Does ZEN care about it's WiiU customers?

[tfhfony]

A few questions:

1. When will we see the next three Star Wars Tables?
2. When will we see the Dr. Strange table?
3. When, if ever, will you solve the Leader-Board issues? Please don't point the finger to Nintendo. Find another solution. It's been almost a year now.
4. When, if ever, will you solve the reported bugs in the various Zen Pinball 2 tables?

We have also paid for these tables...

[Tech101]

A few questions:

1. When will we see the next three Star Wars Tables?
2. When will we see the Dr. Strange table?
3. When, if ever, will you solve the Leader-Board issues? Please don't point the finger to Nintendo. Find another solution. It's been almost a year now.
4. When, if ever, will you solve the reported bugs in the various Zen Pinball 2 tables?

We have also paid for these tables...

I do believe they care but just not as much as say Sony, Microsoft, IOS, and Andriod!

[Everly]

From my time that I've spent here in the forum over the past year or so I can say with absolute confidence that Zen does care. If they didn't they would be like 80% of developers and just not bother to do anything for the Wii U or the 3DS. However, I do understand your frustration. It is irritating to see release dates always given for the other consoles with that constant, "We will have dates for the Wii U/3DS as soon as we can confirm them."

I have absolutely no inside information regarding what I'm about to say, but I have a feeling that we won't be seeing any new content for ZP2 or SWP until there is a solution for the leader boards problem. Nintendo usually won't release content if they know there is a problem. I was actually stunned when we saw the first Star Wars tables come out with the boards still broken. So if I were to venture a guess at your first two points I would be willing to bet it is tied to the answer for the third. I think we won't see anything until the boards are fixed, and then when that happens we will get the backlog released all at once.

Why it is taking so long it a good question. It is almost as if Nintendo sets up their infrastructure to make it difficult for developers like Zen. The boards for Rayman Legends work perfectly, but that is undoubtedly because Ubisoft runs their own servers and that is where the data is held. Zen can't force Nintendo to change their policies on how many times a title can ping them, so Zen's options are limited to buying/maintaining servers of their own or find a way to work around Nintendo's set in stone practices.

Zen seemed to be blessed with getting some very popular licenses and Mel has commented on how all of the technical staff wants to work with them. So it would be hard to get any of them to be excited to sit down and find a solution to this problem, esp when the cause of the problem isn't willing to move. Again, I can't say that Nintendo has taken that stand, but a simple solution would be to allow the level of accessibility that exists with XBLA or PSN. In almost a year it doesn't appear they are willing to do that. So this could be a gridlock situation until something gives, but I do believe that Wii U or 3DS owners aren't going to see anything on their systems until it has been out on other platforms for a number of months at least. Even after the leader board issue is resolved I don't see that changing. Nintendo moves at their own pace, which means we will see it after everyone else does...if we see it at all.

As far as the bugs...yeah I have to say that is squarely on Zen's shoulders. One thing that Nintendo does is allow developers to patch and update content without charges, just the "usual" submission process. So for there to be bugs in tables that haven't been addressed, well I honestly think that is a matter of programmers wanting to work on sexy new tables and not deal with problems on tables that are years old. Zen isn't a huge developer with tons of resources, but I agree with you that it does not appear to be a priority with them. Barbie has commented that they are aware there are bugs that need patched and they aren't keeping up with it, but I'm surprised they have allowed it to go this long.

I do have to point out that we got a great 50% off sale that XBLA and PSN didn't see. I ended up getting a pack and several individual tables because of it. I really wasn't drawn into Infinity Gauntlet, but that has proven to be one of my favorites. And if you haven't looked into it, CastleStorm plays really will on the Wii U. The ability to aim your ballista by tapping on the Gamepad makes for some deadly accurate shots. It is worth a look for sure.

[tfhfony]

@Everly & Tech101: Thanks for joining in to the discusion and for your answers.
But I personally think that pointing to Nintendo is not the right thing to do here. I think it's ZEN's responsibility to deliver fully functional software to it's customers. If they can't do the leaderboards right on the Nintendo servers, they should set up their own server. They have had more then enough time to do something about it. But frankly: I don't think they care...
It's been awefully quiet in the WiiU side of things when it comes down to ZEN.
Sure we will see the new SW & Dr. Strange tables (They can make some money there), but I doubt we will see a solution soon for the leaderbords (and tournaments) en de various reported bugs.

Also the fact that they haven't taken the time to respond to this thread, makes the situation quite clear. I think that if they would post the honest answer over here, it will cause an outrage.

[Everly]

First I want to say that I totally understand and appreciate your frustration. If you go back through this section of the forum about a year ago you will see me making similar arguments during the 4 month delay of ZP2. We were told they wanted to make 10,000% sure it worked....and here we are almost a year later not able to enjoy a tournament. I see the points you are making, but when I take a step back I can see this really is a clinic on why Nintendo doesn't enjoy 3rd party support as much as others.

I think it's ZEN's responsibility to deliver fully functional software to it's customers. If they can't do the leaderboards right on the Nintendo servers, they should set up their own server. They have had more then enough time to do something about it.

For a small 3rd party developer to have to go to those lengths to get their product to work on a network usually would mean it isn't worth the effort. If I could get content out on 4 systems with 3 people and reach 8 million customers, but then have to invest three times the manpower and financial resources for an independent server that I have to maintain just to reach another 1/2 million it just isn't feasible. I have to wonder if Zen knew these problems would happen if they would have moved forward with development of the Wii U content.

It's been awefully quiet in the WiiU side of things when it comes down to ZEN......the fact that they haven't taken the time to respond to this thread, makes the situation quite clear. I think that if they would post the honest answer over here, it will cause an outrage.

I agree with you here. It is always nice when Barbie pops in to comment, even if it is just to acknowledge the subject and can't really add any new information. Maybe we will see her today.

[BarbieBobomb]

1. When will we see the next three Star Wars Tables? They need to get through certification, so still no ETA on that.
2. When will we see the Dr. Strange table? That'll come after new Star Wars tables (one thing at a time)
3. When, if ever, will you solve the Leader-Board issues? Please don't point the finger to Nintendo. Find another solution. It's been almost a year now. Hopefully soon, we've been working with Nintendo to get this resolved, it's not an easy fix, but we are working on it.
4. When, if ever, will you solve the reported bugs in the various Zen Pinball 2 tables? No ETA, but I'll post the news when we have a patch.

[Tech101]

Thanks Barbie! All we need is a pulse sometimes!

[BarbieBobomb]

Thanks Barbie! All we need is a pulse sometimes!

I totally understand! There is a lot we are working on with Wii U, hopefully we can get it going soon

[Everly]

Thanks for touching base with us Barbie.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[kelanflyter]

Indeed, Zen Studio is working on Wii U. Zen Pinball, Star Wars Pinball and castlestorm are out on the Wii U, and Kickbeat seems to be coming too according to USK registration.

[BarbieBobomb]

Indeed, Zen Studio is working on Wii U. Zen Pinball, Star Wars Pinball and castlestorm are out on the Wii U, and Kickbeat seems to be coming too according to USK registration.

Was wondering when you guys would find this

Believe me now? :P

[Everly]

Was wondering when you guys would find this

Believe me now? :P

Yeah, I saw that early yesterday but in the article it said that Zen's spokesman could not confirm or deny the news of Kickbeat coming to Wii U so I didn't want to bring up a subject you couldn't really comment on.

I've said it a number of times that no one can claim Zen doesn't support Nintendo platforms, even if they are more challenging to develop for. But I have to say that I am sort of looking forward to getting a PS4 sometimes in the next year or so.

[BarbieBobomb]

Yeah, I saw that early yesterday but in the article it said that Zen's spokesman could not confirm or deny the news of Kickbeat coming to Wii U so I didn't want to bring up a subject you couldn't really comment on.

Totally understandable. We don't have anything official, like dates or ETA, so nothing to say at the moment. Except for YAY FOR WII U

(you can quote me on that )

[Everly]

That is excellent Barbie. I was really surprised when you announced CastleStorm was coming to the Wii U. In the back of my mind I wondered if Kickbeat would follow, but I didn't want to ask. Sometimes I think I'm frustrating you.

Since I read that news I've been looking at some gameplay videos about the game, looks interesting. Once we get some more information I'll definitely publish an article on our site to build buzz about it.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[kelanflyter]

Also,
Zen just annouced the "Super League Football" table for Zen pinball 2, and Wii U is in the list of platforms (not in the gamespress announcement, but it's listed on the zen studio blog and on superleaguefootball.com)