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The Pinball Arcade |OT| play them all from Soho to Brighton

J

J0dy77

Member
Since it's that time of year, I figured I'd post my top tables list from an amazing year of pinball tables by Farside. Pinball arcade has to be one of the most underrated games of the year.

6. Monster Bash
5. Arabian Nights
4. Star Trek
3. Medieval Madness
2. Theatre of Magic (this is a very nostalgic table for me. Played a ton of the real machine)
1. Twilight Zone. ( only played the real table. Few times but man does this one live up to the hype.)

Attack from mars will find its way into this list once released. Another very nostalgic table for me.
 
M

Malajax

Member
Question: on the console version of the Harley Davidson machines, does it simulate the roaring motor with rumble capability? I might have to invest in the console version if so.
 
C

Chiaroscuro

Member
I was playing some tables on my Vita yesterday (do not own a PS3), and found out a weird bug in the standard/wizard goals in Cirqus Voltaire.

First I have played some Taxi sessions, got the last standard goal from the table (trophy pop up) but did not finished the current game (I had a bad score anyway), so I choose to quit. Wizard goals were unlocked but I did not get a message after the game saying that I have completed all standard goals and the wizard ones are now available (after all I did not finish the current session). After that I believe I have played a couple of games from Creature from the Black Lagoon. Achieved nothing, so I moved on to Cirqus Voltaire, where I still have to achieve the five standard goals. Played a game, where I achieve 2 standard goals (messages were displayed at the botton of the screen). But for my surprise at the end of the game there was a message saying that I have unlocked the wizard goals! But I still miss 3 standard goals (so I got not trophy). In the table menu wizard goals are unlocked, so there is no way to achieve the remaining 3 standard goals and get the trophy.

What can I do to be able to get the standard goals trophy? Deleting the game from my vita will reset the standard/wizard goals? Can I delete just the DLC pack? I do not want to loose my progress on the other tables.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
This is kinda news, posted on their FB a few days ago:

Special News about the PC version of Pinball Arcade: While we still hope to be greenlit by Steam and use them as our distribution portal, we are creating a special build for the $500+ kickstarter backers that will allow them to play a PC build containing Star Trek, Twilight Zone, and the four pack of launch tables. Everyone that selected the PC version as a backer reward of either Star Trek or Twilight Zone will get the opportunity to play the PC version of the table you backed very soon. We’ll be sending out emails to download these builds via email in January.
Click to expand...
The fact that I'll be able to play TNG on PC REALLY SOON is fucking awesome. Perhaps if they got the news out that if you backed and selected PC you'd be able to play it on there regardless of publishing rights, they would've gotten more people behind it. I might've even remembered to back TZ.

I'm not sure I dig the idea of that version coming out that contains six tables, though... because it's going to spread like wildfire and Greenlight will probably take even more of a hit.
 
M

-MB-

Member
Why can't they just release a non steam standalone demo for PC?
Maybe that'll drum up more interest to get it higher up steam greenlight and a release.
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
-MB- said:
Why can't they just release a non steam standalone demo for PC?
Maybe that'll drum up more interest to get it higher up steam greenlight and a release.
Click to expand...

I don't think their licensing contracts allows for them to have a public release without DRM in place to 'protect' the licensed material.

Also a sneak-peak in to the PC version for $500 backers is nice, but for those that didn't put in $500, I guess they'll still be waiting.
 
T

Triz

Member
So I upgraded to iphone 5 and finally picked up STTNG. In game purchase went fine table loads up, but there is no way to launch the ball. On the trial there was a button off the table to launch, retail is nothing. Ive killed the game and rebooted it 4 times with no luck. Goddamit farsight, your QA is shit.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
-MB- said:
Why can't they just release a non steam standalone demo for PC?
Maybe that'll drum up more interest to get it higher up steam greenlight and a release.
Click to expand...
Minsc said:
I don't think their licensing contracts allows for them to have a public release without DRM in place to 'protect' the licensed material.
Click to expand...
Exactly right. That's also the reason they said it won't be seen on GOG, either.
 
A

adroit

Member
Triz said:
So I upgraded to iphone 5 and finally picked up STTNG. In game purchase went fine table loads up, but there is no way to launch the ball. On the trial there was a button off the table to launch, retail is nothing. Ive killed the game and rebooted it 4 times with no luck. Goddamit farsight, your QA is shit.
Click to expand...
Something similar to that happens randomly with Cirqus Voltaire on Android (Nexus 7). I can always play at least one game normally. The problem will then randomly happen when I press the Start button to play the game again. The camera will remain in attract mode (panning around the table). There is no way to launch the ball. But I can nudge the table. I have to quit the game and try again.
 
P

plagiarize

Banned
Minsc said:
I don't think their licensing contracts allows for them to have a public release without DRM in place to 'protect' the licensed material.

Also a sneak-peak in to the PC version for $500 backers is nice, but for those that didn't put in $500, I guess they'll still be waiting.
Click to expand...

I presume as well that they have built the game using various other steamworks libraries or extensions or whatever for DLC and leaderboards and achievements and such. It'll be interesting to see what exactly this build consists of.
 
M

-MB-

Member
Minsc said:
I don't think their licensing contracts allows for them to have a public release without DRM in place to 'protect' the licensed material.

Also a sneak-peak in to the PC version for $500 backers is nice, but for those that didn't put in $500, I guess they'll still be waiting.
Click to expand...


Maybe Steam should adopt their own demo/sampling scheme to allow developers on Greenlight to be able to show off the game to potential buyers.
 
Baron

Baron

Member
The PA fan forums has a news post that says ST:TNG won't be on PS3 until March. Sigh.

So over the weekend I put in Hall of Fame and played that for the first time since Arcade was released. I swear the physics have been altered subtly for Pinball Arcade - I was having much more trouble on Medieval Madness than I had previously, with tons of SDTM drops.

I also rediscovered Whirlwind, which is a fan-fucking-tastic table. I forgot how much fun it was.
 
M

Malajax

Member
Malajax said:
Question: on the console version of the Harley Davidson machines, does it simulate the roaring motor with rumble capability? I might have to invest in the console version if so.
Click to expand...

I figured this out myself by buying Pinball Arcade for ps3. Not only does the Harley Davidson pack not feature the signature rumble of the motor (which is listed as a cool feature in the instructions!), but it offers the least amount of rumble functionality of all the tables I've played! The only rumble featured on the Harley Davidson table is when the ball hits the flippers. Even Taxi, released in the same table pack, has rumbling jet boosters while Harley Davidson does not. How does this happen?! More importantly, how does one of the signature features go missing when your entire mission statement is to have the most authentic pinball experience? I really hope this gets addressed at some point.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Baron said:
The PA fan forums has a news post that says ST:TNG won't be on PS3 until March. Sigh.
Click to expand...
I don't even...
mFlvO.gif
 
E

Elvin Atombender

Member
Shaneus said:
Thought so. Any mention of why there's the delay? A four month turnaround just can't be explained by the approval process, something else must be up.
Click to expand...

Pinball Arcade 2?

I haven't played PA much lately but I've really been looking forward to Star Trek since it's one of my favourite pinball tables ever. For some reason I never found Twilight Zone as good as many others obviously do.
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
Shaneus said:
Hands up if you're surprised.


Thought so. Any mention of why there's the delay? A four month turnaround just can't be explained by the approval process, something else must be up.
Click to expand...

My guess is just that there's 4 table packs to release still, Table Add-On Pack #7, Table Add-On Pack #8, Premium Table Add-On #1 and Premium Table Add-On #2. A lot of those have to release before TNG.

This is what the latest newsletter said at the end of December:

Latest Playstation News (updated Dec. 28th)

We were hoping to get Twilight Zone released before the holidays, but it will about a month longer.

There are currently 8 different packages for the Pinball Arcade in submission for the PS3 and PSVita versions at SCEA and SCEE: the Twilight Zone table and the Table Pack that includes Scared Stiff and Big Shot plus Sony Format QA is currently testing the Pro Versions of Medieval Madness, Scared Stiff, Tales, and Twilight Zone. The TZ custom ball is also in test.

The scheduled release dates that we currently have from Sony range from January 22, 2013 to February 13, 2013. We’re sorry for the additional wait. The Star Trek:TNG table will be submitted along with the January table pack shortly. Hopefully, the testing cycle will be quicker now that we’re out of the holiday rush.
Click to expand...

Earliest TNG would have released being submitted along with the January table pack would probably have been late February anyway...

I think there's still a lot of ground to cover before a Pinball Arcade 2 surfaces as well. They'll probably want to at least wait to launch that with another big table or two and new engine, which they probably don't have time to work on with their hands seemingly quite full right now.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
Elvin Atombender said:
Pinball Arcade 2?

I haven't played PA much lately but I've really been looking forward to Star Trek since it's one of my favourite pinball tables ever. For some reason I never found Twilight Zone as good as many others obviously do.
Click to expand...
I'm not really sure why they'd work on a Pinball Arcade 2. I think the only slight hint we've had that something like that exists is that talk of the new publisher for the 360 versions and how all the tables should work with the newer version (or something like that). It'd be silly of them to separate the versions even further than they are now, what with the sporadic releases of each of the tables. As much as I loved playing it on 360, it's just ridiculous how far behind the table roster is on it.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
Minsc said:
This is what the latest newsletter said at the end of December:



Earliest TNG would have released being submitted along with the January table pack would probably have been late February anyway...
Click to expand...
Yeah, I remember reading that. At the very least, I suppose I can take some consolation in the fact that they're releasing a standalone application especially so I can play TNG on PC. With any luck, there'll be some way of hacking the iOS versions of the tables to work on it. The post-processed tables I imagine would be ideal for PC, given that they run on a retina screen on iPad 3/4 so visual fidelity wouldn't be an issue... they'd look nigh-on identical to the console ones (or close enough).

Edit: Fuck, double post. Sorry guys.
 
Baron

Baron

Member
Shaneus said:
Hands up if you're surprised.


Thought so. Any mention of why there's the delay? A four month turnaround just can't be explained by the approval process, something else must be up.
Click to expand...

I read it in the main "news" post on the forum, here, in the very first post a short way down. Is it a reliable source? I don't know. But when you consider what Minsc posted above, in regards to the bottleneck of yet-to-be-released table packs, March starts to sound like it's not too far of a reach.

--

I was playing Gorgar on the Vita today, and started wondering why Farsight hasn't implemented gyroscopic nudging on the Vita version of the game. why? Why? Why?


Shaneus said:
I'm not really sure why they'd work on a Pinball Arcade 2.
Click to expand...

I read in the fan forum, I believe it was in that forum visit to Farsight post, that there are really complex licensing issues with each table, and were a Pinball Arcade 2 to be released that just carried over your table purchases from #1, I got the impression it would actually be less complicated, and perhaps cheaper, than updating the existing tables in #1 in order to fix bugs or other issues.
 
P

plagiarize

Banned
Baron said:
I read it in the main "news" post on the forum, here, in the very first post a short way down. Is it a reliable source? I don't know. But when you consider what Minsc posted above, in regards to the bottleneck of yet-to-be-released table packs, March starts to sound like it's not too far of a reach.

--

I was playing Gorgar on the Vita today, and started wondering why Farsight hasn't implemented gyroscopic nudging on the Vita version of the game. why? Why? Why?




I read in the fan forum, I believe it was in that forum visit to Farsight post, that there are really complex licensing issues with each table, and were a Pinball Arcade 2 to be released that just carried over your table purchases from #1, I got the impression it would actually be less complicated, and perhaps cheaper, than updating the existing tables in #1 in order to fix bugs or other issues.
Click to expand...

I don't think that was down to licensing, I think that's down to certification costs with Microsoft.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
Minsc said:
Now you're really asking for a miracle. Even Bethesda can't make a worse UI than FarSight.
Click to expand...
I still don't know why they haven't taken up any of the offers for FREE UI design work offered on the PAF forum. Surely they must know what everyone thinks of it and they themselves must think it looks odd.

Unless they're deliberately keeping it kitschy and low-budget to garner sympathy. Sometimes, it feels like it's working.
 
M

Mister Zimbu

Member
I think I could play Creature From the Black Lagoon forever.

I mean that literally. Such an easily reproducible extra ball.

Although I don't think I can curse any louder than I do during its multiball.
 
M

Mister Zimbu

Member
Elvin Atombender said:
I like the theme but I don't really like the design of the table. Almost every shot ends up with the ball on the right flipper. You can almost play it one-handed.
Click to expand...

I think that's why I'm okay with the table. It's the only one that makes me really feel like I'm in control. Mainly because it's so easy to learn the shots. On most tables I can keep the ball in play for awhile but can't really hit too many of the different shots on command.

With Creature, I can pretty consistently hit any shot on the table (barring Snack Bar and the right ramp, which I maybe hit 50% of the time) whenever I want to.

So yeah, I like the table because I suck and it's easy :D
 
B

bndadm

Member
I have been following this thread for a while now, trying to figure out which platform to get this game on, as I want access to as many tables as possible.

Well my Kindle Fire HD just arrived yesterday and the second thing I did after setting it up was download this app. Created an account and played the heck out of the free table (Arabia) and will be buying some this weekend.

It's not newsworthy, I'm just fricken' excited and wanted to share. Thanks Neogaf for tipping me off to this in the first place!
 
B

BomberMouse

Member
bndadm said:
I have been following this thread for a while now, trying to figure out which platform to get this game on, as I want access to as many tables as possible.

Well my Kindle Fire HD just arrived yesterday and the second thing I did after setting it up was download this app. Created an account and played the heck out of the free table (Arabia) and will be buying some this weekend.

It's not newsworthy, I'm just fricken' excited and wanted to share. Thanks Neogaf for tipping me off to this in the first place!
Click to expand...

It seems the mobile versions get most of the attention. So probably those, after that I'd say the PSN version. They get updated fairly often and you get both PS3 and PSV tables.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
I have a feeling the 360 one is probably *technically* the best one (as far as lag and stuff goes) but it's woefully out of date as far as table releases are concerned. I think the latest was Monster Bash or Black Lagoon (I can't remember which one was newer).

But PS3 is *probably* better as you get to play them on both Vita and PS3, not to mention that it'll be free this month on PSN (I believe).
 
S

Shaneus

Member
Something interesting I found out while reading PAF on it's Steam/PC appearance... an employee at Valve (Cayle George, I think is a level designer) is actually the third best pinball player in the world. I don't know if it is or isn't relevant to if it appears on Steam or not, but apparently he's at least aware it exists.

But I'm mainly posting this because there's an awesome video of him playing Pirates at PAPA. He does a couple of insane traps, one of which is at around 6:16. Great stuff to pick up in general :)


Another great video:
http://vimeo.com/46979534

Completely different style of table, the commentators refer to it as "fast and loose", which is the style I prefer to watch and play because it's so brutal and requires flow. The first player is the one who picked the table and is apparently very good at these sorts of games. You can see Cayle, who owned the shit out of Pirates absolutely flounders because of how different the style of game is. As far as I know, there is not a SINGLE DMD game that lends itself to these types of games.

So much fun to watch, and SO different to pretty much everything else around.

Edit: Make sure you all check out that PAPA Vimeo channel Some great videos there. Just noticed that in PAPA 14 (that had F-14), the same player picked Terminator 2 (another Steve Ritchie game) as the first of the three final tables. Tres lol.



Fuck, one more thing:
PBN: A novice player is getting into a cab and says, “Cayle, what’s one thing I can do to improve my game? What’s your advice?"
Cayle: Play one-handed. You'll learn a lot really fast about ball physics, dead flipper passes (aka bounce passes) and nudging when you don't have direct control of both flippers. It is also a great way to evaluate risk versus reward within a game's rule set.
Click to expand...
Will try it out this arvo on AC/DC basic, see how I go. Might cost me a bit, but might be enough to justify finding room (or moving house) so I can borrow a machine and practice on that.


What a death save looks like IRL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1TZQq6v2BA

And a guy playing Transformers one-handed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4_ofcbfHqU

Edit #whatever, Terminator 2 PAPA 14. A taste of things to come:
http://vimeo.com/46859082
(except I doubt we'll have the middle post removed for the TPA release)

Fun fact from that video: Steve Ritchie pioneered the "hurry up" in Black Knight.
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
jgkspsx said:
It is really painful to see PSN members whining.

I have:
3DS
PC
360
Windows Phone 8

No currently supported platforms.
Click to expand...

Well, 3DS is kind of understandable, due to processing power issues; I can forgive them if they never get it running acceptably there.

But the 360 situation is especially bitter for a whole lot of fans.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
Well, I guess the 360 is technically still supported, but they just didn't have the means to. I actually have pretty high hopes that they've been developing patches/content for it without a publisher, but haven't had the means to get it out there. In other words, when the publishing thing finally gets things back on track, there should be a buttload of new content/fixes available from the date the content is out.

I can understand frustrations regarding it (hell, I haven't touched my 360 copy for at least a few months) but when their existing publisher goes belly-up, you really, honestly can't blame FS.
 
P

plagiarize

Banned
Shaneus said:
Well, I guess the 360 is technically still supported, but they just didn't have the means to. I actually have pretty high hopes that they've been developing patches/content for it without a publisher, but haven't had the means to get it out there. In other words, when the publishing thing finally gets things back on track, there should be a buttload of new content/fixes available from the date the content is out.

I can understand frustrations regarding it (hell, I haven't touched my 360 copy for at least a few months) but when their existing publisher goes belly-up, you really, honestly can't blame FS.
Click to expand...

right.

I miss this game, but if I'm going to buy it again, and rebuy the dlc I already have, and buy all the DLC that has hit since I stopped buying it, I figured it best to step away from it until the time it came to PC or Wii U. It looks like Wii U is going to happen first, and that's where I'll get back into it.

I am more than eager to start playing again and the time away will, I think, be time well spent. I will happily revisit all the tables released so far and gladly pour more time into Gorgar, as well as finally getting to play the newer tables, and the tables I helped kickstart.

Obviously I still closely follow this thread. I can't wait to feel like an active participant in this game again.
 
J

jgkspsx

Member
Shaneus said:
I can understand frustrations regarding it (hell, I haven't touched my 360 copy for at least a few months) but when their existing publisher goes belly-up, you really, honestly can't blame FS.
Click to expand...

I don't blame them, but I kind of do. Was it really a total surprise to them that Crave went under? Maybe if they didn't have so many delivery problems, people wouldn't be so loathe to publish their games, either.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
The only thing I can really blame them for is not actively communicating why the tables were delayed on 360. I'm pretty sure that every time the 360 was mentioned (up until about a month and a half ago) it was something to do with "MS cert" and not publisher difficulties. If they were more upfront about it, I don't think as many people would be shitty.
 
N

Nuklear

Banned
Shaneus said:
The only thing I can really blame them for is not actively communicating why the tables were delayed on 360. I'm pretty sure that every time the 360 was mentioned (up until about a month and a half ago) it was something to do with "MS cert" and not publisher difficulties. If they were more upfront about it, I don't think as many people would be shitty.
Click to expand...

I find it dumb they even need a publisher to put a digital game on XBL. If the game can pass the cert process and they have the money to pay MS to put it on XBL they should be allowed to sell their game.
 
D

DarkAkatosh

Neo Member
Kaijima said:
Allegedly supposedly this month, by the end of the month. I think the 22nd has been mentioned.
Click to expand...

For the 8th day of a Pinball Arcade Christmas, we'd like to update our PlayStation players with the latest Sony news (and include a few screenshots of the tables in submission):

We were hoping to get Twilight Zone released before the holidays, but it will about a month longer. There are currently 8 different packages for the Pinball Arcade in submission for the PS3 and PSVita versions at SCEA and SCEE. In addition to the Twilight Zone table and the Table Pack that includes Scared Stiff and Big Shot – Sony Format QA is currently testing the Pro Versions of Medieval Madness, Scared Stiff, Tales, and Twilight Zone. The TZ custom ball is also in test.
The scheduled release dates that we currently have from Sony range from January 22, 2013 to February 13, 2013. We’re sorry for the additional wait. The Star Trek:TNG table will be submitted along with the January table pack shortly. Hopefully, the testing cycle will be quicker now that we’re out of the holiday rush.

In other news:
The TZ table was released today on Amazon for Android devices. The Star Trek: TNG update will be submitted tomorrow. Amazon does not allow two simultaneous updates in submission at the same time.
Also, we are sincerely hoping that Apple will finish their review of the Free version of our app for iOS and approve it before the weekend is over.

Straight from their FB
 
O

Of All Trades

Member
Nuklear said:
I find it dumb they even need a publisher to put a digital game on XBL. If the game can pass the cert process and they have the money to pay MS to put it on XBL they should be allowed to sell their game.
Click to expand...

Unless they are terrible at contracts I don't see what's stopping them from releasing standalone table versions of the game to XBLIG (unless there's a price cap of $5 which might cut STTNG).
 
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