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

Shaneus

Member
Table packs 09-12 (that's all of them!):

AdPGyaP.png

GWD0Pam.png

tZzlBpI.png

HbePj3y.png

JZZG1VE.png

hEv2lrf.png

60FjG7n.png


PSN finally dies out... and Central Park takes the crown for oldest table in the game, I didn't realize it was from 1966 until I looked it up for the banner myself.

And a key (just in case it's not completely obvious):
nlD6rd4.png


Also, updated the above banners in this post to link to image galleries of various platforms instead of a single screen. I'll throw in more screens as I find them / they release on more platforms.

Here's a nice example of a high-res 360 shot vs iPad shot, in No Good Gofers. You can see the ramp is transparent on the 360, and in a lot of other shots above the 360/PS3 versions have much more detailed lighting and are generally less lit than the mobile versions (I guess to emphasis the lighting effects). Should be nice getting even better lighting in the future.

Next to update all the earlier image links to galleries, then sort out the rest of the info/layout for the OP... hopefully get it all set sometime next week.


(from this post, courtesy of Minsc)
 

Minsc

Gold Member
I hope the 360 issues finish resolving with soon. I wouldn't mind seeing it caught up of course, but I'd also like to see FarSight move forward with their T2 kickstarter so they can clear that out of the way and open the grounds for another high profile, hopefully more interesting table. Though I guess it's possible too they're thinking ahead to the eventual Pinball Arcade 2 launch, and what big yet to be released tables remain to launch it with. Damn The Addams Family being in such a legal mess, probably my favorite table from back when real pinball tables were everywhere.
 

Shaneus

Member
I hope so, too. The most crushing thing is reading that it's the lead platform and playing the current version with it's response time... and the lack of tables.

Has there been any official mention of the possible second release of PA? I haven't seen any word from them, but do see it get mentioned by others every so often so I'm curious about what exactly it could be capable of compared to the current version (and how they'll choose to push it out, especially for those who already bought DLC for the current release).
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Has there been any official mention of the possible second release of PA? I haven't seen any word from them, but do see it get mentioned by others every so often so I'm curious about what exactly it could be capable of compared to the current version (and how they'll choose to push it out, especially for those who already bought DLC for the current release).

I haven't seen anything official myself, but I'm just going on it's inevitable sooner or later they'll have a refresh. Zen's working on the 3rd round iirc (for sometime 2014 or 2015). My guess is a similar timeline for Pinball Arcade, another 2 more years, but perhaps they will stick with it and keep evolving it. At some point it seems the updates will become too cumbersome for XBLA & PS3 though, and they'll be forced to start anew there at least. I think at some point XBLA fees become too high (which actually this huge delay probably helps prevent from happening too fast), and they said PS3 DLC/updates require all prior DLC/updates in it, so every old buggy updates stick around forever in the file forever - which a whole new start would fix as well.
 

Shaneus

Member
Ah yes, I remember reading that about the updates. Hopefully they find an easy enough way to get existing purchases to new versions (providing they're on the same platform, obviously).

I have confidence in FS being able to pull everything off that they say they do. I think that once the 360 and PC versions are back on track, release times and bugs will be a lot smoother (although one hopes the bug occurrences on tables drop considerably, given their patching abilities on consoles vs. Android/iOS).

I actually had that multiball bug in Firepower the other day, where the machine just sits there and does nothing after losing all three of the balls in play (I think it only happens if you do that on the last ball). Very frustrating.
 
I played another game of Attack From Mars and I guess I do have that bump thing on the orbit. I just nudge to the side when it happens and it's not an issue.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
A bunch of new information over at PAF:

• Due to the length of the delays on the Xbox 360, FarSight is offering to switch Kickstarter backer platforms to any other platform they support. If the base game is needed to play (for example the PS3), FarSight will be happy to provide a means to getting the base game free of charge. Please contact FarSight at PinballArcadeStarTrekCodes@gmail.com if you'd like to switch platforms.

• SCEE has confirmed that the Star Trek codes are now cross-buy for the PS3 and PS Vita. Unfortunately, the already redeemed codes cannot be fixed so FarSight will be sending out new codes to ALL European Kickstarter backers within the next couple of days.

• FarSight’s meeting with Valve at GDC 2013 went very well and hope to make an announcement on the details of a PC release soon.

• The Wii U version is currently in submission with NOA/NOE and the process is moving along very quickly. FarSight hopes to have good news relatively soon.

• FarSight is continuing to work with the bankruptcy court to get the legal issues with their Xbox 360 publisher sorted out and they remain confident that they will be able to release all of the new tables on the Xbox 360 soon.

• FarSight is currently working to correct the swipe nudge bug that causes the game to crash on iOS and hope to make it work better.

• The stereoscopic 3D functionality for the PS3 will be included in an update after FarSight has had a chance to perfect and balance it. What they displayed at the shows was still in development and wasn't 100% working on some tables.

• FarSight is currently looking into the possibility of using the PS Vita as a cross-controller for The Pinball Arcade on the PS3.

• Challenge Mode is still in the works for all platforms and devices and will be included in an upcoming update.

• FarSight is still in the process of revamping their official website and hope to launch it soon.

• FarSight will be making an announcement on the next tournament very soon.

• An announcement on Table Add-On Pack #13 coming this week!

• More information on Table Add-On Pack and platform specific releases coming soon from FarSight Studios!

Lots of stuff "coming soon" as always lol.

And OUYA is now released with a bunch of tables out as well:

UPDATE The Pinball Arcade, which is currently accessible exclusively by OUYA Kickstarter backers who have received their OUYAs early, is AVAILABLE NOW! and is FREE to download with Tales of the Arabian Nights unlocked for unlimited free play.

Cactus Canyon, Central Park, Dr. Dude, Firepower, Attack from Mars, Genie, Star Trek : The Next Generation, The Twilight Zone, Scared Stiff, Big Shot, Elvira and the Party Monsters, No Good Gofers!, Taxi, Harley-Davidson Third Edition, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Black Knight, Monster Bash, Gorgar, Cirqus Voltaire, Funhouse, Medieval Madness, The Machine : Bride of Pin•Bot, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Theatre of Magic, and Black Hole are all available for purchase from within the game.

The Pinball Arcade will be available for non-Kickstarter backers when the OUYA officially launches on June 4, 2013.
 

Shaneus

Member
Yeah, there's way too much "soon" there. TNG/TZ "beta" on PC for Kickstarters... soon :/ Some solid details like "Hey, realistically the 360 is going to get updated probably in about two months", "We met with Valve, they're publishing it for us and it's a month away" and the like would go a LONG fucking way.
 
I think I'm going to jump on the Wii U version if it hits before PC, and if the base game isn't shit, I'll pick up all the tables for it. I was playing Zen 2 in bed last night and the Wii U game pad makes for such a great pinball controller. those digital triggers are bliss too.

It's been 'soon' for way too long though.
 

joeblow

Member
Cool PS3 news. 3D support will be awesome, and the ability to use my Vita as the controller should move the display screen from the TV to the handheld. Looking forward to it!
 
Hahaha, what the heck is up with the Black Hole PS3/mobile leaderboard. The Xbox leaderboard looks nothing like that.

Edit: I checked on PAF and apparently the game was putting Theater of Magic mobile scores on the Black Hole leaderboard for a while, so it's full of scores in the billions. That's dumb.
 

Shaneus

Member
Hahaha, what the heck is up with the Black Hole PS3/mobile leaderboard. The Xbox leaderboard looks nothing like that.

Edit: I checked on PAF and apparently the game was putting Theater of Magic mobile scores on the Black Hole leaderboard for a while, so it's full of scores in the billions. That's dumb.
I recall seeing something like that happening with another table on iOS... it might've been Central Park? Seeing all these scores that barely rate in the thousands, then there's a couple up the top in the millions. Of course, they could've just been cheaters.
 
I recall seeing something like that happening with another table on iOS... it might've been Central Park? Seeing all these scores that barely rate in the thousands, then there's a couple up the top in the millions. Of course, they could've just been cheaters.

Some people post hacked scores, but Farsight seems to delete the obviously fraudulent ones every so often.
 

Shaneus

Member
So I just found out (it sounds like I should've known already... maybe it was mentioned on PAF) that the next pack will be White Water and Space Shuttle. No idea on a date.

Need it now, though! Don't we usually see them around the middle of the month?
 

Shaneus

Member
I don't recall playing much of Space Shuttle. But I'll buy it in the pack along with White Water because White Water looks fucking rad.

That mate of mine has a billion machines (okay, maybe 50 or so) has a White Water that has a backglass that's a little too small for the back panel (or something), but otherwise in really good condition. Once I move out of my tiny unit into a grand palace, he said I could borrow it :)

Now here's hoping that the next few games have some awesome alphanumerics in it. I'd kill for F-14, High Speed or (obv. non-a#) The Getaway. Shit, even Flash (Steve Ritchie's first big game) would be awesome.
 

Remy

Member
So I just found out (it sounds like I should've known already... maybe it was mentioned on PAF) that the next pack will be White Water and Space Shuttle. No idea on a date.

Need it now, though! Don't we usually see them around the middle of the month?

Mar 15 '13 Version 1.2.5
Feb 15 '13 Version 1.2.4
Jan 18 '13 Version 1.2.3
Dec 21 '12 Version 1.2.2
Nov 30 '12 Version 1.2.1
Oct 28 '12 Version 1.2.0
Oct 04 '12 Version 1.1.9
Sep 27 '12 Version 1.1.8
Aug 14 '12 Version 1.1.6
Jul 28 '12 Version 1.1.5

Seems to have been the trend as of late.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Went and updated the OP finally, all the table banners are collected there now, along with a few small changes to the format of it.

The table banners are all updated to have links to image galleries, so you can easily compare the graphics across platforms (unfortunately, it's really just console/ios/real table at the moment, unless people want to provide images for me). I'll add PC when it releases, and hopefully getting PS4 shots will be simple enough as well, since that will have more advanced graphics.

There's also a small summary of the notable recent news in the OP, anything more is pointless, since it's all from PAF anyway. I did miss earlier the mention of user defined camera angles coming late 2013, which will be great. Also, FarSight is adding in a challenge mode soon to all platforms which I'm not quite sure what it is, perhaps like a 5 minute timer to score as high as possible?

Edit: Actually having a timed mode like that, with its own leaderboards would be great I think. It would definitely fit the mobile devices better in the sense you don't have to commit to a 3 or 4 hour period to play a table, and that it would change the way the table is played, since you can't just go for the safest way to get a high score if there's a faster but riskier way to do it, as you need to use every second to the fullest.
 
Went and updated the OP finally, all the table banners are collected there now, along with a few small changes to the format of it.

The table banners are all updated to have links to image galleries, so you can easily compare the graphics across platforms (unfortunately, it's really just console/ios/real table at the moment, unless people want to provide images for me). I'll add PC when it releases, and hopefully getting PS4 shots will be simple enough as well, since that will have more advanced graphics.

There's also a small summary of the notable recent news in the OP, anything more is pointless, since it's all from PAF anyway. I did miss earlier the mention of user defined camera angles coming late 2013, which will be great. Also, FarSight is adding in a challenge mode soon to all platforms which I'm not quite sure what it is, perhaps like a 5 minute timer to score as high as possible?

Edit: Actually having a timed mode like that, with its own leaderboards would be great I think. It would definitely fit the mobile devices better in the sense you don't have to commit to a 3 or 4 hour period to play a table, and that it would change the way the table is played, since you can't just go for the safest way to get a high score if there's a faster but riskier way to do it, as you need to use every second to the fullest.

pinball of the ancients on DSi ware had a fun one ball mode that you could only play once a day that had it's own leaderboards. that was neat too.
 

Shaneus

Member
Mar 15 '13 Version 1.2.5
Feb 15 '13 Version 1.2.4
Jan 18 '13 Version 1.2.3
Dec 21 '12 Version 1.2.2
Nov 30 '12 Version 1.2.1
Oct 28 '12 Version 1.2.0
Oct 04 '12 Version 1.1.9
Sep 27 '12 Version 1.1.8
Aug 14 '12 Version 1.1.6
Jul 28 '12 Version 1.1.5

Seems to have been the trend as of late.
Wow, nice work! Hoping for a surprise pack very soon (unless they officially announce it when it's out).

Btw from what I can gather, White Water and Space Shuttle haven't actually been announced... only reason I know is because I asked on their FB and some ransoms answered, apparently there's talk amongst the beta testers about those tables.
 

VALIS

Member
When I would get frustrated by other tables I would play Space Shuttle and pretend I was awesome at pinball.

Hey, now. It's ok to like easy things. :(

Space Shuttle is fun!

*runs from room sobbing*

Haha, same here. At my local pinball arcade I often frequent Space Shuttle because I can play it for 15-20 minutes on a single token. A necessary ego salve after an hour of other machines kicking my ass.

Btw from what I can gather, White Water and Space Shuttle haven't actually been announced

They finally were about two hours ago.
 

Shaneus

Member
From FB:

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Not sure on platform, but if history is any indication, they're from the (obviously unreleased) 360 verison. Not sure if I quite dig the look of White Water, but the lighting on Space Shuttle looks freaking beautiful.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
From FB:

Not sure on platform, but if history is any indication, they're from the (obviously unreleased) 360 verison. Not sure if I quite dig the look of White Water, but the lighting on Space Shuttle looks freaking beautiful.

Nice, looks like the leaks were correct; also those will do nicely for the future galleries. :)
 
I'm guessing they haven't, but I hope that they've modelled the physics so that the ball will jump and hit the glass on the ramp that returns to the left flipper in White Water. I've run into a handful of White Waters that do that, and it's one of the main things I remember standing out about the table. I'm not sure that it's meant to happen though.

edit: researched!

Dennis Nordman said:
Hi guys, I just discovered this thread. As I remember it, the ball didn't hit the glass with the first handmade ramps on the whitewood. When we installed the first vacuum formed ramps, from the aluminum tool, we noticed the ball hitting the glass. The production ramps are so much smoother and faster than the hand made originals. Anyway, everyone liked it so we let it happen. The story about not putting glass on until production is not true. We would NEVER let a game get all the way to production without testing it with the glass in place. Besides that, it's too noisy without the glass and it's easier to tune the sounds and music with the glass on.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/white-waters-insanity-falls/page/2

so yeah, it BETTER do that :)
 

Shaneus

Member
So that's the ramp on the left hand side that hits the glass? That's awesome.

Does it affect the movement of the ball enough to knock it off target (so it misses the ramp) or loses speed?
 
So that's the ramp on the left hand side that hits the glass? That's awesome.

Does it affect the movement of the ball enough to knock it off target (so it misses the ramp) or loses speed?

it happens on the last hump. it made a very distinct sound. the ball hops up, hits the glass, lands back in the ramp and keeps going. it'll happen on any White Water in good condition. I don't think it really affects gameplay at all, it just made for a pavlovian thrill because you knew you'd hit the ramp straight when you heard it. a shot that's slightly off will still clear the ramp (one without enough speed will drop out the bottom of one of the two troughs) without getting the required air to hit the glass.

Man, those years working at the Laser Tag place back home in Derby are sorely missed. More for the rotation of pinball tables than anything else. They only ever had one pinball table at a time, but I spent quality time with each that they had in place. thinking about White Water really brings me back.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
From FB:
]

Not sure on platform, but if history is any indication, they're from the (obviously unreleased) 360 verison. Not sure if I quite dig the look of White Water, but the lighting on Space Shuttle looks freaking beautiful.

Oh damn, stings sooooo much -_-

Will it ever freaking update with new DLCs?
 

Shaneus

Member
it happens on the last hump. it made a very distinct sound. the ball hops up, hits the glass, lands back in the ramp and keeps going. it'll happen on any White Water in good condition. I don't think it really affects gameplay at all, it just made for a pavlovian thrill because you knew you'd hit the ramp straight when you heard it. a shot that's slightly off will still clear the ramp (one without enough speed will drop out the bottom of one of the two troughs) without getting the required air to hit the glass.

Man, those years working at the Laser Tag place back home in Derby are sorely missed. More for the rotation of pinball tables than anything else. They only ever had one pinball table at a time, but I spent quality time with each that they had in place. thinking about White Water really brings me back.
That's a really, really cool thing! There has to be stacks of games that have these little "glitches" in them.

Reminds me of a story, though, when a mate had some game where a good portion of the playfield plastics were wrecked along with the playfield itself, so he had some fun with a mate and wound up the voltage across the two flipper solenoids, basically smashing the fuck out of the rest of the playfield plastics :lol

Oh damn, stings sooooo much -_-

Will it ever freaking update with new DLCs?
Yeah, that's what always hurts... it's the base/lead platform at the moment so from what I've seen, whenever they have a setup at a tournament/show somewhere, everything's on the 360.

Are you aware of the problem they had with the 360? Publisher they were with went bankrupt so they've been working on wrangling the license back (or something) so they can get another publisher on board to release tables on XBLA. Last I heard they had finalised it (or were really, really close) and had the impression it was only going to be a month or two away. That was around the start of the year :/
 

Minsc

Gold Member
A little off-topic, but I stumbled across something called Zaccaria Pinball today:

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I'm not really familar with any of the Zaccaria tables, but they're getting essentially what amounts to all of them (27 of the ~30 tables made). Anyone here ever play any of them? They seem to score fairly decently on ipdb, in the 8 range, but then again just about everything does.

Amazingly enough, it even features a Light/dark environment choice when playing, something I wish Pinball Arcade had!
 

Shaneus

Member
Strangely enough, I stumbled across it yesterday too! Was reading the PAF forums for the first time in a while, saw that thread (surprised it was a month or so old) and while the impressions started off bad, they're making leaps and bounds with improvements.

Looking at the features (night mode, landscape<=>portrait IN GAME etc.) and how far ahead they are above Pinball Arcade (the quality of the tables looks surprisingly good on my 4S), I'm hoping it pushes Farsight to make a better quality product. The ASK guy in that thread is being more than responsive to suggestions, too.

And the sound in it just beats the shit out of PA as well.

Tempted to jump in on the gold "subscription" to get all the tables and modes for ~$37AU. The way the game's progressing and improving (the physics have impressed me quite a bit, though there's some ways to go) I think it could be a good investment.

Think it was one table a month, too... at least, that was what they were aiming for (one every 3-4 weeks). Also love to see if they can do it without requiring an app. update (bypassing the need for Apple approvals). Like I said, good chance for us to see what Farsight could do better (at least, on the iOS versions).

If you read the "about" page in the app (have you bought it?) it says that at their peak, Zaccaria were the third biggest pinball manufacturer in the world, behind Williams and Bally (no small feat, considering Stern, Premier and Atari would've been around the same time).
 

adroit

Member
I stumbled across something called Zaccaria Pinball today
Wow, I completely forgot about Zaccaria pinball machines. I do remember some of those graphics. Has anyone played this game yet? Any good? Looks like it's currently only on some platform called "iOS" (never heard of it).
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Might as well get it in while we're still a little off-topic, look what else is coming back!

7sAVOCT.jpg


Showing off their ambient lighting above. Another try at a kickstarter, hope the goal is much more reasonable, as they only raised around $175K of the asking $400K last time around, though this time it looks like it'll just be Timeshock! and not the bonus / new Pat Lawlor table :(
 

Shaneus

Member
Might as well get it in while we're still a little off-topic, look what else is coming back!

7sAVOCT.jpg


Showing off their ambient lighting above. Another try at a kickstarter, hope the goal is much more reasonable, as they only raised around $175K of the asking $400K last time around, though this time it looks like it'll just be Timeshock! and not the bonus / new Pat Lawlor table :(
Well, to be honest their original KS was far too ambitious and was asking for way too much money. They should've started off small (say, basic port of original tables to a single platform) and then moved up to multiple platforms and table improvements.

Wow, I completely forgot about Zaccaria pinball machines. I do remember some of those graphics. Has anyone played this game yet? Any good? Looks like it's currently only on some platform called "iOS" (never heard of it).
I don't know if you're joking about iOS :/ But the title itself is far better than it has every right to be. I'd actually go so far as to say that in many aspects (sadly, not quite in the physics or controls department... but pretty much everything else) it's better than Pinball Arcade.


Edit: From the PAF forums, Twitch recorded stream from PAPA '13. Apparently the finals start around 7:00hrs in.
 

adroit

Member
I don't know if you're joking about iOS :/ But the title itself is far better than it has every right to be. I'd actually go so far as to say that in many aspects (sadly, not quite in the physics or controls department... but pretty much everything else) it's better than Pinball Arcade.
Yes, I was joking (grumpily) about iOS. Thanks for your impressions of the app. Sometimes nostalgia is more powerful than physics.
 

VALIS

Member
I bought Zaccaria last week after bumping into it at random on the iOS store. I've played a few of their tables in person before and a bunch more via VP or FP emulators, and I think they made some really clever tables. Time Machine is one of my favorite tables to play in person, it's just wild in a kitchy 80s sci-fi way with one of the coolest gimmicks ever.

As for the app itself, I played it briefly and thought it was mediocre. The physics aren't great, the ball is too heavy (which is even more of a jolt coming from PA where the ball is too light), the art, animation and lighting could use some work... it's not bad though. Worth the buck ninety-nine or whatever it was, but it didn't give me enough confidence to plunk down for the pack of future tables at $40. But if they keep improving it could become a real nice side course to PA. I'll definitely keep checking in.
 

Shaneus

Member
Have you seen ASK Homework's responses to the suggestions on PAF? They're surprisingly responsive and a lot of the suggestions made in that thread have actually made it into the game (at least, I get the impression that's what happened).

Whether they're true to life or not (you've played them IRL, I haven't) I'm glad that the balls feel a little heavier than the ones in Pinball Arcade. And I know it's far too exaggerated, but they seem to have ball spin working quite well, too. And night mode. And custom cameras. And meaty mechanical sounds (so, SO much better than PA). Considering how long it's been out, I'm surprised how it's able to eclipse PA in so many aspects.

It's not perfect, but it has a lot of stuff in there that I wish was in Pinball Arcade. Hopefully it lights a fire under Farsight and gets them implementing stuff quicker.
 
I didn't want to go into too much detail in the other thread, but I am so relieved that Valve finally pulled their head out of their ass on this. It has been a constant source of frustration for me. I didn't buy anything in Steam sales and I bought any Steamworks games I wanted from third party sources because of this.

If this hits before the Wii U version, I totally break.
 
YES! I will finally be able to jump back into this game after the 360 version hit that brick wall ages ago.
I can't wait to play all the new tables on the PC version!
 

Shiv47

Member
I find it really irritating that I kickstarted the Star Trek table and yet after a month or whatever it's been I still don't have a working PSN code to download it. These guys have gotten their last money out of me. I love seeing these old tables made, but enough is enough.
 
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