This is the fifth pin#x mail, as usual it is a mix of already published articles from the news page and new unpublished ones. Well actually it is mostly already published one summarized up in a compact form for those who haven't read them yet. I also included a couple of more or less non-pinball articles this time (can be discussed). I'm especially sending out this mail to inform about 21st Century Entertainment Ltd.'s silent leave from this world. Other subjects is 21st Century Entertainment Inc.'s future plans. I also dropped out the current pinball list from the mail, I'll make that a standard section on the news page instead (to make the email a little smaller). Instead the U&R (upcoming/released) will be standard as the last section. If you liked the current pinball list and thought it was nice to have it mailed to you a couple of times a year, let me know and I'll include it again. It will still probably appear every once and then, especially in the end of the year clubmail.
And oh, I went a little offline and included cheats for a couple of pinballs in the mail, not that I use them, what is fun with cheating in a pinball?
Yes, it is official, the third pinball in the pro pinball series is on the way!!
The third title in the Pro Pinball series will be "Pro Pinball - Big Race U.S.A" or "Pro Pinball - BRUSA" for short. It will be released worldwide on PC, PSX and MAC in the fourth quarter of '98.
Here are *some* of the improvements you'll find in BRUSA:
CD quality music played directly from memory, eliminating all pauses in gameplay.
Improved flipper physics model, giving a more solid and realistic feel.
Completely new ball physics model. Plus ramps and jumps on the table to take advantage of the new physics.
Full control over the PHYSICAL parameters of the game. Including table slope and table age.
Five preset difficulty levels.
Brand new Dot Matrix engine, with dozens of new special effects.
Yes it is true... 21st Century Entertainment Ltd. has ceased to exist. 21st Ltd. who originally formed 21st Century and made their name with the releases of the all time big hit pinballs Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies. For quite some time now, most personnel from 21st Ltd. have relocated themselves to other companies in the industry. And now, as I said, there is no company any more.
21st Ltd. had developed a new pinball called Electronic Pinball last year before they now dropped dead. This pinball was never released last year and certainly wont be this year, at least by them if by any. There was also rumors that 21st Ltd. next project was to be a 3d pinball, that is a project that will never leave the drawing board...
As for 21st Ltd.'s back catalogue, it's possible that someone will buy the rights to the Pinball games that they own. DI has the copyright for most of their titles that 21st Ltd. produced, whereas 21st Ltd. own specific publishing rights for most of the world in those titles. It's possible that this might be worth money, to someone. Maybe the liquidator manages to sell the rights to their back catalog to some other firm, thus allowing a constant stream of 21st pinball titles to continue. Maybe EP will get out this way.
If you know your 21st Century Entertainment history (see link below) you know that there are (were) two companies, 21st Century Entertainment Inc. (US) and (former) 21st Century Entertainment Ltd. (UK). The US part is still alive. The US part, 21st Inc. was always more or less a separate company and the two companies never really new so much of what the other one was doing. Now 21st Inc is all that is left... but they have plans!
This isn't exactly an interview in the normal terms, I mostly did it to find out more about what 21st Inc. is up to now that 21st Ltd. is no longer in the picture (once again, note that 21st Inc and 21st Ltd. is/was two companies).
Q: So 21st Inc. is all alone now that 21st Ltd. dropped dead. I understand things haven't been all that easy for you people at 21st Inc. either but that you now have started to recover from the past years difficulties. Care to tell us a little more about these difficulties?
A: We were left with a lot of debt and not much income, due to a combination of things beyond our direct control. We licensed some of our titles for royalty (Slamtilt went to Expert, Pinball Builder to TLC) in order to give us some breathing space. We are now debt free and ready to roll.
Q: I understand 21st Inc. have decided to start produce their own pinballs and as a result hired two new developers. Care to tells us about these new developers? Who are they, have they done any other pinballs?
A: I am not able to tell you who the developers are at this time, I can tell you that they are not in the US, have not done pinball recently, but the early WIP looks great.
Q: I was told about 3 forthcoming titles from 21st Inc. The one title that really caught my interest was "SlamTilt 3D The Resurrection" (nice title btw). Mostly because I always thought the table view limited this otherwise good pinball so much. Will any other altering be done to this pinball, except redoing it in 3D (will there be different choices of view). I suspect the physics model will be changed.
A: Yes, the physics model is changed. We are currently looking at choices of view and I am not yet sure if there will be more than one view. There are pros and cons that we are weighing.
Q: Is it UDS, who originally made SlamTilt, that will do the new 3D version?
A: No, actually Slamtilt was developed by Liquid Dezign and they were absorbed by UDS. We tried to get Liquid/UDS to do another pinball, but they were not interested. So we licensed the table designs and graphics.
Q: What is your expectations about S3DTR, will it really be the pinball of the millenium, why?
A: We hope so. The early screenshots show great promise, and the developer is very meticulous with physics etc.
Q: You also mentioned an upcoming "arcanoid pinball" game. What the heck is that?
A: Good question. I was not familiar with the term either until quite recently. Arcanoid pinball uses a different concept for the table. It is a cross between pinball and the old Breakout game. Instead of flippers you have a paddle that has full X-Y motion. The table is laid out with blocks, barriers etc that the ball destroys when it hits them. This may sound a little mundane until you see the implementation.
The game has 200 levels, multi-ball, multiple types of ball (steel, stone, glass, plastic etc), multiple types of paddle, magnetic effects etc. The physics on this game are excellent.
Q: Give us some hints of what you are planning on naming it?
A: At the moment the favorite name is Boomerang, but we are open to suggestions
Q: Well, actually I only know about 2 forthcoming titles but I suspect there are one or two more planned. Give us some hints on what you have planned in your mind for the future.
* Will 21st Inc. go for the 3D view a lot in the future? That is, will there be other pinballs in the style of Pinball World or will you go more for the serious style as SlamTilt 3D seems to be in (with serious I don't mean anything else than serious, not necessarily 3d view)?
* Any new (and good) pinball editors planned (I know 21st Ltd. had plans for a PCK2, will you take up on it?)?
* Any plans on doing conversions of real pinballs?
A: All of the above are under consideration. We need to see that there is still a good market for pinball before we can commit to lots of products in the same genre. My own favorite would be a Pinball World kind of game but done in 3D and with a lot more table links.
This is just a summary, if you want the full length history check:
http://www.pcpinball.com/news/2uptilt/
In 1996, SCI Software (Sales Curve Interactive) released the pinball game Tilt! in Europe, distributed by Virgin. Apparently it sold well enough for a sequel to be made since early last year, word started to spread about a sequel being in production, it was to be called 2 Up Tilt!, distributed by NMS Software.
Then, the game was unveiled in the May, 1997 issue of Britain's PC Review magazine with a 2-page article on the game, including screenshots and interviews with the designers, and a fully playable demo. The article said the pinball was to be released soon but it was never released.
In November/December Interplay's web site announced the then forthcoming Star Trek Pinball by SCI. Obviously, this game was 2 Up Tilt!, rethemed for Star Trek TOS (the original series.) Apparently. Earlier, designers at Sierra, makers of the 3D Ultra Pinball series, who had started working on their own Star Trek pinball game were told that Viacom had mysteriously taken back the rights for a Trek pinball game with no explanation...
Some months ago this year Star Trek Pinball was released in the US and Europe with little fanfare. All that today is left of 2 Up Tilt! is the demo from the magazine. Luckily it is a very playable demo, the only limit it has is that it stops counting score after 10 million points (well the other limit is one table).
Download the demo from: http://www.pcpinball.com/files/2uptiltd.html (PC only)
If you remember from the last mail I wrote about a pinball called Roll 'M Up. It was then only possible to get hold of if you drank a couple of liters of beer. Today you can download it from Dommelsch homepage at http://www.dommelsch.de
I don't know if I am the only one who has always gotten hits (no matter what I do! ;)) on this word when I have been searching for pinball related material on the internet. Well I finally decided to check up what this "Pinball Climate Simulation" is for something. Basically it is a simulation based up on a pachinko pinball. If you want to read more I suggest you follow the links given below.
Eugene S. Takle Prof. of Atmospheric Science explains:
A pinball machine helps me explain the difference between a weather forecast and a climate simulation, so we have created an on-line pinball machine for students to run. A description of the analogy (reprinted below) is given at http://www.iitap.iastate.edu/gcp/model/basic/images/pinball.html
To actually run the electronic pinball machine go to
An astute observer of weather and weather forecasts might raise the point that since 10-day forecasts are essentially useless for planning purposes, it is audacious and absurd for meteorologists to pretend they can predict anything 1 year, much less 50 years, into the future.
To understand the concept of a climate model and to clarify the concept of climate predictions as compared to weather predictions, we consider the "pinball machine analogy". This is not a real model for simulating climate but only an analogy that will help distinguish weather from climate and observe how changing certain conditions changes the climate statistics. The accompanying sketch shows the result of many outcomes of dropping balls through the pinball matrix. If the matrix is very large there will be many, many individual paths to the bottom. The exact positions of the pegs determine the distribution of balls at the bottom. A slight change in peg position will have some influence on the distribution of possible paths, with some pegs being more influential than others.
As some of you probably have noticed I have linkexchange banner on my front page. The idea of it is that I make a banner representing my page and send it to LE. Other members of LE have done the same thing. My banner is then rotated and showed on the other members pages.
Anyway I recently tried sending in a new banner which consisted solely of the text:
"The secret behind winning in pinball is... ...having balls of steel"
"You got Balls of Steel? Then enter www.pcpinball.com"
Harmless text, well LinkExchange refused to accept it with the motivation:
"we are not able to accept your banner into our network at this time"
"we insist that all banners are generally acceptable to the vast majority"
"the banner must not contain curse words or inflammatory content. This includes slander towards individuals, public figures or companies. Suggestive imagery such as women in lingerie/bathing suits is also unacceptable."
Lots of that in my slogan? A email to LE gave me the answer it was the word Balls of Steel they felt were offending, my banner would be approved if it wasn't for those words. That just made me think of how hard sales must be for the pinball simulation Balls of Steel... (nothing bad said about bos, it is good)
Well anyway I ended up rewriting the banner to the less powerful
"You got cubes of plastic? Then enter www.pcpinball.com!!"
I don't know but 20 persons so far has clicked on that banner. <g>
Have you tried out the cd version of the Addiction Pinball demo? The person who has made the soundtrack for this (upcoming) pinball is Bjorn Lynne. You can find his homepage at:
http://www.lynnemusic.com/
There is two mp3s there for download which contain a medley of the addiction pinball soundtrack (one for each table). btw. Bjorn Lynne also made the music soundtrack for Worms 2!
If you have the Addiction Pinball cd demo you can listen to the soundtracks directly.
I don't like cheats for pinballs, I would never sink so low as to use them, but there seems to always be someone out there asking "does anyone know a cheat for <insert pinball title here>", so I thought I'd summary up the some I know off. Use them at your OWN risk. Ah well, go on and have no fun at all with these cheats.
Balls of Steel
To activate the cheat codes start one of the tables and then press the Print Screen key, and type in the cheat codes. (gees, is there cheats for this pinball or what)
All tables:
grand canyon = Ball blocker on/off
last legs = Set to final ball
morlock = Time increased
eloi = Time reduced
pitchfork = Points added
whodunnit = table version of mystery award ready
bucket = Kickbacks recharged.
couch potato = Video modes ready.
evil twin = 2-ball ready.
freakshow = Extra ball lit.
t-minus x = mode x (replace x with mode number)
triplets = 3-ball ready.
warp core = Powerball enabled.
popcorn = Super pops lit.
Darkside:
nerf gun = Super cannon ready.
roach motel = Crawler attack lit.
Duke Nukem:
gatekeeper = All keys
meat market = Pickups
Firestorm:
road rage = Car chase ready
Barbarian:
dry = Earth mode
cool = Air mode
hot = Fire mode
wet = Water mode
yorick = Portal mode
new york = Citadel ready
Mutation:
toadstool = Toxic Spores lit
Digital Pinball (SATURN)
Enter these cheats at the title screen (with the words "Press START")
C, B, A, A, B, C, Y, Z, X, D, D - Credits
X, Y, Z, X, Y, Z, C, B, A, U, U - Weird Numbers
U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, B, A, X - Plasma Pro Version
X, X, Y, Y, Z, Z, A, A, B. B., C, C - Sound Pro Version
Epic Pinball
So you found out that pressing the [F1] key in the option menu gives you 6 balls. Big Deal !
Other tricks : During game press :
[Esc],[B],[N] : Get a second ball
[Esc],[J] : Move ball with cursor keys !
[X]+[/] : Keep flippers up
[Esc],[F9] : Shows box (on some versions)
[Esc],[F10] : PCX screenshot
[Esc],[F1] : Enter parameters (???)
Extreme Pinball
At the main menu with "Balls" highlighted, press B, A, L and Enter at the same time. Now you will get 13 balls.
In the directory where you have installed Extreme Pinball, you'll find some files called table_X.pcx and frame_X.pcx, where X is table a, b, c or d. To change the look of the pinball tables, edit the table_X.pcx files in an image editor. To change where the ball can go, edit the frame_X.pcx.
Hyper 3D Pinball / Tilt!
After you start a new game hit ESC, type KERMIT, hit ENTER, and then ESC again to activate the codes.
KICKBACK Can't lose ball
ALOADOFBALLS Get 98 balls
EXTRABALL Get an extra ball
PICKUPBALL Click where you want the ball to be
JOSHUAJEIN Can't tilt table
Monty Phython's Complete Waste of Time (CWOT)
Is this a cheat? If you look forward to buy CWOT and play the pinball in it, don't read on!
Let's play a little Pin Ball! The object is to hit the four essential clues in order. To do this do not use the flippers, but use your mouse pointer which has now turned to cross-hairs. Click on the icons in order and do not click on any other icons. After doing this correctly the pin ball machine will disappear. A plane will fly through the window and drop a bomb. Click on the bomb to release the foot. (ofcourse)
Pinball Fantasies
Ok, I'm telling you, some of these will spoil all the fun, so now
you know. Type the following commands while any table is
scrolling up and down waiting for a game to start:
"DIGITAL ILLUSIONS" Ball can't be lost (play forever)
"FAIR PLAY" Resets everything back to default
"EARTHQUAKE" Disables the tilt
"EXTRA BALLS" Five balls instead of three
"VACUUM CLEANER" Clears the high scores
"THE SILENTS" Message from The Silents
"HIGHLANDER" Raises gravity
"TECH STUFF" Technical stuff
"ULF" Message about Ulf
"OLOF" Message about Olof
"MARKUS" Message about Markus
"ANDREAS" Message about Andreas
"BARRY" Message about Barry
"FREDRIK" Message about Fredrik
Pinball Illusions
If in game you type "earthquake" I think that gives you unlimited tilt and try "vacuum" as well
Pinball World
Type SAMHILL while playing the Select Destination Table, and a message will appear to verify that cheat mode is active. Select your destination as usual. Once your destination table appears, press Esc and answer Yes to quit. A menu will now appear with a complete list of all the tables in the game! Also, pressing T while playing a table in cheat mode will enable "cursor mode." Try it yourself -- you'll like it! Then press T again to play the table normally.
Pro Pinball: The Web
To play Pro Pinball at a finger-threateningly fast double speed simply achieve the day's highscore and enter PRO as your name. Next time you play, well see for yourself....
Pro Pinball: Timeshock!
There's only really one "cheat" for the game, and that lets you unlock all the operator menu features right away (you usually have to wait for 24 hours of gameplay before they all become unlocked). Go to the operators menu, and select starting time-zone as random (2.2.1), then go to switch test for timezone lock delta (3.1.47), and hold both flipper buttons down for 2 seconds. After this, all features should be unlocked.
Silverball
Here are some key combinations:
ESC + J + N Control the ball with your cursor keys
In addition to the lists below. Keyflip, the keyboard with extra flipper buttons on the side should be released in the middle of this month. Addiction Pinball is done for all I know, but no word on which is the relase day. The German pinball 3D Flipper which was released last month has not yet been review but is nothing to hurry out and buy, rather mediocre. I reviewed Balls of Steel recently, gave it a steady 4. Apart from the scoring rules and the halfdecent feeling BOS is a highly enjoyable pinball game (not so much a simulation then) that most pinball fans will enojy for a while.
Upcoming
Name: "Boomerang"
PC:Y ; MAC:?
Relase: second quarter 98?
http://www.21stcent.com (no info available, arcanoid type of pinball)
Name: Addiction Pinball
PC:Y ; MAC:?
Release: DONE, but when is the release day?
http://www.team17.com/pinball/index.html
Name: Last Gladiator V.9.7
PC:Y ; MAC:?
Release: 98 for sure
http://kaze.kazenet.com/
Name: Pro Pinball - BRUSA
PC:Yes ; MAC:Yes ; PSX:Yes
Release Worldwide fourth quarter 98
http://www.empire.co.uk/propinball/ (no info available)
Name: SlamTilt 3D The Resurrection
PC:Y ; MAC:?
Release: 98 Likely
http://www.21stcent.com (no info available)
Released
Name: 3D Flipper
PC:Y ; MAC:N
http://www.databecker.com
Name: Star Trek Pinball
PC:Y ; MAC:N
http://www.interplay.com/stpinball/
Name: Julietta Pinball v.5.0
PC:Y ; MAC:N
http://members.aol.com/achthaler/julietta.htm
Name: Pro Pinball: Timeshock!
PC:Y ; MAC:Y ; PSX:Y
http://www.empire.co.uk/propinball/
html version: http://www.pcpinball.com/news/alw/a2urlist.html
