Eclectic Gamers Podcast - Pinball & Video Games

Tony and Dennis are joined by Martin (of Head2Head Pinball). Pinball: In pinball news, the guys discuss Dutch Pinball's GoFundMe announcement, the U.S. Supreme Court's sales tax decision and how it will impact new pinball sales, and This Week in Pinball's giant information update on deeproot Pinball. After that, Martin talks about streaming pinball for an audience, and gives his thoughts on what makes for good competitive pinball events. Video Games: Discussion starts around VR (virtual reality) and whether it will become a mainstream thing. After that, Martin, Tony, and Dennis talk about their favorite console video games, going over all eight generations released. Links: Head2Head Pinball: http://www.head2headpinball.com/ Melbourne Silverball League: https://www.twitch.tv/melbournesilverballleague This Week in Pinball's Deeproot Coverage on 6/28/2018: https://thisweekinpinball.com/deeproot-update-plus-interview-new-hire-new-building-new-creative-studio-new-licenses-and-help-offered-to-those-who-lost-money-on-pre-orders-from-other-companies/

Tony and Dennis are joined by Eric and Don to deep dive into the happenings at E3. Dennis starts the podcast solo, answering questions about the show and bypassing the typical introduction segment. Pinball: Dennis covers the pinball news alone, talking about Sandra Bullock wanting a Demolition Man pinball machine, Scott Danesi designing a second game for Spooky Pinball, Joe Schober joining American Pinball, and David Thiel becoming exclusive to deeproot Pinball. After the news, Tony joins the show and wraps up the results of The Worst of the Fall. Video Games: Tony and Dennis open with what they've been playing. After that, Eric and Don join as guests, and the rest of the episode is dedicated to E3, revolving around the announcements from the major press conferences (EA, Microsoft, Bethesda, Square Enix, Ubisoft, the PC Gaming Show, Sony, and Nintendo).

Tony and Dennis are joined by Zachary Meny, of Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show, to talk about the silver ball. Pinball: In pinball news, discussion focuses on This Week in Pinball being open to donations, John Popadiuk filing an appeal in his civil case regarding Zidware, a leaked image of the Deadpool playfield from Stern Pinball, the rapid sell-out of the Supreme pinball machine, the announcement that Star Trek pinball is getting a Vault Edition, and Homepin indicating their second pinball machine will target the Chinese market. After the news, Tony leads everyone into the final round of The Worst of the Fall. Zach then describes his approach as a pinball collector, and how SDTM handles reviewing pinball machines. Finally, everyone tries the SDTM approach and reviews Wrestlemania. Video Games: Zach, Tony, and Dennis have a brief discussion on the best video game consoles of all time. Links: Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show (YouTube channel): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAoeA05zcyksTEN3dEXCzCA Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show (audio podcast): http://www.podcastgarden.com/podcast/httpyoutubeubovjgfcizw This Week in Pinball donation and giveaway details: http://thisweekinpinball.com/june-giveaway-extravaganza/ Round 6 Worst of the Fall voting: https://goo.gl/forms/5Oco4gF94pukjdf83

Tony and Dennis are joined by Bruce Nightingale, of the Slam Tilt Podcast and The Silverball Saloon, to talk a bunch of pinball and a bit on the virtual side. Pinball: This episode has a huge focus on news-driven items. Discussion revolves around liquidation details for Heighway Pinball, that former pinball designer John Trudeau was arrested yet again, the pricing range currently proposed by deeproot Pinball, the Women's International Pinball Tournament happening at Replay FX this year, Dutch Pinball's announcement of litigation beginning between them and their former contract manufacturer, and a bit about the evidence regarding the growth of the pinball hobby as noted in an article with This Week in Pinball. From there, Bruce provides some details regarding operating the Silverball Saloon (and how pinball integrates into that venture). Tony walks everyone through the next round of The Worst of the Fall (a tournament where you vote for the WORST of any given pinball match-up), and the pinball segment concludes with a discussion of code and what old games can be salvaged from being disappointments and transformed into winners. Video Games: Discussion revolves around The Pinball Arcade and Farsight Studios announcing that the licenses to the Bally/Williams tables was lost and soon will be unavailable for purchase. Links: Slam Tilt Podcast: http://www.slamtiltpodcast.com/ The Silverball Saloon: https://www.thesilverballsaloon.com/ Rip Tide Pinball Podcast: http://www.podcastgarden.com/podcast/riptidepinballpodcast Meltdown Pinball Podcast: https://anchor.fm/meltdown/ Pinball News article on Heighway Pinball's liquidation: https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2018/05/10/heighway-pinball-by-the-numbers/ Herald-News article on Trudeau's arrest: http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/05/17/former-glendale-heights-man-arrested-in-alleged-bolingbrook-sex-abuse-case/azfsnbc/ This Week in Pinball deeproot pricing information: http://thisweekinpinball.com/twip-munsters-to-tpf-deeproot-pinball-price-range-nyc-pinball-championship-more/ Episode 121b of the Pinball Podcast (W.I.P.T. discussion): http://www.thepinballpodcast.com/2018/05/14/episode-121b-kaite-martin-discusses-w-i-p-t-at-replay-fx/ TWIP article on the growth of pinball: http://thisweekinpinball.com/the-growth-of-pinball-an-evidence-based-review-by-dennis-kriesel/ The Worst of the Fall Round 5 voting: https://goo.gl/forms/m9hTluIWwwwj2vIn2 BlahCade Podcast's Farsight interview: http://shoutengine.com/BlahCadePodcast/bobby-king-wms-licensing-interview-and-commentary-58347

Pinball: After a brief mention of Stern Pinball's Iron Maiden LE gameplay (provided by Deadflip), we move into a couple legal/business updates. The first is Zidware and pinball designer John Popadiuk's legal defeat in a civil suit regarding his failure to produce pinball machines. The second is the collapse of Heighway Pinball, its ongoing liquidation, and the rumors/drama surrounding the failure of yet another pinball company. The pinball segment concludes with the results of the Slam the Top 101-200 and the setup of Round 4 of The Worst of the Fall. Video Games: It's BattleTech day. Tony walks through his hands-on experience with the latest game in the franchise. There is also a bit of discussion regarding Mad Max and Prey. Links: Deadflip's gameplay video of Stern Pinball's Iron Maiden LE: https://youtu.be/besY8TS0Ges This Week in Pinball-The Fall of Heighway Pinball: http://thisweekinpinball.com/twip-the-fall-of-heighway-pinball-new-info-on-elvira-3-iron-maiden-le-more/ Pinball News interview with Andrew Heighway: https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2018/05/06/andrew-heighway-interview/ Round 4 voting for The Worst of the Fall: https://goo.gl/forms/Dafzodm6HuhClzp53

In this episode, Ryan C. (of Head2Head Pinball) joins in to talk about all sorts of pinball topics. In pinball news, there is discussion of Spooky Pinball's Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle at the 2018 Midwest Gaming Classic. From there, we talk about continued fallout regarding Jersey Jack Pinball's Pirates of the Caribbean with changes to the spinning disc and treasure-chest ball lock for production models versus the prototypes. Finally, there is a brief discussion of Dennis' Atari pinball article over at Pinball News. After the news, a collection segment begins, where Ryan gives his thoughts on pin collecting from a player's standpoint. Two data segments follow this, both involving Pinside data. The first examines game ratings versus category of ownership. The second explores the ratio of wishlist to ownership for the top 200 solid-state pins. Pinball wraps up with some games. The first is Slam the Top 101-200, modeled on a Head2Head game. The second it the round 3 match-ups in our ongoing Worst of the Fall tournament. Despite the intention to just do pinball, Ryan asks about some video games. We talk about Peggle, Gears of War, and emotional moments in game storytelling. Links: Head2Head Pinball: http://www.head2headpinball.com/ Mrs. Pin's Pinball Podcast: http://www.podcastgarden.com/podcast/mrspin Pinball News article on Atari's pinball division: https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2018/04/17/atari-pinball/ IE Pinball Hobbit gameplay: https://youtu.be/lwlF9RU-Dkw The Worst of the Fall: Round 3 voting: https://goo.gl/forms/YKoOaZrIaMf8wnxK2

In pinball, Dennis and Tony discuss Stern Pinball's recently announced Iron Maiden pinball. They also talk about Pinball Expo (it's back on, but there are changes still versus prior years). They also briefly spend some time on the Trash Talker Invitational Podcaster Bloodbath. Finally, it's time for Round 2 of The Worst of the Fall. The video game segment consists of gaming updates, because updates are good! Links: This Week in Pinball's Iron Maiden information: http://thisweekinpinball.com/twip-iron-maiden-reveal-premium-and-le-info-keith-elwin-interview-deadpool-image-leak-spooky-updates-more/ Pinball News & Pinball Magazine: http://www.podcastgarden.com/podcast/pinballmagazine Pinball News article on Pinball Expo 2018: https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2018/04/03/pinball-expo-2018-latest-news/ Round 2 of The Worst of the Fall voting: https://goo.gl/forms/pDN8ZurORASdItff1

Discussion revolves around the 2018 Texas Pinball Festival, the first round of our The Worst of the Fall Tournament, and a couple video game topics (Mad Max and Overwatch). A setting was wrong on Dennis' microphone input so he will have more echo than ideal, sorry! Links: Fun with Bonus: https://funwithbonus.com/ Roanoke Pinball Museum: https://www.roanokepinball.org/ The Pinball Podcast: http://www.thepinballpodcast.com/ Head2Head Pinball: http://www.head2headpinball.com/ Straight Down the Middle: A Pinball Show: http://www.podcastgarden.com/podcast/httpyoutubeubovjgfcizw This Week in Pinball: http://thisweekinpinball.com/ Pinball News: http://www.pinballnews.com/site/ Audio of Steve Ritchie's seminar at TPF 2018: https://www.pinballnews.com/site/wp-content/uploads/shows/tpf-2018/tpf-2018-steve-ritchie.mp3 Round 1 of The Worst of the Fall voting: https://goo.gl/forms/MMNJxI6tRsNZ99Vx2

No interviews and no guest hosts, just Tony and Dennis talking about games. A big mix this time (even the tabletop segment makes a return!). Pinball: Pinball topics consist of Chicago Gaming Company announcing they will no longer be revealing their third remake pin at the 2018 Texas Pinball Festival and the announcement of a Pinball Palooza in the Chicago area (due to a split between the two partners who put together Expo for years). Dennis also talks a bit about a project Laser War machine, and an article he co-wrote about Ted Zale. Video Games: A huge mix of games gets discussed. Specifically: Subnautica, Dragon Ball FighterZ, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, Gems of War, Into the Breach, South Park: The Fractured but Whole, and BATTLETECH by Harebrained Schemes. We also talk some about the recent Nintendo Direct event. Tabletop: Yes, a brief return, regarding the fallout of a long-ago mentioned project from Palladium Books for Robotech RPG Tactics. Links: Laser War gameplay video: https://youtu.be/zNAFzwZTiks History of Pinball: Ted Zale video from Pintastic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs0mMEuuoa4 The Renegade of Pinball's Golden Age: The Ted Zale Story article at Pinball News: https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2018/03/10/the-ted-zale-story/ Robotech RPG Tactics updates: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rrpgt/robotech-rpg-tacticstm/updates

In this episode, Tony and Dennis are joined by Taylor Reese (owner/operator of Reese Rails and one of the hosts of This Flippin' Podcast). Given Taylor's pinball background, most of the discussion centers on that hobby. The guys announce the conclusion of the "shame" pinball tournament, discuss Stern Pinball's Supreme pin, provide a Skit-B legal update, talk about some quality issues that have arisen with the Attack from Mars Remake, and cover Ben Heck's announcement that he has left Spooky Pinball. In addition, time is spent on collector aspects of the pinball hobby, and a fun discussion about pinball "conventional wisdom" and where the guys buck the trend on what they favor. Links: Reese Rails: https://pinside.com/pinball/biz/directory/1004-reese-rails This Flippin' Podcast: http://www.podcastgarden.com/podcast/thisflippinpodcast This Week in Pinball's Ben Heck interview: http://thisweekinpinball.com/interview-ben-heck-leaving-spooky-alice-coopers-nightmare-castle-preview-next-ben-heck/

This episode kicks off with a lengthy interview Dennis held with Robert Mueller, Principal of deeproot Tech, who joined the show to provide additional information regarding deeproot Pinball and its plans on entering pinball production. After the interview Tony and Dennis give their thoughts/analysis regarding what was learned in the interview. This is followed by setting up the fourth, and final, round of the "shame" pinball tournament, Spooky Pinball's announcement that Total Nuclear Annihilation is their best-selling game to date, and some information coming out of the Head2Head Pinball regarding American Pinball securing a trademark for an Oktoberfest pinball machine. In video games, a discussion regarding the Overwatch League and its impact on the future of eSports starts things off, and is followed by Microsoft and some of the acquisition rumors floating around to further enhance the Xbox's first-party line-up. Links: Flippin' and Mashing podcast link: http://www.podcastgarden.com/podcast/flippinandmashing This Week in Pinball's first deeproot Pinball interview: http://thisweekinpinball.com/exclusive-interview-deeproot-next-misadventure-pinball-revolution/ This Week in Pinball's second deeproot Pinball interview: http://thisweekinpinball.com/deeproot-pinball-new-home-new-hires-5-days-deeproot-exclusive-follow-interview/ deeproot Pinball's website: http://deeprootpinball.com/ deeproot's webinar for Zidware customers: https://youtu.be/MnNntaKjZig "Shame" Round 4 voting: https://goo.gl/forms/Ur3EWLMoIuXGR0Ce2 Polygon article on Xbox exclusive studio rumors: https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/29/16930892/xbox-one-exclusive-games-analysis-microsoft

Tony and Dennis are joined by Steve Bowden, top world-ranked pinball player and the mind behind Fun With Bonus (a website about all things pinball). As such, expect a pinball-heavy episode. The pinball topics start with the third round of the "shame" pinball tournament, and wrap-up of round two. Then, the latest pinball news is discussed (focusing on Stern Pinball's Luci AC/DC Vault Edition announcement, This Week in Pinball's follow-up interview with deeproot Pinball, and the TWIPY pinball award results). From there, competitive pinball topics are discussed, including some talk of the IFPA's new $1 fee (which went into effect at the start of the year), games that have fatal rulesets for competitive play and how they can be fixed, and ideas on what local pinball scenes can do to attract new players into competitive pinball tournaments. There are a couple video game topics as well. The guys discuss the Nintendo Labo (cardboard + Nintendo = Profit?) and Dragon Ball FighterZ (the latest fighting game from Arc System Works). Links: Fun With Bonus: https://funwithbonus.com/ Round 3 of the "Shame" Pinball Tournament: https://goo.gl/forms/JlxcKP7EWTFCl8lB3 This Week in Pinball Follow-up Interview with Deeproot Pinball: http://thisweekinpinball.com/deeproot-pinball-new-home-new-hires-5-days-deeproot-exclusive-follow-interview/ TWIPY Results: http://thisweekinpinball.com/2017-twipy-pinball-awards-results/ Nintendo Labo: https://labo.nintendo.com/ PinBox 3000: https://pinbox3000.com/

Pinball: We cover Multimorphic's P3 for our year-end review (as we did not in the prior episode). We talk a bit of Heighway Pinball's Alien, Stern Pinball at CES, and Round 2 in our "shame" tournament. Video Games: We talk about Nintendo's mini-direct event, Halo Wars 2, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, and Quantum Break. Links: Solid Sate Pinball Supply: http://www.solidstatekc.com/ T-shirt Giveaway entries: https://goo.gl/forms/CmIsn8VjRWXz0XFu1 "Shame" Pinball Tournament-Round 2 voting: https://goo.gl/forms/4kUfg2p8DJ3TvA7z1 EGP Discord: https://discord.gg/sgnrsBT

Tony and Dennis summarize 2017 for pinball and video games, plus launch round 1 of the best "shame" pinball machine. Happy New Year! Links: Round 1 of 2017 Best "Shame" Pinball Tournament: https://goo.gl/forms/dVSm69UDvpeuGNRU2

Pinball: We open with a couple news updates (Stern's notices for SPIKE systems to fix node board and capacitor issues, plus Star Wars receiving its v1.0 code), following by the TWIPY awards, our "shame" pinball tournament, and the 2018 Texas Pinball Festival. Video Games: Tony talks Breath of the Wild, while Dennis talks Rocket League. There's also some more Star Citizen news! Links: TWIPY pinball award voting: https://goo.gl/forms/5tUPMcGcVPiZe0Eo2 Submission form for "shame" pinball machines: https://goo.gl/forms/PIFC19xatUz7dw7e2