Farsight Pinball Arcade (Makers of Pinball Hall of Fame)

[spalmer]

Not sure if any of you have checked this out but Farsight has released The Pinball Arcade for IOS (Iphone,Ipad), Android (including Kindle Fire), Ps3/vita, and Xbox 260. They have done a great job. Better than Pinball Hall of Fame. Current tables are Black Hole, Tales of an Arabian Night, Ripley's Beleve it or Not, Theater of Magic, The Machine : Bride of Pinbot, Midevil Madness, Funhouse and Cirqus Voltar. They are planning to release 2 new table per month for the forseeable furture as DLC (downloadable content). They are currently planning Monster Bash, Dr. Dude, Firepower, Taxi and a slew of others. They have negotiated the Licences for Twilight Zone but due to the cost, $55,000, it is not comercially viable. They have started a kickstart fund to try and raise the money for the licenses. Donators get a free copy of the table and special perks depending on the amount of the donation pedge. They have raised $35,000 in just a few days.

You can download the app for free and play the trial versions of the tables. Currently this month, Cirqus Voltar is the table of the month and playable for free. I am playing on an IPad and love it. See below for a list of confirmed table they are working on!

1. Monster Bash (taken from Facebook post on February 7 - release date unknown)
2. Attack from Mars (taken from Facebook post on February 7 - release date unknown)
3. Creature from the Black Lagoon (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown)
4. Black Knight (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown)
5. Space Shuttle (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown)
6. Pin•bot (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown)
7. Big Shot (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown)
8. Either Dr. Dude or Earthshaker (most likely Dr. Dude - taken from Gamezone interview with Bobby King on January 29 - released within first year)
9. TAXI (taken from Facebook post on March 27 - release date unknown)
10. Gorgar (taken from http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/...on-april-10th/ - release date unknown)
11. Strikes and Spares (taken from Facebook post on April 29 - release date unknown

[ruby651]

I think a good number of us are already there... at least judging from numerous posts in the VPF.org thread. I must say that I find this list a bit distressing. Farsight is leaning heavily on the tables they released in the PHOF Williams collection. That's all well and good for those who don't own it already, but, since I do, the selection in probably the coming year is gonna be pretty slim. And Dr. Dude? Who the hell really wants Dr. Dude?
I think probably my biggest disappointment is the lack of licensed tables. When Farsight announced this project, their comments were along the lines that Bobby King made in the interview Spalmer linked to:

"For example, Addams Family licensing would include licenses from The Addams Foundation, Paramount Picture, every actor used on the table and the music (which was an MC Hammer version of the theme from the movie). We're going for it though. It's a great table! All things considered, we're doing really well getting many licenses for a bunch of great tables."

They forgot to mention that they'll only "go for it" once their consumers actually pay upfront into their Kickstarter account! Somehow that left me feeling like I was duped... or that they should change the company name to Shortsight.
Well, I sound a bit sour, don't I? On the plus side, I'm having fun with the four tables I downloaded for the PS3 and, nitpicking aside, look forward to a few of the future downloads... but, please, replace Dr. Dude with Earthshaker!

[spalmer]

Originally Posted by ruby651

I think a good number of us are already there... at least judging from numerous posts in the VPF.org thread. I must say that I find this list a bit distressing. Farsight is leaning heavily on the tables they released in the PHOF Williams collection. That's all well and good for those who don't own it already, but, since I do, the selection in probably the coming year is gonna be pretty slim. And Dr. Dude? Who the hell really wants Dr. Dude?
I think probably my biggest disappointment is the lack of licensed tables. When Farsight announced this project, their comments were along the lines that Bobby King made in the interview Spalmer linked to:

"For example, Addams Family licensing would include licenses from The Addams Foundation, Paramount Picture, every actor used on the table and the music (which was an MC Hammer version of the theme from the movie). We're going for it though. It's a great table! All things considered, we're doing really well getting many licenses for a bunch of great tables."

They forgot to mention that they'll only "go for it" once their consumers actually pay upfront into their Kickstarter account! Somehow that left me feeling like I was duped... or that they should change the company name to Shortsight.
Well, I sound a bit sour, don't I? On the plus side, I'm having fun with the four tables I downloaded for the PS3 and, nitpicking aside, look forward to a few of the future downloads... but, please, replace Dr. Dude with Earthshaker!

I can see your point. The only reason for the Kickstart is the amount that the license is going to cost. At $55,000, they said that they would have to charge to much to make the table comercially viable. I do not know what that cost was. I also agree that Earthshaker would be a lot better than Dr. Dude.

[ruby651]

Now they're saying that they'll have to do the same thing for Star Trek TNG. I think they may find it hard to go to the Kickstart well every time they have to make a license-intensive table. I guess time will tell if they manage to crank out Addams Family... or even Monster Bash and Creature that were listed in your post. You'd think this stuff would have been included into their business model. Ah, well... still a fun program, and I'm definitely looking forward to Bride of Pinbot next month!

[spalmer]

What platform are you using. I have the Ipad version. Bride of Pinbot plays great as does Cirqus Voltar. If you look in the kick start video, the table that is striped down is Monster Bash. My guess is the next two will be Monster Bash and (Taxi or Creature).

[ruby651]

I, unfortunately, have a PS3, so I am seriously lagging behind on releases... you are very lucky! I downloaded Tales for my Ipod, but it was just too tough to play on a screen that small, and made it hard to adjust to the touch-screen flippers. A friend of mine has the IPad versions and he loves them, too!

[sleepy]

I know nothing about IPods and IPads, but I wonder if anyone offers an adapter/converter for viewing them through a computer or t.v.?

[ruby651]

AFAIK, there's nothing on the computer front... but I could be wrong. You can plug them in to synch up with Itunes, which you need for various apps, music, movies etc purchased through the Itunes store, but that's about it. I think there may be certain TVs that let you connect an Ipod/Ipad, but I'm not sure how well they work, or if you're able to use your apps while the units are attached.

[ruby651]

Bad news for XBox/PS3 fans... the next updates for PS3 won't be hitting until the end of June, and it looks like XBox updates are in limbo for some complicated Xbox Live reason.

[kristian]

When does the PC version come out? I have a XBox360 but it's there collecting dust... I don't care for playing with the console toys... only interested in the PC version.

[Ike Savage]

tried it on my new asus tegra3 tablet. everything seems nicely done but i just can't bring myself to replay the thing, much less pay money for one of the titles.

maybe it's because even really good PB simulations in all respects still generally lack adequate flipper physics. these things still come off fundamentally as toys and cute imitations despite the fact that propinball nailed the flipper physics 10 years ago. i mean, technology has come so very far since then, and yet still nobody on any platform can really come close. which seems incredibly weird to me, but whatever.

not to mention, there's just nothing like holding the real beauty between your paws, slapping her around for awhile, and scoring decisively for everyone in the area to hear and acknowledge. :O

[ruby651]

Originally Posted by Ike Savage

not to mention, there's just nothing like holding the real beauty between your paws, slapping her around for awhile:O

THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID! Sorry... pardon my Michael Scott moment. From what you're posting, Nic, I'm assuming you're using one of those cursed touchpad devices. Once you're using something that requires a gamepad, in my case a PS3 version, the flippers tend to work a little better... at least compared to the short amount of time I spent trying to play TOTAN on my Ipod. But really, not much better. As with VP9, the user has to adjust flipper physics to the engine... getting the ball to where the program wants it to go, as opposed to where one thinks it should go. And some shots seem to be impossible unless they're done "on the run" rather than trying to aim them. I'll admit, there's something seriously lacking on the flipper physics, but some of the tables can be pretty fun to play. Myself, I've skipped the Funhouse/ Cirqus Voltaire package... I've always hated Funhouse and... to be honest.. JP's Cirqus table looks so much better!

[Ike Savage]

i have the keyboard / dock, bill. that allows me to use keys for flipper buttons or plug in a gamepad. but... go figure, i never actually use the thing(!)

TBH, part of the problem is that with my current health stuff i prefer to just lay back in my bed with the tablet part only, reading articles, watching episodes of pawn stars and the new beavis & butthole, and playing slower-paced games, like stickman golf or tactikon. do they have those two games for ipod / ipad?

pinball simulations... for some reason they went south for me a long time ago, and the flipper issue may be only a red herring in reality. it's unbelievable how jaded i've become since the days of absolutely worshipping something like littlewing's "crystal caliburn" in 1994 or so. i mean, yes, please do hit me with your amnesiac Z-900 ray gun from the back pages of sergeant rock, because i really do need a fresh start. :S