The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

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Luke

The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

Postby Luke » March 12th, 2012, 2:27 am

The Bride of Pin-Bot table looks pretty nice. Thanks for sharing

PinMike86661
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The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

Postby PinMike86661 » March 27th, 2012, 11:29 am

Hello all, MegaSaturnDrive86 here.

This game is coming out on Xbox Live Arcade tomorrow and it's for 800 points (roughly the same price as a Pinball FX 2 pack).

http://www.xblafans.com/the-pinball-arcade-launches-wednesday-43225.html

I'm excited and looking forward to playing this!

BTW, the PlayStation 3 version will be released on April 10 this year.

Update: It's official, it will be released on April 4th, due to "dashboard placement". Pretty bad communication between Crave and Microsoft, but still looks to be worth the wait.


Weekend_Warrior1
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The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

Postby Weekend_Warrior1 » March 30th, 2012, 11:30 pm

Hopefully, there will be a demo for this. Would like to try before I buy.

PinMike86661
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

Postby PinMike86661 » March 31st, 2012, 1:53 pm

I'm certain all Xbox Live Arcade games have trial demos.

BTW, FarSight apparently found a bug with the PlayStation 3 and Vita versions, which prevents downloadable content from being implemented. They are hopeful to get it fixed before release. So while it's still on for April 10th, it's possible to be delayed.


VonMagnum1
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The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

Postby VonMagnum1 » April 4th, 2012, 9:40 am

Those graphics look like Future Pinball to me.  It wouldn't shock me that they are cashing in on it given the history of Black in relation to Visual Pinball, etc.  If you want nearly ALL the classic pinball tables ever made, you might look into Visual Pinball with Pinmame.  Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Attack From Mars, etc. are all there.  The best part is that they're all FREE (Ultracade marketed a commercial version, but didn't interfere with the hobby version on the PC).


PinMike86661
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

Postby PinMike86661 » April 4th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Here are my main pros and cons with this release:

Pros:

Looks at least par with the Williams Xbox 360 and PS3 releases

Physics are an improvement over the previous collections

Leaderboards much better than the initial disc releases

While a couple tables have appeared on previous collections (Black Hole and Tales of the Arabian Nights), both are improved under this DLC release

With exception to the plunger camera, I like the other cameras

Local leaderboards; just like in the previous collections

Cons:

The plunger camera needs work; I'm fine with the other camera settings, but the plunger is a little too zoomed and I wish there were more options for this segment

The lighting and graphical overhauls that were shown in their Facebook page isn't present; they should have waited to unveil those

The user interface will become a chore once there are more than 10 tables in this game

I like the plunger on the other tables; however, Tales of the Arabian Nights feels a little on the sensitive side.

Speaking of Tales of the Arabian Nights, I think the skill shot view before the plunger camera should be eliminated; the Dot-Matrix-Display and instructions explains it well enough

No online mutiplayer; FarSight Studios did say this will eventually be implemented


If I were to grade it in it's current state, I would give it a B+; really great game that represents the best of pinball but does feel a little on the rushed side. Maybe hiring more staff would help shake off a few bugs/flaws.

Comparatively I would give Pinball FX 2 an A-; premium polish, great and creative table designs (even though the majority of the older tables aren't very good), and nice physics but none of their tables are as fun as the best pinball has to offer (even though a couple do come somewhat close).

Leo1
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The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

Postby Leo1 » April 5th, 2012, 7:44 am

These guys have been programming pinball recreations for nearly a decade now. I really doubt they're now "cashing in" and using some freeware PC program to create their projects that wasn't even available when they released their Gottlieb Collection in 2004 and their Williams Collection in early 2008.

And this looks like exactly what it is. A heavily massaged engine that they've been refining for most of the past 10 years, a new distribution model ala Pinball FX, and new tables and some favorites from their earlier releases. But at its core, you can still clearly see its relationship with their earlier products that predate Future Pinball.

And unless it has seen a huge overhaul, getting Visual Pinball and PinMame going is a heck of a hassle. I'd rather pay a small price for a professional product that doesn't require me getting sick of it before I ever get to enjoy a game.

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Atariboy
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Re: The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

Postby Atariboy » May 8th, 2018, 7:34 am

All the Williams and Bally content, which represent 2/3's of the tables that are available for Pinball Arcade, are sadly set to be delisted later next month. Too bad those season releases on disc didn't continue past season 2 on the Playstation 4.

http://pinballarcadefans.com/showthread ... cement-FAQ

1. Why has the license not been renewed? Whose decision was it?
The company that controls the WMS IP chose not to renew our agreement.

2. When will the Williams/Bally tables stop being sold?
June 30th

3. Will there be discounts on the tables before the contract expires? If not, why?
No, our agreement with WMS prohibits there being any sales on their tables before we have to take them off the market.

4. Will there be any updates/bug fixes for the tables before/after the contract expires?
Yes, we will continue to support all of the tables in Pinball Arcade.

5. What will happen to the tables that are already owned (or unlocked, as with the Kickstarter rewards) once the contract expires?
Everyone who owns a WMS table will still own it, and have full access to it. We will modify the game via updates before June 30th on each platform so that players can no longer buy WMS tables if they haven’t already. In most cases, if you don’t own a WMS you won’t be able to see that table in the game at all.

6. Would future hardware (iPhones/iPads, Android devices) be updated to allow the Williams/Bally tables to work correctly, or will there be a time when these are completely unplayable?
We will continue to support all of the tables in Pinball Arcade for customers who bought them. This includes support for users who need to re-download tables they’ve already bought.

7. With the loss of the Williams/Bally tables, what's the future of the app? Will we see it continued with new non-Williams/Bally tables?
Our “Season 8” release will include all of the Stern tables that we’ve done to date for SPA plus a couple more. We will continue to develop and release non-WMS tables. Once the WMS tables are removed from sale, the remaining tables for sale in the game (Stern, Gottlieb, and Alvin G) will be restructured into different packs based primarily on the table manufacture.

8. What's happening with the staff at FarSight? Will there be layoffs?
There are no plans to lay off any FarSight staff.

9. Is FarSight working on other projects?
Yes, in addition to developing many more digital versions of Stern tables, more Gottlieb tables, possibly more tables from other manufactures, and an awesome 2D pinball experience for mobile, we’re working on a couple new cross-platform games that are yet to be officially announced – primarily for console.

10. This sucks, right?
We are very disappointed by the WMS license holder’s decision – so it’s not great. But we’ll be working to enhance the players’ enjoyment of all of the tables in Pinball Arcade for years to come.


I don't own anything from season 3 through season 7, so I'm debating what to do. I've slimmed the list to 7 tables for a most wanted list and will buy these at a minimum, but I'm not really happy about it. So I may end up just buying the season pass for seasons 3 and 4 on the PS4 where 6 of those tables reside, and then buy the 7th table individually for $5.

I'd sure love to be able to buy all 5 of the missing seasons so as not miss out on anything, but at $30 a pop, I just can't justify it right now. And in all truthfulness after watching videos of each Bally & Williams table that I'm missing, some just aren't too appealing to me.

Even the electro-mechanical pins which I love to see modeled, just don't hold my attention in a videogame setting like they would if it was real life. So as sad as I am to pass over a few EM recreations, I have to remind myself that I'd probably barely ever fire them up.

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Retro STrife
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Re: The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

Postby Retro STrife » May 8th, 2018, 12:38 pm

Are those on the disc too? Or is it mostly downloadable content?

As a pinball fan, I was following this news too. I don't really like pinball in video game form (it feels nothing like the real thing), but Pinball Arcade is a nice way to experience some awesome machines that I haven't gotten to play yet in real life.

Robotrek
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Re: The Pinball Arcade (coming early 2012)

Postby Robotrek » May 8th, 2018, 6:41 pm

Might as well name it the [Expletive]'n Gottlieb Premier arcade.


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