Pro Pinball

[RetroDude]

ok.. that's disturbing.
Commercially produced disk... Pro-Pinball Timeshock.(from the 3 disk Ultimate Compilation set)... my system throws a virus warning Win32/Alureon.ZABG! - suspicious warning.

Looks like some sort of data-stealing root-kit.
Lovely.
Had the disk for years. Good anti-virus program grabbed it.
Anybody else have such issues?

Or is it just old software that did stuff in unauthorized ways that just fits the code profile?

Somewhere I have the individual disk from when I first purchased TimeShock. I got the compilation to pick up The Web and Big Race USA.

I have the individual disk for Fantastic Journey and it didn't give me that crap!
It installed just fine with no virus errors. (but have to reboot to see the results)

 

[Jay]

Big Race plays that sonorous lounge music in the back ground, the sound effects and voices are nothing special, and it just doesn't do a very good job of pumping you up like a good Williams or Bally table does.

I agree with this. The game is also a weird mash-up, from New York cabbies to an alien invasion. It just never made much sense to me. Fantastic Journey is probably the most beautiful table they made. Timeshock, IMO, is the most coherent, and the one I play most often. It still runs okay for me in Windows 7 except for an occasional hiccup.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Just got an email from Silverball Studios:

Hi!

We will be making a Pro Pinball announcement soon, please LIKE our Pro Pinball page to keep updated.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pro-Pinball/441041312602467

Thanks,

Adrian.

WOOHOO! They just set up that FB page (currently has 11 "likes") and there's a note saying an announcement will be made soon.

 

[Jeff Strong]

This is fantastic news!!

 

[infernogott]

yeah!

 

[Richard B]

Now I'm curious as to what the announcement is. Hope it's not just that their straight-porting the original tables to phones or something. Need to keep tabs on this for sure!

 

[Jeff Strong]

Now I'm curious as to what the announcement is. Hope it's not just that their straight-porting the original tables to phones or something. Need to keep tabs on this for sure!

I'd be fine with that for starters, but I hope there's more as well.

 

[Ade]

It's really great to see that there are still fans who like the games we made well over a decade ago. I can't really say much until we make the official announcement, but... there's more as well.

Ade.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Brilliant! Welcome to the forum and please visit often

 

[bavelb]

Community-Cross-pollination!! (is that spelled correct...the belgium beers are getting to my head....)

welcome to the forum Ade

 

[Revlis Llab]

hi ade, nice to see you around. timeshock is still the best pinball simulation available. no one can beat a photo realistic table combined with the best physics out there. You guys should do the cabinet version of TPA this would be amazing. You could easily charge 20 bucks per table. The pinball market would be yours. Maybe you should work together with farsight on this one? They have the licenses and you have the know how. They can concentrate on the game as it is and you concentrate on the cabinet tables. A win-win situation or let's say a win-win-win situation.

And if you don't want to intervene maybe you can keep an eye on the whole thing just in case farsight decides not to do a cabinet mode. Maybe you can than take over the cabinet project. That would be the best thing in the world photo-realistic-cabinet-recreations.

Yours,
Revlis

 

[SilverBalls]

It's really great to see that there are still fans who like the games we made well over a decade ago. I can't really say much until we make the official announcement, but... there's more as well.

Ade.

Great news. There aren't many games from the 90s that I still fire up today, but Pro-pinball is one of them. Would love to see a Cabinet Potrait mode and can't wait to hear your plans.

Would be nice to see you over VPForums.....

http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=20481&st=0&p=187491&#entry187491

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Got me tearing through my garage looking for my 3pack BIG RACE-TIME SHOCK-THE WEB. Moved recently 1 of these boxes... HMmmm.

 

[Sloopy_DE]

Hi Ade, really nice to hear from you, after these long years...

 

[neilpinbot]

Thanks for the great news that pro pinball is being re-born. And now over 100 likes on facebook.
ps. can't believe this is the first time i've seen this thread.

 

[Ade]

Great news. There aren't many games from the 90s that I still fire up today, but Pro-pinball is one of them. Would love to see a Cabinet Potrait mode and can't wait to hear your plans.

Would be nice to see you over VPForums.....

http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=20481&st=0&p=187491&#entry187491

Thanks for the invite, I'll pop over there too. As for Portrait Mode; Back in the Nineties I'd like to think we pushed things to the limit, and wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't try to do the same again!

 

[Jeff Strong]

As for Portrait Mode; Back in the Nineties I'd like to think we pushed things to the limit, and wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't try to do the same again!

That's what I like to hear!

 

[Shaneus]

It's really great to see that there are still fans who like the games we made well over a decade ago. I can't really say much until we make the official announcement, but... there's more as well.

Ade.

Yeah, I went nuts when I saw them on GOG for the first time. I'd highly encourage people here to pick them up on GOG as well to show your support. That's assuming Silverball still get a cut of it. Hope so!

PS. Great to see you guys back on the grid again. Hopefully you'll provide a great alternative to the OTT-ness of PFX (as far as fantasy tables go). Also, I wouldn't complain if all the old tables got full high-res re-releases

 

[Huffster]

"pushed things to the limit, and wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't try to do the same again!"

Okay, now my mind is thinking of all kinds of possibilities, hopefully this same attitude extended beyond just a portrait mode during your development. Cant wait for the official announcement and details.

 

[superballs]

Ade,

Timeshock was a defining moment for me when it came to video pinball. I was never a fan of video pinball except for Epic Pinball (Android Table).
I rented Timeshock for 7 days on the PS1 and was at that time, used to the fact that I would see impressive screens on the back of the case, watch an (at the time) impressive CG cutscene, and then have to suffer through low poly, non z-buffered tripe that someone called graphics. Not the case with Timeshock. Wow, it was absolutely beautiful, played absolutely beautiful...wait...did the ball just jump off the playfield?

Later on I discovered that Pro Pinball wasn't just one awesome game but an entire series.

I aquired a copy of Timeshock for PC and had a friend over to play (he is still an avid pin-buddy of mine even though we live in different cities now). He was wowed by the physics and couldn't believe that Timeshock was an (at the time) 6 year old game.

Since then I've purchased ever table released and my ONLY wish would be to be able to play on a rotated widescreen. And maybe some physics improvements on The Web because i absolutely love that table because it reminds me a lot of High Speed II: The Getaway.

Thank you for releasing such great games and I really hope to see the same greatness re-released. If it's running in a smoking new 3D engine...cool as long as it plays as well as it did. If concessions need to be made...well just remember that people still happily play Visual Pinball with layback settings. Timeshock on a cabinet with a backglass and DMD on a second (and maybe third) monitor would be GODLY.

The fact that your tables do not exist in physical form but feel like they are simulations of actual existing tables is a feat of programming and execution that still remains unmatched. I would even look at some of the original talent at VPForums (Bob5453 most notably) if you would like to develop some "old school" feeling tables that are still a blast to play. In fact, if you do head there, I more than recommend 2 original tables that your lives cannot be complete without playing.

1) Beat This
An awesome table, very target oriented, layout is reminiscent of mid-run SS tables from the early(ish) 80s, also has a target laden lower playfield (a la Black Hole) and uses the Hawaii Five-0 and Close Encounters themes

(No full screen image available)

2) The Beatles (Bob5453)
This is what would happen if EM machines co-existed with MP3 playback. The table layout, the goals, the means to protect yourself from outlane drains (not like it made the table easier), the oldschool mechanical reels, the music that would play in certain situations, the table art. This all makes me wish Bob there was an actual table designer

3)