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Our Passions In Life, from Retro Gaming to Formula 1 Watches

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We have a lot of passions in life, some come and go with time, while others stick around for the long haul!

It is no secret that we love video games, especially the retro kind, and let’s not forget pinball – that silverball has captivated us for a long long time. How boring would life be if we only had one or two passions (Ed: there is nothing wrong having one or two passions!), so we have other loves which on the surface seem diametrically opposite to video games and pinball, like our love of Formula 1. In reality these passions have a lot in common, especially the emotions they invoke!

So why are we blathering on about our passions and invoking emotions? Well, it is important to share your passions and be proud in what you love and enjoy. We have also been thinking recently how all of these converge and the best way to represent them in one product! It occurred to us that we have always been into wristwatches, ever since we got our first digital watch 40+ years ago. These days we have a modest collection of watches, spanning all eras since the 1970s, but there is one special watch that fuses all of our passions into one, the TW Steel TW1017. This Nigel Mansell F1 inspired watch reflects who we are and what we love – from fast cars to button mashing on our fave games to flipping a steel ball with pinpoint accuracy. The watch is bold, big and loud, just like all the things we love in life.

What are your passions and do you have an item or product that represents them all? Hit us up on Twitter, Mastodon or Facebook to tell us all about it.



Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure – Review

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Zen Studios teased us late last year with their Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure game for their Pinball FX3 platform and we have been eagerly awaiting the release ever since!

Well, the day has come where we can now play the famous and popular 1993 Williams Indy pinball title right on our Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series S! We loved playing the Mark Ritchie designed IJ:TPA pinball machine back in the day at our local arcade centre, with many many coins being pumped into it – it was very addictive. Luckily for us, this version doesn’t require coins to play it, but you will need Pinball FX3 (which is free!).

The Indy trailer that Zen Studios teased us with late last year!

source: Zen Studios

Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure is the 100th table to Pinball FX3 and the first Williams recreation to Pinball FX and the newest classic to Williams Pinball mobile too. Zen Studios have recreated many other popular Williams titles, and we are here to tell you that this latest one is just as awesome, fun, addictive and faithful to the classic pinball machine.

The real pinball machine that this game is based on was released in 1993 as part of Williams/Midway’s “SuperPin” line of widebody games. It was also the very first pinball machine to use Williams’ DCS sound system (Digital Compression System). The Indy machine has a plethora of playfield features to keep you flipping, like pop bumpers, slingshots, active pinballs, standup targets, kick-out holes, ramps, 3-bank drop targets, captive ball and three video modes. The cooler features and toys are the player-controlled tilting upper playfield and the rotating idol head which releases the balls into play. Of course no pinball machine game is complete without multiballs! This one has plenty, with a 3-ball regular multiball, a quick 2-ball multiball, a “Well of Souls” 6-ball multiball and an “Eternal Life” wizard mode (6-ball).

Nothing beats playing Indiana Jones on our PinSwitch cabinet!

All of this grabs and immerses the player in Indy’s adventures and gets the heart racing. As soon as we started playing the game on our Switch, our heart was racing and we couldn’t wipe off the smile from our face – it was that awesome!

As far as getting the physics right, this is as close as you’ll get to playing the real pinball machine in the digital world. Zen has painstakingly and lovingly put together a brilliant recreation, remaining faithful to a timeless classic Williams pin. But that is not all, Zen have also injected a new way to play the machine with extra 3D effects in the ‘Enhanced’ version that includes side wall art, ball trailer effects, particle effects and a whip-wielding Indiana Jones. Playing this title was non-stop fun, from playing it on our 55″ TV, in handheld mode to playing it on our custom PinSwitch cabinet – it’s a whole lotta flippin action!

There’s a lot to live up to when a huge franchise is taken on, and we can confidently say, the Holy Grail of Pinball finally arrives in a first digital recreation. If you are into pinball games, then this is a must have!

Title: Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure (Pinball FX3)
Available: March 10, 2022
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Switch & PC (Steam)



Disclaimer: Nintendo Switch review code for Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure was provided by Sandbox Strategies.

The Force Is Strong With This New Stern Pinball Code

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For those of us that have been consumed by the beautiful silverball game, Stern Pinball has kept spoiling us with some brilliant innovations, including their new online platform, Insider Connected.

When launching Insider Connected (IC), Stern Pinball announced that they would roll out the platform to all of their past Spike® 2 LCD games, dating back to late 2016 with the awesome Batman 66 pinball machine.

Well Stern have been quite busy in updating the code on their previous Spike® 2 LCD machines so that they can take advantage of the new Insider Connected platform. With that said, we were quite excited to see that Stern have finally released the new v1.20.0 code for their Star Wars pinball machines!

We can’t wait to update our Star Wars Comic Art Premium machine with this new code, but we still have to wait a tad longer to procure and install the Insider Connected kit (they haven’t reached Australia as at the time of this post) to unleash the full online potential of the Stern Pinball Insider Connected platform. The FORCE is indeed strong with this new code!

PS: If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to sign-up for your free Insider Connected account here.



Blast From The Past: A Video Of A 1980s Arcade

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What an absolute blast from the past this is! We absolutely love raw VHS video footage, especially the kind from the early 1980s!

We commend the Bally’s Aladdin’s Castle employee that had the foresight to film inside the arcade centre, filled with absolute classic arcade and pinball machines, that one day this video would be cherished by a generation (or two) of gamers across the globe! This is what a throwback Thursday should be like every week.

Sit back and enjoy this 15 minute trip down nostalgia lane…..


source: Jon Exidy Jamshid



Ausretrogamer Is 10 Years Old!

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Who would have thought that when we first started ausretrogamer.com in January 2012 that 10 years later we would still be here! Time certainly flies when you are having fun.

Today marks a major milestone for us at ausretrogamer as we have reached the magical decade mark! When starting our site and social media channels in 2012, we honestly didn’t have any expectations that we would still be around in 2022 – but we are glad that we are!

We have been pleasantly surprised over the years to find so many like-minded people who enjoy playing and talking about all the stuff we love, from obscure video games from the 1970s to those schoolyard-type discussions on which 8-bit computer was best (we all know it was the Commodore 64!).

Ausretrogamer has also allowed us to meet a lot of you in real life, either at events like PAX Aus or local pinball competitions or computing club events – which have been a priceless experience. We are humbled to call all of you our good friends. Nostalgia is a powerful force that binds us all – long may it continue!

To all the awesome folks that have contributed and to those that are still contributing content and everyone that engages with us, thank you very much – you all rock our world!

Looking forward to another decade full of retro gaming (and pinball) goodness! 😉



May The Festive Season Be With You

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Wow, another year has flown by! It was another year for all of us to put behind and hope that 2022 brings us all a better, safer and healthier year!

From the ausretrogamer team, we wish you all a wonderful Festive Season, which we hope is filled with fun, laughter and lots of gaming, be it video games, pinball, board games or whatever tickles your fancy! Oh yeah, we hope Santa brings you what you wish for!

Next year we celebrate an important milestone, our 10th anniversary of all things ausretrogamer. But for now, it’s time to relax, be merry and we’ll see you all in 2022!



image source: supplied



Mark Seiden’s Amazing Metroid Pinball Machine

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A week is a long time in pinball! When we got in touch with Mark Seiden (aka: TheArrrrrcade) last week to chat about his impressive homemade Metroid Pinball machine, he was just an amazingly humble and talented homebrew pinball designer. A week later, Mark was announced as Jersey Jack Pinball’s newest pinball designer, rubbing shoulders with industry legends (and now teammates) Steve Ritchie, Pat Lawlor and Eric Meunier! Prior to finding out this news, we had asked Mark if he had aspirations to become a pinball designer, so this was great news indeed and very well deserved. If his Metroid Pinball is anything to go by, then watch out for Mark’s creations at Jersey Jack Pinball (JJP)!

Before all this JJP news, it was Mark’s homebrew pinball machine that caught our attention. Based on Nintendo’s iconic Metroid franchise, Mark’s pinball machine has been able to capture Samus Aran’s world all under glass, with a whole lot of bells and whistles to immerse the player in the theme. Tackling a monumental project like a homemade Metroid Pinball machine is no easy feat. The immense number of skills and disciplines required to create a pinball machine is just mind-blowing, so it is quite staggering to think what Mark has been able to achieve on his own – no wonder his talents caught the eye of a major pinball manufacturer.

The Jersey Jack Pinball design team: [L-R]: Steve Ritchie, Pat Lawlor, Eric Meunier and Mark Seiden
image source: TheArrrrrcade on Twitter

We sat down and had a chat with Mark about how he got into pinball, what led him to start creating his own pinball machine and all the ups and downs associated with such a monumental project. Put down Metroid Dread for now and let’s meet Mark Seiden!

Ausretrogamer: Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. Please tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into pinball?
Mark Seiden (MWS): In the 90s I was more of a Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter kid. Pinball was there in the background and I would occasionally play but that wasn’t why I was hanging out in the arcade. It wasn’t until the early 2000s when I started seeing my wife that I started getting into pinball. We were at Dave and Busters, back when they still HAD pinball, and we spent the entire evening playing Star Wars Episode 1. We decided then that someday we should buy a pinball machine.

Unfortunately we didn’t have space at the time because we were living in a small condo. We moved a couple of times and finally we had much more space. So we decided to buy a game. We checked out a bunch and decided we wanted Doctor Who since we were both fans of the series. We bought it from an online retailer, supposedly shopped and working. When it arrived it was obviously anything but that. After hounding the seller they finally sent out someone to fix it. He was a local repair guy who was excellent about actually teaching me what he was fixing.

In another year we bought our second game, and the next year we bought our first new in box game, a Wizard of Oz. I was getting better at repairing and even working on friend’s games occasionally. Then after a while I decided that I would take on the challenge of designing and building my own game.

ARG: When did you get the idea to build your own pinball machine and how did you choose Metroid as the theme?
MWS: In 2015 I made up my mind to make a homebrew after watching a homebrew panel at Pintastic New England. The next year I purchased a half-populated, filthy, Data East Jurassic Park playfield. My brother joined me for a bit while I was stripping it for parts. He looked at what remained of the dinosaur mech and said “You should make a Metroid game. That thing could be Kraid!” I didn’t end up using that mech because it was missing too many parts, but the theme stuck.

ARG: Where does one even begin with building their own pinball machine – it seems such a daunting project – did you have any prior experience in building a pinball machine?
MWS: You start with a drill, a piece of wood, and a pinball controller such as Fast Pinball (what I chose) or P3-ROC. Of course you’ll need a few mechs such as flippers and slingshots. For software you can use the Mission Pinball Framework. Some people start off making their game virtually using Visual Pinball.

I didn’t have any prior experience building games but you do need a basic understanding of how to wire a switch or coil.

ARG: How long have you been working on this one of a kind machine?
MWS: I started in 2016. Since 2019 the majority of my time has been writing code.

ARG: How far off are you from completing Metroid pinball?
MWS: Really, will it ever be done? And since I was just hired as a game designer at Jersey Jack Pinball, I don’t think I’ll have time to truly finish it. I will be working on a different license. My goal now is to finish and polish the game code.

ARG: What has been the most challenging part so far in building this Metroid pinball game?
MWS: Each individual thing in building a homebrew is fairly easy. It’s just that there are so many things that putting them all together is difficult. I’d say for myself the thing I’ve struggled with is welding. Other people might say coding or wiring. There are many skills needed to build a game.

ARG: Do you have a favourite aspect (playfield toy, ramps, lighting, code etc) on this machine?
MWS: The things I like the most are the light shows, exploding bridge mech, and the Metroid ball dropper.

ARG: The backbox is quite intriguing, can you tell us more about its design?
MWS: The backbox uses an LCD screen in portrait orientation. I use it to dynamically change backbox art and display a virtual DMD. There are also 100 individually addressable RGB LEDs used in an infinity mirror, like an updated Xenon or Space Invaders. It’s also way too tall and I want to rebuild it. It was originally a Sega Showcase backbox. I put a speaker box on top which adds a lot of height. I also converted the front panel to accommodate the screen and lights.

ARG: For the techies out there, could you tell us what is under the hood that is driving this machine (controller boards, software etc)?
MWS: The pinball control system is Fast Pinball. The Fast controller also drives the backbox lights. There’s an Up Squared single board x86 compatible computer running Mission Pinball Framework for the game code. The playfield lights are driven by a Fade Candy board. All lights are NeoPixel compatible. I have 5, 12, and 48 volt power supplies.

ARG: Once this is done, do you have plans to build another one – if so, can you tell us the theme? (You don’t have to tell us if it is a secret)
MWS: Yes, and I can’t say! ARG: Haha, touche 😉

ARG: You are clearly well talented, so do you have aspirations to become a designer at one of the many pinball manufacturers?
MWS: You sent me these questions the week before I started at Jersey Jack. I think it’s safe to say that I do have aspirations to work at a pinball manufacturer! I’m incredibly excited to have the opportunity to work on a production game and learn from these talented game designers.

ARG: Lastly, where can folks go to see find out more about your creations and keep informed on all things Metroid Pinball?
MWS: I have a Pinside thread all about Metroid Pinball. I also stream on Twitch and post on Twitter.

images source: TheArrrrrcade via Pinside and Twitter

After speaking to Mark, we feel inspired to tackle a project like this. Ah, but then reality hits, as any project of this magnitude would be a massive undertaking. The dedication that Mark has shown in his ability to begin building a real pinball machine without prior experience is something to be commended. We are truly in awe of Mark’s creation and his skills in getting his Metroid Pinball machine to where it’s at right now – we’d love to sneak it into our Fun Factory.

As we thank Mark for his time and say our goodbyes, we honestly can’t wait to see what he creates for us all at JJP!



 

Parkour In The World’s Biggest Pinball Machine

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Does Red Bull give you wiiings? Well, according to Latvian freerunner and Red Bull Art of Motion champion, Pasha Petkuns, it certainly does!

Red Bull built a huge wall depicting a pinball playfield complete with flippers, ramps, drop-down target, bumpers, all angled at 45 degrees to provide some gravity-defying antics for Pasha to test his parkour and freerunning skills! Oh yeah, there is even a Harbour Bridge on the playfield!


source: Red Bull

For behind the scenes details on this Human Pinball, go here.

 



Godzilla Pinball – The King of Monsters Is Unleashed by Stern Pinball

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The King of Monsters is back and this time he is conquering pinball! 

Stern Pinball and Toho International have joined forces to take Godzilla from the swap to pinball, and boy are we glad that they did!

This awesome collaboration between two powerhouses has resulted in the creation of three Godzilla pinball machine models; Pro, Premium and the already sold out Limited Edition! Before we get into the nuts and bolts of this new cornerstone title, Godzilla pinball marks the debut of Stern’s Insider Connected system, which includes a QR code reader (bottom arch) that enables players to interact with the game and other cool platform features in a variety of new ways.


source: Godzilla Official by TOHO

As already mentioned, being a cornerstone title, Godzilla Pinball will come in a three model range, starting with the street level Pro, home collector Premium and the Limited Edition for the hardcore collectors – as at the time of writing, the LE is sold out! From what we have seen so far, this is a monster-packed pinball machine straight from the mind of Keith Elwin, arguably the hottest contemporary pinball designer on the planet. Coupled with Zombie Yeti’s gorgeous and eye-popping hand-drawn artwork, this complete package will satisfy Godzilla and pinball fans alike.

From the video and images, we reckon that Keith Elwin has been dreaming a lot about Kaiju and has captured the essence of Toho’s Godzilla, pulling material from the ten earliest, campiest and most iconic films. In this game, the players takes control of Godzilla, ridding the earth of the evil Xiliens, while rampaging and trashing cities along the way. The game consists of classic Godzilla sets, including a skyscraper that has a virtual lock for one of the six multi-balls. According to Stern, this title has an industry first ‘Magna Grab’ magnetic Newton ball directing the ball from 5 different directions, often setting the ball up for the upper (3rd) flipper – pure chaos, as it should be! Godzilla also has a scoop to change cities, 3 spinning targets, mind-blowing chrome wireform ramps, 13 RGB lights, and a new return lane chase lights that strobe as balls return to the flippers, just to name a few. The theme immersion is complete with movie scenes and audio from ten Toho Showa Era movies, the original 1954 Godzilla film score, iconic title song “Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult and custom speech in English and Japanese (with subtitles).

But wait, the rampaging isn’t over yet! The additions and changes on Godzilla Premium and LE models are substantial. The aforementioned skyscraper is motorised to collapse down multiple levels, with 3 balls locked on its roof by a vertical upkick skyway ramp. A breakaway bridge ramp that collapses to drop pinballs onto the playfield. The Premium and LE models have another motorised device – a rotating 3 bank of targets that reveal a spinning target and jump ramp. There is a 2nd magnet in a sculpted Mechagodzilla to catch the ball. Oh yeah, the game wouldn’t be complete without the star itself, so there is a Godzilla sculpted toy on the playfield too. You can check out the full feature matrix of each model here.

Pricing and availability:

  • Pro Model: $US 6,899 / $AU 10,650
  • Premium Model: $US 8,999 / $AU 13,250
  • Limited Edition Model: $US 10,499 / $AU 15,500 (limited to 1,000 machines – sold out!)

The Pro model will start rolling off the Stern assembly line next week, with the LE model to follow and then the Premium machines in October – these should start arriving in Australia in early Jan 2022.

If you are interested in grabbing your very own Godzilla pinball machine, please contact the good folks at Amusement Machine Distributors or Zax Amusements.

Now, enough words, time to feast your eyes on the awesome Godzilla pinball machines – scroll slowly and please mind your drool 😉

image source: Stern Pinball



Discussing the Stern Pinball Insider Connected Platform with George Gomez

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With Stern Pinball’s recent announcement about their new Insider Connected platform, we wanted to find out more about this new and exciting pinball innovation and player experience, so we sat down for a fireside chat with Stern’s Chief Creative Officer, George Gomez, to chat about Stern’s way of enhancing the experience of playing their pinball machines.

AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: How long has Stern been working on the Insider Connected platform?
George Gomez [GG]: Since late 2018.

ARG: Will this new platform be open (APIs or the like) and be able to integrate with other online systems, like Scorbit?
GG: It is not an open platform. Interaction with other systems is possible only in tournament environments where the Insider Connected server would provide an API for integration of services.

ARG: Could you please tell us a bit more about the key Insider Connected features for each of the following user types;

  • Casual Player
  • Tournament
  • Tournament Director
  • Home Collector; and
  • Operator

GG: Player features like Achievements, Profile Badges and Challenge Quests are balanced across the spectrum of player skills; some things are easy, some things are harder and some are really hard. Treasure Chests are random and are not influenced by player skill. Available promotions can vary based on location and sponsors.

Tournament Players and Tournament Directors will interact with features that are scheduled for release in ’22. There is an entire suite of Tournament related tools, event features, leader boards, challenge ladders, etc.

Operators will get a very specific toolset designed to help them drive traffic to their locations, build player loyalty, analytics tools for location and game performance, service tools and notifications and other diagnostic features related to operating pinball machines and interacting with their routes.

ARG: When will the retrofit kit be available, how much will it be (retail price) and how easy will it be to install (will there be a firmware update or is it plug and play)?
GG: It is very easy to install. On PRO games; swap the bottom arch, plug the supplied RJ45 cable from the QR Node to Node 8(near the front of the playfield) and open the back box and either insert the Wi-Fi dongle into a USB port on the Spike 2 CPU or run an ethernet cable from your router into the backbox and plug it in. You will install a micro SD card supplied with the kit and then you will update the code via a USB stick for one last time. Once the game is connected, code downloads can be automatic via the network connection. Then enter the Insider Connected menu and connect to your network. The system will prompt you through each step.

On Premiums and LE machines set up is the same except you will remove the bottom arch and replace the right side corner plastic with the supplied QR module assembly.

The kits are expected to begin shipping around October 1. The price has not been released yet but the intent is to make the kits very affordable.

ARG: Could you confirm the seven titles that will be included at launch?
GG: Not at this time because we are still balancing features.

ARG: Do you have a roadmap of when the remaining 17 titles will be supported on the Insider Connected Platform?
GG: All titles will have the launch feature set by the end of December of this year. The platform is expected to get updates routinely throughout 2021 and 2022. The updates will contain both player and operator focused features.

ARG: Are there future features you can share with us now to whet our appetite a bit more?
GG: Right now we don’t want to reveal those features because we want the audience to enjoy the surprise.

ARG: Will the quests, giveaways and rewards for players be available worldwide or are they US only?
GG: It is dependent on each country’s laws.

ARG: We love trophies/achievements/rewards on our online gaming systems, so how will Insider Connected implement these (just like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Network)?
GG: The implementation is similar but unique to pinball. It is designed specifically around the nuances of the games and yes, all of those things that you mention play a role.

ARG: Will Insider Connected always be free or will there be some / premium features that will only be available via a paid subscription?
GG: Insider Connected will remain free. Insider Connected All Access will be a subscription based service just like the existing All Access loyalty program has been. Insider Connected All Access will have specific premium features on top of everything that has been described above.

We thank George for making time to speak to us about their new Insider Connected platform. For more information and to keep up with all of their pinball machines, hit the Stern Pinball site now. It is definitely an exciting time to be playing pinball – the future has finally come to the silverball game!