Latest NEWS And INFORMATION On Silverball Studios' Pro Pinball: Revived & Remastered

[Gord Lacey]

I can't wait to see what rewards they have for this. I'm definitely in!

 

[mmmagnetic]

Because I was too tired to notice this thread and only read the other pro pinball one, I completely missed that John Youssi is already on board. I mean, this is just a dream, right? This can't really be happening.

By the way, where is the Lawlor/Youssi pic from? Is there a video interview somewhere? Lawlor looks quite excited

 

[mmmagnetic]

Okay, I'm late to the news and I'm slightly disappointed as I thought this would be a release announcement as opposed to a "we need money to develop", announcement. $400k for a game with 80% of it's assets already created, Wowzers! Wonder what Pat's fee was negotiated at?

Yeah, the mix is a bit weird - rereleasing four classic virtual fantasy pinball tables AND paying two industry veterans for a full year of professional work. I've never played Pro Pinball (though I just got Ancients Beckon on 3DS and it absolutely rules!), and I'm sure it's awesome, but in my eyes it pales in comparison to the Lawlor/Youssi original table project.
Though, it sounds more like a "rebirth" than a simple recreation, so I'm okay with that.

And man, those rewards sound awesome, I love the idea of the badges. They should also do patches for the smaller rewards, like this one:

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2845&picno=34252

 

[PiN WiZ]

By the way, where is the Lawlor/Youssi pic from? Is there a video interview somewhere? Lawlor looks quite excited

The pic was part of a promotional pack that was sent to me. I'll be sharing more information on Pro Pinball : Revived & Remastered as it becomes available.

 

[mmmagnetic]

Nice, I'm excited.

I just snooped around on Twitter a bit, just saw this:

Filmed the Kickstarter video with Pat today. Great silly fun! Look out for a couple of nice cameos...

Can't wait to see it. Aside from the pure pinball aspect of it, I just love hearing Pat Lawlor talk, he just seems like a big kid, in a very positive way. Like here:

Just look at him. This is a guy absolutely in love with his job. Of course, this was just a couple of years before pinball reached its absolute peak in popularity. He smiles like a cheshire cat! I hope we get to see this smile again. I don't want him to have to compromise on this project. I want to still see that passion in his eyes, and I want him to realize his dream table.

And I don't believe for one second that pat Lawlor doesn't have a dream table already in his head every night he goes to bed.

 

[The Wolfman]

Nice video!

 

[unclewilly]

Ill fully back pro pinball. Best pinball simulation ever created

 

[mmmagnetic]

Nice video!

Maybe you haven´t seen this one:

It´s a pretty comprehensive tour of how a pinball gets made, they´re filming the STERN factory during the production of Ripleys. There´s some footage of Pat Lawlor at his desk as well (and I have to say, his setup looks wildly unergonomical, with the screen to the far left and the mouse on the far right).

I really wonder if Pat would design the new table just on his traditional workflow setup, and the Silverball guys convert it into their engine, or if he works directly on their setup. I assume Lawlors CAD program must be a bit more complex, but having the data in the authentic CAD format, from which it could theoretically be made into a real table would be interesting.

(video in the next post due to posting restrictions)

In the promo video for Road Show you can see his workplace looking more like an actual pinball designers studio (the one at Stern looked a bit like his place to do his taxes), with the empty playfields in the background. The segment where he says "the market for pinball in general right now has changed dramatically from two years ago" with the very ominous zoom on the bulldozer throwing a pinball off the highway is quite heartbreaking.

And a great interview by GameSetWatch.

 

[mmmagnetic]

Really, this cooperation excites me even more than any recreation of an existing table does. Maybe it´s because I don´t have much nostalgic feelings for certain machines (though I absolutely appreciate their historic value and have a certain pseudo-nostalgic feeling for tables like Whirlwind or Creature).

Old machines break down one by one and we have to act quickly to preserve them, but the pinball designers themselves aren´t getting any younger either. As morbid as this might sound, people like Pat Lawlor, the Ritchie brothers or JPop simply won´t be around forever, and they should be able to design new tables for as long as possible (or until they simply don´t feel like doing new designs anymore).

 

[The Wolfman]

Cool, thanks. This man is truly a hero! Looking forward to his new creations!

 

[PiN WiZ]

UPDATE SNEAK PEAK at the Pro Pinball Keyring that will be one of the rewards in Silverball Studios' forthcoming Kickstarter, plus Silverball Studios' recently mentioned that another one of their forthcoming Kickstarter rewards will let you join Pat Lawlor, John Youssi and Adrian for a special lunch in Chicago.

 

[Richard B]

Cool, thanks. This man is truly a hero! Looking forward to his new creations!

RS came out 4 years after WW, yet Lawlor looks 10-15 years older. Must be a really stressful job.

 

[PiN WiZ]

UPDATE Vote on which platform you would most like Silverball Studios to port Pro Pinball : Revived & Remastered to after iOS, Mac and PC HERE.

 

[dtown8532]

I just popped in Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey today into my PS3 today. Haven't played them for a long time. While the music is just OK the sound bites were no way as annoying as some of the Zen tables. The best thing about the Pro Pinball series to me was the excellent ball and flipper physics. The ball felt fairly heavy but bouncy kinda like a brand new real pin. And I could do live catches which are virtually impossible for me in The Pinball Arcade.

 

[superballs]

I just popped in Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey today into my PS3 today. Haven't played them for a long time. While the music is just OK the sound bites were no way as annoying as some of the Zen tables. The best thing about the Pro Pinball series to me was the excellent ball and flipper physics. The ball felt fairly heavy but bouncy kinda like a brand new real pin. And I could do live catches which are virtually impossible for me in The Pinball Arcade.

BRUSA and FJ are on PS3?

 

[Gord Lacey]

They're PS1 titles, so they play on a PS3.

 

[dtown8532]

BRUSA and FJ are on PS3?

Yea, sorry about that. I guess I should have clarified that Big Race and Fantastic Journey were individually released PS1 titles. I think they did Timeshock as well. I don't know about The Web. You had to buy each table separately. I picked up mine used at Electronics Boutique (now GameStop) years ago.

 

[Fungi]

I think they did Timeshock as well. I don't know about The Web.

They did. I got all 4 on PS1.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Yup, I have all four for the PS1 as well.

They only released the last 3 on Dreamcast (on one disc), leaving off "The Web.," and I believe it was only released in Europe.

 

[SilverBalls]

Great news paticularly the promise of cab support. 400K worries me though....