Chicago area’s Stern Pinball plunges into virtual reality
Stern Pinball, one of the country’s last remaining pinball machine manufacturers, has partnered with Oculus and video game developer FarSight Studios to release the Stern Pinball Arcade, the pinball company announced last week.
The arcade offers virtual reality versions of Stern's physical games.
Playing with a virtual reality headset might not totally translate the tactile aspects of pinball, like the pull of the plunger or the rattle of the machine. But the sounds, lights and music, the company hopes, will give players an authentic experience.
The company has a few hundred employees and said it’s seen steady sales in commercial machines, thanks, in part, to a surge in barcades — trendy bars where gamers can enjoy craft brews and vintage games.
“To not embrace what’s going on with apps and the digital world would be foolish,” Dankberg said.
“Motion sickness is a significant problem in many VR games,” Ward said. “I think one of the things that is probably smart about (Stern’s) approach is that it’s a fairly static frame of reference. … It's something that I think does lend itself to prolonged VR gameplay.”
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