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Pulp Fiction Pinball – The Bad Mother Flipper

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When Ms. Ausretrogamer gets excited for a new pinball machine, you know it is going to be a special one!

One of the most requested themes in the pinball world has been Pulp Fiction, the cult classic 1994 crime film by Quentin Tarantino. Almost 30 years since the movie was released, Chicago Gaming Company and Play Mechanix Pinball have answered our prayers with a lineup of Pulp Fiction pinball beauties!

The Pulp Fiction lineup!

image source: Chicago Gaming Company (prices in $USD)

The Bad Mother Flipper LE

Designed by Mark Ritchie, who also designed classic pinball machines Fish Tales and Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure in the early 1990s, this new machine is in keeping of the era,  reminiscent of the alphanumeric / early solid state machines, which translates well with this theme. Checking out the below trailer, there is no doubt that Pulp Fiction translates well into the world of pinball.


source: Chicago-Gaming Company

From their website, Chicago-Gaming Company state:

Pulp Fiction is a retro-inspired full-featured modern pinball machine. Developed at the request of Quentin Tarantino who wanted an 1980’s style Pulp Fiction themed pinball machine for his home. Tarantino’s continued involvement throughout the project shaped the final game. Tarantino rarely licenses his intellectual property, it is a unique privilege to produce a game which pays tribute to this masterpiece.

Legendary pinball designer Mark Ritchie masterfully crafted a playfield which on its surface appears comparable to games from this era but outside of initial perception features more mechanisms and greater depth than most games produced today. David Thiel forcefully pulls the player into this world utilizing over 250 iconic lines from Pulp Fiction’s legendary cast, five licensed songs from the original movie soundtrack, and a number of original compositions. Josh Sharpe developed an approachable rule set that is both intuitive and deep enough to engage even the most skilled player. Scott Pikulski’s vintage inspired art package is both stunning and perfectly cohesive.

The Limited Edition (LE) will surely sell out quite quickly, are you getting one?

image source: Chicago-Gaming Company



My ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Weekend

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Here is a little secret about entertainment: if something is good, people are usually going to find it and make it a success.

I’ve stayed away from buying a “Sonic the Hedgehog” game for all my life, but one recent weekend, I decided to purchase “Sonic Forces” and “Sonic Mania” for Nintendo Switch.

I’ve always played “Sonic” in a friend’s dorm room or at an arcade when I was younger, but I never bought a “Sonic” game; and I had a Sega when I was a teenager. All weekend long, I went back-and-forth playing the two Sonic games. I played “Sonic Mania” a little more because I like the retro look and feel to it.

The main thing that I’ve always enjoyed about “Sonic” games is the speed. I’m not the greatest at collecting tokens, however, I’ll get through each stage in a speedy fashion. When I land on some spikes and lose all my tokens, I’m never fazed by it. My focus is always trying to get to the end of the stage. I’m always trying to break my previous record; my time is my focus.

Before buying the games, my last interaction with “Sonic the Hedgehog” was the first film, back in 2020. I tried watching “Sonic the Hedgehog” with Jim Carrey; I got about an hour in, and said to myself, “This movie wasn’t made for me.” I hear kids love the film franchise. Worldwide, both films made $725 million combined. A third film is in the works for 2024.

When I went into my Sonic cave for the weekend, I couldn’t stop playing, I was enjoying myself so much. Yes, the game is hugely popular and iconic, but the game play, like the original “Super Mario Bros.,” is still thrilling and engaging.

And, like “Mario,” there are many iterations of “Sonic” to come. In the future, I may buy a third “Sonic” game.

image source: Ausretrogamer



It’s Time We Got A F1 Themed Pinball Machine!

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We love asking the tough questions here at ausretrogamer. Today we ask, is it time for a pinball manufacturer to capitalise on the Formula 1 (F1) popularity by creating a modern themed pinball machine based on this pinnacle of Motorsport racing? F1 cars and pinball share a lot in common, both are highly engineered and precision made machines, with thousands of parts making them tick to perfection, and let’s not forget, they require skills to get the best out of them.

Thanks to the Netflix produced Drive To Survive docuseries (season 5 now streaming on Netflix!), F1 has experienced a renaissance, seeing its popularity break records by garnering new interest from all walks of life, including interest from teenagers, women and young kids, which previously were underrepresented. With pinball also enjoying a golden era, the fusion of this racing theme into a pinball machine would definitely not hurt in expanding the popularity of the silverball game – it’s a match made in heaven!

Stern’s ‘Stern Of The Union’ Newsletter for November 2022 contained this pic with Max Verstappen that we hope is a hint!
image source: Stern Pinball

Of course the licensing side would impact what can and cannot be included in such a theme, however, there are many different ways to infuse the F1 theme into a pinball machine, either based on a manufacturer/team, a popular driver, famous track or the F1 as a collective.

Now imagine a F1 pinball machine featuring exotic materials like carbon fibre rails, a rear wing topper and an integrated F1-style steering wheel on the lockdown bar for certain modes. As for the playfield and rules, well, we can only dream big; from incorporating qualifying laps to get to pole position, pitstops when your car needs to be fixed or requires a fresh set of tyres, to hitting a gear shifter to change gears and possibly hit DRS to kick off DRS multiball and ultimately get to the Chequered Flag wizard mode to be crowned F1 champion – the list of what to include in the design and play of such a pinball machine is (almost) limitless.

We love Stern’s Mustang, but we really want a F1 themed pinball machine!

The EM Grand Prix was cool back in the day

We are aware that there are a few car/racing themed pinball machines, from Stern’s Mustang and Grand Prix, Bally’s Corvette, Williams’ The Getaway to Sega’s Viper Night Driving and Data East’s Checkpoint (to name just a few), but we are still missing a F1 specific pinball machine, so please please let’s have one!

Imagine if you will a Stern Pinball F1 machine……



This Is The Way: Microsoft & Lucasfilm Launch ‘The Mandalorian’ themed Xbox Gaming Gear

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This Is The Way

Celebrating the start of The Mandalorian season 3 on Disney+, Microsoft/Xbox and Lucasfilm have teamed up to launch ‘The Mandalorian’-themed gaming gear, including cool Xbox Series X|S Mando livery!

The third season of The Mandalorian follows Grogu as he reunites with Din Djarin, so what better way to celebrate this much-loved Star Wars series than to have a colour-coordinated controller, a hoodie and best of all, a human-sized armoured floating pram (Pram XL), which doesn’t really float, but would still be cool to win.

The comp/sweepstajes for The Mando-themed Xbox Series X|S is open to everyone on the planet, with the only entry requirement being a retweet of this tweet!

PS: For more news and how to enter the sweepstakes to win the Pram XL, head over to the Xbox News site right now.

image source: Microsoft Xbox News



Clever Geeky (and Sarcastic) T-Shirts

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Woohoo, gotta love the end of the working week (unless you work on weekends, which may or may not suck)!

Anyway, what’s better than hitting an online store to grab some very clever (and quite sarcastic & ironic geeky) t-shirts while the weather is still warm in the land Down Under?!

We trawled through heaps of pretty darn clever tees on GEEKSOUTFIT™ to select some of our favourites – what do you think?

image source: GEEKSOUTFIT™

 



Stern Pinball Inc. Unleashes FOO FIGHTERS Pinball

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DeadFlip’s Jack Danger designs his first Stern Pinball cornerstone title

Pinball and Rock & Roll go hand in hand, so when a music pinball machine is released in the wild, it usually garners a lot of interest. The world’s largest pinball manufacturer, Stern Pinball Inc., know where it’s at with their latest cornerstone title, Foo Fighter pinball!

Designed by Jack Danger of DeadFlip fame, his maiden cornerstone title looks pretty darn impressive! From the Pro to the Premium and Limited Edition (LE) models, Foo Fighters looks every bit darn awesome and fun! We can’t wait to flip this one!

Official Trailer

source: Stern Pinball

Foo Fighters first stepped onto the world stage in 1995 with their classic self-titled debut album. Over the course of their career, the band has released 10 studio albums, amassed over 32 million records sold worldwide, won 15 Grammy Awards, were recipients of the first-ever MTV “Global Icon” award, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. One of the biggest headliners on the global stadium, arena and festival circuits, their music will soon begin filling gamerooms and entertainment locations in pinball form.

Stern’s Foo Fighters machines bring the Foo Fighters concert experience home as players are immersed in an epic pinball adventure featuring 15 iconic songs spanning the band’s expansive catalog, including All My Life, Best of You, Breakout, Everlong, Holding Poison, I’ll Stick Around, Learn to Fly, Monkey Wrench, My Hero, Run, Something from Nothing, The Pretender, This is a Call, Times Like These, and Walk.

More than two years in the making and with creative input from the band’s own Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee, and the late, great Taylor Hawkins, Stern’s Foo Fighters is a top-shelf pinball machine—and so much more. An entire new universe has been developed with jaw-dropping hand-drawn artwork and custom animations including “Foo Fighters Saturday Morning Action Time!”—a fictional TV series chronicling the band’s quest to save rock and roll… AND THE WORLD! Join Foo Fighters on this rescue mission to thwart the evil, mysterious alien Overlord and his army of bots. Search the Area 51 upper playfield to break into and unleash pinball chaos. Jump in the van for a righteous tour of duty to save humanity from extinction and let rock rule!

Foo Fighters pinball models

Foo Fighters pinball machines include Stern’s award-winning Insider Connected™ system, which enables players to interact with the game and a global network of players in a variety of ways. Through Insider Connected, players can track progress, earn new game-specific achievements, engage with the player community, and participate in promotions and Challenge Quests. Insider Connected also provides an operator-focused toolset to drive location play through Location Leaderboards, build player loyalty, analyze performance, make adjustments remotely, and maintain the machines.

Main Design Team:

Lead Game Designer: Jack Danger

Lead Software Engineer: Tanio Klyce

Technical Lead Artist: Zombie Yeti

Limited to 1,000 machines globally, the highly collectible Limited Edition includes the Expression Lighting System™. With 96 intelligent RGB LEDs, the Expression Lighting System enables full color spectrum control. Positioned in pockets cut into the cabinet sides to provide color themed full playfield illumination, this integrated playfield lighting system is synchronized to custom light shows specifically designed for every song and dynamically responsive to game events. The LE version also includes an exclusive Rock-Battle inspired full-color mirrored backglass, exclusive full color high definition reflective foil decal cabinet artwork, custom high gloss Overlord green powder-coated pinball armor, a custom designer-autographed bottom arch, exclusive inside art blades, upgraded audio system, anti-reflection pinball playfield glass, shaker motor, a sequentially numbered plaque, and a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Stern Chairman Gary Stern and President & CEO Seth Davis.

Pricing and availability (Australia):

  • PRO – Available end of May 2023: $11,950
  • PREMIUM – Available end of June: $15,500
  • LIMITED EDITION (1000 worldwide) – Available end of May: $20,500

For more information on Foo Fighters pinball, head to the Stern Pinball website here.

Foo Fighters LE playfield

image source: Stern Pinball



Media release supplied

STILL STANDING (2023) – A Must Watch Documentary!

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Just in case you have been living off the grid, welcome back! Now, hop to it and watch the Still Standing documentary film!

Still Standing is a journey back in time, a time when arcade and pinball were the hottest entertainment in town. Adelaide producer and cinematographer, Brad Gilbertson, has shot this beautifully, inducing the kind of nostalgia that is intoxicating for the generation of kids that experienced the arcade and pinball golden era. The emotive and amazing stories and histories will have you gripped like a Darth Vader choke-hold right till the end.

Be ready for some heart-wrenching stories
Jeff Grummel – The Pinball Dog House

Still Standing is a first of its kind Australian documentary film, peeling back the curtain on what it truly takes to create and run iconic arcades, past and present. We admit, we shed a few tears (of joy mainly), but we will not spoil it for you, so you can experience this authentic and beautiful documentary for yourself.

Why are you still reading this? Go on, watch Still Standing now, and remember, game over is not an option!

Still Standing is now streaming worldwide – more details here.

PS: We eagerly await the physical release of this wonderful documentary!

★★★★★


source: BGVC



Atari’s AKKA ARRH Is Finally Available

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Do The Math with Atari’s AKKA ARRH

I really really don’t like the crapola that the new Atari dishes out (or promoting anything with their name on it), however, there are a few exceptions! Their Atari 50 Anniversary compilation was vintage Atari, with great curated content. It now looks like we can add AKKA ARRH to this very small and illustrious list of titles from the new Atari.

AKKA ARRH is the latest game from legendary game designer Jeff Minter and Llamasoft! AKKA ARRH is a frenzied kaleidoscope of neon insanity with playful psychedelic landscapes, which is right up Minter’s alley, as he takes on one of the rarest arcade games of the 80s era and turned it into a tough blaster for all of us to enjoy now! .

Will you become the hero in this mind bending universe? AKKA ARRH is available on pretty much every platform for under AU$30.00: Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Steam and the new Atari VCS!

 

image source: Atari Interactive



Mega Book Collection Digital Book Is Now FREE

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Yep, you read that right! The ‘Mega Book Collection – A Visual Guide to the Sega Mega Drive’ digital book – the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis visual opus is now totally gratis!

The author, Darren Doyle (Greyfox Books) explains the reason this book has now been released for free:

We attempted to bring this book physically to everyone back in 2021 via crowdfunding but alas we were unable to do so. So going forward, we decided rather than this amazing project to be left sitting on a hard drive gathering dust forever, we made the decision to offer it for free for everyone to enjoy and because we are very nice and generous people here at Greyfox Books and love to support the Sega retro gaming scene.

In case you were wondering, the great big SEGA put the kibosh on this book being published physically. So before they kill the digital one, grab it now! And while you are at it, please consider leaving a donation via the publisher’s PayPal account.

image source: Greyfox Books



Xeric NASA Voyager Automatic Watch – Review

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As a homage to the rich history & the farthest human-made object in space, the Xeric NASA Voyager Automatic 100ATM Diver, is a limited edition timepiece that reminds us of the value of exploration.

Ever since I could remember I’ve been fascinated by space and space travel. All I wanted to be was a NASA astronaut, but alas, that never eventuated.

My love of the cosmos hasn’t diminished over the years, if anything, it has gotten stronger, with streaming services making a myriad of astronomy based documentaries available on demand – which I consume with wild abandonment.

That unrestrained impulsiveness and enthusiasm for all things space related has now permeated other stuff I like, wristwatches! When I first gazed at the Xeric NASA Voyager Automatic watch on Kickstarter, I didn’t need much convincing to put in my pledge and snag one of only 1977 watches that pay homage to the rich history and the farthest human-made object in space, NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2, launched almost 46 years ago (in 1977). As Xeric offered (and still offers) nine variations of the NASA Voyager, all named after celestial bodies, my only problem was which one to choose?!

The lume is out of this solar system!

I must admit, I would have loved every singe variation of the watch, but alas, my lotto numbers never came up! I chose the ‘Ganymede’ NASA Voyager watch purely based on the fact that it represented the biggest moon in our solar system and that the metallic look reminded me of the Voyager vessel, complete with the awesome orange accents on the second, hour and minute hand – if you look closely, it does strike a resemblance to NASA’s interstellar traveler. Oh yeah, the NASA ‘worm’ logo on the dial and amazing lume (Super LumiNova) just top off a very robust diver’s watch. But wait, there is more! The caseback features an inlaid replica of “the Golden Record” cover which is found on the outside of the Voyager spacecraft, intended to communicate a story of our world to any intelligent life it could encounter in its journey – the detail is next level cool.

The watch is powered by the self-winding Seiko NH38 automatic movement. As you wear it, the rotor winds the mainspring, creating stored mechanical energy that powers the watch. The movement is housed in a robust stainless steel case complete with a tactile 120-click rotating bezel fit for divers. The watch may look hefty, but it honestly sit quite nice and comfortable on my 7″ wrist. Since this is a divers watch, it has a 1,000 metre depth rating, with an integrated helium escape valve built into the side casing, preventing a pressure differential that can occur during deep dives.

Caseback shot! The inlaid replica of “the Golden Record”, just like the one Voyager is carrying!

Wearing this watch is such a pleasure, thanks to the custom two-tone ribbed silicone strap – it just feels really good on the wrist without a sweat in sight. If you are clumsy, then rest assured that the 4mm thick sapphire glass (with anti-reflective coating) can withstand every day knocks.

The Xeric NASA Voyager Automatic is a special watch, not only due to its limited release (1977 pcs) but the fact that its unique design fuses and celebrates two things many of us love, space and watches. If you have the means and would like something different and something special, then I highly recommend you check out the Xeric NASA Voyager Automatic watch range.