I've never played a pinball video game that was quite right—Pinball FX is pretty good—but fans of the genre will need the Pinball Wizard Controller by Nanotech Entertainment. Featuring a real plunger, side flipper buttons, and even the option to tilt the machine, the $US299 PC controller works with a variety of bundled games and promises compatibility for third part titles moving forward. It's ugly, yes. But so is the current state of pinball. [Nanotech Entertainment via Kotaku]

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We're not sure that there was anything particularly broken about pinball, but this Remote Controlled Upright Pinball machine attempts to reinvent the genre. Featuring LEDs and "hidden tunnels," you play the game through an R/C remote from distances up to 20 feet (...if you can see the ball from that far away). But in spite of the wall-mountable space-conscious design, the longer we stare at the machine, the more we realise it's a cheap abomination of the pinball tradition. If the game rocks your world, it's $US120. [Hammacher Schlemmer via Geek Alerts]

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Today, when we visited NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program spring 2008 show, we were immediately drawn to "Moving Parts," a crazy pinball game that's the brainchild and thesis of physical-interaction designer Daniel Soltis. It's made of real wood, with wooden buttons and plungers, but the board itself is empty, and stays that way. The game you see is merely a projection from above, but man does it feel real.

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Did you know that there's only one manufacturer of pinball machines left in the world? That sole survivor of the pinball age is Stern Pinball, based outside of Chicago, and it's the last purveyor of this relatively low-tech entertainment left.

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We love technological advancement, but there is something that just feels wrong about TAB Austria's Virtual Pinball machine. Sure, the six different animated games offer more variety than your conventional machine, and the 42" plasma display looks a damn site sexier than the usual mechanized pinball floor, but these things were never meant to be altered. No, not even the promise of online tournaments and user upgradeable games can sway us.

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Esoteric Dutch blog Fresh Creation went to the Holland Innovation fair in, surprise, the Netherlands, and they found this crazy little — well, big, actually — thing. Park To Play lets you play games — Pong, Tetris, Pinball, Space Invaders etc — with your car. Yep, you didn't hear wrong. Part art installation, part crazy, what-have-they-been-smoking-over-in-them-thar-low-countries-coffee-houses, they've rigged out the steering wheel and doors with sensors so that you can use the car to control the game. Headlights, brakes, car doors, they all become buttons to control the game with. I like the fact that the pinball flippers are controlled by the car doors. [Fresh Creation]

This is the Transparent Pinball Machine, a custom piece created out of a 1976 "Surf Champ" unit by Michael Schiess, owner of the Lucky JuJu Pinball Arcade in Alameda, CA (which looks like the coolest place ever). It is, without a doubt, the most beautiful pinball machine we've ever seen. And unlike most custom fetishized dork objects, you have a chance to actually play with this one. It'll be unveiled for the first time at the Pacific Pinball Expo in San Raefel, CA, from October 5-7. Pinball museums and expos; isn't America grand?

Ceci n'est pas un pinball machine. Actually, it is, but it manages to be all sorts of things as well. It's an art installation that's currently on show in Barcelona, as well as an interactive game for kids, And, best of all, it uses a widescreen HD telly as one of the displays.

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And fie, a-surffing on ye internette, a pinneballe machyne of Leggoe did I espye. Set yorre eyyes pon yonder gallerye. Morre picture lykkeness will ye finde on TechEBlog. [TechEBlog]

I've never found pinball to be all that exciting, but I'd probably think differently if the balls were flying right at my face and my head shook at every paddle hit. The Furminator makes pinball just such a first person, immersive experience. By sticking a force-feedback helmet on your and putting the paddles right in front of your eyes, it makes the game a hell of a lot more intense. Built using an old Terminator pinball machine, hence the name, the gang at Fur has taken pinball to a whole new level. I'll probably still stick to San Francisco Rush 2049. [Product Page via Kotaku]