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Episode 1199: "Kaneda Live Show Where Chris Turner Calls In and Bryan From AP Gives Us Some Exclusive Info on 100 Run of Houdini"
PodcastAnalysis updated 2d ago55 min listen
TL;DR
Live podcast: Whitewater 2 interview + American Pinball remaster strategy
See above.
Synopsis
Kaneda hosts a live Patreon podcast featuring an exclusive call-in interview with Chris Turner (Turner Pinball/Whitewater 2 designer) discussing design decisions on the upcoming Whitewater 2 game, followed by detailed commentary on American Pinball new ownership and plans to release a 100-unit limited Houdini remaster and Cirqus Voltaire remake.
Highlights
- Whitewater 2 has sold approximately half of its 500-unit run in one day (as of the podcast recording)
- Turner Pinball designed a static Yeti instead of motorized after initially planning servo-controlled movement
- Whitewater 2 base price is $10,000 with an 'all-in' edition including premium options
- Whitewater 2 code is approximately 80% complete at show time, demonstrating 5 of 12 planned modes
- American Pinball's Houdini remaster is limited to 100 units celebrating the 100th anniversary of Houdini's death
- Houdini remaster expected to retail around $7,000-$7,500, positioning it below other new premium games
- Dennis Nordman was involved throughout Whitewater 2 development, providing original layout and CAD files from the Deep Root whitewood version
- Whitewater 2 avalanche multiball features a ball lock mechanism holding up to five balls with visible progression
- Whitewater 2 has four flippers including an upper playfield flipper, and features a wavy rapids ramp on the left
- American Pinball strategy involves remastering existing designs to train new team on manufacturing before attempting original games
Notable quotes
“There's no reason why that this thing should not move. There could not be the ability to put a servo underneath that Yeti and just have it move.”
“We actually have two servo outputs built into our system specifically for that Yeti, but we couldn't come up with a good way to use it... Is that going to add anything to the game? And we didn't think so.”
“We have different voice actors that are actually all Canadian because obviously the Yukon region is in Canada.”
“This will be the most mature code that we brought to a show for our first showing of a game.”
“Theme is really driving sales, which I think is really cool. And so with Ninja and Merlin's, we didn't have that. We had to take it to shows. People had to play it.”
“We are close to halfway there. Okay. So in one day, and that's great. And the show hasn't even started yet.”
“I absolutely think these things are going to sell pretty instantly.”
“My company got bought and my vacation days got slashed so I had to choose Japan for my birthday.”
“I've absolutely hold no grudges against the company that absolutely tried to destroy my job. David Fix tried to get me fired multiple times.”
“My background is like running a coding company. The last thing I want is to deliver like bad code for a game.”
Entities
- American Pinball· company
- Deep Root Pinball· company
- Turner Pinball· company
- TPF· event
- Cirqus Voltaire· game
- Houdini (American Pinball remaster)· game
- Kaneda's Pinball Podcast· organization
- Brad Duke· person
- Brian Allen· person
- Brian Vincent· person
- Chris Turner· person
- Christopher Franchi· person
- David Fix· person
- Dennis Nordman· person
- John Norris· person
- John Popadiuk· person
- Kaneda· person
- Matt Andrews· person
- Sophia· person
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Episode 1229: "Something We Can All Agree On"
22 min listen
TL;DR
Kaneda condemns Stern's incomplete game launches and urges community to withhold support until quality improves.
Everyone wants the same thing, but we won't get there if we keep buying right away.
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