TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball (DVD)

yaggy

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This documentary apparently just became available to the masses via retailers and Netflix. It supposedly focuses on the final days of Williams. I should have my rental copy this week...

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http://www.tilt-movie.com/
 
I just watched this over the weekend, it's very good. I bought the DVD because there's a second disc with several hours of extras. You can't stream those, so I think it's worth buying the disc if you're a fan of the company or of the history of the hobby.
 
Made me hate slot machines even more


The sad thing is, slots are everywhere now. In my area, several new casinos have appeared and they are all slot-based. With the removal of coin payouts and the switch to printed vouchers, the devices have all but lost their appeal to me and hopefully many others. Unfortunately, they're riding the wave of growth and, WMS being a public company, are making their shareholders very happy.

What was so important about 1993? Why did sales plummet so bad? Dot matrix displays? Did they alienate the core pinheads? All those "video modes" and other shit that pulled attention from the playfield? Were pins just getting too complicated to attract new players? I got started in 1983 when the rules of each game could easily be summarized on the instruction card. And as I think about what pins I love to play, most of these titles were produced by or before 1992. Do you have a theory?
 
Ya it's simple, xbox, playstation, etcetc, who needs to go to the arcade anymore? Simple as that. When you can play games that are just as good or better at home there is no need to go to the arcade anymore. I bring my son to the arcade still, and when we go it's nearly empty every time.
 
Sales tanked because after 1993 because you had The Twilight Zone (actually kind of ho-hum with players when it first released but it sold well), The Addams Family (1992), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Creature from the Black Lagoon (1992), The Getaway: High Speed II (1992), Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park all selling really well and still making a lot on location. This became a problem because operators were going to be very, very, reluctant to pull one of those games off their floor to replace it with another and unproven machine.

Ultimately, the sheer number of great games that 1990-1993 saw killed sales for the next few years because there was no need to turn the machines over. Pinball 2000 was meant to revolutionize the product and make operators ready to clear their floor and make way for new machines.
 
Its amazing that pinball's even still around at all...it's really such an irrelevant machine in our times.

-Lack of locations to put them in
-Expensive
-Harder to maintain for operators than vids
-Make less on location than redeption/vids
-Despite home owner sales, it's not really a home product...the average joe wouldn't know how to fix the smallest problems
-Despite the inherent simplicity of aim-and-shoot, most people have NO idea how to really PLAY a pinball.

As much as I love pinball, it's just so out of the public conscience...it's truly amazing that Stern continues to hang on.
 
Ultimately, the sheer number of great games that 1990-1993 saw killed sales for the next few years because there was no need to turn the machines over.

I think to some extent this is what's happening right now. Stern produced some really good, quasi-timeless games (Lord of the Rings, Simpsons, Family Guy, Spiderman, Pirates) that earn well enough (relatively speaking)....and the ops just see no need to replace these solid games w/ the newer titles - CSI, 24, NBA.
 
in for one! Just picked it up for like 27 shipped to my door.

Can't wait to watch this and all of the extra's :)
 
please let me know what the extras are (on a second disc?) -- i'm only receiving the main DVD.
 
I guess you guys forget about the fighting game genre that started to emerge around that time as well. Instead of slot machines operators or arcades started to merge towards redemption games and that as well would seal the fate of pinball. Even in the mid 90's I hardly remember seeing 2 pinballs at any given location and that would be pushing it. Mostly the latest vids and assloads of redemption games. A few already hit the nail on the head even further bringing up console gaming getting closer if not better than arcade though SNES and Genesis in the mid 90's were a farcry from the quality of graphics on arcade but it wouldnt be long before the N64 and PSX came out and then they had something that actually rivaled and produced arcade like graphics for home consoles. I think the latest memories I had before arcades started dying out was MK1 and MK2 as well as SF2 tournies on up to MK3 and I kind of quit hanging out in arcades after that as well. Those fighting games there were raking in the dough at almost every location I played them at. There would be lines waiting to challenge the guys that were good and dethrone them and make them go to the back of the line. Was just simply alot more fun back then and games had character and some thought put into their creation and ultimately delivered. It really opened my eyes when a local arcade ive gone to since teh late 80's to late 90's closed its doors this year which I never foresaw that because they had it all. Skating rink, games, food, etc. etc. Even with all that the owner had to pack it up and call it a day i guess.


I for one still enjoy the arcade experience though like most console gamers I prefer my own environment instead of going to play worn out games in smoky atmospheres I can play at my leisure in my basement and I know my machines are solid (atleast the ones Ive gotten around to giving my attention to) When im done I can go back upstairs and do whatever. No driving, no inconvenience, no assholes, etc. Sure is gonna suck if I ever move though. :cool:
 
Watched this yesterday, got it from Netflix. It was pretty entertaining, especially if your a fan of the hobby.
 
now is there any truth to this documentary or is it a biased kind of coverage? Cant really stand a documentary that is blatently biased.
 
The documentary is very fair. They state simple facts and then allow ex-Williams employees to comment on the situation and inject their thoughts. There really isn't any slant to any of the info provided, and it's pretty clear to see why and how everything went down. It doesn't make you feel any better about Williams' decision to shut down the pinball division, but it makes sense.
 
The documentary is very fair. They state simple facts and then allow ex-Williams employees to comment on the situation and inject their thoughts. There really isn't any slant to any of the info provided, and it's pretty clear to see why and how everything went down. It doesn't make you feel any better about Williams' decision to shut down the pinball division, but it makes sense.

cool, i never really knew the whole story of what happened so this will be of interest to me. Just wanted a truthful non-biased documentary ya know.
 
Just watched it and had some good interviews from Pat and Gomez among others. Pretty good to watch but not much as far as added content for the dvd just director commentary which is kind of gay for a documentary type film if you ask me. Still very well done film.
 
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