Before summer came along in 2008, I was still the same person you'd meet today. The same person, JPF, who enjoys video games, bowling, and pinball from time to time. At that point, I was still into some of the more casual games found commonly from places like MSN Games, as well as games played on consoles, like the Wii I still have today. I still remember bowling my very first 200 game back in February that year, but that's a whole different story.
Little did I know that one advertisement on the internet would change all that. I don't exactly remember the website, but I do recall at that moment, that advertisement was for a pinball game I haven't heard about. I decided to take a look, and it was a collection of real pinball tables, recreated in video game form, for the PS2, PSP, and Wii. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. Right as I saw it and explored the site, my passion for pinball ignited like fireworks. 10 of the greatest games from none other than Williams Electronics, including FunHouse, Whirlwind, and Firepower, and I've enjoyed them all (well, most of the time). Since then and currently, I've had all Wizard Goals finished (except for the Sorcerer Special, which I might get very shortly). I'd begin to explore many other games and machines that existed, including Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection that got ported on the Wii, pinball tutorials that were on PAPA, and Pro Pinball on CD-ROM and PS1.
Fast forward to the middle of October, 2011, and I began to wonder about any new pinball games. I learned from Farsight's Facebook feed that they were doing a then-new project, The Pinball Arcade, featuring many new pinball games for "years to come", as DLC. Man, I was excited through the roof, because they managed to get Bally and Stern on board. However, I had to wait about before it released on Steam, so my main focus was on Pinball FX2 on that platform. Pinball Arcade finally released on Steam in November 2013, and I couldn't be happier. The selection of tables were outstanding across many seasons, including Twilight Zone, Medieval Madness, Dracula, and Addams Family. They even managed to get High Roller Casino in -- this was a game I've had a fond memory of back at a hotel in 2004. They even managed to get Banzai Run in, which is one of my favorites to play, and my go-to game yearly at ReplayFX. Certainly, the "years to come" portion has been fulfilled, as Pinball Arcade is now a 6-year-old game with over 90 tables in the collection, at the time of writing, before WMS pulled the plug.
Six years is a very long time for a game like this, and I haven't met another great community than the fine people over at Farsight Studios, Pinball Arcade Fans, ReplayFX, and everyone else across anything pinball related. Thank you, Farsight, for 10 great years of pinball, and for sparking my passion of pinball, of any kind between digital and the physical machine. Thank you also for taking the time to go to all the different conventions over the past few years, including ReplayFX. I am very happy to have met Mike and Norman there, as well as have a blast on games available at your booth. I look forward to anything new that comes up for pinball, especially with what Farsight has next up in store for the future.
Little did I know that one advertisement on the internet would change all that. I don't exactly remember the website, but I do recall at that moment, that advertisement was for a pinball game I haven't heard about. I decided to take a look, and it was a collection of real pinball tables, recreated in video game form, for the PS2, PSP, and Wii. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. Right as I saw it and explored the site, my passion for pinball ignited like fireworks. 10 of the greatest games from none other than Williams Electronics, including FunHouse, Whirlwind, and Firepower, and I've enjoyed them all (well, most of the time). Since then and currently, I've had all Wizard Goals finished (except for the Sorcerer Special, which I might get very shortly). I'd begin to explore many other games and machines that existed, including Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection that got ported on the Wii, pinball tutorials that were on PAPA, and Pro Pinball on CD-ROM and PS1.
Fast forward to the middle of October, 2011, and I began to wonder about any new pinball games. I learned from Farsight's Facebook feed that they were doing a then-new project, The Pinball Arcade, featuring many new pinball games for "years to come", as DLC. Man, I was excited through the roof, because they managed to get Bally and Stern on board. However, I had to wait about before it released on Steam, so my main focus was on Pinball FX2 on that platform. Pinball Arcade finally released on Steam in November 2013, and I couldn't be happier. The selection of tables were outstanding across many seasons, including Twilight Zone, Medieval Madness, Dracula, and Addams Family. They even managed to get High Roller Casino in -- this was a game I've had a fond memory of back at a hotel in 2004. They even managed to get Banzai Run in, which is one of my favorites to play, and my go-to game yearly at ReplayFX. Certainly, the "years to come" portion has been fulfilled, as Pinball Arcade is now a 6-year-old game with over 90 tables in the collection, at the time of writing, before WMS pulled the plug.
Six years is a very long time for a game like this, and I haven't met another great community than the fine people over at Farsight Studios, Pinball Arcade Fans, ReplayFX, and everyone else across anything pinball related. Thank you, Farsight, for 10 great years of pinball, and for sparking my passion of pinball, of any kind between digital and the physical machine. Thank you also for taking the time to go to all the different conventions over the past few years, including ReplayFX. I am very happy to have met Mike and Norman there, as well as have a blast on games available at your booth. I look forward to anything new that comes up for pinball, especially with what Farsight has next up in store for the future.
