Williams Pinball on the Wii
Mike Fahey reports in Kotaku (where I [somewhat begrudgingly] get all of my Wii news) on the upcoming Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection:
I have to say that after playing through several balls on good old Pinbot, I am spoiled for virtual pinball on any other system … To get an idea of why I say this, grab your Wiimote and nunchuck attachment. Now hold them with your hands about as far apart as your average pinball table. Pull the trigger buttons, imagining the left and right flippers kicking up. … Such a simple mechanic works wonders in recreating the feel of actually playing at a pinball table. I’d daresay you could even craft a little mount for them to recreate the feeling of resting your thumbs on the glass of the machine, which could even help a little bit considering shaking your controllers acts like smacking the machine, possibly tilting the game if you shake it too hard.
Cool! The trailer looks promising — nice rendering of the tables, except for the fogged ramps (guess that helps to simulate playing on a filthy on-location game?). I’m a little disappointed that none of the titles are DMD games, nor are there any [EM][]s either, but they have chosen a lively bunch. I do find it somewhat amusing that we already own two of them. The titles, according to the trailer:
Also interesting:
The gentleman showing me the game explained that Williams has been very hands-on with this project, testing the game at every juncture and coming back with little changes and tweaks to make sure that every table included in the collection was as authentic as video game pinball can get.
Would that be Roger Sharpe testing the game on behalf of Williams (who no longer makes pinball machines)? According to Amazon it will be out on Oct 2, 2007 (link); strangely, though, Amazon claims it will include Sorcerer and Jive Time, too). 2 1/2 months. Sigh. At least it appears it’ll be released in the US on Wii, unlike Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection, which still hasn’t shown it’s head in North America.