Hiya Ben,
I really like the idea of a modding show and I don't think there is anyone around that could pull it off better than you. I enjoyed the first episode and looking forward to all the rest!
I'm the one that has been blessed with the opportunity to re-create the Bill Paxton Pinball for people to be able to play on their home computers. Most of the images that I'm using were provided by the creator Ben, himself. The table is being re-created using Visual Pinball and progress is moving along slowly as I learn the table editor.
You may not know, but there is a relatively new budding gaming scene that is similar to the MAME scene. For MAME people will build or convert a cabinet to run the MAME software and games. However, there is a new online scene that is devoted to DIGITAL pinball machines. These machines are hooked up to a computer running pinball simulation software and played using multiple LCD screens with buttons interfaced with the computer to give a nearly true arcade experience.
Below is a picture of my personal cabinet that I built from scratch. This table setup is a typical 3 screen setup. This is done using a 42" LCD for the playfield, 32" LCD for the backglass, and a 19" LCD for the DMD/scoring area. Pictures really do not do a digital pinball machine justice and seeing/playing one in person is quite impressive.
As you can see the pinball experience is replicated quite nicely. The user first chooes the table that they would like to play, hit the start button and then play the selected table. At this time I currently have 150 tables installed and playable. With more and more pinball machines disappearing from public places, it's possible that our next generations may not be able to enjoy pinball. If it werent' for this new "toy" of mine then it is quite possible that my 7 year old son and 12 year old daughter may have never seen a pinball machine.
I come to you seeking input and know how... One thing that the digital pinball scene is lacking is a true 1:1 pinball plunger. We have no real solutions right now that will give precise plunger movement. I'd love to see your take on how we can take a pinball plunger, interface it with a computer, and allow for true 1:1 movement. You pull the plunger back, the on screen plunger moves, as you move the real plunger the on screen plunger should move and adjust as you move and adjust the real plunger.
I would love to see how you would approach something like this.
Thanks!
Billy aka Dazz