An Afternoon At FarSight Studios

[Kolchak357]

Farsight should always announce tables in a blurred manner. All the detective work and speculation is a ton of fun.

 

[Oenta]

Great article, and a verry nice read, thanks!

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Which is exactly what I said - they approved the release anyway. You agreed with me.

Not at all.

The above really bugs me. Essentially what you have here is Jason saying "We ran the table through some 360 -> PS3 translator and then not a single person looked at the PS3 version before sending it to Sony and releasing it." If that's NOT what happened, then somebody looked at the table, saw how atrocious it looked, and approved the release anyway. Either one of those two scenarios sure doesn't say much about their QA process.

This implies that FarSight was either too lazy to look at the PS3 version of Black Knight at all (highly unlikely) or having looked at it and realized there was a problem, couldn't be arsed to try to fix it (also highly unlikely).

Or several people looked at the table, saw it looked bad, investigated the issue, realized that it would not be a quick fix, and made a business decision that Black Knight released on the PS3 with erroneous artwork was better than delaying DLC Pack #4.

This, on the other hand, suggests that FarSight looked at the PS3 version, attempted to fix it, realized that it could not be fixed quickly, and reluctantly decided that it would be better to release BK with messed-up art now than to delay its release. You may not agree with their decision (if in fact this is what happened), but it does not follow that FarSight is lazy and/or negligent.

 

[Nightwing]

Thanks for the article - very well done!

 

[ClaudeHenrySmoot]

Great article!

 

[Metalzoic]

Interesting article, thanks for sharing it!

This, on the other hand, suggests that FarSight looked at the PS3 version, attempted to fix it, realized that it could not be fixed quickly, and reluctantly decided that it would be better to release BK with messed-up art now than to delay its release. You may not agree with their decision (if in fact this is what happened), but it does not follow that FarSight is lazy and/or negligent.

That is even worse then the theory they released it un-tested with no QA. That implies that they decided to sell, and charge people for, something that they knew wasn't ready. That they knew was broken. Also according to this article, something that they knew may not even be fixable. I hope that isn't the case because that would basically be robbery.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

That is even worse then the theory they released it un-tested with no QA. That implies that they decided to sell, and charge people for, something that they knew wasn't ready. That they knew was broken. Also according to this article, something that they knew may not even be fixable. I hope that isn't the case because that would basically be robbery.

A minor art issue does not qualify as breaking a table, nor does releasing a table with a minor art issue qualify as robbery.

The alternatives would have been to either release Creature from the Black Lagoon on its own as DLC #4, to delay both tables until Black Knight could be fixed (which might take a while), or skip over DLC #4 entirely for the PS3. Can you even begin to imagine the screaming if FarSight had taken any of these paths?

The only table I'm aware of that I would consider truly "broken" is Cirqus Voltaire on mobile devices, unless it's been fixed recently - I haven't tried it in a while.

 

[Tabe]

On the business side of things, there's always "need to have" vs. "nice to have". You need to measure the required means to fix an issue and compare it to the actual priority of said issue. The table not lookin as awesome as its X360 counterpart is hardly a "big issue", and if they have no simple ways to fix it (trust me, compatibility stuff like this can be a coding nightmare), exactly what would you expect them to do?
Actually, don't answer that.

I'm well aware of coding issues, translations from one platform to another, and so on. I do software QA for a living. I understand the process and I understand how business gets in the way of fixing things. Fact is, the game went out in its current state. On some level, that means Farsight approved its release. However you want to spin it, however you want to justify it, they looked at the game and approved it. That's really the bottom line.

but it does not follow that FarSight is lazy and/or negligent.

Actually, yes, it does. The fact that the game got so butchered going from the 360 to the PS3 IS negligence on Farsight's part.

Tabe

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Not to mention they had to submit it to someone to say YES that is a good representation of OUR product you may proceed.

 

[Sumez]

Some times I don't believe you guys :\

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Thanks for the great write up Chris.

If you look at the pic of Mike Reitmeyer, you can see two Wii remotes on a charger. ....

I wouldn't read too much into that. They are sitting on top of a PS2 test kit.

 

[brakel]

Thanks for the great write up Chris.



I wouldn't read too much into that. They are sitting on top of a PS2 test kit.

Ha!

 

[shutyertrap]

Thanks for the great write up Chris.



I wouldn't read too much into that. They are sitting on top of a PS2 test kit.

Thanks Mike! I was looking forward to your guy's feedback almost as much as to the forum's!

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Some times I don't believe you guys :\

I think it's obvious at this point that the other gentleman won't be changing his mind anytime soon, so I'll stop before the entire thread gets poisoned/derailed. I've made my point anyway.

I wouldn't read too much into that. They are sitting on top of a PS2 test kit.

PS2 test kit? What for? TPA: The Retro Edition?

 

[Bonzo]

I'd love a Vectrex version

Thank you very much SYT for doing this. And thank you very much FS for letting him in.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

I think it's obvious at this point that the other gentleman won't be changing his mind anytime soon, so I'll stop before the entire thread gets poisoned/derailed. I've made my point anyway.


PS2 test kit? What for? TPA: The Retro Edition?

Haven't used it in a really long time. Mainly now it's just an ornament on my desk. It did come in handy when I worked on a Game Party in Motion. It was a good stand for the Kinect, moved it up higher off my desk.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Hey mike could you re-release mojo in HD for PSN? That game was fun , it would be fun with SIXAXIS.

 

[smooverr]

I just hope one of these 12 days confirms all of this speculation. I am going quite mad.

 

[DopedToInfinity]

Does anyone else think Mike bears a passing resemblance to Kelsey Grammer??!!

 

[Sean]

I wish they released a different version of the app for iPads and for iPhones/iPods.

Seconded. I purchased it on my iPhone before I had an iPad, but I would gladly repurchase my favourite tables in a Pinball Arcade HD iPad-only app if it meant better performance and visuals.

I'm sure once I can get the Pinball Arcade on my Wii U this feeling will recede!