This generation of kids are growing up where single player gameplay has almost completely died off, and multiplayer games rule all. Many video game companies are even releasing multiplayer-only games, focusing development on the multiplayer experience instead of the single player campaigns/stories/etc.

Pinball will always be a great game you can play yourself, or with more people at your house. Nothing will change that, and that nostalgic part of pinball will always mean no matter what happens with technology, a pinball machine with mechanical moving parts will always be a hit when playing together with friends and family.

But - with Stern moving towards an LCD, and also SPIKE 2.0 and JJP's game #3 coming soon, I can't help but speculate we are very close to taking classic pinball and merging it with current technology.

Imagine being able to add fellow Pinside 'friends' to your machines, and having an internet connected pinball tournament at specific dates and times? Maybe even have a webcam on the head of the table for streaming - since pinball streaming is pretty big right now as well. You could get a small video feed image of your group on other people's screens (if you desire of course)

Imagine leader boards, with rankings and other aggregated statistics and information. Of course, there would be "Player" rankings and also "Officially Ranked" leaderboards for those who deviate from original factory settings in software vs people who stick to the tournament play settings. Of course there could be cheating, but thats the case with anything nowadays. I'd like to think the pinball community is much different then some cheating teenage hackers though, but that's a whole other topic for discussion.

So, who thinks this could be coming up - and who would be interested in connecting their pins to the internet and playing multiplayer pinball? It would be cool to set up tournaments with others here on Pinside on certain times/days and go head to head. There are endless ideas and possibilities. One of the biggest benefits though: getting the current generation of kids more involved with pinball, and mixing the physical characteristics of playing pinball but adding the benefit of worldwide connectivity.. kind of like the current Pokemon Go thing, where people are mixing reality with virtual goals and achievements.

#2 7 years ago

JXS

Neuromancer87

Inactive member

7y 36,800 137 1

My thought is that the predominant technology will be Augmented Reality (AR), wherein there won't be a need to actually hook your pin up to the internet and go to the expense of retrofitting machines. You will simply press a virtual tournament button projected onto your real pinball machine by your AR headset, and it will understand what you are looking at is a specific pinball machine. You'll get picture-in-picture effects of your friends playing in the corners, a projected HUD with the compared scores and other stats, special effects, etc.

I feel, however, that I should answer the original question as to whether or not I actually want this to happen by saying that the appeal of pinball is the community. How fun is it to get together with everybody, drink some beers, and actually, ya know, hang out!? I realize that everybody can't do that, and this sort of technology will be great for them. Without launching into a discourse on the perils of technology, I tend to see the risk of isolation that advancements like this bring. Always we draw closer together, and yet ever still we inch farther apart.

#3 7 years ago

KPG

kpg

Pinside member

Coto De Caza, CA

8y 112K 3,259 5 14

Quoted from Neuromancer87:
My thought is that the predominant technology will be Augmented Reality (AR), wherein there won't be a need to actually hook your pin up to the internet and go to the expense of retrofitting machines. You will simply press a virtual tournament button projected onto your real pinball machine by your AR headset, and it will understand what you are looking at is a specific pinball machine. You'll get picture-in-picture effects of your friends playing in the corners, a projected HUD with the compared scores and other stats, special effects, etc.

I think that could be something in the distant future, but AR headsets arent out yet- are super expensive, and if playing with a group of people they wouldnt be included in the action. I think it makes more sense to have all that information on a big LCD so everyone could see the action.

#4 7 years ago

DJP

Chitownpinball

Pinside member

Aurora, IL

11y 102K 7,314 5

Cheaters.

The only way this could work would be with location games.

#5 7 years ago

JCD

dmbjunky

Pinside member

Odon, IN

8y 96,400 6,791 91

Quoted from Neuromancer87:
My thought is that the predominant technology will be Augmented Reality (AR), wherein there won't be a need to actually hook your pin up to the internet and go to the expense of retrofitting machines. You will simply press a virtual tournament button projected onto your real pinball machine by your AR headset, and it will understand what you are looking at is a specific pinball machine. You'll get picture-in-picture effects of your friends playing in the corners, a projected HUD with the compared scores and other stats, special effects, etc.

That's an interesting idea. They would have to improve the virtual pinball experience though for it to really take off among pin players. Pinball Arcade and Zen are fun but the physics aren't exactly spot on. Both games have been pretty stagnate in improving their engines.

#6 7 years ago

JDB

Joe_Blasi

Pinside member

Des Plaines, IL

11y 39,900 2,402

OP
Quoted from kpg:
I can't help but think there is significant innovation potential in pinball, right now.
This generation of kids are growing up where single player gameplay has almost completely died off, and multiplayer games rule all. Many video game companies are even releasing multiplayer-only games, focusing development on the multiplayer experience instead of the single player campaigns/stories/etc.
Pinball will always be a great game you can play yourself, or with more people at your house. Nothing will change that, and that nostalgic part of pinball will always mean no matter what happens with technology, a pinball machine with mechanical moving parts will always be a hit when playing together with friends and family.
But - with Stern moving towards an LCD, and also SPIKE 2.0 and JJP's game #3 coming soon, I can't help but speculate we are very close to taking classic pinball and merging it with current technology.
Imagine being able to add fellow Pinside 'friends' to your machines, and having an internet connected pinball tournament at specific dates and times? Maybe even have a webcam on the head of the table for streaming - since pinball streaming is pretty big right now as well. You could get a small video feed image of your group on other people's screens (if you desire of course)
Imagine leader boards, with rankings and other aggregated statistics and information. Of course, there would be "Player" rankings and also "Officially Ranked" leaderboards for those who deviate from original factory settings in software vs people who stick to the tournament play settings. Of course there could be cheating, but thats the case with anything nowadays. I'd like to think the pinball community is much different then some cheating teenage hackers though, but that's a whole other topic for discussion.
So, who thinks this could be coming up - and who would be interested in connecting their pins to the internet and playing multiplayer pinball? It would be cool to set up tournaments with others here on Pinside on certain times/days and go head to head. There are endless ideas and possibilities. One of the biggest benefits though: getting the current generation of kids more involved with pinball, and mixing the physical characteristics of playing pinball but adding the benefit of worldwide connectivity.. kind of like the current Pokemon Go thing, where people are mixing reality with virtual goals and achievements.

Big the down fails are poor internet and caps. Also putting the games on online opens them up to hackers.

#7 7 years ago

LAW

dung

Pinside member

12y 86,050 5,580 6 30

Quoted from Chitownpinball:
Cheaters.
The only way this could work would be with location games.

Not even that. Every pin plays a little differently. Slight change in pitch/level, slightly difference in mounting holes, rubber, etc. This is why I never cared for the online high scores on rfm.

It makes playing other people's machines fun because you cannot pull the same stuff as yours. Case in point playing a locals LOTR. Mine I can backhand the right ramp all day, not so with his. On the flipside his main ramp was a much easier shot. Bunch of little things like that made it feel very differently than what I was used to.

#8 7 years ago

JCD

dmbjunky

Pinside member

Odon, IN

8y 96,400 6,791 91

OP
Quoted from kpg:
This generation of kids are growing up where single player gameplay has almost completely died off, and multiplayer games rule all. Many video game companies are even releasing multiplayer-only games, focusing development on the multiplayer experience instead of the single player campaigns/stories/etc.

Do you play video games? Single player games seem to make the biggest headlines. In the top 10 for 2015 there was only one online multiplayer only game. There were two single player only games. The rest are single player/multiplayer, online or off.

http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/14/2015-npd-the-10-best-selling-games-of-the-year/

If this idea stems from Pokemon Go, keep in mind that game is free and on mobile, a big gaming difference from a $6,000, 200 lb. pinball machine.

#9 7 years ago

DJP

Chitownpinball

Pinside member

Aurora, IL

11y 102K 7,314 5

Quoted from dung:
Not even that. Every pin plays a little differently. Slight change in pitch/level, slightly difference in mounting holes, rubber, etc. This is why I never cared for the online high scores on rfm.
It makes playing other people's machines fun because you cannot pull the same stuff as yours. Case in point playing a locals LOTR. Mine I can backhand the right ramp all day, not so with his. On the flipside his main ramp was a much easier shot. Bunch of little things like that made it feel very differently than what I was used to.

Pitch your machine at 1 degree BOOM GRAND CHAMPION. lol

#10 7 years ago

SMK

TheLaw

Pinside+ Addict

Ann Arbor, MI

12y 162K 48,098 19 30 1

Quoted from dung:
Not even that. Every pin plays a little differently....

It depends how the rankings (always rankings! ) are done, whom is playing, what the point is.

As soon as you inject rankings in, there are shananigins, no way around it. And with rankings comes more scrutiny aboot the set up of machines that make it more like a tournament setting, and probably less fun for people. In that way, it doesn't interest me at all.
Now, if it's Eskaybee, Chuckwart & I having drinks on a Friday night and playing some GOT games for a good time; that might interest me. And I would guess the younger you get the more it would excite people.

5 months later

#11 7 years ago

ALB

atwong

Pinside member

Orange, CA

8y 44,900 101 23

So someone figured out to get data from the Stern motherboard using Raspberry Pi. He's currently using the integration to auto tweet scores. I can see that this could be easily enhanced so that there is a REST interface to pull a whole bunch of data more than just scores and a web based console to control wifi and social media integration. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/auto-tweeting-high-scores

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