What does a Cow and an Easter Egg have in common?

[xenonph]

The answer is Pinball!!

An Easter egg is a message, image, or feature hidden in software, a video game, a film, or another — usually electronic — medium. The term used in this manner was coined around 1979 by Steve Wright, the then-Director of Software Development in the Atari Consumer Division, to describe a hidden message in the Atari video game Adventure, in reference to an Easter egg hunt.

Having cows appearing in pinball-games was an internal joke for the people at Williams/Bally.
It all started with the pinball game "Fire!" from 1987, a game about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. A fire which is said to have been started by a cow knocking over a kerosene lantern.
The cow was then included in the game (see "Fire!" section below).
And since Williams/Bally pinball games were made in Chicago the cow became some sort of mascot.

Cows and Easter Eggs

There is actually an Easter Egg built into Visual Pinball that not many people know of!
The next time you start a VPX table, try holding down both flippers while the table is loading!

Also look closely at our Easter logo.
You may see something?

 

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Not a cow, but....

 

[Pop Bumper Pete]

I know one of my games, a cow mooing can be heard if you press the flipper button during attract mode

 

[StevOz]

I know one of my games, a cow mooing can be heard if you press the flipper button during attract mode

Really, never milked that pinball...

Does it have a cow horn topper or maybe the ultimate pinball mod a set of hanging udders!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Also look closely at our Easter logo.
You may see something?

Oops, I missed it first time around!
(the elaborate Christian cross blends so well in to background that I thought that was the easter egg at first)

And hey!

The earliest known video game Easter egg is in the 1973 video game Moonlander, in which the player tries to land a Lunar module on the Moon; if the player opts to fly the module horizontally through several of the game's screens, they encounter a McDonald's restaurant, and if they land next to it, the astronaut will visit it instead of standing next to the ship.

Dammit, I've played that game for ages, but never saw the McD's.

 

[GeorgeH]

I found it after you posted the message that something was hidden but you said to not tell anyone so mum's the word.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Here's a little test to see if XenForo displays WebP images yet.

Spoiler

I'm a big ST-TOS fan myself, but might need to explain that the image below is visually based on The Trouble with Tribbles, but also references The Captain's attitude towards 'no-win scenarios' as seen in the second movie's Kobiyashi Maru test.

Which... still probably sounds like Swahili for the non-Trekkers.

 

[StevOz]

Here's a little test to see if XenForo displays WebP images yet.

Not, yet, though it is planned for the next release.

XF 2.2 - webp support

I'm currently trying to use WEBP for a post on my forum, but the images are not showing. https://danskeakvarier.dk/threads/nahrien-den-afsidesliggende-kyst.16/ Is webp not supported by xenforo?

xenforo.com

 

[xenonph]

Here's a little test to see if XenForo displays WebP images yet.

It works for me, but only because I had earlier set webp images to open with Firefox on my computer.
So when I click the webp image, it opens in Firefox browser.

Save the webp image to computer.
Then just right click on webp image with mouse and click "Open With".
It will give you suggestions, and now you click "Choose default program".
Now you may need to click "More options", and then your browser should show as a program choice.

 

[xenonph]

I found it after you posted the message that something was hidden but you said to not tell anyone so mum's the word.

Yes I accidently spilled the beans too early, as a good friend told me, and so I quickly removed that part of the post, the same day.
These new holiday logos are a blast to work on!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

These new holiday logos are a blast to work on!

What tool are you using, if I may ask?

I haven't fired up GIMP for ages, but I kinda miss working with it.

 

[xenonph]

What tool are you using, if I may ask?

I haven't fired up GIMP for ages, but I kinda miss working with it.

I am in fact using GIMP.
Why? Because it is free.
Here is link to the portable version I am using.

GIMP Portable (image editor) | PortableApps.com

The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system...

portableapps.com

And check out the all of the portable apps here...

Portable App Directory (over 450 free) - PortableApps.com

Over 1,100 portable packages Over 500 Real Portable Apps (78GB!) Dozens of locales, beta/dev/legacy channels, etc Over 1.1 BILLION Downloads! Free, Legal, Safe, and Fully Portable No Shovelware. No Bundleware. No registration or login requiredThe PortableApps.com Platforminstalls and...

portableapps.com

Many great programs in portable format!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Ah yis... portable apps!
I used to use them a bit, as they're great for carrying on a jump drive when switching between computers. Also, I really liked how they didn't leave all the install residue across one's system (incl. registry).

I was never really sure what the downsides of using them are, if any. Maybe certain issues of compatibility could come up when attempting to update to latest versions or add in 3rd party tools, I guess. Maybe the portable versions are slightly slower, too. (but really, how much could it be?)

 

[StevOz]

What tool are you using, if I may ask?

On May the Sith all will be revealed young padawan...