Bobby King Interview 2 (PS3)

[Byte]

i only want to know how they will do the 3d for the ps3 later on without patching the tables.

You might have just found a way out of this whole mess, with everyone saving face, and practical to boot: The Pinball Arcade 3D! This could be the "new" version of TPA on PS3 that is coded so that new tables are 100% patchable. Current TPA owners can get a discount on the core game (I'm not speaking for everyone here, but I'd be willing to support a small developer and throw some money their way to get (1) 3D and (2) patchable tables, but do want my current DLCs to work). The 3D needs to be optional though, since I don't have a 3D capable display yet, since the real reason is the patchable tables.

New tables can be released for TPA and TPA3D, with the former being "as is" and the latter receiving updates if/when necessary. FS can also decide to phase out the standard TPA at one point and only release new packs for TPA3D.

 

[shutyertrap]

Look, no way no how am I paying money to 'fix' what never should have been broken to begin with. FarSight made graphical mistakes that they have admitted to being mistakes. That would be the cruelest twist of the knife to then charge for a fix.

As far as the 3D goes, I do like your suggestion of that being the sneaky way of making it a new game. Putting the 3D patch in is only a matter of code, and if any of my other games (Zen included) are any indication, the 3D side of things won't even be an option unless the system recognizes that you have a 3D tv.

 

[smbhax]

I think I read more on this but this is all I could find for a quick look

" FarSight has selected a new publisher for the Xbox 360 version of the Pinball Arcade! We are in the final stages of finalizing the contract. This process has taken months – as game publishing deals often do. With our previous publisher’s bankruptcy involved, it is extraordinarily complicated in terms of the Pinball Arcade.

We anticipate submitting this new version of the Pinball Arcade in January. FarSight has been assured that all previous purchases can and will be entitled when we re-launch. We will keep you updated as best we can and announce when we have firm release dates. The plan is for Twilight Zone and Star Trek: The Next Generation (free for kickstarter backers) to be available as DLC from day one. "

http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...e-Christmas-Days?p=46667&viewfull=1#post46667

I think do to the publisher change they needed a new base product. If they are releasing a new 360 version ... why not toss a proper PS3 one up at the point?

Ah, thanks for pointing that out. Hmm. It's an interesting theory...although I doubt it's quite that simple, somehow.

With the admission that Farsight are now looking at projects beyond pinball for the future, I can only hope another software company will pick up the mantle in the future once contracts with Stern et al, become available again.

This is something else I seem to have missed. What's all this about, then? : o

 

[Byte]

This is something else I seem to have missed. What's all this about, then? : o

I don't know, I remember in PHoF there was this window through which you could see another room where a pool table was located with "coming soon". Maybe it's a pool/billiards/snooker game? I mean, it is a flat surface and involves balls bouncing off things... ;c)

 

[brakel]

Adding 3D is just a patch to the main game. Nothing needs to be changed on the tables. Adding 3D is relatively simple for a game that is already created in a 3D space.

I will continue buying new DLC for the PS3 because I enjoy playing it now. I don't think I've ever bought something with the hope that I might enjoy it sometime in the future but don't right now. So I understand why people that don't enjoy the tables wouldn't buy them. However I don't really understand why people don't like them. The majority of my games are completed without any game breaking glitches. If I don't buy TPA then I don't have any pinball to play. I would be more disappointed if we were in the second year of the PS3. Truth is that I will probably buy a PS4 in the next two years and I'll buy TPA for it then and won't be playing the PS3 version anymore. If TPA really rocks on the PS4 I'll probably get one sooner.

 

[Lazareth]

I have no plans to buy a PS4...will be many years before I even start thinking about it. I'm enjoying my new PS3 far too much, and those rock bottom prices for AAA titles that used to cost 60 bucks. The PS3 library of great games to choose from is huge and with all the review documentation I'll ever need to help pick and choose the must plays. And I planned it that way.

If FS drops the PS3 version of Pinball Arcade so be it. I have enough tables to enjoy now and I'm sure there will be more on the way before they really do pull the plug. Plenty of Zen Pinball tables to enjoy too. I just hope they do a better job bug testing for these next round of games or figure out what they need to do in order to patch bugs after the fact. Look, if Dr. Dude isn't bug free by the release date....delay it 'til it is...how bout that? I can wait and would prefer to wait to get a product that has been tested properly.

The PSP has been basically dead in the water for the NA consumers and I've been playing and downloading new stuff for years. I see the PS3 online store continuing to support the system long after the PS4 comes onto the scene in the same way. Maybe losing some multiplayer support, but the store will go on and new downloadable games will continue for quite sometime, at least that's my prediction.

 

[Firefox2000]

Adding 3D is just a patch to the main game. Nothing needs to be changed on the tables. Adding 3D is relatively simple for a game that is already created in a 3D space.

I will continue buying new DLC for the PS3 because I enjoy playing it now. I don't think I've ever bought something with the hope that I might enjoy it sometime in the future but don't right now. So I understand why people that don't enjoy the tables wouldn't buy them. However I don't really understand why people don't like them. The majority of my games are completed without any game breaking glitches. If I don't buy TPA then I don't have any pinball to play. I would be more disappointed if we were in the second year of the PS3. Truth is that I will probably buy a PS4 in the next two years and I'll buy TPA for it then and won't be playing the PS3 version anymore. If TPA really rocks on the PS4 I'll probably get one sooner.

Unfortunatly some of the table are indeed broke, STTNG table is quite broken, it crashes randomly quite a lot, getting a high score and then having the high score entry thing sit on the screen and that's it, your high score is gone because the game cant finish to go and save your score, there are a few tables that seem to do this, or the camera getting stuck off the table looking at the plunger while balls are on the table playing, but now we hear these issues cant be fixed due to the natures of DLC on the PSN store, so i can undsertand people not wanting to spend more money on tables that might frustrate more than they entertain.

I have all the tables and i do enjoy most, but the issues with some table means i dont bother with them, but i am still holding out hope that FS will indeed find a way round these issues, i want to continue to buy more tables but now i know they cant fixe issues with the tables after they are on the PSN, i will wait and see just how bad the bugs are, if not to bad then that's fine, i will buy them, but its just so sad for us PS3 PA addicts that we and now in this situation, my heart sank when i heard that news.

But i hold onto a single strand of hope that FS will come rushing in soon and proclaim a way round to all these issues has been found and we can all go back to buying every tables they launch, then asking for more.

 

[shutyertrap]

Unfortunatly some of the table are indeed broke, STTNG table is quite broken, it crashes randomly quite a lot, getting a high score and then having the high score entry thing sit on the screen and that's it, your high score is gone because the game cant finish to go and save your score, there are a few tables that seem to do this, or the camera getting stuck off the table looking at the plunger while balls are on the table playing, but now we hear these issues cant be fixed due to the natures of DLC on the PSN store, so i can undsertand people not wanting to spend more money on tables that might frustrate more than they entertain.

I have all the tables and i do enjoy most, but the issues with some table means i dont bother with them, but i am still holding out hope that FS will indeed find a way round these issues, i want to continue to buy more tables but now i know they cant fixe issues with the tables after they are on the PSN, i will wait and see just how bad the bugs are, if not to bad then that's fine, i will buy them, but its just so sad for us PS3 PA addicts that we and now in this situation, my heart sank when i heard that news.

But i hold onto a single strand of hope that FS will come rushing in soon and proclaim a way round to all these issues has been found and we can all go back to buying every tables they launch, then asking for more.

You are mistaken as to what they can and cannot fix.

All the things you mentioned, those can be fixed by changing code. Very doable, and changes of that nature have been going on with every patch release. Changes to graphics, ie fixing Black Knights's black blobs, the overly bright Genie, the desaturated Taxi and HD, those are things we are stuck with.

In other words, art issues = and game issues = but maybe someday.

 

[DrainoBraino]

The title of this thread needs to be changed to let more people know what is going on i e "No more PS3 fixes".

 

[Firefox2000]

You are mistaken as to what they can and cannot fix.

All the things you mentioned, those can be fixed by changing code. Very doable, and changes of that nature have been going on with every patch release. Changes to graphics, ie fixing Black Knights's black blobs, the overly bright Genie, the desaturated Taxi and HD, those are things we are stuck with.

In other words, art issues = and game issues = but maybe someday.

Ahh right, i see, my apologies, i am not too savy with the tech side of all this and what can and cannot be fixed, so we can get everything fixed apart from the table graphics, is that what this means?

Well that's not to bad.

 

[shutyertrap]

Ahh right, i see, my apologies, i am not too savy with the tech side of all this and what can and cannot be fixed, so we can get everything fixed apart from the table graphics, is that what this means?

Well that's not to bad.

No, it's not the end of the world. We were all just living under the delusion that everything could get fixed eventually. So even though a table might be an eyesore, we all just kinda blew it off, figured they wanted us to have a new table, and it'd all be good sometime later. The proverbial 'smack across the face' is that now we find out it probably never will.

Ya know, it's hard to say though. Last interview, Bobby said there were some things in the works for Black Knight, on the graphics end of things, that we'd all be pleased with. This time it's all doom and gloom. I'll hold a glimmer of hope that the situation is fluid, and indeed workarounds are possible. Think about this: if the idea is still there to add a day/night mode, wouldn't that be a graphical issue? Due to the wildly different lighting/graphic styles that are on table to table, it doesn't seem like a universal code fix would be feasible.

I don't know, something to think about.

 

[Tron]

What a sham this has become. They can give us a 3D option that will gratify around ten people who use a 3Dtv and play pinball arcade - yet cannot fathom a way to give us a fully working good looking table first time round. I spent around £60 on this and he drops a bomb like that as if its not their fault. Disappointed puts it mildly.

No more I'm out.

 

[smbhax]

I kinda don't think there was really a plan to do a day/night mode though, that was more just like an offhand brainstorming remark that the forum latched onto. TPA's current lighting scheme doesn't really support that kind of thing very well. Hm...well, at least not the PS3 version's.

I thought it was kind of funny how for their Greenlight pitch video, they showed footage of Black Knight, blobs and all!

 

[brakel]

Unfortunatly some of the table are indeed broke, STTNG table is quite broken, it crashes randomly quite a lot, getting a high score and then having the high score entry thing sit on the screen and that's it, your high score is gone because the game cant finish to go and save your score, there are a few tables that seem to do this, or the camera getting stuck off the table looking at the plunger while balls are on the table playing, but now we hear these issues cant be fixed due to the natures of DLC on the PSN store, so i can undsertand people not wanting to spend more money on tables that might frustrate more than they entertain.

I have all the tables and i do enjoy most, but the issues with some table means i dont bother with them, but i am still holding out hope that FS will indeed find a way round these issues, i want to continue to buy more tables but now i know they cant fixe issues with the tables after they are on the PSN, i will wait and see just how bad the bugs are, if not to bad then that's fine, i will buy them, but its just so sad for us PS3 PA addicts that we and now in this situation, my heart sank when i heard that news.

But i hold onto a single strand of hope that FS will come rushing in soon and proclaim a way round to all these issues has been found and we can all go back to buying every tables they launch, then asking for more.

I have a game ending glitch maybe once a week or every other week. But its just that, a game ending glitch. I start a new game. It didn't even cost me a quarter! For sure I'd like them to be fixed but if the choice is to play them as they are or not play at all then I'll play them as they are.

 

[shutyertrap]

Brakel, do you even know how often you've responded to a post I meant to respond to in the exact manner I was planning on doing it?

It's a lot!

 

[Lord Boron]

PAPA just recently had a game ending glitch on Twilight Zone in the middle of a tournament. Welcome to pinball. You restart a move on.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

PAPA just recently had a game ending glitch on Twilight Zone in the middle of a tournament. Welcome to pinball. You restart a move on.

Not only the middle of a tournament, but the middle of the semifinal round of the third-most prestigious tournament (behind the PAPA and IFPA World Championships) on what is probably the most well-maintained Twilight Zone in the world. That machine only reports for duty for four days twice a year, and it gets brought up to tournament-ready condition each time.

 

[Tabe]

Quite frankly, I feel like we've been lied to by Farsight. There have been numerous promises of fixes - table fixes, not just code fixes, but graphic updates and the like - for the PS3 and now we're told that they can't do them. There's not a chance in heck that they are just now learning about this limitation, yet they've been promising fixes for quite a long time. I feel more than a little deceived by Farsight and question my continued support of their DLC.

 

[Deathtickle]

Action 52 might look like the 2nd rushed product out the door naming 'The Pinball Arcade' a new number one; WoW what a high water mark. Who thought it even possible.

 

[Dinosaur Toy]

With the recent interviews and on-site visits to Farsight, I suspect the core problem is this: Farsight is a company too small and poor of resources to really handle the scale of this project adequately. This is not an insult directed at them. Just an observation of what seems obvious. The issue is that companies have to promote themselves and have to deal with public relations. When a developer/publisher is trying to keep people happy, make new sales, and hold everything together, I would expect that there's always going to be a time when rainbows are promised even though there's not a cloud in the sky.

In this case, Farsight may have to deal with the fallout of having proven unable to cope with the circumstances they find themselves in. If they end up being incapable of providing PS3/Vita fixes and cannot publish a 2.0 version of the product to sort these issues, I don't think anyone could blame supporters and customers from turning away and not giving Farsight more money for "better" versions on other platforms. That's just being a prudent consumer. You don't keep giving money to someone who can't do the job. It's nothing personal.