Williams Pinball Volume 8 Early Preview & Gameplay : Earthshaker! (1989)

[@SinomodStudios]

I love your analogy of the shaker being compared to rumble packs in game controllers, that's where my mind goes to first. The thing is, things like these might come off as gimmicks at first but can often be popular enough to become mainstay features. I'm sure the concept of flippers were seen as a gimmick at first! You can't expand and improve without trying something new. Its all these slow additions over time and that have made pinball what it is today and it just keeps getting better and better!

[@NewLeaf88]

You make a great point as well, Dom! That's exactly how the rumble and haptic features started on most gaming controllers and look where we are now. It's like the standard now to have a rumble feature in most gaming controllers when before it was just a new gimmick. I remember when they were new I wasn't too crazy about them but I just thought they were neat to have, but it never blew me away. But without really even realizing it, the rumble feature was something I enjoyed a lot whenever I'd play video games. It's not much but it can really add to the overall experience. You're right about the flippers too, Dom! At the very beginning pinball itself didn't even have flippers and they were added later. And now Flippers are what you really associate pinball with where you can't imagine pinball without them lol. Pinball is a perfect example of how mechanics and designs evolve over time, very gradual. Kind of crazy to think about how much its evolved when you compare earlier and later tables. I wonder how much it will continue to change in the future!

[@SinomodStudios]

@@NewLeaf88 Going back to the controller innovation thing, I remember when I first got my ps1, my go to controller didn't have analog sticks! I had one with analog sticks as well but only used it when a game forced me to, haha. Seems crazy now not to have them!

[@NewLeaf88]

Oh man, that's an excellent point too Dom! I can hardly even remember PlayStation controllers WITHOUT analog sticks. But you're right - when it first released there was none haha. The controller felt so 'bare' without them tbh. Now modern day consoles always have analog sticks just in different ergonomic positions. Can you imagine playing like Halo without analog sticks? I remember how weird it felt at first learning how to play with them, but the more I played with them, the more intuitive they felt. One stick for movement, and the other for the camera/viewing. We had the directional pad for the moving but we didn't really have that smooth/analog camera movement. I think too the analog sticks felt more comfortable on the fingers - so they brought comfort and ingenuity!

[@SinomodStudios]

@@NewLeaf88 Yeah, It's funny you mention playing Halo without analog sticks... Some early first person shooters didn't use analog sticks and I know some of the first person games on my dreamcast don't use them! It's incredibly difficult nowadays to go back and play them, haha.

[@NewLeaf88]

That concept is so weird to me haha, playing an FPS without analog sticks sounds unthinkable almost lol. I was looking at the Nintendo 64 controller and remember thinking how weird the controller looked but how its design supported all different types of games because of the joystick component in the middle. Like I don't think playing the popular Goldeneye would have been the same if it were not for that joystick in the middle. The Dreamcast controller also has that joy/thumbstick I just noticed. I feel like that would make playing an FPS a little more bearable, but I just couldn't imagine playing a straight FPS game with the D-PAD. But I know I did it before with older shooters like Doom on the 32X, so I know its possible, just not ideal lol.

[@kennykrobs6935]

I've played these tables a fair amount on VPX but i'm really looking forward to try on Pinball FX and having leaderboards, especially the Newleaf 1 ball challenge 😃 Thanks for the previews and history lessons. 🍻

[@NewLeaf88]

Same here, Krobs! I think that's the best part for me as well - playing in the tournaments with you all! Like you said, I can easily play a nice version on VPX but there isn't that cozy tournament feature. Thanks for the comment and glad you enjoyed the preview Krobs! Cheers!