If you want one to replace a real pin then the answer is no.

If you want a really fun video game about pinball in your gameroom to mix things up, then the answer is yes.

Members of a pinball forum will always say pack as many pins in a room as possible. I personally like a little diversity, even though pinball is my favorite gameroom item.

I brought that up in the Hyper-pin forums in a post about how they are putting the plasma or LED DMD's in there cabs to emulate real pinball, when "real" pinball is switching over to LCD technology that they do not want to use.

When I suggested to my buddy to keep an LCD in his cab to be ahead of the curve, he told me that he wanted to be authentic. I explained in 5 years it will be as I see all manufacturers going to LCD technology for color and expense.

When is that coming out? I am anxious for it, I am also excited about Pinball HD getting a cabinet setting and Timeshock coming out. I donated on the Kickstarter for the Timeshock, but haven't heard about that in a while. I know you had Pinball FX2 running on your machine at ComicCon, so I figured you might have a time frame.

Long answer short. The games in Visual Pin tables are 2D rendered to look 3D. If you are hoping for super close physics, then this will disappoint. They are working on making Visual Pinball truly 3D: http://www.unit3dpinball.net/

They use pinmame to emulate the software, so that is pretty spot on. Making everything work in unison so you have the ultimate pinball experience is not there yet, but they are fun to play. I like playing Zen and VP on my arcade cabinet. I just take it for what it is; a fun video game of pinball.

The closest to blending video pinball to the real thing will probably be the game be Timeshock! which is a recreation of an old table. It is being built with them thinking about how it will play in cabinets. Here is a sample picture.

timeshock.jpg

It was an older pc game that the creators, Barnstorm, are recreating using today's computers. They did a kickstarter and I believe from one of their posts they have a cab to test it in, so it should be awesome. The lighting, textures, and physics from reports they send out to Kickstarter backers really take things to the next level. Just look at the reflections on the playfield and side panels. Looks like it will be out before summer with other tables in the works.

Besides Timeshock, Virtual pins are getting better and better with Zen pinball, Farsight's Pinball HD which is getting cab support, and Unit3d new VP engine.