New Pinball Arcade from makers of Williams Collection

[Austin]

Can we just all agree that Pinball Arcade is aewsome and get on with it?

 

Sorry, no-can-do.

[HammR25]

No I'm definitely spoiled which means I have some form of a brain....some folks quad-dipped for these guys as they un-shamefully admit on Facebook all the while thanking Farsight for scamming their asses off.

 

Some people have more money than sense.

 

$209.94 for the complete seasons of DLC is peanuts for some people right? Sure seems that way, good luck to them in their lives.

 

 

Most people are smart enough to buy it for only one platform and play it on that platform if that's all they can afford. They don't complain when they can't buy it for one platform and then play it on a bunch of other platforms. They also understand that it cost Farsight money to develop it for all those platforms and Farsight should expect to get paid for each and every one of them. It's like complaining that you bought Namco museum on the Nintendo 64, Playstation and Playstation 2 but now have to pay for it for the Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, iPhone, PS3 and PS4.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

 

Most people are smart enough to buy it for only one platform and play it on that platform if that's all they can afford. They don't complain when they can't buy it for one platform and then play it on a bunch of other platforms. They also understand that it cost Farsight money to develop it for all those platforms and Farsight should expect to get paid for each and every one of them. It's like complaining that you bought Namco museum on the Nintendo 64, Playstation and Playstation 2 but now have to pay for it for the Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, iPhone, PS3 and PS4.

Well said Hamm.

[boog]

Most people are smart enough to buy it for only one platform and play it on that platform if that's all they can afford.

360 customers have reason to complain though since the system was abandoned after the first few table packs. Forced re-buy of the base game on another platform if you want any further DLC.

 

I'm pretty happy sticking with the PS3/Vita version. They're a cross-buy so you get console and portable for one price. As long as they continue to offer new DLC for PS3 and don't force a migration to PS4 I'll keep buying. Just wish they could hold to a monthly release schedule... PS3 hasn't had a new pack since before Halloween.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2013 by boog

[cimerians]

 

 

Most people are smart enough to buy it for only one platform and play it on that platform if that's all they can afford. They don't complain when they can't buy it for one platform and then play it on a bunch of other platforms. They also understand that it cost Farsight money to develop it for all those platforms and Farsight should expect to get paid for each and every one of them. It's like complaining that you bought Namco museum on the Nintendo 64, Playstation and Playstation 2 but now have to pay for it for the Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, iPhone, PS3 and PS4.

 

Its not like Namco Museum. This is DLC we are talking about. Add-ons.

 

Look your not going to convince me otherwise. These guys have been borderline shit from the moment I backed them on Kickstarter a few years back and only recently this past year have improved and done some good things. Now I see this going on and it doesn't really clean the bitter taste in my mouth. I overpaid for the tables on Kickstarter, they also didn't deliver these tables to backers before they were released on consoles. Not to mention the utter lack of communication. The android version was unplayable when released and I won't even mention the many times people we were left wondering if they will get there tables.

 

These guys have done a shitty job and only recently have "improved".

 

They deserve a complaint. They deserve my wrath.

 

Rarrrrrrrrrr

 

edit: I could really care less anymore. As Stardust said....lets just move on. I'm still stupidly looking forward to stuff from them.

Edited December 22, 2013 by cimerians

[goldenegg]

 

Its not like Namco Museum. This is DLC we are talking about. Add-ons.

 

 

How many games let you bring DLC between platforms? There are several games I own both the console and PC versions of. I never expect that buying DLC on one will transfer on the other.

 

My Pinball Arcade investment was made on my iPad and I am now happily planning to pick it up for the PS4. Like the other games in my collection, I don't expect the tables I've purchased on the iPad (I've bought them all) to transfer to the PS4.

[cimerians]

 

How many games let you bring DLC between platforms? There are several games I own both the console and PC versions of. I never expect that buying DLC on one will transfer on the other.

 

My Pinball Arcade investment was made on my iPad and I am now happily planning to pick it up for the PS4. Like the other games in my collection, I don't expect the tables I've purchased on the iPad (I've bought them all) to transfer to the PS4.

 

We are talking PS3 --> PS4. Same account. I never said I'm expecting to get the stuff for free from Android to PS4 or from different accounts. I was talking about Playstation and my own PSN account.

 

Zen is doing this. They are not. Looks bad on them.

 

"We have invested hundreds and hundreds of man hours on PS4 adding tech and higher resolution textures to take advantage of the new hardware."

 

Thats one of the quotes they gave me when they responded. I played it and it looks the same as the PS3 version. Not much difference I can tell but what do I know right? I'm not a developer and I cant see the insane improvements they put in.

 

Hey it's fine. They want to charge for it they can. I stated my opinion on that though and I stick to it.

 

Movin on..................

Edited December 22, 2013 by cimerians

[Atariboy]

Just wish they could hold to a monthly release schedule... PS3 hasn't had a new pack since before Halloween.

PSN releases are pretty consistent at least. They almost always get within 2 packs to other platforms before falling back to 3 behind when other systems get a new pack (which I think they're at right now). Briefly a few months ago, they got as close as only 1 behind.

 

That they've fallen behind a bit again to 3 or so is essentially the norm or perhaps is a result of their push to get the PS4 release out. Hopefully it's not a sign that they're going to hold up PS3/Vita releases until they catch the PS4 up.

 

Black Night 2000 (Williams, 1989), Junk Yard (Williams, 1996), and WHO Dunnit (Bally, 1995) have been announced for winter PA releases.

The 2001 Stern release named High Roller Casino has been announced as the next table pack. So these will apparently come a little bit later on.

 

Pinball Arcade features pinball tables from Bally®, Williams®, Stern®, Sega®, Data East® and Gottlieb®, to create the ultimate pinball collection.

Anyone else notice the listing of Data East in the PS4 retail press release? I don't believe that any Data East properties have appeared yet or that they've mentioned that they have a licensing agreement for that content. So there's another publisher that they must have a licensing agreement with now.

 

I wonder if it's G-Mode they're dealing with now that Data East is defunct since I don't think it's known just where the pinball properties ended up. At least I saw no sign of where that IP went when the Wii collection was made and I researched where their properties went to to see who owned what.

Edited December 22, 2013 by Atariboy

[goldenegg]

Anyone else notice the listing of Data East in the PS4 retail press release? I don't believe that any Data East properties have appeared yet or that they've mentioned that they have a licensing agreement for that content. So there's another publisher that they must have a licensing agreement with now.

 

I wonder if it's G-Mode they're dealing with now that Data East is defunct since I don't think it's known just where the pinball properties ended up. At least I saw no sign of where that IP went when the Wii collection was made and I researched where their properties went to to see who owned what.

 

If they do have the rights to Data East tables, I really hope they add the Star Trek 25th Anniversary table. That's my all time favourite!

[Andromeda Stardust]

One Star Trek Themed table is enough.

[goldenegg]

One Star Trek Themed table is enough.

 

Highly disagree!

[Andromeda Stardust]

Is 25th better than TNG? I found that table to be a bit too complex.

[goldenegg]

I like it better, but part of that it likely due to the insane number of hours I used to spend playing it.

[theredlineboss]

Man, I feel screwed at this point. I picked up a bunch of XBL points JUST to order their newer packs, right around the time they were removed from XBL. Not sure if there is any meaningful progress on that. And of course, now they offer the full first season on disk (I'd have waited for a physical release since I despise download-only distribution)...and it is on a system I won't own for at least a year.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the games, but I'm rather agitated by their way of doing business. At least since I know there is a physical release, I can find some other use for the XBL points.

 

-Rob

[Andromeda Stardust]

Man, I feel screwed at this point.

You can blame that on Microsoft's assinine policy of requiring 360 indie developers to sign a publisher on XBL Arcade. Crave Entertainment is bankrupt, yet they still hold exclusive rights to Pinball Arcade on the Xbox360 platform. Xbox One is out so all current focus will be towards getting software ported to Xbox One.

 

You may be better off jumping ship to Playstation if you wanna go that route. Xbox has royally screwed gamers over the years, bullying indie developers into signing exclusivity contracts and forcing gamers to pay Xbox Live subscriptions to game online. Terrible business plan if you ask me. And I don't entirely trust either company right now with their DRM anti-used game tech. Both have decided to let their technology lie dormant, but who knows when they'll decide to activate it. I'm sticking to Wii-U and Ouya this generation.

[Austin]

You can blame that on Microsoft's assinine policy of requiring 360 indie developers to sign a publisher on XBL Arcade. Crave Entertainment is bankrupt, yet they still hold exclusive rights to Pinball Arcade on the Xbox360 platform. Xbox One is out so all current focus will be towards getting software ported to Xbox One.

 

Except that FarSight isn't an indie developer. These guys have been in business for a long, long time.

 

I wonder if it's G-Mode they're dealing with now that Data East is defunct since I don't think it's known just where the pinball properties ended up. At least I saw no sign of where that IP went when the Wii collection was made and I researched where their properties went to to see who owned what.

 

Data East's pinball devision was picked up by SEGA in the mid '90s. SEGA's pinball properties would later be transitioned over to Stern. Chances are Stern Pinball owns Data East's pinball properties.

[Atariboy]

That makes sense, thanks.

[theredlineboss]

Well, regardless of the cause, I don't really feel like starting over or sitting on my points any more, so I finally spent most of my XBL points today on Pinball FX 2 tables . It's not the same as the *real* machines, but it makes for some fine fantasy pinball.

 

I'll wind up with the games somehow, but I expect it will be in the form of the season 1 disc rather than individual downloads.

 

-Rob

[Rex Dart]

If they do have the rights to Data East tables, I really hope they add the Star Trek 25th Anniversary table. That's my all time favourite!

 

That's the neon one, huh? I actually like it better than The Next Generation... seems far more "fair". The sides on TNG just funnel your ball right off the table. People complained about the Pinball Arcade version being tough when it was released, but I thought it was totally accurate.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Rex Dart

[goldenegg]

You've hit the nail on the head! I knew there was something about the TNG table that made it difficult. You're completely right that the table seems to do everything possible to push the ball out of play.

 

The 25th Anniversary table definitely doesn't have that problem. I used to play it during lunch when I was in high school. There was an arcade near my school, so I'd hang out there with my friends. I used to be able to last a good 30 - 45 minutes on a single credit. I love the transporter graphic, that actually had the characters vanish.

 

I've considered picking up one of these tables for my home, but I've only heard horror stories regarding their required maintenance. Apparently it's an issue with Data East tables in general, but this table has more problems than most.

[Austin]

I've considered picking up one of these tables for my home, but I've only heard horror stories regarding their required maintenance. Apparently it's an issue with Data East tables in general, but this table has more problems than most.

 

Every pinball machine is going to require maintenance, it's the nature of the beast. But yes, some are more notorious for being worse than others, and Data East/Sega machines get a bad rap for good reason. Although that's not to say all of them will have serious issues. If you decide to invest in a pinball machine, buy smart. Check out the machine. Cleaner machines that look like they have been treated well will likely be less problematic than ones that were obviously on location for a long time and are beat to hell.

[goldenegg]

Ya, the maintenance is why I'll likely never pick up a table. While I definitely enjoy pinball, I'm not diehard enough about it to dedicate that much space for a table. I'll continue getting my fix from simulators like these

[Atariboy]

Their 2014 plans.

 

• General : Table Add-On Pack #21 Released : Table Add-On Pack #21 featuring Fish Tales is AVAILABLE NOW! on Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, Mac, OUYA and PC. It should also be available on the PS3 (NA/EU) and PS Vita (NA/EU) in early March . Xbox 360 release time frame TBD.

 

• General : New Tables Coming Soon : FarSight has confirmed that Black Knight 2000, Junkyard and WHO dunnit will all be released during Season Three of The Pinball Arcade.

 

• General : Season Three Details : Season Three will feature 10 tables, which should all include Pro Versions available for purchase, and will be released from December 2013 – September 2014. Individual table add-on packs will be available for $4.99 (basic table) and $7.99 (pro table which features a Pro Menu). The Season Three Table Pack (includes all 10 basic tables) is available for $29.99 and the Season Three Pro Table Pack (includes all 10 pro tables which feature a Pro Menu) is available for $39.99.

 

• General : Challenge Mode : Challenge Mode is currently in Beta testing and is set to be released in early 2014. Challenge Mode will feature multiple challenges to test your skills which includes Williams Challenge, Bally Challenge, Gottlieb & Stern Challenge and Season Challenges.

 

• General : Online Head-To-Head : FarSight is in the process of designing a challenge mode within the game to go head to head with a player of your choice. Opponents scores will be displayed on-screen to let you know if you have fallen behind or how much of a lead you have. The concept is still undergoing design, but FarSight guarantees an intense interactive experience to come in The Pinball Arcade.

 

• General : New Features : FarSight will be adding new features to The Pinball Arcade which will include various online game modes in 2014.

 

• General : Brand New User Interface : FarSight is currently in the preliminary stages of building a new and improved interface that will greatly improve the user experience. The new interface will feature flexible options to customize the UI to the user’s preference while at the same time offer a quick start option which will allow users to jump right into a table with ease. The new UI is set to hit all supported platforms and devices in 2014.

 

• General : Newly Emulated Tables : FarSight is in the process of updating a select few of the currently scripted tables to full ROM emulation which will be included in future updates in 2014 as they are completed.

 

• General : Pinball After Dark : FarSight has announced Pinball After Dark which is slated for release in 2014. Pinball After Dark will feature more mature themed tables that FarSight has previously been unable to bring to The Pinball Arcade because of explicit themes. FarSight hopes to bring Pinball After Dark to every platform and device currently supported by The Pinball Arcade.

 

• Linux : Linux Support : FarSight has announced that they have begun working on the Linux version of Pinball Arcade which should be coming to Steam in 2014.

 

• PC : Cab Support : FarSight has received their virtual pinball cabinet and preliminary work on the build has already begun. Cap support lands on PC in 2014.

 

• PC : DirectX 11 Support : FarSight is currently working on DirectX 11 support for the PC version which will bring the real-time lighting/reflections of the PS4 version to the PC during the first half of 2014.

 

• PS3/PS Vita : January Update : The PS3/PS Vita will receive an update in January 2014 which will include Table Add-On Pack #19 featuring Class of 1812 and Victory, Table Add-On Pack #20 featuring Cue Ball Wizard and El Dorado, Class of 1812 Pro, Cue Ball Wizard Pro plus minor adjustments. Table Add-On Pack #19 and #20 should be available in early to mid January 2014.

 

• PS3/PS Vita : Mega Patch : FarSight is still working on artwork corrections, bug fixes and tweaks that they would like to include in the Mega Patch and hope to be done with the patch soon. They plan to submit to Sony in early 2014 and hope to have the patch rolled out first quarter 2014.

 

• PS3/PS Vita/PS4 : Table Add-On Pack #21 Coming Soon : Table Add-On Pack #21 featuring Fish Tales should be available in early March 2014.

 

• PS3/PS4 : 3D Support : FarSight will be adding 3D support for The Pinball Arcade (which may be included in the Mega Patch) on the PS3 during the first quarter of 2014 and on the PS4 shortly thereafter.

 

• PS4 : PS4 Patch : FarSight is currently working on a patch for the PS4 which will include a fix for the audio, the option to use the L2/R2 triggers for the flippers, controller rumble support plus other various fixes and requested options and hope to release the patch in early 2014.

 

• PS4 : European Market Discount Issues : FarSight is still waiting for a response from SCEE on a timeframe for when the Season One discount bug will be fixed and available for those who purchased Season One on the PS3/PS Vita in the European Market. FarSight hopes to have this issue resolved ASAP.

 

• PS4 : Upcoming Add-On Content : FarSight plans to release Season Three add-on content on the PS4 close to the same timeframe as the PS3/PS Vita Season Three add-on content releases throughout 2014. FarSight hopes to have Season Two updated and released on the PS4 late first quarter to early second quarter 2014.

 

• PS4 : Retail Disc Version : The PS4 version of The Pinball Arcade has been released on disc in the North American region and will be released in early 2014 in the European region. The disc version currently features 22 tables which includes the four core tables plus all the tables from Season One. FarSight plans to release a patch for the disc based version of The Pinball Arcade in 2014 which will allow for purchase of add-on content and should contain bug fixes and the addition of a few requested options.

 

• Wii U : Submission For Approval : After a lengthy delay, the Wii U version is back on track and will be submitted to Nintendo in early 2014. Release timeframe TBD.

 

• Xbox 360 : Re-Launch : FarSight is currently working on a plan to re-launch The Pinball Arcade on XBLA with all currently released add-on content, but are not releasing any further information until/unless it becomes more solid.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Atariboy

[boog]

No mention of an xbone version? I'm just hoping the PS3 'mega patch' includes custom soundtrack support.

 

It'll be great if they follow through on all of this, but seems like they're biting off more than they can handle. What's the over/under on Farsight facepalms for 2014?

[Andromeda Stardust]

This is awesome news. Pinball after Dark and a potential Wii-U version will be awesome!