What's new
By:
Pinball info

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Going all digital

Stay real or go virtual?

  • Total voters
    31
  • Poll closed .
deathrow

deathrow

Registered
10 Years
Joined
Oct 23, 2012
Messages
1,148
Location
Cromer - ish
Ok so I’m having lots of fun restoring my vector but space where I live is limited so I’ve got room for two Pins or one pin and one upright arcade...
Recently I’ve been looking more and more an virtual pin machines that will allow me access to many pins that I simply couldn’t afford in the real world.
To go this route would mean that I part with my real mech machines..

what are peoples thoughts on this?

stay real with or go virtual?
 
It would have to be a real game every time for me!

If you do decide to go digital though, I'd be interested in your Vector... 😁
 
IMO the draw of pinball is that it's a video game that's anchored in reality. Any other game, I can just play on my PC. Sure a vpin or arcade cab might have a nicer form factor / ergonomics, but the gameplay is still 100% virtual.
 
Depends what you like doing and want to spend. If you enjoy the sort of restoration/mod work that a mech pin offers and reckon you have room for 2 pins, then what about having a virtual pin and a project mech pin alongside it that you rotate over time.........best of both worlds?
 
I have best of both worlds, and my opinion is real pin cant be beat, but playing the same pin over and over gets slightly boring, virtual pin not quite the real thing but in fairness very enjoyable great for learning the table rules and getting better every day, and now the third choice the quest 2 visual pinball in virtual reality in its infancy but wow its like being there all 3 have their pros and all 3 have their cons i have 2 pins cost 14k
i have virtual pin prob spent 2.5k lot of time setting up but with 300 plus tables and quest vr £300 and already have pc for the link but could spend £800 for pc. So they all differ in price and game play, but at the end of the day the choice is yours.

 
Last edited:
Eric Evans said:
I have best of both worlds, and my opinion is real pin cant be beat, but playing the same pin over and over gets slightly boring, virtual pin not quite the real thing but in fairness very enjoyable great for learning the table rules and getting better every day, and now the third choice the quest 2 visual pinball in virtual reality in its infancy but wow its like being there all 3 have their pros and all 3 have their cons i have 2 pins cost 14k
i have virtual pin prob spent 2.5k lot of time setting up but with 300 plus tables and quest vr £300 and already have pc for the link but could spend £800 for pc. So they all differ in price and game play, but at the end of the day the choice is yours.

Click to expand...
This looks really cool and as I’m a fan of VPin having built quite a few 3 screen tables I think it’s Time to dust off my index power up my 2080Ti Gaming Rig and put VPin back on.

Awesome
 
I make virtual pins - and about 5 of them are floating around people on here.

@Marvello has my nicest build - full 4K and its brilliant. He has one real game and the virtual pinball.

MOST people who buy virtual pins off me have one or two real pins.

They are emulation do not forget.

If I could only have a mid 90s DMD Bally/Williams or a Virtual - I would still have a real one. However I would add a virtual later.
 
Tricky question, I suppose it depends on your financials. As Pick Holder says I've got a nice VPin and a real pin, I like to change the real Pin every 6-12 months as no matter how good it is I fancy a change after a while.

If I had to stick with one of them for longer than a year I'd keep the VPin for the value and variety it provides, plus no worries about failing Node boards, chipping/pooling playfields or all the other things that can go wrong with a real Pin.

You can of course go one way or the other and if you change your mind it is easy enough to change back.
 
Virtual - however good it is wont ever feel quite the same as a real pin. However pinball machines are somewhat large. Finding space for one isn't *that* hard.. but one is never enough...
Id say if you love pinball you need at least one real one. (If you can change this one now and then even better I guess - but I've become too attached to at least 1 of mine, going on 2 for this to be an option for me)
If one just isn't enough (which it never is) but you simply don't have space for more than one then I see nothing wrong with having a virtual one too. There's a whole load of pins (mostly from the 80s I think) that I would love to have and play again. But money and space say otherwise and I've often pondered a small virtual pin. I even built the PC and set it all up do it. Sadly whilst I know what im doing with a computer making things from wood aint my forte so the PC sat under my pin doing nothing before I finally moved it on when someone wanted a PC for gaming.
Do see small vpins on flea bay time to time tho - and keep pondering one when cheap ones appear :)
 
Physical machines are great and unique, so I'd say fit in as many as you can up to your space/budget.

Been thinking about a vPin for learning rulesets, but not sure I'd want to sacrifice the space for a full size build as it will be taking up space I could put a 'real' machine in. Played a few games on the iPad Williams pinball and it is fun but nowhere near the real experience.

VR is quite appealing as you could then, in theory, keep the two physical machines and then have as many others as you can get ROMs for. Just wondering if anyone makes a pinball machine sized 'controller' with buttons to get the feel of playing at a machine?

Playing on a normal console controller or keyboard won't seem the same, but I guess motion controllers can including some sort of nudging
 
To me the whole point of pinball is in its mechanical/tactile/kinetic appeal. It's not something I'd ever want to play at length digitally. Nice way to learn the rules I guess but for me a bit redundant.
 
Virtual Pinball VPX is great and does have an important place in the hobby but doesn't beat the real thing. I am able to have a small Virtual Pinball in the house and play it whenever I want as I can turn the sound down and not wake up the whole house. I get to play lots of machines I would never get to own and it was invaluable in helping me decide which machines I really enjoyed and informed my decision on which real machines I wanted to own. I discovered how much I loved Diner from playing it on my Virtual Pinball and if it wasn't for the Virtual Pinball I would never have seen one and now I am lucky enough to own one.

IMG-20200930-WA0010.jpg
 
huggers said:
To me the whole point of pinball is in its mechanical/tactile/kinetic appeal. It's not something I'd ever want to play at length digitally. Nice way to learn the rules I guess but for me a bit redundant.
Click to expand...
This. You may as well just play a computer game.
 
I have a VPin and I wouldn't get rid of it, but if I could physically get a real pin in the house I'd do so in a heartbeat, unfortunately it just isn't possible - even to get this one built I had to cut the wood outside, carry it up the stairs and assemble it in place (So it's in and permanently so ;) )
They're fun, they're great for learning the rules and if you have a good setup that you keep upto date they're pretty good generally - comparing the newest releases of MB and TOM to something like PinballArcade gives you the wrong impression.
That isn't to say every table is good, you have to pick and choose - there are probably 100s of VPX tables now, and some titles have multiple versions, and you want the latest and greatest, but only if the people/groups releasing them are 'known' good authors - some of the tables available are pretty damn close to the real thing, some are like a bouncy ball on ice.
I've got just under a hundred, and they're the ones I deem realistic enough to enjoy.

They're as much work as a real pin, you just spend your time with a keyboard rather than a soldering iron.

Never going to beat the real thing, and if I could have a real one I would, but if I had space for two then I might have one real and one VPin, especially if access was difficult.
 
I will admit that I always will prefer the real thing.. at the moment space is ata premium so I’ve decided to get a virtual pin but will probably add a physical pin later next year once I’ve moved the wall (long story)

thank you for your Opinions and insight 👍
 
ChrisH said:
I have a VPin and I wouldn't get rid of it, but if I could physically get a real pin in the house I'd do so in a heartbeat, unfortunately it just isn't possible - even to get this one built I had to cut the wood outside, carry it up the stairs and assemble it in place (So it's in and permanently so ;) )
They're fun, they're great for learning the rules and if you have a good setup that you keep upto date they're pretty good generally - comparing the newest releases of MB and TOM to something like PinballArcade gives you the wrong impression.
That isn't to say every table is good, you have to pick and choose - there are probably 100s of VPX tables now, and some titles have multiple versions, and you want the latest and greatest, but only if the people/groups releasing them are 'known' good authors - some of the tables available are pretty damn close to the real thing, some are like a bouncy ball on ice.
I've got just under a hundred, and they're the ones I deem realistic enough to enjoy.

They're as much work as a real pin, you just spend your time with a keyboard rather than a soldering iron.

Never going to beat the real thing, and if I could have a real one I would, but if I had space for two then I might have one real and one VPin, especially if access was difficult.
Click to expand...
Who are the go to creators now?
IS JP Salas still creating?
 
Anything by Flupper, VPW, Skitso, Bord, Goldchicco, wrd1972, rothbaruew, 32assasin, Kiwi is generally going to be pretty top notch and if it's a table I like would go straight on the cabinet (Not a complete list, just off the top of my head)
Beware of the creators who create a vast amount of 'modded' tables in quick succession though
JPSalas is still about, and his stuff is still as good as ever, but he doesn't use models in the tables, so they look a little more basic than the ones where the guys are using Blender and 3DStudioMax to create the 3d toys and ramps
Flupper is currently working on Whirly and to look at that thread is a lesson in 'no detail is small enough to overlook' kind of attemtion to detail
TOM is another example, some guy spent hours recording and digitising all the sounds of his TOM and uploaded that which is what went into the table, must have taken him ages
A couple of the guys on the list have done some amazing things with the flipper physics which is starting to filter into many of the very recent tables
There is some serious skill in the community that's for sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom