Computer Pinball Simulation
Simulating a pinball machine has also been a popular theme of video games, most famously when Bill Budge wrote Pinball Construction Set for the Apple II in 1983. While there had been earlier pinball video games, such as Video Pinball for the Atari 2600, Pinball Construction Set was the first program that allowed the user to create his own simulated pinball machine and then play it.
Most early simulations were top-down 2D. As processor and graphics capabilities have improved, more accurate ball physics and 3D pinball simulations have become possible. Tilting has also been simulated, which can be activated using one or more keys (sometimes the space bar) for "moving" the table. Flipper button computer peripherals were also released, allowing pinball fans to add an accurate feel to their game play instead of using the keyboard or mouse. Modern pinball video games are often based around established franchises such as Metroid Prime Pinball, Super Mario Ball and Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
There have been pinball programs released for all major home video game and computer systems, such as:
- David's Midnight Magic (1982)
- Pinball Dreams (1992)
- 3D Pinball: Space Cadet (1996)
- Pro Pinball (since 1996)
- Visual Pinball (since 2000)
- Future Pinball (since 2005)
- Pinball FX 2 (since 2010)
- Pinball Arcade (since 2012)
Simulators also exist for gaming consoles and tablet computers such as Xbox, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii.
Read more about this topic: Pinball
Famous quotes containing the words computer, pinball and/or simulation:
“What, then, is the basic difference between today’s computer and an intelligent being? It is that the computer can be made to see but not to perceive. What matters here is not that the computer is without consciousness but that thus far it is incapable of the spontaneous grasp of pattern—a capacity essential to perception and intelligence.”
—Rudolf Arnheim (b. 1904)
“They was givin’ me ten thousand watts a day, you know, and I’m hot to trot. Next woman takes me on gonna light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars.”
—Laurence Hauben, U.S. screenwriter, Bo Goldman, and Milos Forman. Randall McMurphy (Jack Nicholson)
“Life, as the most ancient of all metaphors insists, is a journey; and the travel book, in its deceptive simulation of the journey’s fits and starts, rehearses life’s own fragmentation. More even than the novel, it embraces the contingency of things.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)