Inventor of the Modern Pinball Machine Dies At 100 89
porsche911 writes with this excerpt from the New York Times: "Steve Kordek, who revolutionized the game of pinball in the 1940s by designing what became the standard two-flipper machine found in bars and penny arcades around the world, died on Sunday at a hospice in Park Ridge, Ill. He was 100. ... 'Steve's impact would be comparable to D. W. Griffith moving from silent films through talkies and color and CinemaScope and 3-D with computer-generated graphics,' [pinball historian Roger] Sharpe said. 'He moved through each era seamlessly.'"
Pinball Hall of Fame (Score:5, Informative)
Should you find yourself in Las Vegas (as I will this weekend), make sure you check out the Pinball Hall of Fame [pinballmuseum.org] - several hundred games from all eras, all playable (many for $0.25). It's an amazing place.
Slashdot... reminds me of the AT & T Ad (Score:0, Informative)
I remember that Slashdot only posts events etc. with links that include analysis etc. of the event.
But something is seriously wrong if a board takes 5 days to point out someone's dead - esp. someone that we like and is quite a bit famous - and there is nothing worthwhile in the description and no links that make it worth waiting for 5 days to read about it.
Could the moderator hire some support staff.. and speed it up a bit.
Slashdot reminds me of the ATT Ad where everyone gets text a few mins earlier than the other guy.... slashdot seems to be the 'slow-on-the-uptake' guy.
Re:Sad news... (Score:3, Informative)
Or: Pinball Museum, Bay Area CA (Score:5, Informative)
-T
I worked with Steve (Score:5, Informative)
I worked at Williams/Bally/Midway/Atari/etc in the late 90's. I worked in the coin-op video game division, where Steve was across the street in the pinball division. Occasionally he'd swing by our building, and had a fondness for the game system I was working on, so he'd sit at the test machine outside my office and play for quite a while. He always had this knack for making what sounded like the simplest suggestion, yet it actually being a profound change that took it to the next generation.
He'd walk into my office and say "You know, I like (game X) a lot. Have you thought about adding (feature Y)? It's probably a lot of work, but maybe worth it?" and an hour later we were smacking our foreheads as to why we hadn't thought of that ourselves. There's no doubt in my mind how he could look at something like a flipperless pinball machine and figure out how to take it to the next level. It's something I really wish I could do more often myself.
He was a great guy, and one of the most patient people I've known. He'll be greatly missed.
Re:R.I.P., Mr. Kordek. (Score:4, Informative)
Off topic trivia: Rudy's voice in Funhouse was done by Ed Boon, creator of the Mortal Kombat franchise of games/movies/etc.
Re:Sad news... (Score:5, Informative)
I believe Stern Pinball is the only remaining one; they come out with a couple of different games each year. A couple of friends of mine have companies that sell and service machines (Chicagoland and California); I'm not sure how much is new ones vs. old but I've played a fair number of the newer machines and they're pretty nice (better in my opinion than the Pinball 2000 stuff that Williams was trying). The Simpsons Pinball Party and The Lord Of The Rings ones (both Stern) are pretty impressive still.
Stern Pinball [sternpinball.com] is the largest pinball manufacturer and produces about three new games a year. AC/DC [sternpinball.com] is Stern's latest release. While Stern has been around for a long time, several other companies have started up recently.
Jersey Jack Pinball [jerseyjackpinball.com] is about to go into production of Wizard of Oz in mid march. They've put a lot into this game and it's looking amazing. It's a wide body game with a 26" LCD, dual upper playfields, tons of toys, and a whole lot more.
Retro Pinball [retropinball.net] has begun shipping a reproduction of the Gottlieb's 1967 King of Diamonds built using modern technology.
MarsaPlay's New Canasta [pinballnews.com] has been available in the Spanish market for a couple of years now.
John Popadiuk is working on a couple of small run, custom pinball machines for the high end collector market. The two games are Magic Girl [pinballinventor.org] and Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland [pinballinventor.org]
Pinball appears to be making something of a comeback and it looks like 2012 could be one of the best years for pinball in a long time.