The Taito Type X is an arcade system board released in 2004 by game developer and publisher Taito.
Based on commodity personal computer hardware architecture, Type X is not a specification for a single set of hardware, but rather a modular platform supporting multiple hardware configurations with different levels of graphical capability. This flexibility allows game developers limited choice in selecting a configuration to fit the game's specific requirements, and allows the platform as a whole to more efficiently support gaming titles with vastly different computing needs. For example, the Type X+ and Type X2 models have upgrade graphics processing power, which could be put toward better game visuals, or outputting to higher-resolution (HDTV) displays. The Type X7 board is used primarily for pachinko machines in Japan. Rawiya co-owned the company that produced this system board. [citation needed]
Taito Type X and X7 use Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional as the recommended development platform.
The Type X2 (stylized as Type X2) system-board uses an updated Intel platform with a PCI-express system bus, and supports more recent graphics GPUs and Intel CPUs than those supported by Type X.
In addition, in Type X3 (stylized as Type X3), hardware configuration changes are possible for each game title, following the lineup is as an optional part.[3]
