All posts by benheck

Video Games

10 Year Anniversary of the VCSp

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Photo credit: Kim Keyes Photo.

Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since I completed my first portable the VCSp but it’s true. Many things have happened since then, including the Xbox 360 laptop, Commodore 64 portable and of course, Possumus Woman.

In honor of this momentous occasion I’ve prepared some fun stuff for our visitors to enjoy:

The Atari 2600 Portables Site – Explore the site as it appeared back in the olden days. Most of the navigation works, so have fun!

VCSp Making Of – The very first story about portables I ever published to the web

SNESp Making Of – A classic, completely overdone ‘making of’ from 2001.

Plus you can check out a bunch of classic Benheck videos after the break. Enjoy…

Continue reading 10 Year Anniversary of the VCSp →

Podcasts

Benheck.com Podcast Episode 71 MGC Edition

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Recorded live from the Midwest Gaming Classic , it’s the Benheck.com podcast with special guest Dale Nauertz!

Listen and be amazed as we discuss:

1) The “Best Actress Curse” and the hotness of Sandra Bullock.

2) L-shaped bedsheets and the plot of the never-going-to-happen Port Washington 2, plus what we’re planning for the going-to-happen Possumus Man 3 in 2021.

3) The 3D “movie tax” and the death of documentaries in IMAX.

And much, much more…

Listen to Benheck.com Podcast Episode 71

www.benheckpodcast.com

Video Games

Come to the Midwest Gaming Classic this weekend in Milwaukee!

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Where else can you walk by a car and see this in the passenger seat?

Now while I know a lot of you are going to PAX East, I would like to extend a warm welcome to anyone in the Midwest to come to the 2010 Midwest Gaming Classic.

It is being held at the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel which is on the west-ish side of Milwaukee, right off the interstate. And within range of the MKE airport shuttle. Sweet.

There is all sorts of cool stuff to do including my favorite – loads of free pinball. And arcades too. You can buy all sorts of videogame stuff, hang out with other enthusiasts oh and course… play Bill Paxton Pinball. We’re going to log scores (if you wish) and have a “Best of 4” playoff at the end of each day (via the 4 player mode). Winners will appear on this website and… I dunno… get a signed copy of Possumus Woman or something.

Benheck.com has an entire room this year so be sure to come on down and check us out. Saturday we’re doing a live podcast, then on Sunday I’ve got a panel to discuss the creation of my pinball.

See you all there!

Video Games

Bill Paxton Pinball

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Click here for large version

Since 2005 I have been working on building my own custom pinball machine and now it is finally finished. It is based off the endlessly quotable films of Bill Paxton and thus is called… get this… Bill Paxton Pinball. (Very creative, I know)

Aside from “stock” items such as flippers and solenoids it has been completely manufactured from scratch. Most of the artwork is from his movies and has been assembled in stylized montage form as is typical for a pinball machine. It is controlled by a single Parallax Propeller CPU which runs PCM audio music & voice clips as well as handling game logic, I/O and driving the custom LED display. I did the mechanical design, layout, construction & programming all myself, except for the sound player libraries that I got off the Parallax Object exchange website.

I’ve prepared all sorts of stuff for people to check out, so please check out the links below. Also, I did consider creating a “Virtual Pinball” version of this machine but ultimately didn’t have the time. If anyone is well versed in that tool and wants to take a crack at it, let me know, I can supply with you specifications.

“Making Of” Story
A four part article that describes the making of the machine in great detail. Includes photos of the guts, making of video links and source code.

Bill Paxton Pinball Photo Gallery
Contains lots of photos of the machine and its various parts (finished condition).

Demonstration Videos
See the machine in action, and check out descriptions / demos of the specific modes and toys.

Bill Paxton Pinball Evolution
A downloadable video demonstrating the process from start to finish.

Notice: Bill Paxton Pinball is a personal project and therefore is not for sale or duplication. All music / images / audio used on it are owned by their respective copyright holders.

Movies

Reach!

Since I’m building a Bill Paxton themed pinball machine and Katheryn Bigelow won an Oscar last night, I figured I should share this video with anyone who hasn’t seen it.

REACH (Martini Ranch)

The song is from Paxton’s band, the video was directed by James Cameron and includes Katheryn Bigelow as a cowgirl hunting down Paxton. These are strange days, to be sure. You’ll get the point after the break, unless you become a widowmaker.