Firepower?  

, whenever you want me to setup your emulators and front end  .

Actually, haven't had the chance to post, but I've got to work on firepower, stupid kickback plunger popped out again.   Haven't had the chance to look at it yet.  But back to your question, whenever I get the clearcoat done, I'm going to need to also get some work done on her, get the rest of those inserts refilled.

Quoted from The Loafer

We'll find out in a little over a week I guess, I'll be trying it out first night.  

  I think the Beta version and themes are available. I have access to something, via a donation, but I haven't tried it out yet.
It looks terrific!

Yep Wayne, it's pretty cool.  You can get the entire package either via torrent or newsgroups (see my message on page 1 for more details).