So the casino that I work in (well, both of the casinos, they are attached) has an arcade... One of these arcades houses a Simpsons Pinball Party (by Stern) as well as a NASCAR machine (also stern actually) which seem to be perpetually ill-maintained. The other casino had no machines in their arcade until they installed another NASCAR machine (yeah, the one broken one wasnt enough) as well as the monstrosity known as: ULTRAPIN... In case you are not aware, ultrapin is basically a 37 inch HDTV with a setup that simulates flippers (does that well enough) as well as a front end for a pinball version of MAME. I was excited and wondered how well it would work, but upon trying one of my favorite machines, FUNHOUSE i was severely dissapointed. Even after a few games, it just never seemed right to me. The ball physics were off a tad, and I went from being pretty good at pinball (still to this date can play a machine for a while) to game over in mere minutes. It was a frustrating experience, to say the least. Should I be surprised? No, considering that the ball physics cannot really be the same as gravity pulling down, no matter how they try. Still, considering these machines cost upwards of $8,000.00 i somehow expected more.
If the ball physics weren't off this could actually be pretty good, I presume its behind gorilla glass or something right? Would be far cheaper to maintain.
Blegh, better no pinball machine then a fake digital one! Stern has proven that pinball machine's are still worth the investment, altough in my eyes those new Stern machine's come no where near the classics!
No, its really just the same cabinet as any table circa 1995 (when they still made decent machines, using an example) and they have a TV beneath the cabinet that has an anti glare sheet covering it. actually, the worst of it is that having loved Pin Bot as a child on the NES, i was excited to play it but again, just... somehow off. Trivia: Mortal Kombat legent ed boon plays the voice of the creepy ventriloquist puppet Rudy in Funhouse. Side Note: 1. awesome games I would kill to have every day access to? Twilight Zone, Back to the Future, Funhouse, Addams Family, Mars Attacks, South Park... and I am sure there are more. 2. Stern makes some good tables still... actually they did a great job with Roller Coaster Tycoon, and Simpsons pinball party is pretty good as well. They still make good games but seem to have less lasting quality. For some reason i have seen more broken stern machines than anyone else. Maybe no one maintains them anymore, maybe its as simple as that.
i will be going back to play a bit more of the game today, but to me i think there is a disconnect between the controls and the fact that there is no physical moving parts. something about being on a console with a controller in your hand, to the learned experience i have of using flippers, it does not equate. perhaps the ball physics are all but perfect, but it just isnt translating well for me.
Do you have a 360? (Don't use the iphone version) If so try Pinball Arcade (just hit this week) and see what you think of the physics in that. It's by the studio who did Pinball Hall of Fame (Gottlieb/Williams collection)
Pinball machines aren't as popular anymore, and cost a crapload of money to maintain. There's a reason why Stern is the only company still making new tables. As for video pinball, none of the games really have physics that are anything like the real thing, but for me Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions are still the greatest.
I spent many hours on that Simpsons Pinball game, fantastic voices in that and alot of fun. Ultrapin sounds kind of interesting, its probably running some kind of PC board (like the Taito X2 board) which means if someone cared enough they could release it to the internet. I haven't kept up with pinball emulation in years, is there a current mame type emulator for pinball games out there?
from what i have read it isnt that complicated. There is a program that runs the board, and pinMAME emulates the actual ROM image for the table. Here is a cool video of a program called visual pinball running. i may look into it more if i can
I think the physics is okay in Pinball Hall of Frame on the 3DS, I haven't noticed anything that would make me think it isn't. But then again the only table I play right now is Fun House, I am going beat Fun House if it's my last thing I do. The problem is I can't get the ball into Rudy's mouth when the clock is at midnight (he goes to sleep then). I can hit his mouth during normal player =hugh
