FarSight launches new Pinball title

[Solitude]

Aww thanks, but I don't think they don't care about their fans, I just think they don't have enough people to take care of everything and keep fans in the know.

I seem to recall that we had a last-minute, two week delay with PFX2 as well. We did not find out until a day or two in advance. It's probably even tougher when you have a 3rd party publisher (Crave) in the mix as well - we had the good fortune of working directly with Microsoft.

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

I seem to recall that we had a last-minute, two week delay with PFX2 as well. We did not find out until a day or two in advance. It's probably even tougher when you have a 3rd party publisher (Crave) in the mix as well - we had the good fortune of working directly with Microsoft.

Oh yeah, I remember how annoyed I got hearing that news when I checked the site before heading out in the morning. At least it allowed you to polish up the Platform a bit more.

Doh the excuse for the delay of the pinball arcade is kinder funny since the new Dash is pretty awkward to find stuff unless you use Bing search... can't wait to see this so called Dash Advertisement.

[jeffy777]

Yeah, I shouldn't be surprised dalek. I'm just really been let down. Been looking forward to this for months, waited patiently through out March counting down to today. This is just effed up. Theiur communication with their fans on Facebook and forums at pinballarcadefans.com is prettty much non existant. Thank God Zen gives a crap about their fans.

That is so not true. They're commenting on Facebook stuff everyday, even on weekends, and one of their devs is a regular on their forum.

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

That is so not true. They're commenting on Facebook stuff everyday, even on weekends, and one of their devs is a regular on their forum.

True but they did go MIA for a bit while the whole Console release date was making certain individuals ansy. But yeh they have picked up and now they are replying to near every post.

Soon will get to see if the hype was worth the wait.

[jeffy777]

True but they did go MIA for a bit while the whole Console release date was making certain individuals ansy. But yeh they have picked up and now they are replying to near every post.

Soon will get to see if the hype was worth the wait.

They never really went MIA. They were still answering questions, and they told us several different times that the game was still under approval by MS so they couldn't confirm a date. Even when they were at the TX Pinball Festival, they were still answering questions on FB.

In any case, you gotta cut the guys some slack. They only have like 6 employees and they're working around the clock to get all these various releases out, and patch the existing ones, and bring two new tables to every platform. It's hard not to respect their hard work.

BTW, they just released the Mac version today,

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

Yeh who are we trying to kid, all of us will likely be playing Pinball Arcade and PFX2 (or some other Zen Pinball Game)...... its WIN WIN!

[Womble]

BTW, they just released the Mac version today,

Sadly, it appears they shouldn't have.

Judging from the feedback, it seems the product is riddled with problems and misfeatures. (You can't even change key bindings.)

I think this is a real problem for non-native developers. You can't just take an iOS project and make it a Mac one. The Mac product necessarily needs more finessing. It has to deal with wildly fluctuating CPU/disk loads, incompetent video cards, a large range of display configurations, proper Cocoa-based menus and dialogs, windowed support, etc.

When companies just do a rushed port, it hurts them. They need to take the time to do it properly, contracting with native developers where necessary.

[Lepruk86]

It came out; I had a quick go on it. The ball physics actually seem much better. Kind of a cross between Zen's and the original William's collection which makes for quite a nice flow.

Tables have been darkened a bit to make the lights more obvious (they were quite bright on William's) but they feel pretty good.

The UI however; it just poor. If you think Zen's needs some work this will make you rip your eyes out. They copied the UI from the portable versions; but it feels clunky with huge buttons and you can only view 1 table at a time (rather than a list); so when the table list gets large, it will take a while to cycle through from table to table.

Overall; the gameplay is great, the UI (as in the menus etc) are one of the worst I have seen in a console game in a long while.

[Womble]

Damn. I was really hoping they'd improve their UI this time. PHOF's is terrible.

(And the lack of quality control on the iOS, Android and Mac builds does not bode well.)

I've bought it though, just waiting for my wife to get off the TV.

[Scotty Canuck]

Has now shown on the AU arcade, but there is no option for trial/purchase

[Womble]

Scotty, I was able to buy it through:

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Pinball-Arcade/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841121d

[SBVIPER]

Well first the Visuals are 10+ easy compared to PHoF. However I have to give the physics a 6. The ball is too fast and bouncy around the flippers. The speed you had in PHoF:WC was more spot on in real pinball. Also the Flipper solenoids are 50 volt coils, the flippers sound like muffled clicks. Listen to Pinball FX 2 tables like Sorcerer's Lair. They've got the solenoid sound down to a science. It also seems they widened the gap on the left outlane on TOTAN. It eats balls like Pinbot normally does. All in All however I'm quite pleased with the total package and will continue buying the tables.

You guys are right about the interface through, the TV looks like a giant touch screen.

P.S. where's the audio settings for music vs. sound effects etc...?

[Womble]

You have to hand it to Zen: they know how to polish their products.

Just looking at TPA, you can see just how important that polish is, particularly when it's missing.

Though this is certainly a visual upgrade from PHOF, it's still well below PFX2's standard, IMO. The frame rate is solid enough, but they seem to have taken a few shortcuts. No glass, some very ordinary shader work (looks like fixed function graphics in a lot of places), no self-shadowing, low polygon geometry, some poor textures, etc.

As for the physics, yeah, they're better, but still too bouncy for my liking. Also, try trapping the ball. Even thought the ball is supposed to be stationary, it actually bobbles around. (That's a physics solution error.)

The best thing TPA has going for it is the licenses. I can only imagine what Zen would have done with these invaluable IPs.

Oh well, we have what we have. Let's just hope that FarSight improve their product. At only 800 scam dollars, it's still a no-brainer.

[Alipan]

What are the leaderboards like Womble? Are they any better than before?

Is there anything like the Zen system where you know you are getting close to a friends score?

[X DrLobo]

For what it's worth, i can say i'm pleased with the product, i kinda like everything pinball related and even the box version of PHOFTWC pleased me on multiple aspects !

Now this is different, i think the visuals are great, the physics suits me fine...

Same way i do with zen, i'll get any table they will produce... i'm very glad to have this game to complete the video pinball experience...