Is Retro Gamer exclusively video?

[SirClive]

One of the DID's was a guy who previously worked on Pinball machines so some of his choices were pinball.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

There's a pinball feature in issue 45...

[psj3809]

The reason I ask is that there's a conversation in Q&A about Pinball Machines. Although there is some support, a lot of the commentary is that such an article or feature would be boring and irrelevant.

I don't understand this as pinball is the precursor to the video age; without pinball there would be no space invaders, no pong and (probably) no video games - and what would Miyamoto have gone on to do without Donkey Kong? It's all part of the same rich history.

So are we doomed to the endless C64 vs Spectrum one-up-manship (which I suspect most of the commentators want), or can we expect RG to branch out and explore other (related) avenues?

Love that comment about without pinball there would be no arcade machines ! Funny as anything.

Retro Gamer have to sell issues, its not constant Speccy/C64 stuff but on the other hand if it was full of obscure bits every month then the niche market would be even tighter.

Bit like releasing a car magazine and refusing to do the big names and stick to totally obscure ones about some 2 litre car from Yemen.

Retro Gamer do a good mix, they try and please a lot of people but surely when a ton of people had a C64/Speccy/Amstrad they will always do a fair bit for these machines as its common sense.

If Retro gamer was full of pinball stuff or the first 'ball and hoop' (Surely a precursor to gaming ? then i would personally stop buying it.

We all know Retro Gamer is to do with computer/consoles/arcade games etc. Do some people seriously think 'Retro Gamer' actually means old games our granddads used to play or other games such as cards/pinball etc ! I so cant wait for the feature of 'top 10 grab games featured in Blackpool' and a list of prizes people could have won or better still the 'best 2p game in the world' which features those old crappy machines where you lob in a cupful of 2p's hoping to push the others off the ledge eh ?

[The Universal]

This is a nice summary

http://www.retrogamer.net/forum/viewtop ... ht=#105632

[Opa-Opa]

There's a pinball feature in issue 45...

And a feature about Video games has been left out for this to fit in...
Does Issue 46 have a just as boring and nothing to do with videogames feature about the "find your perfect partner love match" machines that used to be found clogging up the entrance fairgrounds or maybe the "test your strength" hammer and bell jobbies...

[Antiriad2097]

There's a pinball feature in issue 45...

And a feature about Video games has been left out for this to fit in...
Does Issue 46 have a just as boring and nothing to do with videogames feature about the "find your perfect partner love match" machines that used to be found clogging up the entrance fairgrounds or maybe the "test your strength" hammer and bell jobbies...

Don't know about you, but we used both those machines more than the pinball.

[GarryG]

So what are we calling ‘video games’ then?

Are we just including CRT based Arcade machines and TV/Monitor based consoles and home computers (including the early PONG type games)?
Or are we including LCD and LED based tabletop and hand held games as ‘video’? Where would you put the Vectrex on this list?

What about the large screen projection skeet-shoot type gun games, or the electro mechanical arcade games that back-projected images onto a screen in an arcade cabinet? They most certainly were fore runners to the Video based Arcade machines.

[Antiriad2097]

So what are we calling ‘video games’ then?

Are we just including CRT based Arcade machines and TV/Monitor based consoles and home computers (including the early PONG type games)?
Or are we including LCD and LED based tabletop and hand held games as ‘video’? Where would you put the Vectrex on this list?

What about the large screen projection skeet-shoot type gun games, or the electro mechanical arcade games that back-projected images onto a screen in an arcade cabinet? They most certainly were fore runners to the Video based Arcade machines.

All of the above. They are all 'video' games in as much as all of the playfield and its components (as perceived by the player) were 'light' objects on a fixed screen and any portion of that was subject to change.

Pinball does not meet that criteria, with the playfield and player objects being physical, fixed things that were not changable.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

There's a pinball feature in issue 45...

And a feature about Video games has been left out for this to fit in...

I'm sure some people think that when they read another Spectrum article...

[FatTrucker]

I think people are being a little bit pedantic about it.

I don't think anyone's suggesting there should be a regular or permanent feature specifically for pinball machines, covering the inner workings of the machines and the history of spinners and flippers, but a one off feature covering the best remembered pins, the more interesting or unusual pins and their place in arcade history is a perfectly relevant one in keeping with the tone of the mag.

Pinballs, unlike other coin operated or vending machines, are far more closely related to videogames than many people profess, being largely a game of skill based on a players hand eye co-ordination, reflexes and practice, rewarding proficiency with a high score table, having attract modes, event sounds etc etc and soforth, and in many cases offering a more diverse and varied play experience than many early videogames (shocking but true).
They were afterall a massive part of the early arcade scene, and it would be nice to have a regular 'in other news' feature in retrogamer covering other aspects of retro gaming, perhaps looking at a different theme each month. A little bit of diversity in content definitely won't hurt the mag, and doesn't need to impact at all on all the usual videogaming goodness. The mags primary focus will always be videogames but there's no harm in reporting on other aspects of retro gaming culture, when its history is so broad, rich and multi-faceted.

[felgekarp]

So what are we calling ‘video games’ then?

Are we just including CRT based Arcade machines and TV/Monitor based consoles and home computers (including the early PONG type games)?
Or are we including LCD and LED based tabletop and hand held games as ‘video’? Where would you put the Vectrex on this list?

What about the large screen projection skeet-shoot type gun games, or the electro mechanical arcade games that back-projected images onto a screen in an arcade cabinet? They most certainly were fore runners to the Video based Arcade machines.

All of the above. They are all 'video' games in as much as all of the playfield and its components (as perceived by the player) were 'light' objects on a fixed screen and any portion of that was subject to change.

Pinball does not meet that criteria, with the playfield and player objects being physical, fixed things that were not changable.

What about pinball machines that do feature video game sections, there's a fair few that do have mini games in them ?

[djcarlos]

I like board games.

More please.

[Nitters]

There's a pinball feature in issue 45...

Huzzah!

I'll shut up about pinball now

...except to say that I perhaps overstated when I said that without pinball videogames wouldn't exist (I was drunk at the time ), however pinball (and other electro-mechanical devices) really were a major influence in pay to play, it provided the infrastructure, market, distribution networks, locations, culture and etc. which video was so easily able to slot into - which is why a number of pinball manufacturers moved into video so easily. Video probably would still exist, but I think it would look very different.

[SexyWayne]

without pinball there would in all probability be no pinball video games

[Nitters]

without pinball there would in all probability be no pinball video games

Yes. Thanks for your input. Well done.