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Checking out Pinball software
The discussion on Pinball in some of the other threads have inspired me to go look for some nice Pinball games that I personally think are worth checking out. When I was a kid we had our own true full-size pinball machine back home it was a gift to my dad somewhere in the 70's. It was a simple machine and I can't remember the name of it. I am going to try dig up a photograph of it - perhaps someone could identify it for me. Anyways - the machine broke after years of play. My dad tried repairing it and it got thrown out in the end. We also had a real standing slot machine which I didn't like playing that much. It was my brother's and he took it with him to college where it was played to death and got thrown out.
FUTURE PINBALL - PC Win32
Have you guys looked at this before? Future pinball seems an excellent software adddition for folk who love pinball. It comes with a great looking pinball table and it lets you create your own pinball tables. On the download page there is a link to a 12 page tutorial on how to build pinball tables. Definitely worth checking out folks especially as it is FREE too!
On my Vista System I had to revert to the Classic Theme as the software uses OpenGL to render the tables. OpenGL and the Aero interface don't work well on most - if not all - Vista Systems. There's music, there's is a tremendous quality in the rendering of the tables, the ball physics are convincing. There is although a slight lag in the response of the flippers sometimes. Could be my system though.
(5) to insert coin
(1) to start
(return) to 'kick/fling' the ball into play
(f1) to change the view of the table
Sci-fi classic pinball table
Dead hunters pinball table
A whole plethora of additional pinball tables can be downloaded from various user-websites that are linked to from the Future pinball site.
PINBALL FX - XBox 360
A live Arcade game - and what a game it is. There are reviewers out there that don't think much of the physics or the table designs but I tend to disagree. The tables look stunning and they are very playable. On a wide screen HD(ready) TV it feels like playing the real thing. The multi player option is quite interesting as you play simultaneously instead of taking turns!
Controls are quite easy as both triggers will activate the corresponding flippers and the joystick will let you nudge the table left or right.
Originally it only came with 3 tables but as time has gone by after the initial release more tables have popped up. A few are free and the latest addition is a 800 point costing table which is a homage to Streetfighter II. It seems that MrCustard - a now somewhat dormant/Lurcking AA-reader - has been getting pretty darn high scores on this game lately.
Gottlieb Pinball classics - PSP
When you want portable pinball gaming this is a game that lets you have no less than eleven tables - real tables that have been recreated digitally to a high standard. The screen setup is very flexible as you can view from various angles and it is possible to flip the screen 90 degrees which gives you an interesting perspective.
Controls are pretty straightforward and access to all tables is only granted if you have completed the Gottlieb challange. Whenever you reach a certain high score on the current table you are playing the next one will be unlocked for you and will also be accessible in the future. It is possible to access a limited selection of tables in 'free play' outside of the Gottlieb challenge though. But to unlock all tables you do need to participate in the challange. Multiplayer games are also possible over Wifi - even if the other player doesn't have the game! It is possible to even hold a tournament if all players own a copy of the game.
A Wii version of the game also seems to exist. I am not sure if that is worth getting.
Comments
Pinball Dreams.. classic. pinnacle..
I have the PSP Gottlieb title and its fun, but most of the tables are boring or way too complex. And I'm sure they have the gravity right but sometimes I feel the ball needs more weight, or some of the electronic cushions bounce it not enough/too much. and the credit thing really sucks. I want to play the tables, I should not have to play for hours to work my butt off to earn a credit or two to play a 3 credit table just to get some really poor rolls in and have it over right away. Some of the screen modes are too hard to really see whats going on. There are codes but there appears no way to 'save' and keep the codes alive (and its a real PAIN to enter them as its slow to do so)
The williams pinball collection (system3 again) is supposed to be better... but I dont know.
-- Stu --
Does anybody have that version for the PSP?
Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | www.markvergeer.nl
I had mentioned trying Future Pinball on my arcade machine in another thread as an alternative to Virtual Pinball/PinMame. I ended up giving up on it, but it seemed promising for the future.
I agree that Pinball FX on Xbox Live Arcade is excellent. I have all of the tables for it except for the Street Fighter II one.
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
I think the first computer pinball game I played was on the TRS-80 Model 1, and I forget what it was called. I do recall that, considering the graphics limitations of the TRS-80, it was pretty well done, with decent ball physics.
Then there was Raster Blaster, which really wowed me on the Apple II, followed by David's Midnight Magic and Pinball Construction set (and Night Mission Pinball). I've posted previously in another thread about my experiences with Pinball Construction Set; needless to say, I got enormous pleasure from that one!
Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions were my faves for the Amiga, Particularly the Nightmare table in Pinball Dreams!
Balls of Steel for the PC had a great "Duke Nukem" table that was probably the most exciting video pinball game I've ever played! It's a scrolling, overhead-view pinball game like the Pinball Dreams series, but the Duke Nukem table was better than anything in the PBD games, in my opinion!
I also have Adventure Pinball: Forgotten Island, which is a very non-traditional pinball game. It's actually a pinball game with "levels," and you can beat the game in an afternoon by completing all the levels. Very cartoonish, with creatures roaming around and such, it's more of an arcade game that a pinball sim, and as such is probably a very approachable game for young kids who would be put off by traditional pinball.
I've mentioned "Timeshock!" in another thread: It's the most realistic sim I've encountered.
Visual Pinball is cool, but the fact that you can't save your tables as separate executables is a severe limitation; you have to run Visual Pinball and load the tables into the interface before you can play them. I didn't mess with Future Pinball much, but it sounds like a cool advancement.
I wish someone (not me!) would create a Pinball Construction Set successor that has a construction interface inspired by "Little Big Planet!" That would be awesome!
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I have to admit to being one of those rare folks who never really went for pinball. I tend to play the machines when I find them, simply because they are more exotic than videogames, but not much fun. The damn ball always goes down the middle or somewhere I can't do anything about it; it seems more random than skill (though I of course know you can develop techniques, "tilting," and so on). I got really enthused about it after I became a Who fan, but that wore off. I guess I find the electromechanical stuff interesting from an engineering/historical perspective, but am quite happy with fully digital/virtual games. Conversely, there's part of me that says, if you're going to play pinball, play the real thing.
That said, I did enjoy the amiga pinball games quite a bit, simply because the audiovisual quality was so awesome. I remember Pinball Dreams or Fantasies, but I played an earlier one--can't remember the title of it now. I played Night Mission a bit on the C-64, but never got into the construction sets and what-not.
It seems funny how many of the things Shane was interested in seem to have touched a chord with his many listeners. I know he waxed on and on about pinball machines and even had a few shows dedicated to them. I'm a bit dubious about whether people who liked the show who became Robotron or Zoo Keeper fans, etc. Kinda makes me wonder if they really liked those things or just liked them because Shane thought they were cool. I know I don't give a hoot about any of those games--but agree with him on most of his Amiga/Commodore 64 favorites.
Who is shane? Was he the retro show guy? I never listened. I always hated robotron. I dont mind too much video pinball but I dont like real pinball, mostly because like you I find its more luck than anything and video pinball doesnt waste my quarters :)
A lot of the psp gotlieb tables are things like 'hit these 10 targets IN ORDER' how on earth do you do that, its all freaking random where the ball mostly goes.
-- Stu --
Played it a little more after demoing it last night and I must say I do like the game although the ball is very small compared to the other games out there and the view point of the tables is not always as clear as you'd want it to be. It is damn hard let me tell you. Pinball FX on the 360 is far easier.
Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | www.markvergeer.nl
If you haven't ever listened to Retrogaming Radio, I'd recommend it very highly. I used to listen to them on my desktop, but now it'd probably make more sense to put them your iPod or what-not and listen to them that way. I'm not sure what the status of the show is at this point, but I'm pretty sure you can buy DVDs with the old shows on them. You might not agree with everything Shane (the host) says, but that's half the fun!
IMO, the best shows are the earlier ones; it kinda goes downhill once Shane starts imitating the likes of Howard Stern and padding the shows with all kinds of unedited interviews and auction segments (not my cup of tea). Still, you can always skip the parts you don't like, and the rants are always worth a listen.
Anyway, as far as pinball goes, I think my best experience with one was during my summer at McNeese State at Lake Charles, Louisiana. I was there with some good friends, and there was a little arcade on campus that had a circus-themed pinball game. We were only 14 or 15 at the time, and we were good at catching the operator when he came to collect. He'd give us about 60 credits and we'd have a blast. Even after hours and hours of practice, though, it was still purely luck. Either you got lucky or you didn't. To my understanding, the pros at this are masters at "tilting" the machine, that is, bumping or tilting it just enough to keep the sensor from disqualifying them (usually by locking up the paddles). That's obviously something you can't duplicate in a virtual setup, though many games have tried (with buttons for tilting, though if you press them too much you lose).
I love real pinball machines. There's nothing else quite like it. It's partially luck, but it's also skillfully hitting the ball just right with the respective flipper to get it to go just where you want. For my money, you just can't beat the physical feel of a real pinball machine. It's very much like the mechanical manifestation of a videogame. Certainly until roughly the 1950s pinball machines weren't that great as they didn't have flippers, but with the addition of flippers and increasingly sophisticated table elements, particularly ramps, tunnels and multi-balls, good pinball machines became tough to beat for pure enjoyment in my opinion.
Obviously videogames have surpassed pinball for a reason - they tend to be more flexible and offer a more surreal experience - but I think the two are inextricably linked. It's a shame that like the traditional arcade, pinball is all but dead as an industry.
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
The physical physics is what does it for me with pinball. Pinball FX on the 360 does feature some enhanced physics with the ball rotating and slipping. I think the physics are very well done despite what quite a bit of reviewers say. It behaves more like a real Pinball machine than other pinball videogames out there which tend to have very simplistic physics with hardly any friction model and loss of momentum feels often very artificial.
I am looking forward to more Pinball games that use the PhysX engine - that could perhaps enhance the experience even more.
But nothing beats the real thing!
Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | www.markvergeer.nl