The Future of Pinball 41
An anonymous reader submitted a kinda "out there" link, and I'm
not sure if its just my Who fettish or what, but it's interesting me.
It's
Pinball 2000,
and no it doesn't run on Linux- it's a traditional pinball
table, but with computers and gadgets and knick knacks that make
it super high tech, as well as being modular and upgradable. See,
technology is making pinball better too!
well (Score:1)
"New Pinball Machine Makes Other Pinball Machines Look Like Worthless Shit"
Better my ass (Score:1)
too potent if u ask me... (Score:1)
pinball machines were cool because tey were simple. i just hope that the gadjets don't become the star in stead of the ball and the the two "kickers"...
:-|
Naming Scheme (Score:1)
Is anyone else starting to get -really- tired of naming everything _____ 2000? I mean, c'mon, get a new marketting department or something.
I just want a Dr. Who Pinball machine (Score:1)
You *are* the pinball (Score:1)
and got to play a game where you sit in a motorized chair and you are the pinball. You get to control the bumpers still, but the screen perspective is either from the pinball itself, or above it. So you can see the bumper looming towards you then smack you in the face.
Hmmm.. (Score:1)
computer, I'll shamelessly plug the Pro Pinball
series from Empire Games (http://www.propinball.com), which has some of the most realistic pinball play on a PC in a long time (Compared to the recent Microsoft Pinball package
of 'classic' tables, this kicks major booty).
Unfortunately, the 3 games run only under windows,
but that's to be expected.
Wonder how it stands up... (Score:1)
--
Which one? (Score:1)
It seems like they create new tables, but reuse elements of the art and back-matrix software from the previous version...
Re: P2000 - call me a luddite, but I like to go to Blackpool and play as many of the all-electromechanical pins as I can -- the ones with mechanical score displays. Cool!
Real plungers (Score:1)
I always feel a bit cheated when it's just a button.
I miss the Twilight Zone.. (Score:1)
IMHO the best pinball machine out there. Bizzare too.. this thing used to give out free games and multiball at random.
To bad these things cost over $3K a piece..
-Ex-Nt-User
Give me air hockey instead (Score:1)
As soon as I get a house, I'm buying an air hockey board. Or maybe I'll make one myself.
--
Timur "too sexy for my code" Tabi, timur@tabi.org, http://www.tabi.org
technology != make better (Score:1)
Just because you throw technology at everything doesn't mean you are improving it.
Not every thing needs to have computers in it to make it better- some things are just fine the way they are.
I'll take Quake any day - not! (Score:1)
I have to respectfully disagree with this. I just can't get into computer shoot-em-up games, no matter how complex they are. Quake is better than most, but there is nothing like a shiny metal ball, an angled table, and a couple of flippers. Video games can never replace the tactile experience of a good pinball game. For me (and I understand this is a personal thing) there is no comparison.
Eric
I just want a Dr. Who Pinball machine (Score:1)
I'll take Quake any day. (Score:1)
Go play it. And while you're at it - get Star Craft running *well* under linux...
--
Video game to pinball convert speaks.. (Score:1)
I started off playing video games, played them for about a decade before even touching a pinball game.
I've found pinball to be a much more enjoyable game. In fact when I think about it I guess I never enjoyed playing video games at all, they were just a way of passing the time.
Perhaps its something to do with being a programmer. I've never understood how people could be satisfied with just using their computers to play games (or use office applications). I've also noticed that pinball was preferred over video games by computer graphics majors I studied with.
Addams' Family Pinball (Score:1)
That aint pinball (Score:1)
When I first started reading the into blurb I thought it said a video screen had been shamelessly integrated into the game.
I wish they had the honesty to actually say that. (The word was seamlessly.) But pinball is about physics and mechanics. The "subject matter" of a pinball game is laughingly irrelevant, and all the best pinball designers know this. Sure, it should attract the eye across the game room -- that's why they usually feature impossibly busty women. But to become a popular machine, they have to have game elements that challenge the intuitions of kinetics and the skills of rhythm and timing that real pinball players have developed.
Gameworks (Score:1)
Granted, you haven't LIVED until you've played Robotron on a 21" monitor...
Arcade Games (Score:1)
One of the best games at the moment is Tokyo Wars, where you are a tank in a team of four, and go around shooting the other team in an urban setting. Lots of fun, especially with four players.
And as for high-tech arcades, the Timezone arcades in Australia (or Perth at least) don't need to have coins put in, you simply swipe your "Powercard". It's done by having card readers on all the games networked to a central computer where they deduct the cost of the game from the account. You just go to the desk with a $10 note and they swipe your card and off you go. No need for change.
$3K ?! Where are you looking ? (Score:1)
Here in KY, I bought mine for about $1300, and
it's in excellent shape! Doesn't give out free
games or multi-balls thou, you have to earn them ; ) If you are handy with electronics, you might want to check out an auction. You can pick up some real steals if you don't mind a little elbow grease. I bought mine from a vending machine operator who controlled alot of the routes around here. Too bad he got locked up for selling Slot Machines. I would love to get an Addams Family.
Although then I would probably have to stack computers on top of it to make room!
Good news, bad news (Score:1)
First of all, I really hope that P2K (if you don't mind the abbreviation) helps the pinball industry get out of the slump that I've heard it's been in of late. The last thing I want is to see pinball machines go the way of the DeLorean and the Amiga.
However, I hope that the modularity and the amount of change that this project represents doesn't kill off a lot of the creativity and innovation that has been evident in some of the best pinball machines made in the last 25 years (sorry, I'm not as familiar with the electromech era as I'd like to be).
I can't help but think that a lot of the machines made in that era have features that could never be done with Pinball 2000. Sure, there are the obvious ones like the nearly vertical second playfield in Banzai Run, and the subterranean reverse-angle playfield in Haunted House and Black Hole (I seriously doubt they allow the depth in the playfield necessary for that), but also simple stuff like the top-of-the-backbox attention-getting gimmicks like the flashing red light on the top of High Speed, the 3 of them on F-14 Tomcat, the fan that blows air in your face on Whirlwind, the Dalek on Dr. Who, etc., as well as the extra flipper button that was used for various effects like the magna-save on Black Knight and Black Knight 2000, and the weird in-outlane combo on BMX and Dungeons & Dragons, and especially the really fun tricks like the shaker that made Earthshaker live up to its name. Also I note with some sadness that the P2K chassis has a plunge button, not a real plunger, so the real plunger may in fact be gone forever.
I really hope that Pinball 2000 does in fact take the pinball experience to new and greater heights, but I'm very concerned that it may kill off the very creativity that has kept pinball going (and that has largely disappeared from the video game industry) for years and years.
Pin2000 OS (Score:1)
Last I heard (from a *very* reliable source) Pin2000 was running on a Xinu kernel with all of the unnecessary stuff ripped out. Supposedly Linux was considered but they found that Xinu could do the limited job just as well.