Blog Closed

I am closing this blog. I do not have time for it anymore. I have a personal gaming blog at http://tijirs.blogspot.com and a group gaming blog at http://news.gamerspledge.com in which I currently post about games and will post about pinball. In fact, there is an article up about Pinball FX on the Xbox 360 over at Gamers Pledge News. It has been an interesting run and I thank you for reading my pinball blog. For complete Pinball news from an insider in the industry, check out http://www.pinballnews.com/

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Virtual Pinball 8 in Beta.

Randy Davis has released Virtual Pinball 8 Beta 5 which includes the new ball physics and new flipper physics made by the Ultrapin team to create the Ultrapin machine. Although it is still in beta, many of the posts on the forums are positive about this release. Anyhow, check out the VPForums.com thread about VP 8 Beta 5 and download the beta.

Texas Pinball Festival - A Day in Pictures

First off, let's get this out of the way. The festival was weeks ago and I am just now posting this so, Apologies to everyone for the delay, life has a way of eating time if your not careful. I also must apologize for the horrid quality of the pictures, I forgot my normal camera and this one is just not up to the task.

The Texas Pinball Festival had many of my favorite tables and quite a few I have never played. Walking through the hall brought back many memories of days spent trying to beat high scores in the local arcade as a juvenile delinquent. If you have not taken the time to goto one of these events, I highly recommend you do so.

Oh, I also got a few random shots of tables. I did not take too many pictures, I was a bit upset about the quality of the pictures and forgetting my camera. It did not, however, intefere with the days fun. We had a blast playing some of the best looking tables I have seen in quite some time. Next year I plan on being there for the entire event and entering the competition as well as checking out the swap meet, discussion, talks, etc. Anyhow, four more pictures and your done with the tour. Notice one of these pics is the Ultrapin video pinball table based on Virtual Pinball.

Texas Pinball Festival This Weekend, March 23-25

I am attending the Texas Pinball Festival on Saturday. I will be trying something new with the blog, I will be mobile blogging with pictures and short commentary from the event. If everything works out, I will post at least once an hour, unless a game goes longer ;)

Anyhow, I will clean the posts up (if needed) on Sunday or Monday.

**UPDATE - My link broke down and I had no access at the festival to fix it. I will post pictures from the show within the next few days.

Pinball Podcasts!

Pinball News.com has an article interviewing the hosts of two new podcasts about pinball. Talk Pinball and Pinball Talk are different shows about the same subject. I have not personally listened to either of these shows yet, having just read the article, so I do not know exactly what the shows are about but I will definitely give it a listen next show. More about these shows:

Quote from the Talk Pinball website: "Talk Pinball is a webcast (online radio show) where enthusiasts can call in and talk to game designers, manufacturers, collectors, and more. We also share repair and restoration tips as well as answer tech questions. Want to talk pinball? Call us at 1-800-660-2481 and talk to us live on the air!"

Quote from the Pinball Talk website: "It's a one hour Internet radio show that allows people to call in and ask tech questions about their (broken) games. They also have Special Guests on the show that work in the pinball industry. And there's special features like Stump the Chump, Game of the Week, and more! The show is hosted by Norm & Shaggy of 'This Old Pinball' video DVD pinball repair and restoration fame."

Be sure to check out the website of each program for a schedule of future shows.

Pinball Coming to Xbox Live Arcade

Team Xbox has posted an article about Zen Studios up and coming pinball game for the Xbox 360 that will soon be available on Xbox Live Arcade. I have been wondering for the past year if someone would come out with a pinball game for the Xbox 360. One of the things mentioned is multiplayer over live, so once it is out look me up on Live (gamertag: rijit) and I will be happy to try and beat you down on some pinball ;) The article also has about a dozen screenshots of the three different tables that will be available initially. I will, of course, post more information as it becomes available.

Quote from the article: "Zen Studios’ new Pinball FX offers an unparalleled pinball experience for novices and experts alike. It combines the arcade thrills of traditional pinball with enhanced gameplay and exciting, innovative features not found in any other pinball game. With the power of the Xbox 360 behind it, Pinball FX sets a new standard for realistic ball physics and graphical detail in pinball video games."

Key Features:

• Live chat via the Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera
• Three vibrant, 3-dimensional tables provide dozens of hours of play
• State-of-the-art physics model that surpasses the best titles in the genre
• Tables start out simple, but new challenges open up as a player’s skill advances
• Flipper arms can be controlled with hand/arm motions via the Xbox 360 Live Vision camera
• Downloadable tables on Xbox Live Marketplace
• Real-time head-to-head mode for online multiplayer competition
• Amazing realism and polished presentation

Click through to read the full article: Zen Studios Announces Pinball FX for Xbox Live Arcade