TOPcast pinball show #62, July 30, 2008.
Summary:
Greg Dunlap, software engineer for Wms and Stern. Greg worked at Williams in the slot machine division, programming several of their `dotmation` slot machines (which uses a large DMD display for bonus games, something unique to WMS slots). These included Advance To Boardwalk, Magic Lamp, Palace Of Riches, and Riverbelle 21. He then moved to Pat Lawlor Design/Stern where he was the dot matrix programmer for games including Monopoly, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Nascar, and Grand Prix.
Length:
1:30:50
TOPcast pinball show #61, July 12, 2008.
Summary:
TOPcast LIVE call-in show with Shaggy and Norm, Kirb, and special guest Brain Saunders. Coming from the yearly Detroit EM Pinball Collectors Club BARB-B-Q summer meeting. Between ribs and hotdogs, Norm and Shaggy take caller`s questions on the phone and interviewing Brian Saunders LIVE. Brian is one of the few Bally EM pinball collectors, with a wide range of Bally (and other) pinball games from the 1950s to the 1990s. He`s also a darn good EM tech. Kirb will be here too, doing his Gottlieb `I survived system 80` tech talk live. Other regular features such as Tech Tip of the Week, Mort`s Week in Pin News and of course live callers with opinions, comments and tech questions.
Length:
1:06:50
TOPcast pinball show #60, June 4, 2008.
Summary:
Michael Schiess, the man from Lucky JuJu (ujuju.com) in San Francisco. Like the Pinball Hall of Fame (pinballmuseum.org, Las Vegas), Lucky JuJu is a 501c3 non-profit that operates vintage pinball machines. Michael Schiess is the curator, and opens his doors just Friday and Saturday nights for play on their 35+ restored vintage pinballs games. Admission is one flat fee for all-you-can-play pinball. But there`s a lot more to Lucky Ju Ju than just that. Michael also has a `mini JuJu` (an aluminum camping trailer) outfit with pinball machines, which he takes on the road to shows and fairs in Northern California. And Lucky JuJu is also a showcase for local artists. Over 40 art shows have been held at the JuJu, with art displayed amoung the pinball machines, over the last six years. In addition Michael's museum quest for education led him to make a clear EM pinball machine out of plexiglass to show how it works `under the hood`. Lastly he was responsible for the Pacific Pinball Exposition in San Francisco, one of the premium pinball shows in the world.
Length:
2:03:35
TOPcast pinball show #59, May 21, 2008.
Summary:
Fred Young, voice actor, the man you have heard a zillion times but never realized. Fred does voices, and by his own count, has about 998 different voice signatures at his disposal. He has done the speech in about 50 different coin operated games including all the Alvin G pinballs and most of the DataEast/Sega/Stern pinballs. Join us for an interview with the guy you`ve heard plenty of in pinball, but never heard anything about.
Length:
2:34:47
TOPcast pinball show #58, May 7, 2008.
Summary:
Shaggy of TOPcast interviews Duncan Brown. What can I say about this one! Duncan is certainly one of the more colorful people that worked in the pinball industry. As a pinball operator in the early 1980s in Virgina, Duncan made his own pinball machine. He took a Williams Time Warp, reverse engineering Williams 6802 system6 pinball software, and turned it into his Chief Bank-A-Flip Galactic Poker Dice, a pinball machine with 25 drop targets. He also created his own video game Alien Arena, by reverse engineering Williams Stargate/Defender video game platform. Duncan is also working on a pinball backglass book, documenting the artwork for all flipper pinballs from 1947 to present. But wait, there's more! Duncan worked at WMS as an assembly language slot machine programmer, and then moved to the pinball division for Pinball 2000 and Star Wars Episode1. Duncan also talks about the closing of Williams Pinball and many of the associated conspiracy theories.
Length:
2:17:33
TOPcast pinball show #57, Apr 16, 2008.
Summary:
Shaggy of TOPcast interviews John Borg. John started as a mechanical engineer for Gottlieb in 1987, and by 1990 had moved to DataEast. He became a game designer with the 1992 DataEast Star Wars game, and then designed other major hits including Jurassic Park, Tales from the Crypt, Guns N Roses, Frankenstein, Apollo13, Twister, Harley Davidson, Austin Powers. John's current project for Stern is Indiana Jones4, due to be released spring 2008.
Length:
1:43:33
TOPcast pinball show #56, Apr 2, 2008.
Summary:
Shaggy of TOPcast interviews Ward Pemberton, game designer for Bally, Williams, GameStar/Capcom, Sega pinball. Ward designed games at Bally such as Fathom (1981), BMX, Hardbody, Dungeons and Dragons. He then assimilated to Bally/Williams and designed games like Mousin Around, Riverboat Gambler, and Gilligans Island (1991). Ward also designed for GameStar/RomStar/Capcom, but left before his game design was realized. Finally he designed for Sega designing Goldeneye (1996). Ward has also been a Chicago firefighter since 1992.
Length:
1:05:01
TOPcast pinball show #55, Mar 19, 2008.
Summary:
Norm & Shaggy TOPcast pinball show #55 with Jon Norris of Gottlieb and Sega/Stern pinball. Jon was a game designer at Gottlieb during the System80b and System3 solidstate era, working at Gottlieb from 1986 until they closed in 1996. He also worked at Sega/Stern as a game designer, and also collects classic Gottlieb woodrails.
Length:
2:30:06
TOPcast pinball show #54, Mar 5, 2008.
Summary:
Norm & Shaggy TOPcast pinball show #54 with Tom Nieman of Bally pinball. Tom and Bally were the first to license a theme for a pinball game, and it all happened sort of by accident. Listen to Tom tell how pinball sales were dramatically increased by licensing a known entity for a pinball game.
Length:
1:17:33
TOPcast pinball show #53, Feb 20, 2008.
Summary:
Norm & Shaggy TOPcast pinball show #53 with Orin Day of DataEast, Sega, Stern pinball. Orin programmed such games as Guns N Roses, Maverick, Frankenstein, Baywatch, Apollo13, Goldeneye, Twister, Viper, Independence Day, Space Jam, Star Wars Trilogy, Lost World Jurassic Park, X Files, Starship Troopers, Lost in Space, Golden Cue, Godzilla, South Park, Playboy.
Length:
2:55:37