they’re playing one of those pinball games.  Only the bad kids do that.

Not surprisingly, they jack a car.

Aduis.com have a DIY pinball kit that looks like a lot of fun, along with this very cool how-to video.

Pinball Summer is not a good movie by most standards but of course that puts it on my A list of must-see trashy films.

It was originally titled Pick-up Summer but they changed the name to capitalize on the 70’s pinball craze.  There’s quite a bit of actual pinball so that’s about the only thing that doesn’t feel like a cheap cash-in in this clearly “filmed while stoned” effort.

The movie makes practically zero sense.  Something about a stolen pinball trophy followed by lots of crazy shenanigans and topless scenes to retrieve it.  Biker gangs, hookers, car chases, bikini babes, amusement parks, burger joints, pool parties, dumb cops and of course, pinball.  Jeez, all that for a $5 trophy.  It was like the The Quest for Fire.

The good news is someone thought this film was worth a dvd transfer so you can rent it from netflix.

NOTE: The following clip contains brief nudity

NOTE: The above clip contains brief nudity.

BONUS: Here’s a song called “pinball summer” by a band called Sekiden, who describe themselves as “powerpunk, pop and new wave”.

This is why I have to laugh when people dismiss video pinball games as a passing fad or not worth anyone’s time.

All the original DLC tables were bought or imported as well in the new app — ranging from 13,000 to 20,000 users in each. Pinball FX currently has over 400,000 people on the Leaderboards, and you’d think many of them would at least try out this new application – but maybe they’ll migrate over time.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31658/InDepth_Xbox_Live_Arcade_Sales_Analysis_October_2010.php

via http://eldiario.deljuego.com.ar

Enjoy your 15 minutes of fame, mr random gamer.

In this guest article, professor and exhibit advisor Stephen Jacobs was nice enough to fill us in on the opening of a dedicated video game exhibit at New York State’s Strong Museum Of Play, including a host of excellent resources and archives from the history of gaming, from arcade machines to historical artifacts and beyond.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31666/Strongs_eGameRevolution_Exhibit_Gives_Game_History_Its_First_Permanent_Home.php#comments

Pinball Wizard is a great song and probably did more for pinball than anything since the invention of the flipper. Still, if I have to hear it again I’ll probably punch a nun.

You see every casual player and I mean EVERY SINGLE CASUAL PLAYER who walks into the Pacific Pinball Museum just has to put this on the jukebox no less than forty three times.  Finally PPM took it out for awhile.  And then every casual player and I mean EVERY SINGLE CASUAL PLAYER now asks “how come a place like this doesn’t have Pinball Wizard on the jukebox?  That’s so lame.  How come?  Huh?”

The only solution I think is for PPM to take a jukebox and fill it with nothing but versions of Pinball Wizard (including mixes, covers by crappy bar bands, foreign language versions, etc), but unlike all their other jukeboxes, which are set on free play, charge a buck a song. This is one of those “can’t miss” ideas.

But I digress.  What I’m certain of is that not one of those folks knows that Tommy, the Who’s rock opera, wasn’t about pinball, at least not at first.

From Amazing Journey: The Life of Pete Townshend, by Mark Wilkerson

From The Who and the Making of Tommy, by Nigel Cawthorne:

A somewhat different version of how it went down, but most accounts agree that Nik Cohn’s influence was the primary driver of making Tommy about a “pinball wizard”.

Stores got sales.  I got interweb videos.  No waiting in line, guaranteed!

From the team that brought you Pinball 101 comes a new video.

Wait, what?  You don’t know what Pinball 101 is?  It’s a video you absolutely have to see, that’s what!  Head over to http://pinballvideo.com and get one.  Seriously, I’m not one of those people that endorses “everything”.  I posted about the iPad kit that turns your iPad into a mini pinball game, but I didn’t say “go buy it” because I don’t really know anything about it.  I do know about Pinball 101 and I guarantee it will improve your pinball game and you will enjoy pinball more.

After you buy that video you can buy this one.

For those of you who remember Pinball 101, you probably recall that between when it was officially announced and actually delivered was, well, let’s face it, a loooonnnng time.  And this go around, the Pinball Collector trailer was just released around the time of Pacific Pinball Exposition 2010 (October).  So you’re probably saying: “cool, I’ll pick this one up sometime in 2013”.

But oh noes, my friends, Randy Elwin, the film’s Producer, has revealed to me that the Pinball Collector is on target for a release in mid-December, only a few weeks away.  Pre-orders will begin shortly.  Yes, you can actually give this one to friend in time for the holidays.  My holiday shopping list just got a lot easier.

Since this Black Friday, enjoy these additional pinball videos from around the world.

http://vimeo.com/14868523

http://vimeo.com/9424787

Cayle George is currently the 11th best pinball player in the world, and he’s a assured of re-cracking the top 10 once the results of Shorty’s 2010 tournament, held this past weekend, are submitted to the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA). Cayle finished second out of what is typically a field of 100+ competitors.

I met Cayle for the second time back in October at the Pacific Pinball Exposition in San Rafael and he agreed to an interview for Pinballnews.com.  We set to work but since then my pinball life has been a bit nuts running the SF Avatar Launch Party, a private tournament for Backbone Entertainment, helping with a Crohn’s and Colitis Benefit at Pacific Pinball Museum and The Battle for the Bay Pingolf tournament.

A lot of work but a ton of fun.  My only regret?  I’m a huge fan of Backbone’s Street Fighter: HD Remix and was hoping there would be a cute girl in a Chun Li costume at their Halloween party. No such friggin’ luck.  But I digress.

Cayle has lots of cool stuff to say about his early pinball experiences, how he prepares for a tournament and what annoys him most in a competitive situation.  Check it out.