HELLO APRIL FOOLS!

I was gonna include a april joke here but realised it isn't April 1 today.

Let's start off with a little more debate on classic pins.

Debate: Classic Style
I have purchased many pinball simulations (pinball games are the only games I play on the computer) which I believed to be promising only to be disappointed. Recent example - Simon the Sorcerer's Pinball. My desire is to have Cunning Developments (by far the best company to produce realistic pinball simulations) to make an electro mechanical theme simulation before they stop making pinball simulations. [editors comment: which is a day I hope none of us will live to see, but then again nothing lasts for ever] In seeing how inept Empire Interactive is in marketing their Pro Pinball products (at least in the United States) I don't understand how these folks can make any profit. If its unprofitable to make pinball games (no matter how good the product is) Empire will employ the Cunning Developments folks in making something else and leave us pinball enthusiast out in the cold. Before this happens I want to see them make a electro mechanical theme pinball simulation (Pro Pinball Classic) .

I would like to suggest that you folks [cunning development] seriously consider making a pinball simulation along the old classic electro mechanical table similar to what Microsoft did with Pinball Arcade and the Gottlieb tables. I am not suggesting that you copy any particular existing electro mechanical pinball table. I am suggesting designing a new table that captures the look, feel, sound of the old nostalgic classic electro mechanical machine. I believe with the experience and expertise of Cunning Developments that it is possible to integrate the best of the old electro mechanical table with the new solid state machine.

I believe the PC pinball enthusiast enjoys hearing all the mechanical sounds of relays, servos, transformers, springs, mechanical linkage make during game play that is indicative of the old electro mechanical machines.
I believe this new classic table could have an unique feature designed in to allow the table top playing field to be raised up and view the under side of the table. When viewing the underside of the table top you would be able to view all the relays, servos, transformers, springs, mechanical linkages, tilt mechanism, lights, fuses, wires and all the other things that make an electro mechanical table work. I believe this would enhance the illusion that this is a real pinball machine. This goes hand and hand with the aim of Pro Pinball to bring the simulation experience as close as possible to actually owning and playing a real pinball machine. I believe this raising the table top feature could be integrated into the Options Menu and become one of the functions in the menu. Example - You would raise the table top and adjust (maybe turn a screw or something) on one of the servo relays to change the power of the flippers. This is just one example and other Option Menu items adjustments could be made in this fashion.

A feature that could be incorporated before game play begins during the testing phase would be that all the relays, servos, flippers, lights, etcetera, quickly cycle through making all the various operating sounds. I would like to suggest that when designing your new release of Pro Pinball that you design a clear view table that allows full view of the ball when it is in play. I believe the player should not have the ball obscured by objects and have to guess where the ball is hiding when it is in play. I would also like to suggest that you consider making a table that has multi-levels somewhat along the lines of Gottlieb's Haunted House. This multi-level playing field makes the game more challenging especially if the multi-level flippers are controlled by different control keys.

I hope that enough discussion is generated to convince Pro Pinball Cunning Developments that the avid pinball enthusiast wants them to make Pro Pinball Classic - the electro mechanical theme pinball simulation.

- Harold Wm (Bill) Gross

Related to the above I would like to say that if there is to be a simulation of a real pinball there is just one to select, X-Files! Ok, so that is an existing real pinball and well it is not really an old style pinball either. And it is sega. But it is xfiles! Actually I would be just as happy with just seeing a pinball simulation based on xfiles (not neccesarily on the real xfiles pinball which I haven't played anyway, the one distributor of pinballs where I live in sweden doesn't like sega and wont take it in because of that, bah, argh).

Not much happened the last month so there's been little activity on the news page. Though just recently it was announced that Fox Arcade: Sci-Fi Pinball has been released. Supposedly it isn't top scoring, but quite acceptable. Awating a copy of it and will review it asap. Don't I wish they had done a xfiles table... but I've written about that before. FA/SFP is to my knowledge available for both PC and MAC.

Interplay will handle the US distribution of BRUSA, apparently GT Interactive was at first supposed to do this but for some reason that didn't happen and the task was handed over to Interplay. I'm not sure but cyberian outpost is once again selling BRUSA and it might be the US version (a newer version of BRUSA, the EUROPE version which can be bought from cdaccess is an older version than the US v. though the EU. v can easily be upgraded to the latest version with a patch, the US version will probably also be needed to be patched if more patches are released in the future). If somone orders the outpost brusa version feel free to let me know which version it is (check version number under options). Also if someone has seen brusa us available in stores send me a mail.

I noticed 21st Century had done some smaller graphical changes to their page, though there is still no information available on their upcoming projects (Slamtilt 3D etc). I als noticed that pinball-arcade.com (PGL's homepage) has been down for some weeks (at least I haven't been able to get in there during the past weeks), seems to be quite on their side conserning new projects (maybe they are doing more secret anonymous projects where they act as third party, like StS Pinball).

If you have missed it a rulesheet for BRUSA is available, visit Erik Mooney's homepage at attila.stevens-tech.edu/~emooney for version 1.3 (you can currently find version 1.2 under Rulesheets on this page, I will update it with 1.3 asap).

A pinball simulation faq is now also available, answering some quite commonly asked questions. If you have anything you think should be added to the faq feel free to send me a mail.

And I probably had some more things I was gonna write here but I can't remember them right now so until next month...

*Laugh*