Episode 37 – E3 2017

After a brief pinball segment (minor news updates regarding Heighway Pinball and Dutch Pinball), Dennis and Tony are joined by a roundtable (Mike, Eric, and Jake) to talk all about E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017).

The roundtable tackles the major presentations (EA, Microsoft, The PC Gaming Show, Bethesda, Ubisoft, Sony, and Nintendo), plus anything else that caught their eyes and ears. Prepare for this year’s deepest, darkest video game dive!

Links:
EA’s E3 highlights: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/game/ea-play-2017-biggest-announcements-e3-3641723/

Microsoft’s E3 highlights: http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-x-and-everything-else-microsoft-showed-at-e3-2-1796000762

The PC Gaming Show’s E3 highlights: https://www.polygon.com/e3/2017/6/12/15782226/pc-gaming-e3-2017-announcements

Bethesda’s E3 highlights: https://www.cnet.com/news/bethesda-e3-2017-press-conference-watch-it-live-here/

Ubisoft’s E3 highlights: http://bgr.com/2017/06/12/ubisoft-e3-2017-games-announcements-trailers/

Sony’s E3 highlights: http://kotaku.com/everything-sony-showed-at-e3-2017-1796039206

Nintendo’s E3 highlights: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-e3-2017-switch-games-news-and-everything-/1100-6450897/

Episode 36 – Amateur Hour

Pinball: Dennis talks about the an interesting variant to Playmatic’s Space Gambler called Flash Baseball out of Portugal. From there, it is pinball news time! Tony and Dennis cover the investor group takeover of Heighway Pinball, the decision by Dutch Pinball to reject Nivoge’s offer, and Stern Pinball’s latest announced pin: Star Wars!

Video Games: Tony and Dennis talk XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Civilization Revolution in the context of mobile games. After that, Dennis goes into a bit about Nidhogg, a fighting game he recently acquired. Tony and Dennis then finally get back to talking Overwatch, specifically some character updates currently in test. Finally, Tony speaks on his experiences with the Battletech backer’s beta, which launched recently.

Links:
Big Daddy Enterprises: http://www.bigdaddy-enterprises.com/

Heighway Pinball Takeover Announcement: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/rebirth-of-heighway-pinball#post-3800176

Dutch Pinball’s Announcement of Rejecting the Nivoge deal (second-hand post): https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-big-lebowski-preorder-club/page/101#post-3799380

Episode 35 – NieRly Time for P3

Pinball: Tony and Dennis cover the latest Skit-B legal news, provide an update on Dutch Pinball’s most current update, talk about the Total Nuclear Annihilation translite, cover Stern Pinball’s encore edition of AC/DC, and have an interview with Gerry Stellenberg (the founder of Multimorphic, Inc.) who explains the P3 Pinball Platform.

Video Games: Tony talks NieR: Automata. Dennis covers XCOM 2, a game he recently started (and one Tony played quite a while ago!). Then, Tony supplies an update on the Battletech Backer Beta.

Links:
KantCon 2017 sponsors: http://www.kantcon.com/sponsors

Project Pinball Charity sponsors: http://projectpinball.org/sponsors

Skit-B Hearing – Kathy Kulek (5/4/2017): https://soundcloud.com/user-800669943/1ap2017-02000-20170504-142930

Skit-B Research Folder: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByH8OkGICVbWNDFZQXJYUUhhSm8

Multimorphric, Inc.: http://www.multimorphic.com/

Teen Titans GO! – Night Begins to Shine: https://youtu.be/gCY-Npnh0FY

Battletech Multiplayer Demo Gameplay Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt6FatHHnzI

Episode 34 – Bowen Brings Business

With special guest host Bowen Kerins, this episode is heavy on the pinball (and math!).

In pinball news, we cover two more Skit-B related hearings, the latest on Dutch Pinball, the IFPA’s announced Challenge Matches coming in 2018, and Total Annihilation being renamed Total Nuclear Annihilation.

From there, we get into the more theoretical pinball topics. We discuss what people can do to increase local competitive pinball’s popularity. We talk about what makes a good/bad pin for competition. We also talk about location pinball and what makes for a good, unique location. We also do a bit of a round-up with Bowen on recently released/now releasing pins and how good they are. As a final pinball topic, we explore some ideas for Bowen and upcoming tutorials.

In our special one-off math segment, we’ve got a number of exciting numbers topics! We cover the use of math in game shows. We discuss geometry and what it means for widebody pinball machines. In a nod to video games, we discuss the TrueAchievements website’s use of geometric mean to predict DLC rarity. And, we talk about the core statistical summaries of mode, median, and mean, and whether mode even belongs in that list.

Links:
Bowen Kerins’ Patreon for Pinball Tutorials: https://www.patreon.com/pinball

PAPA YouTube Page (has tutorial videos): https://www.youtube.com/user/PAPApinball

TILT THRU (a pinball podcast): http://www.podcastgarden.com/podcast/tiltthru

Nic’s North American Pinball Tour Thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/nics-american-pinball-tour-aka-im-coming-to-fix-your-games

Skit-B Legal Hearing (4/17/2017) – Wife and House: https://soundcloud.com/user-7602410/audio-file-1ap2016-02073-20170427-133738

Skit-B Legal Hearing (5/4/2017) – VirtuaPin and CNC Machine: https://soundcloud.com/user-800669943/1ap2017-02002-20170504-133936

Episode 33 – Fun Times

Pinball: Tony and Dennis issue a correction about the P3 game Heads Up, talk about Spooky Pinball making Total Annihilation, and dive into more Skit-B legal happenings. From there they go over two Pinside specific topics: revisions to the Top 100 ranking system and the initiation of “The Purge” to clean up trolling and bad behavior on the forum.

Video Games: The guys talk about Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, ReCore, Hard West, and Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime.

Tabletop: Tony talks a bit about an upcoming tabletop game based on the popular video game franchise Fallout.

Links:
International Tabletop Day (4-29-17): https://www.tabletopday.com

Skit-B Related Court Hearing (4/13/2017): https://soundcloud.com/user-800669943/1ap2016-02073-20170413-154917

Pinball Prison Blues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bfPwtUTP4k

Fallout Tabletop Game: http://www.modiphius.com/fallout.html

Episode 32 – Flip Flip Pew Pew

Pinball: Tony and Dennis didn’t talk about P3 in their 2017 TPF recap, and so hit upon the cutting-edge in pinball technology this go-around. Dennis then gives some thoughts on Batman 66 now that he’s been able to play it. After that, an update regarding Dutch Pinball and ARA provides some additional information on the status of The Big Lebowski. From there, Dennis provides an interview with Keri Wing, second place finisher of the IFPA’s 2017 World Women’s Pinball Championship. Dennis has a small update on the Skit-B (Predator Pinball) happenings, and to wrap up the segment the guys talk about the IFPA’s plan to introduce tournament fees in 2018.

Video Games: Dennis talks about Battle Group 2 and Far Cry Primal. Tony talks about Renowned Explorers: International Society.

Tabletop: Tony and Dennis announce they will be at KantCon in 2017 and that the podcast is also one of the event’s sponsors.

Links:

Skit-B Research Folder: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByH8OkGICVbWNDFZQXJYUUhhSm8

Episode 31 – TPF 2017 & National Videogame Museum

A most straightfoward episode. Besides announcing the final results of the 2017 Modern Widebody Tournament, Tony and Dennis give a massive trip report of the National Videogame Museum and the 2017 Texas Pinball Festival. Fun times!