Bye Bye williams
Keith P. Johnson
Williams is dead. I moved from VA to work here, and it was a great
time. I'm glad to have had the chance to try and save the industry.
RFM may not have been the greatest thing, but we did wow a lot of
people. It was a blast to work on. Pinball was always a lot of fun and
dear to my heart, as anyone that has been on this group for the last 6-7
years knows. It is sad to see such a huge part of not just American
but world-wide culture go away. It is even more sad that games 3 and 4
will never see the light of day. They probably would have made a big
difference in the scheme of things, but upper management couldn't be
bothered.
So mark your calendars. Good luck to Gary Stern. I'm sure there's a
market for his games, now he's got a monopoly. Too bad the Nicastros
through differently.
Bye.
keith
Chris and Tamara
Sad day indeed. Let's hope Gary Stern recognizes and recruits some of the
excellent talent at Williams.
ckc
Lee Van Doren
> Williams is dead.
Bum da bum bum... the bell tolls.
Where now, Keefer? Come on back, we have well-maintained machines now! (if
I may say so myself ;) )
Lee
--
Lee Van Doren - Lucent Technologies, Hunt Valley, MD
http://www.erols.com/dmodemd
Derek Garforth
just gotten into pinball this year,already have 3 machines(2 of those
williams)and now the industry dies!,hope you're wrong,
Derek
Keith P. Johnson <kee...@tzone.logicalalt.com> wrote in message
news:7v221l$f9d$1...@tzone.logicalalt.com...
Jim West
<derek.m...@cwcom.net> wrote:
It's no joke.
Keith is an employee of WMS...at least for the moment. He speaks the
truth.
Jeremy Wilson
>Bum da bum bum... the bell tolls.
I've often been accused of being tactless and abrasive, but even the above irks
me.
People who poured their entire souls into this business have just been told
their efforts were not worth it, and have been let go. Just think about that.
I count many of those people as personal friends, and it upsets me that anyone
would take this horrible turn of events lightly. Never mind pinball - I am sad
for my friends, many of whom uprooted their entire lives to follow their love
for pinball and are now left out in the cold because pinball just wasn't
profitable enough.
We are all to blame for this in one way or another. Think about all the people
now out of work and how you ragged on them for doing what they love.
I would just like to thank all the people at WMS for making the absolute best
pinball games of all time. Thanks, guys. Remember there are some people who
appreciate the blood and sweat you poured into it.
--
xe...@inforamp.net - Jeremy Wilson - Modern Pinball Game Collector
Wonder what's inside my wallet? http://www.inforamp.net/~xeno/wallet
Clive Jones
<kee...@tzone.logicalalt.com> writes
>Hi, all.
>
>Williams is dead. I moved from VA to work here, and it was a great
>time. I'm glad to have had the chance to try and save the industry.
>RFM may not have been the greatest thing, but we did wow a lot of
>people. It was a blast to work on. Pinball was always a lot of fun and
>dear to my heart, as anyone that has been on this group for the last 6-7
>years knows. It is sad to see such a huge part of not just American
>but world-wide culture go away. It is even more sad that games 3 and 4
>will never see the light of day. They probably would have made a big
>difference in the scheme of things, but upper management couldn't be
>bothered.
>
>So mark your calendars. Good luck to Gary Stern. I'm sure there's a
>market for his games, now he's got a monopoly. Too bad the Nicastros
>through differently.
>
>Bye.
>
>keith
Indeed sad.
What's happening to the WMS/BLY assets Keefer?
Clive
Lee Van Doren
> We are all to blame for this in one way or another. Think about all the people
> now out of work and how you ragged on them for doing what they love.
Sorry you somehow found interpretation that I was personally ragging on THEM..?
I think the simple fact is that the business right now cannot support two
manufacturers of pinball. I am actually happier now in that there will be one
solid, well-rooted, profitable pinball maker rather than two that are chronically
losing millions per year.
It would be nice if pinball machines sprouted up everywhere and we were swimming in
them, but there are plenty already to go around and we can treasure what does come
out now that much more.
All of the people at Williams are very talented individuals and I see no reason
that they will not be able to find jobs probably making much more than they are
making now in a losing business.
Let's not lament on the past and look forward to what can happen in the future....
Brad Mettee
cli...@clivej.demon.co.uk says...
>>So mark your calendars. Good luck to Gary Stern. I'm sure there's a
>>market for his games, now he's got a monopoly. Too bad the Nicastros
>>through differently.
>>
>>Bye.
>>
>>keith
>
>Indeed sad.
>
>What's happening to the WMS/BLY assets Keefer?
More importantly, what is happening to the software building programs. The
Pin2k stuff would be excellent to have for customized machines. (maybe draw a
crowd by inserting the name of the establishment (where the pin is) right into the
software).
Keith: Can someone finally answer the question "Is there a hidden breakout
game in ST:TNG?" for us?
--
Brad Mettee
PC HotShots, Inc.
Baltimore, MD
--> Let us bring out the *Power* of your PCs <--
* finger bme...@clark.net for PGP Key *
Stephen Jonke
show up in whatever form they were left in at future pinball shows.
Steve
* Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!
Chris Munson
Sadly, yet another modicum of the past has gone the way of the wagon
wheel. While conjecture will abound about the
what's/wherefores/why's/whose fault it is, suffice it to say that
"analog entertainment" will continue to take a beating in the public's
eye, simply because digital entertainment has firmly rooted itself in
our culture.
Additionally, any form of entertainment, whether a "device" or a
"concept", will ultimately be superceded by something bigger, larger,
more interesting...it is a fact of life. Remember drive-in theaters? AM
radio? Black and white TV? Antennas? Phono albums?
Truth of the matter is, the generations (mine included) that grew up
with pins will always love them, and lament their demise; this is why I
(we) work so hard to restore and enjoy these beasts. Children today are
handed entertainment in their homes...what is the need for finding it
elsewhere? Why bother with a 300 pound box in the gameroom when a flip
of the switch on the "boob tube" will suffice? Technology, as much as it
benefits us, also assures us CHANGE - often at an uncomfortable price.
Sad, indeed! Now, Stern will make an attempt (and I hope a serious
one) to continue this tradition. Only OUR involvement and/or the
introduction of this "technology" to our children will keep it alive.
Unfortunately, the arcades of yesteryear (being long gone) leave us with
a responsibility to introduce pins to our kids, the neighbor kids, etc.,
so that they grab a hold of it and run. I hope my son can appreciate
pins when he is old enough to play...it won't be for a lack of them at
the local mall.
Good luck Stern! May you shine in your endeavours, and gain all of the
valuable talent that Williams will shed. Best of luck to the programmers
and hardware guys who do this work...you are GREATLY appreciated .
Chris
gdd
ordered me to play it, which I did, for the next four hours. Thus began a
journey which now ends with me sitting in my office, watching a group of
people who I respect and admire more than words can possibly convey pack
up their offices and walk down the hallway and out the door. Almost two
years ago I accepted a job in WMS' gaming division for just the merest
hint that I would one day get to join that group and do a part for the
hobby which has brought me so much over the years. Well, so much for that,
at least I can help those guys pack.
I heard a quote once that when filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch died, one of his
friends looked to another and said "Well, no more Lubitsch" and the other
said back, "Even worse, no more Lubitsch films" and thats about how I feel
now. No more Pat Lawlor games. No more George Gomez games. No more John
Popadiuk games. No more Pete Piotrowski games. No Scott Slomiany games at
all! Sorry man!
When Larry left I felt like a little bit of my soul had been torn out, I
had so many vivid and wonderful memories of playing his games. Hours spent
playing the first World Cup Soccer protos, those earnings reports must
have been fabulous because I'm not joking when I say I put enough in it to
buy one. And now it goes even farther, and I can only sit here and think
vabout my first LITZ, and my first Expo, and all the times I've met and
hung out and worked with these people and watched them pour every single
ounce of their being into these games which we all love so much, all
thrown away by short-sighted management which doesn't believe. Well
Karl, you got your wish.
I will say right now, after watching what happened here over the last two
years, that I have never in my life seen anything like the engineering
effort that went into Pin2K. It was nothing short of stunning. It is a
long tale which should at some point be told in more detail than it has to
this point, perhaps someone will write a book. But to see all that work
and sweat and hope and mad desire and pain and heartbreak to get the plug
pulled on them just when it looked like they were coming out of the
woods...its a sad sad day. I admire the work and talent and ability of
these people more than words can say, and it has been an honor and a
privilege to work amongst them, but alas, not with them. I only wish I
could give back to them as much as they have given to me, but all I can do
is say thanks for all the wonderful games and let them all know that they
made my life a better place to be during some awfully bad times along the
last few years.
You have come to the end of your journey, survival is everything...
---
Greg Dunlap - g...@ripco.com
Questions are a burden to others, answers a prison for oneself
--
---
Greg Dunlap - g...@ripco.com
Questions are a burden to others, answers a prison for oneself
Lee Van Doren
> So mark your calendars. Good luck to Gary Stern. I'm sure there's a
> market for his games, now he's got a monopoly. Too bad the Nicastros
> through differently.
Hmmm.... I wonder if Stern was in the know!? It sure seems coincidental
that Stern took over Sega Pinball just in time!
wendi
"Keith P. Johnson" wrote:
> Hi, all.
>
> Williams is dead.
WOW...
I'm so shocked I'm speechless!
Wendi
Keith P. Johnson
>gdd wrote:
>> No Scott Slomiany games at
>> all! Sorry man!
>We'll always have Monopoly...
I'll try and get the whitewood home. Even with that suckass ramp, in
our spare time, we'll make the Bestest Game Ever. %)
keith
pinba...@uswest.net
Mf101723 wrote:
> >
> >Hmmm.... I wonder if Stern was in the know!? It sure seems coincidental
> >that Stern took over Sega Pinball just in time!
> >
>
> now you know why he smiling at the Expo!
Scott Slomiany
Duncan Brown
wrote:
That would be "Advance to Boardwalk, the Monopoly spinning reel slot
machine" Monopoly, right? Not "Rocky Horror Monopoly Pokemon Picture
Show, the pin" Monopoly...
Duncan, who also only got the t-shirt
Mf101723
Mf101723
>didnt i say this earlier???
>
>Mf101723 wrote:
>
>> >
>> >that Stern took over Sega Pinball just in time!
>> >
David Gersic
>Hi, all.
>
>Williams is dead.
I'm very sorry to hear that Keefer. That's the third company death noticed
posted to this group (Capcom, Gottlieb, and now Williams), and it's a sad
day indeed.
So, to you, Ted, Louis, Duncan, Pat, Larry, and the rest of the people
whose names I don't know, thank you and good luck with whatever comes next
for you.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
|David Gersic dgersic_@_niu.edu |
|Systems Programmer Northern Illinois University |
| |
| "I love you, you love me, I will eat your family." -- T. "Barney" Rex |
| |
|I'm tired of receiving crap in my mailbox, so the E-mail address has been|
|munged to foil the junkmail bots. Humans will figure it out on their own.|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Evan R. Wessel
> heartbreaking to me. It must be 100 times worse for the creative
> talent.
> I can't imagine what it must feel like to pour your heart and soul
> into an engineering miracle like Pinball 2000 only to have it aborted.
> Some of you may have been indifferent to it, but the the engineering
> that went into Revenge and Star Wars was American genius at it's best.
> I saw what they did and couldn't believe it. Now it's over.
Too bad, because pinball collections are rising again. Maybe if WMS was
privately held, it could have kept going. Who cares about profit when
there is a legacy at stake?
Evan R. Wessel, Mercury Amusement CO PA USA
Iain Odlin
>I'm very sorry to hear that Keefer. That's the third company death noticed
>posted to this group (Capcom, Gottlieb, and now Williams), and it's a sad
>day indeed.
>
>So, to you, Ted, Louis, Duncan, Pat, Larry, and the rest of the people
>whose names I don't know, thank you and good luck with whatever comes next
>for you.
Amen.
Now, to an irreverent matter: Who gets the rights to "Big Bang Bar" now?
*sigh*
-Iain, od...@reed.edu
Gordon Gilbert
>
> What dreadful news. :( If nothing else I hope that games 3 and 4 might
> show up in whatever form they were left in at future pinball shows.
Wow. WMS *REALLY* gave PB2K a chance didn't they? It was making
money for them for the first time in YEARS and they ditched it.
Makes sense. Make pinball for years in the RED. Get to the black
and can the division.
Oh well. True WMS/Bally pinball died with Cactus Canyon in my
book.... darn shame. I guess it's either Pro Pinball (simulation)
or Sega from now on, or collect old machines. And how much harder
will it be to get parts?
--
- Gordon Gilbert | g...@sssnet.com -
- Visit The Audiophile Asylum for CD and DTS CD Reviews with -
- Sound Quality Ratings at http://pages.sssnet.com/glg -
pinba...@my-deja.com
never mention the fact that they are closing the doors. That is
bullshit. They say they are committed to the Pinball 2000 format?
Looks like they aren't committed to shit. They made a killing on RFM,
probably made too many though.
Jon
kee...@tzone.logicalalt.com (Keith P. Johnson) wrote:
> Hi, all.
>
> Williams is dead. I moved from VA to work here, and it was a great
> time. I'm glad to have had the chance to try and save the industry.
> RFM may not have been the greatest thing, but we did wow a lot of
> people. It was a blast to work on. Pinball was always a lot of fun
and
> dear to my heart, as anyone that has been on this group for the last
6-7
> years knows. It is sad to see such a huge part of not just American
> but world-wide culture go away. It is even more sad that games 3 and
4
> will never see the light of day. They probably would have made a big
> difference in the scheme of things, but upper management couldn't be
> bothered.
>
> So mark your calendars. Good luck to Gary Stern. I'm sure there's a
> market for his games, now he's got a monopoly. Too bad the Nicastros
> through differently.
>
> Bye.
>
> keith
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
pinba...@my-deja.com
Jon
Lee Van Doren <l...@removeme.lucent.com> wrote:
> "Keith P. Johnson" wrote:
>
> > So mark your calendars. Good luck to Gary Stern. I'm sure there's
a
> > market for his games, now he's got a monopoly. Too bad the
Nicastros
> > through differently.
>
> Hmmm.... I wonder if Stern was in the know!? It sure seems
coincidental
> that Stern took over Sega Pinball just in time!
>
> Lee
> --
> Lee Van Doren - Lucent Technologies, Hunt Valley, MD
> http://www.erols.com/dmodemd
>
>
F J BROWN
not $2000!
Frank
Chris and Tamara
How do people figure games are worth more now? It's not as if Williams was
going to do another run of AF?
At 22,000 or so production run, they're not exactly rare (finding one in decent
shape may be).
Keith P. Johnson
>It is official. I am upset that they go through the entire Expo '99 and
> never mention the fact that they are closing the doors. That is
>bullshit. They say they are committed to the Pinball 2000 format?
>Looks like they aren't committed to shit. They made a killing on RFM,
>probably made too many though.
Well, we never mentioned it because we didn't know. Obviously the
decision was made way before expo, but I guarantee you 99% of
engineering that was at expo had no idea. Otherwise, we probably
would've been a LOT more down, people wouldn't have bothered doing that
cool-ass tournament stuff, etc.
To say that the people in engineering aren't committed to shit is to
slap the face with a metal gauntlet of every person who's devoted their
life to trying to give others enjoyment for the past x years.
Everyone that cared about pinball poured their heart and soul into
getting P2K off the ground in an AMAZINGLY short period of time.
Everyone that didn't care about pinball, however, are the people that
are actually in power. Never mind that gaming now exists because of
pinball. Never mind that they continued to exist through all of their
problems, lawsuit, etc. because of pinball. Now, when pinball is on the
verge of catching on again, they decide it's not worth it. It kinda
sucks, but that's how it is.
There are any number of things that could've been done to further
pinball's popularity. You guys are preaching to the choir when you tell
us "why don't advertise in mainstream?" etc. I wish I knew why we
didn't! Actually, I do know why. No one in power has ever understood
how to go out and actually sell a product.
I'll probably post a bit more later, but I thought I'd clear up some of
the misconceptions Mr. Pinballjon had.
keith
F J BROWN
Supply<Demand = Higher prices
Ryan Avery
> >How do people figure games are worth more now?
>
> Supply<Demand = Higher prices
Ahh, but the demand for TAFs are pretty much solely in the home market
(most operators will buy new games, and will have already bought a TAF a
long time ago). Therefore, the demand might go up a bit, but I doubt it
will go up enough to offset the natural decrease of the machine's price
as time passes. Demand has always exceeded supply of a good-condition
speciman of the game, due to its popularity
As for P2K machines, I do think that they will hold their price for a
lot longer than if WMS were still in business...
ObWMSNews: Stern, there are some HUGE talents that just became available
again. Do yourself a favor and make use of the situation and their
experience (hint, hint). Although not the best situation, one big
pinball company with a lot of experience is quite good.
--
Ryan Avery
Ryan....@Colorado.edu
http://ucsub.colorado.edu/~averyr
http://www.mp3.com/ryanavery
ICQ# 17490198
Jonathan N. Deitch
> decision was made way before expo, but I guarantee you 99% of
> engineering that was at expo had no idea. Otherwise, we probably
> would've been a LOT more down, people wouldn't have bothered doing that
> cool-ass tournament stuff, etc.
To those who weren't at expo ... the WMS P2K guys -- in their spare time
and evenings -- threw together a complete TCP based etherneted pinball
package complete with card swipe readers allowing tournement players to
swipe their card, play their game, and the score was automatically
uploaed to a server.
As if *that* wasn't enough, they also created the ability to literally
telnet into a particular machine and, through its OS shell, diagnose
problems right from the server computer.
Absolutely amazing - and they did it all unpaid, after hours, and on their own.
These were guys devoted to pinball, devoted to their platform, and their
bosses essentially rewarded them with a pink slip.
- Jonathan
SPAM filter engaged - remove spam munge when you reply !
--
jde...@litz.spamsucks.org | Go Braves !!! | "I hate it when I can't trust
| Play Pinball !! | my own technology!" - LaForge
http://www.litz.org |------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------' "Thrills! Chills! Magic! Prizes!" - Hurricane
Roddenberry, Asimov, Henson, Dr. Seuss, Mel Blanc, Friz Freleng ... Sigh ...
Bill Bumgarner
[killer description of PB2K machines networked w/card swipes for tournament
play w/ a telnet'able login shell for remote diagnostics]
Oh, jeez... that is so cool.
To the engineers: that's the coolest damned hacque I have heard of in a *long*
time. Hats off, man, that is truly awesome.
No useful content here... just a very hearty congratulations for that work. I
wish I could have been there to see it.
b.bum
Jim Hicks
And, in addition to all that, Cameron and others spent countless hours
making the swipe cards (had your name, picture, and a barcode to hold
player-specific info).
When I realized what they had done with the system in a couple weeks in
spare time (and could do), I was amazed. And I used to do client/server
programming, so I can appreciate what was done). Nice "cool" factor
with a monitor showing instant standings by category. And if you were
playing a game and qualified, you got instant feedback on the monitor of
the game you were playing.
It's been said before, but it deserves saying again - the team in
pinball engineering gave everything they had to make Pinball 2000
succeed. It is unfortunate that others at Williams only teased them
with the opportunity to make a difference, and, IMHO, didn't give the
platform a fair chance to show if it would have brought enough life to
the pinball market.
I'm proud to own RFM, ready to buy a SW:E1 kit (game?) (if I can get
one), and couldn't wait for the opportunity to buy a P2K Pat Lawlor
Monopoly game. For a Monopoly pin, I wouldn't have even had to ask my
wife ... closest thing to a done deal I would have ever had. <g>
For what little it's worth - thanks again to the fantastic folks of
pinball engineering. You've brought us all countless hours of
entertainment and some great pinball over the years. Appreciation isn't
much, but it's all I'm able to offer.
Thanks. You may soon be gone, but never forgotten.
Jim
Keith P. Johnson
>Uh, if that was actually Ethernet and IP (the cords looked like "silver
>satin" cord - which won't support 10BaseT) then it is HIGHLY probable that
>Williams used QNX or RTOS for the operating system.
It was in fact Ethernet and IP. And neither of those products were
used, as fine as they are.
keith
Jim Hicks
Keith P. Johnson
understand is all the things you advocate cost money, way more money
than is easily made up with the production runs of the current market.
OS's such as QNX typically have a per-unit royalty which we were
unwilling to pay.
I won't totally disagree with your general sentiment about top
management being completely totally shortsighted. There are any number
of things that us lowly engineers know and understand that we can't
convince execs that they make sense. The biggest problems with Williams
is that it has been run on a quarterly basis for a long time now, and
pinball's problems typically last a little longer than a quarter.
Probably the only reason pinball was around as long as it was was to
appease the SEC after the Mideay/Williams split since gaming was too
young to stand on its own (wasn't 5 years old) without costing certain
people major tax $$$.
keith
Mushroom
>>So, to you, Ted, Louis, Duncan, Pat, Larry, and the rest of the people
>>whose names I don't know, thank you and good luck with whatever comes next
>>for you.
>
> Amen.
>
> Now, to an irreverent matter: Who gets the rights to "Big Bang Bar" now?
>
I found it odd that the BBB at EXPO was for sale . It wasn't for sale
last year cause I asked for it then . Now it was for sale !!
Plus , Williams and Stern have always been close : didn't Harry
Williams developed some games for Stern , or was it the other way
atound ? So , I won't be surprised if Stern got the rights to BBB
*and* even produce it ! I only hope that *NO CHANGES* at all are made
! You can't improve a single thing on that machine !!
Bye
Bart Baeyens
Pinball Plastics & Flyers collector : *** buy , trade or sell ***
Mushroom Amusements Homepage : http://users.skynet.be/mushroomamusements/
pinba...@my-deja.com
kee...@tzone.logicalalt.com (Keith P. Johnson) wrote:
> pinba...@my-deja.com writes:
>
> >It is official. I am upset that they go through the entire Expo '99
and
> > never mention the fact that they are closing the doors. That is
> >bullshit. They say they are committed to the Pinball 2000 format?
> >Looks like they aren't committed to shit. They made a killing on
RFM,
> >probably made too many though.
>
>
> To say that the people in engineering aren't committed to shit is to
> slap the face with a metal gauntlet of every person who's devoted
> their life to trying to give others enjoyment for the past x years.
Good thing I didn't say engineering. Could you be more defensive?
> Everyone that cared about pinball poured their heart and soul into
> getting P2K off the ground in an AMAZINGLY short period of time.
> Everyone that didn't care about pinball, however, are the people that
> are actually in power. Never mind that gaming now exists because of
> pinball. Never mind that they continued to exist through all of their
> problems, lawsuit, etc. because of pinball. Now, when pinball is on
> the verge of catching on again, they decide it's not worth it. It
> kinda sucks, but that's how it is.
I agree totally. I meant, although I didn't say it, *that Williams*
management turned their back on pinball. Excellent sales for RFM seemed
to make no difference. You guys designed an awesome new pinball format
and got exactly TWO new games out. Management didn't even f*cking wait
to see the results of SW:Episode 1. I commend the design group for
their efforts.
> I'll probably post a bit more later, but I thought I'd clear up some
of the misconceptions Mr. Pinballjon had.
>
> keith
I'd be glad to hear everything you're willing to tell. I don't blame
the design and engineering groups for this.
Jon
Karl Denninger
Jonathan N. Deitch <jde...@spamsucks.litz.org> wrote:
>In article <7v4mau$gbi$1...@tzone.logicalalt.com>,
>
>> Well, we never mentioned it because we didn't know. Obviously the
>> decision was made way before expo, but I guarantee you 99% of
>> engineering that was at expo had no idea. Otherwise, we probably
>> would've been a LOT more down, people wouldn't have bothered doing that
>> cool-ass tournament stuff, etc.
>
>To those who weren't at expo ... the WMS P2K guys -- in their spare time
>and evenings -- threw together a complete TCP based etherneted pinball
>package complete with card swipe readers allowing tournement players to
>swipe their card, play their game, and the score was automatically
>uploaed to a server.
>
>As if *that* wasn't enough, they also created the ability to literally
>telnet into a particular machine and, through its OS shell, diagnose
>problems right from the server computer.
>
>Absolutely amazing - and they did it all unpaid, after hours, and on their own.
>
>These were guys devoted to pinball, devoted to their platform, and their
>bosses essentially rewarded them with a pink slip.
>
>- Jonathan
Uh, if that was actually Ethernet and IP (the cords looked like "silver
satin" cord - which won't support 10BaseT) then it is HIGHLY probable that
Williams used QNX or RTOS for the operating system.
This would also be consistent with the time they had the boxes in
development and the hardware platform; both also have a nice "C"
development system and IP stack.
If THAT is the case, then hacking on it to do interesting things may not
be out of the question AT ALL.
I'm working on getting a SW:E1; if I do obtain one I'll have to do some
poking around and see what kind of havoc I can raise.
--
--
Karl Denninger (ka...@denninger.net) Web: http://childrens-justice.org
Isn't it time we started putting KIDS first? See the above URL for
a plan to do exactly that!
Jeremy Wilson
>Uh, if that was actually Ethernet and IP (the cords looked like "silver
>satin" cord - which won't support 10BaseT) then it is HIGHLY probable that
>Williams used QNX or RTOS for the operating system.
You are an idiot. I wish you would shut up and go away. I've been told to not
reply to you and thus not provide you with further fuel for your idiocy, but I
cannot help myself. You are so incredibly moronic you make Boag look like
Albert Einstein.
I cannot believe you are second-guessing the very engineer staff who *wrote*
the OS from scratch. You are so incredibly useless it is beyond my
capibilities to describe it.
You are suffering (among other things) from the hammer syndrome. All you know
is a hammers, so everything you see is a nail. It's *not* QNX.
Anyway, I know it's useless to reply but it makes me feel better to do so.
--
xe...@inforamp.net - Jeremy Wilson - Modern Pinball Game Collector
Wonder what's inside my wallet? http://www.inforamp.net/~xeno/wallet
Jonathan N. Deitch
Bill Bumgarner <bb...@codefab.com> writes:
> [killer description of PB2K machines networked w/card swipes for tournament
> play w/ a telnet'able login shell for remote diagnostics]
>
> Oh, jeez... that is so cool.
>
> To the engineers: that's the coolest damned hacque I have heard of in a *long*
> time. Hats off, man, that is truly awesome.
yep ... and their reward for all that work was, essentially, to get fired.
Still, for anyone who was at Expo, that hack is VERY much appreciated as well
as the extreme amount of time and effort involved in creating it.
It was extrememly impressive to see in action.
Karl Denninger
Jeremy Wilson <xe...@inforamp.net> wrote:
>In article <7v5fua$kqk$0...@dosa.alt.net>, ka...@Genesis.Denninger.Net says...
>>Uh, if that was actually Ethernet and IP (the cords looked like "silver
>>satin" cord - which won't support 10BaseT) then it is HIGHLY probable that
>>Williams used QNX or RTOS for the operating system.
>
>You are an idiot. I wish you would shut up and go away. I've been told to not
>reply to you and thus not provide you with further fuel for your idiocy, but I
>cannot help myself. You are so incredibly moronic you make Boag look like
>Albert Einstein.
>
>I cannot believe you are second-guessing the very engineer staff who *wrote*
>the OS from scratch. You are so incredibly useless it is beyond my
>capibilities to describe it.
If they wrote the OS from scratch then IMHO Williams made the RIGHT corporate
decision to ash-can the entire project. I take back everything I said about
Williams corporate people being dunderheads - they woke up and did the right
thing.
There is NO REASON WHATSOEVER to EVER write a real-time OS from scratch
on these processor families. NONE WHATSOEVER. PERIOD.
Zero. Zip. Nada.
Ditto on the embedded systems Moto 68000 series chips, which are also an
excellent choice for embedded systems work.
I've BEEN through this discussion and debate with engineering in a company
before on a custom embedded product. THEY wanted to write (AGAIN) a custom
OS from scratch (the did it the first time, with DISASTEROUS results, before
I was there).
Their projected completion? Six months for something that "kinda worked",
and a year to have FCS V1 out the door.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
I told them they were smoking crack and that the current code proved it -
they were a good three years into THAT software and STILL had problems with
it from time to time.
My best estimate was two full years before they had production-quality code
that I'd be reasonably happy with if they went this route.
SANER HEADS prevailed the second time around, and instead of taking nearly
TWO YEARS to produce something that was stable we had WORKING PROTOTYPE
PRODUCTS in THREE MONTHS. Products that you could NOT crash. Products
that WORKED, 100% of the time, every time, had REAL process protection,
REAL executive services and more performance than was anticipated by the
engineers.
Why? Because all the software engineers had to write was APPLICATION CODE!
ALL of the low-level stuff - file system, real time executive services,
process scheduling, task preemption, interrupt handling, real-time clock,
all of it was ALREADY THERE. DONE.
ZERO EFFORT REQUIRED.
And yes, this WAS a real-time application that controlled radios and IR
devices along with a real-time display, card-reader, and other hardware
(anyone remember VideOcart?) You didn't SEE the second version of their
product 'cause they ran out of money. But some of us DID see it because
we were working on it, and it was slicker than snot, ran like a bat out
of hell and was done from concept to working code in three months. The
trade actually DID get one good look at it at the last FMI show at McCormick
before the company went belly-up.
All because we decided to do a SMART thing and put P-SOS in there as the
RT kernel and executive instead of writing our own.
>You are suffering (among other things) from the hammer syndrome. All you know
>is a hammers, so everything you see is a nail. It's *not* QNX.
Ok, P-SOS, RTOS, QNX, or any one of the others. There are a bunch of them,
and they're all quite nice as real-time executives. PSOS, by the way, also
had a stock IP stack available for it quite some time ago.
You're telling me they wrote a FULLY-CUSTOM OS on INTEL PC-style hardware?
You MUST be joking. That has to be the STUPIDEST decision I've EVER seen
for ANY industrial control product (and that, my friends, is EXACTLY what
a pinball machine is - an industrial-control product.)
A pinball machine lends itself VERY well to such an executive. You've got
a few different real-time tasks to run and a handful of less-time-sensitive
things to do (like hand off data to the DSP for voice and sound). None
of this stuff is hard, but having it all talk using defined OS-scheduled
interfaces and be unable to blow up another process makes debugging 100x
easier than it would otherwise be, modularizes the code to the point that
90% of the work is done for the SECOND pin when the first one's code is
written (can you say "state machine"?) and in general shortens development
time such that software is probably no longer the gating factor on getting
games done and out the door!
There is an argument for fully custom code on 6809s, especially when you
consider that the original WPC designs were out there before the good
multi-tasking executives were available. Hell, *I* wrote a multi-tasking
real-time executive for the frigging Z-80 back in 1981 and it made perfect
sense then! Why? Because I *HAD TO*! None existed that was worth a
damn and when you need something, you get out the assembler and code it.
It worked and your satellite TV probably goes through an amplifier on the
upbound side to the bird that still has one of those control boards in it.
(And oh, by the way, the "price" of being wrong in controlling those puppies
is either killing someone - literally - or doing roughly $25,000 worth of
damage to the amplifier, specifically the klystron tube)
But to do this on INTEL PC-style hardware at any time in the last five
years? That's purely and simply NUTS. Bananas. Insane.
It was nuts five years ago when I last was involved in exactly that decision
process and its just as nuts of a decision today.
Heh Gary Stern. Are you listening to this? I certainly hope so!
We really should talk about this stuff sometime; hell, I help you out
free of charge.
Mf101723
>decision was made way before expo, but I guarantee you 99% of
>engineering that was at expo had no idea.
Gee that sounds even colder, let's all have fun at this tournament, pinball
expo, yeah, woo-hoo...next day it's "good luck, folks"!
Karl Denninger
Uh, was that at one time a pay-for OS with a company that went down a few
years ago? An OS that incidentally happens to run on Intel machines of
basically any reasonable vintage (including '286s)?
>The one thing you don't
>understand is all the things you advocate cost money, way more money
>than is easily made up with the production runs of the current market.
Hmmm.... Since I'm negotiating for a SW:E1 now I may get to poke around
some and see what's in there :-)
>OS's such as QNX typically have a per-unit royalty which we were
>unwilling to pay.
QNX is expensive, granted (probably too expensive).
But PSOS is not in an embedded application. It *does* have a per-unit
royalty but in an application like this its low tens of dollars in low
to moderate quantity (low thousands) and quite a bit cheaper as volume
goes up. That's not a lot of money for getting basically the entire RT
environment, plus file system, plus all kinds of other stuff.
PSOS is "modular" in its licensing; for a pinball you'd only need the kernel
and file system I'd think (they have an IP stack available, etc etc etc).
I know quite a bit about PSOS and its economics since that's what we settled
on at VideOcart 5 or so years ago for an embedded real-time application.
It was cheap enough to put in 100,000s of cart-units that had to be VERY
inexpensive to make (under $500 in quantity for the business model to work).
>I won't totally disagree with your general sentiment about top
>management being completely totally shortsighted. There are any number
>of things that us lowly engineers know and understand that we can't
>convince execs that they make sense. The biggest problems with Williams
>is that it has been run on a quarterly basis for a long time now, and
>pinball's problems typically last a little longer than a quarter.
All public companies are run on a quarterly basis these days. Welcome to
the 90s.
>Probably the only reason pinball was around as long as it was was to
>appease the SEC after the Mideay/Williams split since gaming was too
>young to stand on its own (wasn't 5 years old) without costing certain
>people major tax $$$.
>
>keith
Well, that's probably true.
I still think the decline of the market is as much related to servicability
(read: player satisfaction on first coin drop) and cost issues more than
anything else, and both of those are reasonably addressed with changes
in how manufacturing is done.
Karl Denninger
The law is such that they couldn't have provided advance notice to people.
Folks can go to jail for things like that.
An announcement that is scheduled to coincide with earnings had better not
get out early or the SEC gets VERY pissed off.
Public companies have a very different dynamic than small enterprises, very
different rules, and a set of requirements that many people find extremely
cold and callous. However, you can't fault Williams for not providing their
staff advance notice, because they simply couldn't.
Michael L. Wilson
>From: ka...@Genesis.Denninger.Net (Karl Denninger)
Good god, go away, man. Just go away.
-------------------------------------------
Teen angst and pathetic real-life anecdotes,
interwoven against a truly hideous musical backdrop!
Visit BRAINDEAD'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY: http://maddancer.com/braindead/
------------------------------------------
Duncan Brown
Johnson) wrote:
>ka...@Genesis.Denninger.Net (Karl Denninger) writes:
>
>>Uh, if that was actually Ethernet and IP (the cords looked like "silver
>>satin" cord - which won't support 10BaseT) then it is HIGHLY probable that
>>Williams used QNX or RTOS for the operating system.
>
>It was in fact Ethernet and IP. And neither of those products were
>used, as fine as they are.
Keith, stop lying just to confuse Karl. He is right, 10BaseT
electrons can see that the cord is flat and the pairs not twisted and
they just *refuse* to run down it. And nobody ever ran an RS232
connection over the 50 foot spec- those electrons stopped at the limit
too. Damn, he's smart.
Duncan, who admits we used telephone pulse dialing on those telephone
cords and were just hoping Karl wouldn't notice.
Lumpcletis
become a viable business again then why would Williams close their door on the
pinball division and not sell it outright to someone else? If it is on the
verge of coming back then why not buy the company and put the games out!
David Gersic
[-snip-]
>Uh, if that was actually Ethernet and IP (the cords looked like "silver
>satin" cord - which won't support 10BaseT)
Officially, you can't run Ethernet 10BaseT over silver satin, but I've seen
and done it before and it does work fine.
>then it is HIGHLY probable that Williams used QNX or RTOS for the
>operating system.
Try DejaNews out some time, and go back a year or so. Look for "XINA" and
see what turns up.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
|David Gersic dgersic_@_niu.edu |
|Systems Programmer Northern Illinois University |
| |
| Real Newspaper Headline: BRITISH LEFT WAFFLES ON FALKLAND ISLANDS |
| |
|I'm tired of receiving crap in my mailbox, so the E-mail address has been|
|munged to foil the junkmail bots. Humans will figure it out on their own.|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Mf101723
If williams was correct in stating that there were only 15,000 pinballs sold in
TOTAL in one year, and any pinball comeback is either wishful thinking or a
possibility...the question right now is how can two manufacturers support the
market without starving to death trying to share one skinny chicken? For now
two pinball makers seems to be too many. But just for now....?>
Iain Odlin
>>How do people figure games are worth more now?
>
>Supply<Demand = Higher prices
And if there were more demand for the supply, Williams would still be in the
pinball business. I don't see that this will change prices at all. They are
just as desireable, or not, as they were before.
-Iain
Gordon Gilbert
> There are any number of things that could've been done to further
> pinball's popularity. You guys are preaching to the choir when you tell
> us "why don't advertise in mainstream?" etc. I wish I knew why we
> didn't! Actually, I do know why. No one in power has ever understood
> how to go out and actually sell a product.
This sounds almost exactly the same as the stuff I read when
Commodore computers went bankrupt. They made the best home computer
in the world back in the late '80s but they never had a clue how to
market the thing. Bill Gates knew what he was doing and so we're
stuck with the PC and its dreadful OS. Being the best at something
means nothing if you can't market it. Darn shame. What's really
dreadful is that this keeps happening with all the products I like.
Short list of things no longer available that I once loved (and
things that were suddnely ripped from the market or went bankrupt
over the years):
-Commodore Amiga (favorite computer in '80s and early '90s)
-Williams Pinball (favorite pinball maker in '90s)
-Colecovision (my favorite console in the early '80s)
-Carver Audio (makers of my 6 foot ribbon speakers I find to be
fantastic)
-Blueberry New York Seltzer (favorite soda; can't find any brand
anymore that still has it; if someone knows of one that I can order,
please tell me!)
-Peach-Vanilla Mystic seltzer (favorite soda after blueberry
disappeared)
-Kiwi-Lime Mystic seltzer (another excellent flavor [diet even!])
-Big list of music artists no longer making albums or very often at
least I won't bore you with.
-Atari-style digital joysticks (I had to build a converter myself
recently to use my old ones because all they sell on the PC are
stupid gamepads and flightsticks. Flightsticks are great for flight
sims, but suck for pac man, etc.)
-Noble Romans Pizza (best deep-dish pizza on the planet; not sure
how far it extended beyond NE Ohio [I did see one in Florida once in
the early '80s], but it disappeared about 10 years ago).
-Sunrise Pizza (local pizza joint disappeared about 2 years after
Papa Johns moved into town; they had the best round pizza I've ever
had [although Papa Johns isn't terribly far off, IMO]).
-Idora amusement park in Youngstown, OH (I used to love going there
as a kid, then it closed.) Cedar Point, watch out!
...I could go on and on. I'm starting to think I'm bad luck. :)
Everything I really like seems to go out of business, disappear (or
in the case of music artists, have bad luck). Pinball is probably
my fault too. :)
--
- Gordon Gilbert | g...@sssnet.com -
- Visit The Audiophile Asylum for CD and DTS CD Reviews with -
- Sound Quality Ratings at http://pages.sssnet.com/glg -
Gordon Gilbert
>
> In article <7v5fua$kqk$0...@dosa.alt.net>, ka...@Genesis.Denninger.Net says...
> >Williams used QNX or RTOS for the operating system.
>
Well, I've just written you into my personal ignore-file. Anyone
that has to insult someone else to make their point isn't worth
listening to, IMO.
Karl Denninger
Yep. Particularly for the older machines.
Once something has reached "end of run" then the supply is fixed. Whether
or not the manufacturer disappears does not matter, since you weren't going
to get any more of them made anyway.
Karl Denninger
David Gersic <dgersic_@_niu.edu> wrote:
>In <7v5fua$kqk$0...@dosa.alt.net>, ka...@Genesis.Denninger.Net (Karl Denninger) writes:
>[-snip-]
>>satin" cord - which won't support 10BaseT)
>
>and done it before and it does work fine.
Sometimes. It depends on the distance involved. There was some in this
case :-)
Hell, if the issue was having some Cat5 cable it shouldn't have been - I've
got boxes of that stuff (1000' each) laying around all over here, along with
crimpers and RJ45s.
>>then it is HIGHLY probable that Williams used QNX or RTOS for the
>>operating system.
>
>Try DejaNews out some time, and go back a year or so. Look for "XINA" and
>see what turns up.
Hmmm.... nothing. No-archive was either set or they were purged.
Johannes Eggers
Johnson) wrote:
>It was based on a freely available OS.
Can you say which one ?
Steve Baumgarten
<g...@sssnet.com> wrote:
> Short list of things no longer available that I once loved (and
> things that were suddnely ripped from the market or went bankrupt
> over the years):
For me it was always a toss-up whether Apple or WMS pinball would go
first. (I'm a huge Apple fan, having really walked several miles --
uphill, even -- to see the Mac at a local computer store back when it
was first introduced.)
Amazing parallels include a cult-like devotion by a select few to a
technology that, in its time, was unlike anything else and which
knocked everyone's socks off, but which the mainstream has now largely
passed by.
If only WMS had started building their pins with translucent blue
panels... :-)
The members of the P2K design team were miracle workers; yet I don't
really know, in my heart of hearts, what more they could have done to
reclaim that "stop them in their tracks" effect that's so important to
coin-op success.
Remember when HIGH SPEED's unprecedented speech and light show stopped
people in their tracks?
How about Rudy in FUNHOUSE?
Thing in THE ADDAMS FAMILY?
That was pinball that forced people to pay attention.
But the arcade world is so different now, and even the big huge
projection screen video shoot-em-ups are starting to lose out to the
home gaming market. My gut feeling is that nothing stops kids in their
tracks these days except more violence on bigger screens, and the video
coin-op world is already learning the limitations of continuing to go
in that direction.
Meanwhile, that's just about the only direction that pinball couldn't
go. (Which is to its credit -- with pinball's demise, arcades become
just that much more fixated on single-minded violence.)
The P2K system should have stopped people in their tracks. My
goodness, a video display perfectly integrated into a game based on the
physics of a steel ball rolling around a wooden playfield! If that's
not right up there with Rudy and Thing and HIGH SPEED's speech, I don't
know what is.
So it is -- and yet these days it isn't. It just wasn't big enough,
loud enough, violent enough -- stupid enough, predictable enough -- to
stop kids in the arcade and get them to play.
That doesn't mean that it -- like the Amiga in its day -- wasn't best
of breed. Just that sometimes even the most talent people, doing all
the right things, still don't win at the end of the day.
And as a result, we all lose.
SBB
* Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!
pinba...@my-deja.com
ka...@Genesis.Denninger.Net (Karl Denninger) wrote:
> In article <19991026230402...@ng-fc1.aol.com>,
> Mf101723 <mf10...@aol.com> wrote:
> >>Well, we never mentioned it because we didn't know. Obviously the
> >>decision was made way before expo, but I guarantee you 99% of
> >>engineering that was at expo had no idea.
> >
> >Gee that sounds even colder, let's all have fun at this tournament,
> >pinball expo, yeah, woo-hoo...next day it's "good luck, folks"!
> The law is such that they couldn't have provided advance notice to
> people. Folks can go to jail for things like that.
> An announcement that is scheduled to coincide with earnings had better
>not get out early or the SEC gets VERY pissed off.
>
> Public companies have a very different dynamic than small enterprises,
> very different rules, and a set of requirements that many people find
> extremely cold and callous. However, you can't fault Williams for not
> providing their staff advance notice, because they simply couldn't.
I don't think so. A publicly traded company can announce layoffs prior
to earnings reports, hell, they can announce it whenever they want.
They also could have let their people go at any time. It is obvious
that they wanted their people at the expo to 'put on a happy face.'
Williams management can kiss my *ss.
Jon
> --
> Karl Denninger (ka...@denninger.net) Web: http://childrens-justice.org
> Isn't it time we started putting KIDS first? See the above URL for
> a plan to do exactly that!
>
Duncan Brown
wrote:
>If only WMS had started building their pins with translucent blue
>panels... :-)
(Just to pull that one quote out of context from a nice post...)
Have you seen the bottom arch on Star Wars?
I do like the image of Kevin O'Connor's gorgeous side panel paintings
being screened on translucent blue cabinet sides, though- that would
be cool!
Duncan
Chris and Tamara
> >>So, to you, Ted, Louis, Duncan, Pat, Larry, and the rest of the people
> >>whose names I don't know, thank you and good luck with whatever comes next
> >>for you.
> >
> > Amen.
> >
> > Now, to an irreverent matter: Who gets the rights to "Big Bang Bar" now?
> >
> I wasn't going to bring this up , but now someone mentioned BBB ...
> I found it odd that the BBB at EXPO was for sale . It wasn't for sale
> last year cause I asked for it then . Now it was for sale !!
> Plus , Williams and Stern have always been close : didn't Harry
> Williams developed some games for Stern , or was it the other way
> atound ? So , I won't be surprised if Stern got the rights to BBB
> *and* even produce it ! I only hope that *NO CHANGES* at all are made
> ! You can't improve a single thing on that machine !!
Brings up a point - who bought the BBB and for how much?
Mf101723
>Williams developed some games for Stern , or was it the other way
>atound ?
Harry Williams worked on Stern's Flight 2000. Others (?)
KLB
$7200 but he wasn't going to let it go for that price. There was supposed
to be a King Pin right next to it but it didn't make it from California in
time.
Keith
Chris and Tamara wrote in message <38173742...@sympatico.ca>...
>Mushroom wrote:
>
>> >>So, to you, Ted, Louis, Duncan, Pat, Larry, and the rest of the people
>> >>whose names I don't know, thank you and good luck with whatever comes
next
>> >>for you.
>> >
>> > Amen.
>> >
>> > Now, to an irreverent matter: Who gets the rights to "Big Bang Bar"
now?
>> >
>> I wasn't going to bring this up , but now someone mentioned BBB ...
>> I found it odd that the BBB at EXPO was for sale . It wasn't for sale
>> last year cause I asked for it then . Now it was for sale !!
>> Plus , Williams and Stern have always been close : didn't Harry
>> Williams developed some games for Stern , or was it the other way
Clive Jones
<mf10...@aol.com> writes
>>Plus , Williams and Stern have always been close : didn't Harry
>>Williams developed some games for Stern , or was it the other way
>>atound ?
>
Stern's 'Galaxy' was another.
Clive
Karl Denninger
>In article <7v5s80$s89$0...@dosa.alt.net>,
> ka...@Genesis.Denninger.Net (Karl Denninger) wrote:
>>
>> Public companies have a very different dynamic than small enterprises,
>> very different rules, and a set of requirements that many people find
>> extremely cold and callous. However, you can't fault Williams for not
>> providing their staff advance notice, because they simply couldn't.
>
>I don't think so. A publicly traded company can announce layoffs prior
>to earnings reports, hell, they can announce it whenever they want.
>They also could have let their people go at any time. It is obvious
>that they wanted their people at the expo to 'put on a happy face.'
>Williams management can kiss my *ss.
>
>Jon
You're missing the point.
Someone tried to make the point that they should have told the engineers
ahead of time.
My point is that they can't do that.
Yes, they can announce the shutdown and tell the staff at the same time,
and they can choose whenever they want to do both.
But having decided to announce it with the earnings report, they CANNOT
tell the staff ahead of time (except for those with a genuine need to
know such as senior management that has to be doing things up front to
prepare for the event.
If it gets out on the street before the official announcement the person(s)
who leak it will have their nuts in a vise (if the SEC can find them).
--
pinba...@my-deja.com
Karl,
I'm not a lawyer and I don't work for the SEC. I am in the oil business
and I know for a fact that Conoco announced to ALL their employees that
they would be laying some people off, one month in advance of doing so.
Conoco is public and I know they have lawyers. Nuff said.
Jon
> Karl Denninger (ka...@denninger.net) Web: http://childrens-justice.org
> Isn't it time we started putting KIDS first? See the above URL for
> a plan to do exactly that!
>
Karl Denninger
Yep. And they probably issued a press release at the same time.
The point is that the public dissemination of *material* facts related
to a public company has to come from the company at the same time or
before there can be "leaks" from unofficial sources. Otherwise you get
in trouble with the SEC because SOME people get advance notice and
can use that to play the market to their advantage.
For instance, if I knew that Conoco was going to lay people off before
"the street" did, I could draw an inference as to what that would do to
the stock price. I could then trade on the information, wait until the
event happened, and cash out with a "free" profit at no or nearly no
risk.
Preventing these shenanigans is one of the reasons there IS an SEC. :-)
--
--
margaret boese
complaint.
On Tue, 26 Oct 1999 00:33:25 -0400, "Evan R. Wessel"
<ev...@mercuryamusement.com> wrote:
>> As an operator for 21 years, the news of William's closure is
>> heartbreaking to me. It must be 100 times worse for the creative
>> talent.
>
>> I can't imagine what it must feel like to pour your heart and soul
>> into an engineering miracle like Pinball 2000 only to have it aborted.
>> Some of you may have been indifferent to it, but the the engineering
>> that went into Revenge and Star Wars was American genius at it's best.
>> I saw what they did and couldn't believe it. Now it's over.
>
>Too bad, because pinball collections are rising again. Maybe if WMS was
>privately held, it could have kept going. Who cares about profit when
>there is a legacy at stake?
>
>Evan R. Wessel, Mercury Amusement CO PA USA
>
Williams Electronics
Karl Denninger <ka...@Genesis.Denninger.Net> wrote:
>In article <7v5p5g$hkt$1...@tzone.logicalalt.com>,
>years ago? An OS that incidentally happens to run on Intel machines of
>basically any reasonable vintage (including '286s)?
Karl Denninger
Well, I expect to have a SW:E1 soon and will be able to do my own
"diagnostics".
Karl Denninger
Williams Electronics <wms...@enteract.com> wrote:
>In article <7v5s3t$rtq$0...@dosa.alt.net>,
>Karl Denninger <ka...@Genesis.Denninger.Net> wrote:
>>In article <7v5p5g$hkt$1...@tzone.logicalalt.com>,
>>Keith P. Johnson <kee...@tzone.logicalalt.com> wrote:
>>>It was based on a freely available OS.
>>
>>Uh, was that at one time a pay-for OS with a company that went down a few
>>years ago? An OS that incidentally happens to run on Intel machines of
>>basically any reasonable vintage (including '286s)?
>
>Nope. And it isn't FreeBSD or Linux, either.
If it was FreeBSD of Linux I'd choke in my morning coffee; building
a RT anything on top of those would have really been an accomplishment.
Anastasio
(14 drop targets and 4 spinners!)
Russel Willoughby
Steve Baumgarten wrote:
> The P2K system should have stopped people in their tracks. My
> goodness, a video display perfectly integrated into a game based on the
> physics of a steel ball rolling around a wooden playfield! If that's
> not right up there with Rudy and Thing and HIGH SPEED's speech, I don't
> know what is.
>
> So it is -- and yet these days it isn't. It just wasn't big enough,
> loud enough, violent enough -- stupid enough, predictable enough -- to
> stop kids in the arcade and get them to play.
It's not that the P2K product is not appealing enough; it's that most people
have never seen it!
We have a SW:E1 in a bus station here in Louisville, and it's earnings have been
greater than or equal to those of Hydro Thunder (one of the best video games of
the last year or two) since we put it in. People play the hell out of it. And
every time I'm there, I have to clean lots and lots of fingerprints off the
glass. These fingerprints come from children. When they see the game, they are
overcome with the urge to touch it, to put their hands on it. I think that
speaks volumes about the game's appeal.
In a good location, P2K games make money. The problem is that there is a real
shortage of good locations these days. The arcade as we know it is practically
dead, and it's not coming back. Still, there are a lot of bars, restaurants,
truck stops, food marts, airports, bus stations, etc., where pinball machines
could be placed. If there is a good game, operators will find a place to put it.
Sales for RFM and SW:E1 have been as good as they possibly could have been. In
order to have a monster hit, you have to have made several successful games in a
row before that. If WMS had done horribly for five years straight, and then
released TAF, it wouldn't have been the blockbuster that it was. As it happened,
TAF was the capper in a series of very successful games. Games like Whirlwind,
Funhouse, and T2 set the stage, so operators had the money and the confidence to
buy TAF in droves. Operators now are running on fumes, and they are not going to
spend $4000 on a new piece unless they are absolutely convinced that it's going
to be a hit.
I believe that WMS's decision to pull the plug on the pinball division had
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with demand for the P2K games. True, if there had
suddenly been orders for 25,000 games, they might have re-considered. But the
decision was made a long time ago, and there wasn't anything anyone could have
done to stop it.
--
Russel Willoughby
<< rus...@bellsouth.net >>
Ray Johnson
Harry did Big Game, too, as I recall. Good designer!
--
Ray Johnson
Action Pinball & Amusement - Fully Restored Pinball Machines -
Salt Lake City, Utah - Sales, Parts, Service, Circuit Board Repair -
E-Mail: ray...@simsteel.com Finest quality, best service- guaranteed...
We're serious about pinball. Anything else is just for fun!
mu...@airmail.net
Big Game - NICE game! One just went at auction in Dallas for $550, VERY
clean (and fun, too).
Chris
Mike Burke
Don't forget Freefall.
Mikey
--
Pinball Game Web Index Site (412 Games. 748 Sites.)
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~frenzy/pinlinks/
Ranlett_Jim
: >Officially, you can't run Ethernet 10BaseT over silver satin, but I've seen
: >and done it before and it does work fine.
: Sometimes. It depends on the distance involved. There was some in this
: case :-)
: Hell, if the issue was having some Cat5 cable it shouldn't have been - I've
: got boxes of that stuff (1000' each) laying around all over here, along with
: crimpers and RJ45s.
Not that it matters, but 10baseT does not require Cat5. Cat3 is sufficient,
and again, depending on distance, you may get away with even less of a cable.
: >Try DejaNews out some time, and go back a year or so. Look for "XINA" and
: >see what turns up.
: Hmmm.... nothing. No-archive was either set or they were purged.
Not that it matters, but I got 16 hits when I looked.
Damn I wish I was at this last Expo. I would have loved to seen what these
wiz kids pulled off. I'm as sad as everyone else that things turned out the
way they did, but I am also as grateful as everyone else for all the hard
work and all the fun they have given me over the years.
Does anyone have a video tape of the events that they'd care to make available?
I would certainly enjoy seeing it and would gladly pay for a copy.
<sigh>
Regards,
Jim Ranlett
MK DUD
clean (and fun, too).
<<
I've played "Big Game" in the past, but never took to it. Never liked the
flipper spacing, never liked the "luck" element of having the DT's around the
bumpers. I like alot of Harry's other games, but I'm not a "Big Game" fan...
Thomas Teeter
(Keith P. Johnson) writes:
>There are any number of things that could've been done to further
>pinball's popularity. You guys are preaching to the choir when you tell
>us "why don't advertise in mainstream?" etc. I wish I knew why we
>didn't! Actually, I do know why. No one in power has ever understood
>how to go out and actually sell a product.
Hopefully Stern can do what previous pinball management teams have failed to
do...
>I'll probably post a bit more later, but I thought I'd clear up some of
>the misconceptions Mr. Pinballjon had.
Thank you.
Thomas
Absolutely Great Games
Ebay ID: absolutelygreatgames
Temple, Texas
Subscribe to the pinball mailing list-
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Thomas Teeter
<ev...@mercuryamusement.com> writes:
>Too bad, because pinball collections are rising again. Maybe if WMS was
>privately held, it could have kept going. Who cares about profit when
>there is a legacy at stake?
>
>
Legacy or not, there has to be at least enough money to pay the rent and make
payroll... :(
Williams will certainly be missed. It is a sad day to see another industry
great fade away....
Thomas Teeter
<l...@removeme.lucent.com> writes:
>Hmmm.... I wonder if Stern was in the know!? It sure seems coincidental
>that Stern took over Sega Pinball just in time
It does seem strange Lee...
Michael Audette
We share many of the same intrests...Note that Bob Carver had "creative
differences" when Carver Audio was sold..He however still rocks and kicks
out some really nice equipment under his own label:
http://www.sunfire.com/ - Just thought you might be intrested in a really
cool Sub to go with thos speakers).
Mike
>
> -Carver Audio (makers of my 6 foot ribbon speakers I find to be
> fantastic)
>