LCD / LED pinball displays... Is this the future??

[BallyWilliams suck]

It was an amazing event when the DMD arrived, back in the 90's, and I can't help feeling that with WOZ's screen, the bar had been set a little higher and it's time for another shakeup.



With the rising cost of a DMD, and the falling cost of a similar (or much bigger) LCD (or LED) screen, I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before STERN integrates this into their designs. However, I do recall Gary Stern mentioning on "Special When Lit" that they make retro games only, so perhaps this is the line they're following?



Keeping the pinball stuck in the 1990s is cool and retro perhaps, but do we want to see the next generation of pinball or not? When Pinball 2000 hit, it was heralded as a success - but now most people can't stand them, so I'm unsure if change is a good thing or not!



STERN seems to be dragging in new and old talent, which is surely in reaction to WOZ? But is there any point in bringing the best games designers in the world to do what's been done time and time again for the past 30 years?



Isn't it time for pinball sized shake-up?

 

[ronsplooter]

If the screen on WOZ is a success then I can't see how Stern could not move to LCD displays. On Special When Lit, Gary Stern said he thought of retro as the look and feel of older games but using new technology so I guess there's an argument either way. I think the Transformers pin that's supposed to be in the pipeline would be a perfect match for an LCD screen (although Tron would have worked well too).



Maybe in the future they could try replacing the whole backglass and display with one big lcd screen like you get in a virtual pinball cab but rather than using it to show different backglass images you could have full screen animations, video...that would be cool The kind of effects that could be created with a large screen would be amazing although I guess there would be a significant glare issue that would need sorting out.

 

[jonathan]

Gary Stern helped his company make some great pins like SM, TSPP, LOTR and FGY. I can't help but feel it's more about the profit than the game these days though as games like BBH, Avatar and TRS are nowhere near the quality of the aforementioned pins. Cheaper parts, less features, basic rulesets, terrible photoshopped art. What makes it worse is that a lot of features that used to be standard are now only found on the LE versions for $1000 more!

 

[jonathan]

We need a delete button!

 

[Replay]

Well, so far no pictures of how JJP is going to integrate the 26 inch LCD screen into the gameplay on WOZ. If it works and works well, Stern will have to follow suit. Jpop with his Magic Girl seems to be hinting about integrating virtual and real ball mechanics. Interesting times.....

 

[replicas]

Be interesting to see what J.Pop comes up with for Magic Girl.

Paying all that money you would be expecting something special.

 

[BallyWilliams suck]

Jpop? I've been hibernating....

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Jpop? I've been hibernating....

John Popadiuk -



http://pinballinventor.org/mechanics.html



$16,000 + tax + shipping

 

[Rus121]

Animated lcd screens are the future for sure. Perhaps some low framed animation borders for the score output each time a new level or mode is reached? Really dont want to see just a slideshow type of effect with non animated pictures, although i suspect thats what will happen.....

 

[Phil Dixon]

Animated lcd screens are the future for sure. Perhaps some low framed animation borders for the score output each time a new level or mode is reached? Really dont want to see just a slideshow type of effect with non animated pictures, although i suspect thats what will happen.....

The recent future pinball Tron effort had a mixture of stills and live action and it worked really well.

 

[Rus121]

Yeah, that looks pretty good. Subtle, yet very well done. Hope to see something similar for woz.