While SCEE has its fair share of screwups (still waiting for my Sleeping Dogs replacements, for example), this seems to be FarSight's fault. It sounds they only at the very last moment remembered that they might need European codes (or else they might have gotten the idea to ask people beforehand which type of code they need and not just sent out US codes to everyone). They probably then requested the codes from SCEE (after the release of TZ) and that's why SCEE doesn't have them yet. FarSight has screwed up way too often for me to still believe they aren't at fault.
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The Pinball Arcade |OT| play them all from Soho to Brighton
- Thread starter AMUSIX
- Start date
I decided on PS3 once I bought a Vita, since every purchase counts for 2.
And on that note, are those NA codes that won't work for the EU guys going to be invalidated, or can they be generously gifted to fellow NA enthusiasts (wink wink, hint hint and such).
Edit: Oh yeah, stereo 3D support? Awesome. That's one of my favorite additions to Zen Pinball. Good to see Farsight implementing it as well.
They've posted X360 screenshots of Firepower and Dr. Dude on their FB page, saying that it should be available on mobiles very soon. Although it looks really flat (no table reflections or shadowing at all), so I hope these are strictly WIP photos:
But it's good of them to post photos of the 360 one so people know that they are actively working on them. And I think I read they're still #85 on Greenlight, so now I'm just holding my breath for some kind of special consideration rather than expecting the shitty Greenlight rules to actually make sense and allow them to publish it on there.
But it's good of them to post photos of the 360 one so people know that they are actively working on them. And I think I read they're still #85 on Greenlight, so now I'm just holding my breath for some kind of special consideration rather than expecting the shitty Greenlight rules to actually make sense and allow them to publish it on there.
Mmmmmmmmmmm. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Dash Kappei
Not actually that important
Any news on X360 DLC? :/
Baron
Member
If I didn't have a PS3 and Vita I'd be much more frustrated at the 360 situation with the game, as upon release last year I decided to buy it on, you guessed it, the 360. And if buying the tables on the Vita didn't give me the PS3 tables, my frustration level would be even higher. As it is, I'm happy I'm able to play the new tables at all. I'm buying them for the Vita, and I consider the PS3 tables a bonus. A welcome one, too.
But here's hoping the 360 tables are forthcoming sooner rather than later.
But here's hoping the 360 tables are forthcoming sooner rather than later.
Farsight responded to my Kickstarter question about not getting Twilight Zone on Android, telling me to try it again, but TZ still shows up as for purchase instead of already in my collection as ST:TNG did. Do you think I should try deleting and reinstalling, or is that just a Vita thing?
That reminds me, I still have to chase up my pro mode KS bonus for TNG. I emailed their support address, then wrote on their FB page and they suggested sending them an FB message. Did that, didn't get a reply, then saw in a later newsletter they had a dedicated address for troublesome KS bonuses. I honestly don't know if I can be fucked chasing it up or not, given how average the pro mode is for TotAN (that I paid $2 for).
Know what I'd kill for, though? Fucking cloud saves. It can't be that hard. I know what .dat file has to be used to allow it to work, so why can't they just include an option in-game to upload/download the progress? It's a 500kb file, FFS. As it is now, I almost exclusively game just on my iPad because I can't be fucked mixing up table goals.
Know what I'd kill for, though? Fucking cloud saves. It can't be that hard. I know what .dat file has to be used to allow it to work, so why can't they just include an option in-game to upload/download the progress? It's a 500kb file, FFS. As it is now, I almost exclusively game just on my iPad because I can't be fucked mixing up table goals.
plagiarize
Banned
So. There's this:
http://www.bluestacks.com/
It's basically an emulator for android apps that runs on windows. I just played the trial version of Attack From Mars. It ran pretty well on my PC. It might be worth checking out. I don't know that I'll pay money for any apps, but as a free piece of software it's worth looking into.
There's a version specifically optimized for the Surface Pro too. I should be getting one from work shortly. I haven't messed about with it much yet, to see if I can get it working with a controller or keyboard controls (clicking on the table with the mouse was okay for verifying that it worked, but not optimal for playing), but TPA was the first thing I thought of when I saw it, and you guys were the first people I thought of when I saw it worked pretty well.
http://www.bluestacks.com/
It's basically an emulator for android apps that runs on windows. I just played the trial version of Attack From Mars. It ran pretty well on my PC. It might be worth checking out. I don't know that I'll pay money for any apps, but as a free piece of software it's worth looking into.
There's a version specifically optimized for the Surface Pro too. I should be getting one from work shortly. I haven't messed about with it much yet, to see if I can get it working with a controller or keyboard controls (clicking on the table with the mouse was okay for verifying that it worked, but not optimal for playing), but TPA was the first thing I thought of when I saw it, and you guys were the first people I thought of when I saw it worked pretty well.
depths20XX
Member
I dunno if anyone else feels this way but I find Scared Stiff to be really boring. I played one game on it yesterday and it's a really easy table. My first game went on for over an hour and I was able to complete every goal the table had to offer. Kind of just got tired of it at the end. I like Party Monsters more.
Big Shot is pretty much what you would expect. It's nice that they have an old table like this on here though. Looks good and I love the sounds. Didn't get to play much.
Big Shot is, as far as I can tell, the game that was in the Gottlieb Collection on PS2/Wii/PSP. It's a great old table, in my opinion, and I spent probably an hour or so playing last night. I would love to get more of these mechanical tables. (I don't know the formal terminology. Jive Time would be neat, for example, but I'm sure there are far better ones that I simply don't know for lack of experience.)
We're getting to critical mass here. It's been a long, hard road (harder for some) but totally worth it. When I look at what I have access to now, I'm extremely pleased.
Yes, I probably have paid more over time than I would have for a big disc collection a couple of years ago, but this model appears to work.
They need a re-launch now, with a big pack that gives you all the tables at once. It's a premium product, ready for the spotlight.
Minsc
Gold Member
I think it probably makes most sense to save a relaunch for when MS/Sony's new systems hit if they can hold off that long (and also then they could improve the lighting/engine/graphics/physics even more). But I agree, once you have 7 or 8 of the table packs available, it does start to feel like a pretty complete package. Add another 10 table packs on top of that a year in from now, and you have one pretty serious collection of ~40 tables or so, that definitely benefits from a large re-launch. Maybe they should offer bigger collections down the road, but I don't know if they could do their whole catalog when they have 40 or so tables, because it'd be a lot of money.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Scared Stiff is definitely designed to be easy as far as I can tell; basically a crowd pleaser machine. Personally I really like the way it flows and the audio-visuals are entertaining, so I wasn't too bored with it.
Big Shot is surprisingly charming for such an older generation electro-mechanical table.
Anyway, this morning I actually finished the wizard goals / all trophies on Black Hole on PS3. And set a score of over 3m.
That seems to be a respectable score given the nature of the table, but I don't know how difficult Black Hole is supposed to be in real life.
Big Shot is surprisingly charming for such an older generation electro-mechanical table.
Anyway, this morning I actually finished the wizard goals / all trophies on Black Hole on PS3. And set a score of over 3m.
That seems to be a respectable score given the nature of the table, but I don't know how difficult Black Hole is supposed to be in real life.
ragincajun77
Banned
I got the Vita version of Big Shot and Scared Stiff. I was really impressed with everything about Big Shot, but Scared Stiff looks and plays like utter garbage. Honestly, the table looks like a 3DS table on zen pinball. The physics lag and the pixalation is terrible. I loved the updates they did to all the other tables which drastically improved the ball physics, but Scared Stiff seemed to be rushed out the door.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I didn't feel the Android version of Scared Stiff looked or played poorly; no idea if the Vita build of their tables are ported from iOS/Android or ported from PS3.
Given the look of the table on PS3, I do kinda suspect it is a table that will not look good at lower resolution and texture quality if not handled with care. Too many muted colors, the bone ramps have a pasty plastic texture.
depths20XX
Member
It's mostly the playfield art (I guess that's what it's called). It's all muddy and low res looking. A few other tables look like this, Black Knight and they screwed up ToM after one of the updates a long time ago too.
ThreePiMatt
Member
Fuck Big Shot. How bout that? 250k for the Wizard Goal? Fuck that. Maybe it sucks a bitch because of the weak nudge control on mobile, but that is a table that is happy to take a great run and then shit it down between the flippers without scoring any points.
Chiaroscuro
Member
Newbie question: is it worth to buy the Pro upgrades of the recent tables? What exactly it changes in the gameplay?
Honestly, it is the abuse that tables like this dole out that makes me want to play them more.
Sad but true.
In my humble opinion, no. Only buy it if you want to be able to do things like tweak the number of balls per game, etc. Note that you can't compete for high scores when you make any changes which make the table easier. And the statistics (how many times you activated various features of the table) only apply when the table is in Operator Mode. When Operator Mode is off, no statistics are collected. And Operator Mode is reset to off when you exit a table.
Frankly, I think the Pro Menu is an overpriced ripoff. Sorry to be blunt.
Know what old table we need? This one.
Just kidding, it looks like a shocker. But it's MASSIVE!
Still need more Steve Ritchie-esque tables though. Right now there are far too many that rely on stop-start gameplay rather than flow/speed/reflexes like F-14 Tomcat or High Speed/The Getaway. Give me those three (and maybe a few more) and I'll be happier
Chiaroscuro
Member
And I guess goals and trophies won't unlock when you mess with the table settings, right?
Here's the verbiage that pops up when you enable the operator mode: "Changing any Operator's Menu option from the default settings will not allow you to achieve any goals, high scores, or post to the leaderboards."
You can turn operator mode on and off with a single setting; you don't have to reset each setting individually. And it is turned off automatically when you exit the table.
plagiarize
Banned
yeah, I'm looking at the android version of scared stiff and it's one of the better looking tables I've seen so far on this version. i'm still futzting around with it using blue stacks to play them all on PC. this will be less annoying when I can play it on a surface pro using touch
Big Shot looks teeeeeeeerrible for example.
Really? The console's been out for what, three months now?
I think your expectations should be set a *little* lower. Assuming you haven't been keeping up with this thread and aren't aware of what FarSight usually delivers
plagiarize
Banned
Microsoft store eh? I'm very glad they're doing that. I wonder if it'll work on RT devices too. That would be very appealing to me. I could get it on PC without giving steam any of the money. I think I'd prefer that given the greenlight situation that Valve forced upon them. I'm going to get the Wii U version, definitely, but that's the kind of double dipping I could feel good about
I ain't seein' no update on my iOS device. I thought they would've had the nouse to only send these emails out when the software is actually available, not just after they've submitted it. We've all been stung by that before :/
PS. They're hopeful about Greenlight being discontinued etc.? So that means... they have zero chance of getting it on PC rather than slightly above zero? Ugh. JUST SIGN A FUCKING PUBLISHER LIKE YOU DID WITH THE XBOX.
PPS. I think one of the tables they're talking about is Cactus Canyon. Not sure on the other one, but I reckon it won't be hard to find out. (edit #2: I'm guessing Whirlwind, given that's really the only other one that has a semi-obvious specific location. Or maybe Central Park?)
PS. They're hopeful about Greenlight being discontinued etc.? So that means... they have zero chance of getting it on PC rather than slightly above zero? Ugh. JUST SIGN A FUCKING PUBLISHER LIKE YOU DID WITH THE XBOX.
PPS. I think one of the tables they're talking about is Cactus Canyon. Not sure on the other one, but I reckon it won't be hard to find out. (edit #2: I'm guessing Whirlwind, given that's really the only other one that has a semi-obvious specific location. Or maybe Central Park?)
ThreePiMatt
Member
Well, the way Greenlight works they'll porbably never get selected. If Greenlight goes down and perhaps Valve goes back to manually selecting games for release they'd probably have a much better chance.
As for signing a publisher, probably not a great deal for them. Even if they did get fast-tracked in their Steam submission, it would be silly of them to give another company cut of their profits for a product that is basically ready to ship.
Also, as soon as I saw the email I checked the Android store and the update was available. Dr. Dude seems like a lot of fun. Firepower less so, but I think the Wizard Goals will be relatively easy on that. I finished all the standard goals on my first game, and would have completed two (almost three) of the Wizard Goals as well.
added_time
Member
Farsight Newsletter said:
That is strange considering they already released this retail game for 3DS:
What do they mean by non-emulated tables?
plagiarize
Banned
That is strange considering they already released this retail game for 3DS:
What do they mean by non-emulated tables?
They mean games where they aren't emulating ROMs. So Gorgar!
added_time
Member
I'm picturing a release with only Gorgar on it. I guess I can get behind that. haha
Firepower may not translate well (compared to the actual table) to console/handheld, but let me tell you... there's nothing quite as stress inducing as playing a (relatively) basic table but having that slowly, subtly increasing electronic sweep getting faster and faster until you get to a point where you just want to end the ball to make it all stop.
It's a unique feeling, but it really grabs a hold of you. Maybe it just doesn't come across in translation.
Thanks for the rest of your input on the other stuff, too
(doesn't bring it any closer to playing it on PC though, for fuck's sake )If a table's "non-emulated", it means (at least, by FarSight's and the rest of the industry's terms) that a table is scripted. So picture a bunch of if-then-else statements ie. If the table's status is X (say, the Genie is lit in TotAN) and the ball rolls up the ramp, then start the ramp hurry-up. This would be okay 90% of the time, but the main issue is that the script may miss a subtlety when changing it from the ROM, like an extra condition in the background that they may not have known about or even a bug or easter egg that may not have been known about by the FarSight guys.That is strange considering they already released this retail game for 3DS:
What do they mean by non-emulated tables?
A (relatively) simple table like Big Shot may not be too much of an issue to script for (in fact, considering there's no ROM as such for it, I'm pretty sure that's the only way it can be "emulated") but it may be the only way. Actually emulating a full ROM or something may far too much processing overhead when comparing it to, say, just creating a bunch of if-then-else statements (which would still be time consuming, but nowhere near as labour or CPU intensive as emulating a ROM well enough that it doesn't create a lag/delay on the machine hosting it).
Firepower seems a bit tougher than the WPHOF version - getting a ton of SDTM drains, especially when you hit the 2 or 5 targets in the middle. Not sure if the earlier version was made "easier" or the new release was made "harder", but it's making it hard to get a good flowing game.
Dr. Dude seems fine, although I've run into one camera glitch on multiball.
Dr. Dude seems fine, although I've run into one camera glitch on multiball.
The 3DS release is so bought. At least twice over, if it's good. By "non-emulated" they mean it's going to be the old, tried-and-true PHOF scripts. Which I've always been happy enough with from Gamecube to PSP to Xbox to 360. As long as it's not as dark and the 3D isn't as glitchy as the cartridge release, I will be very happy with it.
Tables updated on iOS with this latest release:
Funhouse
Medieval Madness
Twilight Zone
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Star Trek: TNG
From what I could tell of TNG, they've just fixed the orientation of that ship that was around the wrong way. The jets still don't flash like they should
But holy crap... Firepower. It probably plays the best out of all the tables on TPA, which is not a bad thing because it's the one I'll end up playing the most anyway. The ball has a good weight to it, never feels too fast or like you're just pushing a marble around the table. Just... damn. No idea if it's an engine thing or not, so I'll be firing up some other games and see if they feel better than before. But yeah, it plays beautifully.
Could not be happier
Only bug I found (and it happened to be on my first or second play, but it hasn't happened since) was that the ball got stuck on the playfield view when I was due to launch a ball. Then when I launched it (I just guessed the plunger level on the right) the flippers didn't work. But like I said, hasn't happened since.
Oh, and the best feature to be introduced with this version.... CLOUD SAVING! So you can back up "remotely", and restore on another device. I backed up my iPad save, restored it on my iPhone... and it worked
The high scores seem to be a lot more stable, too. It adds a bit of lag because after every game there's a good second or two where the blue, generic iOS popup appears and says "updating" (as if it were doing it online) but it feels like there's more of a guarantee that it'll register your score (and maybe goals as well).
Feels like a far more solid product now than it ever has. Cloud saving has finally brought this in line with what I was expecting all along. So happy
Funhouse
Medieval Madness
Twilight Zone
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Star Trek: TNG
From what I could tell of TNG, they've just fixed the orientation of that ship that was around the wrong way. The jets still don't flash like they should
But holy crap... Firepower. It probably plays the best out of all the tables on TPA, which is not a bad thing because it's the one I'll end up playing the most anyway. The ball has a good weight to it, never feels too fast or like you're just pushing a marble around the table. Just... damn. No idea if it's an engine thing or not, so I'll be firing up some other games and see if they feel better than before. But yeah, it plays beautifully.
Could not be happier
Only bug I found (and it happened to be on my first or second play, but it hasn't happened since) was that the ball got stuck on the playfield view when I was due to launch a ball. Then when I launched it (I just guessed the plunger level on the right) the flippers didn't work. But like I said, hasn't happened since.
Oh, and the best feature to be introduced with this version.... CLOUD SAVING! So you can back up "remotely", and restore on another device. I backed up my iPad save, restored it on my iPhone... and it worked
The high scores seem to be a lot more stable, too. It adds a bit of lag because after every game there's a good second or two where the blue, generic iOS popup appears and says "updating" (as if it were doing it online) but it feels like there's more of a guarantee that it'll register your score (and maybe goals as well).
Feels like a far more solid product now than it ever has. Cloud saving has finally brought this in line with what I was expecting all along. So happy
Man, I absolutely fucking adore Firepower. It's fast, simple (meaning you tend to rely more on reflexes than big scoring shots) and brutal as hell. Couldn't have asked for anything better.
PS. I hope they get some decent performance happening with their post processing on the iDevices. It still runs like arse on my iPad 3 but I can see that it's the only way they could get night effects working on the machines. Damnit, I want my Firepower to look like this. I also want it to have beefy, ballsy (both) mechanical and synthesized sounds. Everything still sounds kinda flat :/
PPS. While on rad Ritchie games, I'm hanging for this. From what I can tell, even more brutal than Firepower.
PPPS. This guy does an incredible job of putting into words the difference between Firepower and Gorgar (which I pretty much thought were kind of similar anyway, but I didn't put that much time into Gorgar to start with).
PS. I hope they get some decent performance happening with their post processing on the iDevices. It still runs like arse on my iPad 3 but I can see that it's the only way they could get night effects working on the machines. Damnit, I want my Firepower to look like this. I also want it to have beefy, ballsy (both) mechanical and synthesized sounds. Everything still sounds kinda flat :/
PPS. While on rad Ritchie games, I'm hanging for this. From what I can tell, even more brutal than Firepower.
PPPS. This guy does an incredible job of putting into words the difference between Firepower and Gorgar (which I pretty much thought were kind of similar anyway, but I didn't put that much time into Gorgar to start with).
Every couple months I check to see if they've updated Vita to have the option of not using back touch as tilt in vertical mode. Then I shut it off for another couple months. Seems really stupid to me. I only like playing it vertically but I can't keep my hands from accidentally tilting it every single time.
PS3 flippers still laggy?
PS3 flippers still laggy?
Minsc
Gold Member
There was a patch a few months ago I think, where a bunch of people said the lag was much better than it used to be. PS3 version is becoming quite good now, especially with so many table packs out, compared to the 360.
I'm curious what the other really cool stuff they have planned for 2013 is, which they can't talk about. It's come a long way from release, and imo shows a lot of promise, but there's still plenty of things left to improve and add. Even with all the flaws, they do show an admirable degree of support and it's nice to see consistent work being done and new tables every month.