DLC Release Date

[xNiCeGuYx]

Any news about how long we have to wait for the next patch?

 

[Tom]

Xbox 360 leaderboards are separate from all other platforms, due to Microsofts rules about leaderboard servers. They will be reset when we put out the next patch.

Will it be reset for all tables? Hopefully only for monster bash because of the glitch .

 

[Mark W**a]

I still can't believe that Microsoft charge XBox owners to play online. The WII didn't do this, neither does the PS3 as far as I know. You would think that the commission they get per sale plus extortionate fees they charge developers would be enough to make online gaming free. I am beginning to regret buying my children the XBox as I will have to pay for two accounts once the free trial has expired.

I'm not defending the policy, but they have charged for Xbox Live since it's inception in 2002. Sony has followed suit with PS+ and you can bet that the next PlayStation platform is going to charge to play online.

I am not defending it and I still think it's a ripoff. But 60$ per year is a much easier pill to swallow than the 30$ a month I pay Verizon and Apple for the "priveledge" of operating my Iphone. And the saddest part isn't that it's 30$/month for crappy, slow 3G internet that's capped at 2GB, it's that I don't even use it (I use WiFi 99% of the time).

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Any news about how long we have to wait for the next patch?

I'm not sure yet, I'll let you know when I have news.

 

[xNiCeGuYx]

Thanks!

 

[Richard B]

I'm not sure yet, I'll let you know when I have news.

My guess is when it can include support for TZ (and maybe even STTNG).

 

[superballs]

Man, I can't help but feel for Farsight,

I can't believe there are comments about poor communication. Have you guys ever been on an EA forum? I remember before they scrapped the NHL series on PC, they would release videos of all the "new" game engine and include the PC version and not mention (even after launch) that the PC version was the engine from the previous version. These guys get back to us with whatever information they can and it's never good enough for some of you.

Ok...serious, a shoddy product? Hardly...yeah the occaisonal game might end up broken by a bug here and there. Ok fine...left nudge during monster bash multiball get's you a couple mil, the leaderboards are fun but seriously are you really worried about someone exploiting it? To be honest, pinball is an endurance test...a good game can last an hour or two and I mean a really good epic game...we can all EASILY exploit this bug...if being on top of the leaderboard is THAT important to you then you just have to cradle a couple balls and hit left on an analog stick longer than the other guy. For the rest of us, the game is largely playable, largely playable and sure, reasonable nudging might add some score for you but i found that i mostly right nudge during MBMB anyway so it doesn't affect my score that much. If something so small literally destroys the entire game for you, well, as soon as they fix it, you'll just find something else to complain about.

Yeah they said all platforms, just because we haven't gotten the update yet doesn't mean we're excluded...would you really want them to reset the leaderboard just so you feel included?

Man, Farsight just can't seem to do anything the right way for some of you. They hold off on DLC and they get flak, they release DLC and a bug gets through and they get flak. Lighting isn't perfect? Flak. A couple missing soundbytes or imperfect scripting? Dammit play the table as is and make some adjustments...it's an even playing field and we all have to contend with it. If you play on a poorly maintained table you compete with others on that playing field...you need to deal with it. Of course, you can go ahead and not buy it, that's fine, but seriously witholding your money over niggling issues puts you in the minority, even if it's a loud minority, these things will be fixed.

I just love how people talk about not purchasing the DLC as if it's A) The end of the world. And B) Like a few lost sales are going to topple the mighty Farsight empire.

Personally, Farsight, take your time if you need to, XCOM releases tomorrow and I'm going to be busy (I already own all you have released for all of my platforms...plus my GF and I are trading phones so i get to buy it all again for the S3, that makes up for one lost sale)

 

[Mark W**a]

Nobody can ever claim that there is shoddy communication from Farsight. I asked for answers and clarification on here and on Facebook. They went beyond the call of duty and answered all of my questions. They are an awesome developer who cares about their fans. Anybody has a problem with Farsight hasn't been reading this board very closely.

360 owners are lucky we get tables at all. Farsight is doing everything they can to make this work. If people need an outlet to ***** and moan now they should take it to the Microsoft xbla forums, or Major Nelson's blog or something. Tell them hey look at how your policies are screwing Farsihht and Xbox fans. At the end of the day people are getting fed up with this **** and migrating to playstation , PC, or other platforms.

 

[Mark W**a]

Now that I have a complete understanding of how this whole thing works, this is my message to Farsight: wait until Pack 7 and Twilight Zone are completed, then submit everything so it's approved by like late November, mid December.

That way well get TZ in a timely fashion, 8 other highly polished tables, and whatever else they had in store for the November update. That would maximize the 40k submission dollars and give players enough dlc to keep happy for many more months to come.

If people have s problem with that, take it up with Microsoft. What I'm proposing is making the best of the current reality on 360.

 

[Krzysiek Grzelak]

''360 owners are lucky we get tables at all.''
..... Get? We need 2 paid 4 them, so its not any kind of favor from FS.

 

[Nik Barbour]

I'm personally, simply grateful Farsight haven't ditched xbox as a format due to MS's rules.
I'll happily wait for DLC in whatever bundles suits FS best.
As long as dlc eventually comes to xbox - my wife is not going to let me lash out another £150 for another platform to play pinball on. I'm still hoarse from begging for an xbox.

 

[karl]

Great post @superballs. That is exactly the way I feel. When I check this forum for new posts. 2/3 is complaints. I have no problem with reporting bugs and suggestions for making the product better but threats like "I am not buying more tables", "you have abandoning us" and "you do not tell us anything" makes me sad and angry. I am not saying this forum is bad or getting like facebook part 2 but I want to read about exiting news, good suggestions etc. Who cares if you are not playing the game anymore. There should be a topic called "Place all your negative pointless frustration here", then I could just block that thread

 

[Bonzo]

100% agreed, superballs and karl! Still waiting for the PC release and only playing TPA on android up to now, so DLC delays aren't a problem at all and Ryan from FS is keeping us informed quite frequently (even more so than Mike). I do feel sorry for you xbox players (and those waiting for releases from Sony Europe), but the amount of posts on the forum which are mere rants to blow off some steam is rapidly increasing, and that makes me a little sad. The loose atmosphere we had going here a few weeks back is clearly deteriorating.

 

[Matt McIrvin]

Things were pretty grim in the days when we were waiting for the first XBox DLC, too. That wasn't so long ago. At least this time around, XBox users have actually got ten tables to play, instead of four. I just wish my daughter would let me play Funhouse while she was in the room (Rudy creeps her out).

 

[jkonami]

I don't begrudge Farsight for the delay, nor really do I Microsoft, either. I bought all 10 tables for the 360 and that can keep me busy now while I wait for the Steam release, which I will switch to as soon as it comes out, and support Farsight exclusively on the PC side of things. If Black Knight 2000 was one of the DLC tables in limbo I'd have a much harder time waiting, though. Might be a tougher wait when TZ and ST:TNG come out too..

 

[Krzysiek Grzelak]

Well, so everybody r happy, and we can w8 for next 6 months for nxt dlc! No problem FS we still luv U!
-im not a cry baby, but hey, ppl.... its about our money , time and our dependence on MS X360.
So please, dont tell me FS is OK, and its quite awright 2 w8 for another months 4 a new DLC coz its like shooting in UR own knees...

 

[Mark W**a]

Well, so everybody r happy, and we can w8 for next 6 months for nxt dlc! No problem FS we still luv U!
-im not a cry baby, but hey, ppl.... its about our money , time and our dependence on MS X360.
So please, dont tell me FS is OK, and its quite awright 2 w8 for another months 4 a new DLC coz its like shooting in UR own knees...

It's simple numbers. Slydogg compiled the sales of the DLC on 360 so far. It's around 5-6k units per pack. That's roughly 25-30k in revenue per pack.

However once you factor in the fact that Microsoft takes a cut of those sales (I've heard they take as much as 50% but I hope that's wrong), and then you factor in it costs them 40k for a title update, then you see that the left over profit margin is slim.

That's why they need to put as many packs in an update as possible. That way they can maximize profits.

And who can blame them? If they aren't making profit they aren't going to support the platform period, this isn't a charity. This is the reality of the situation.

Since I'm realistic, I'm actually HOPING they delay packs 4,5, and 6 and don't submit them until Twilight Zone is ready. That way we'll get 3 packs + Twilight Zone in the next update, which could drop anywhere between November or December all things considered.

There is a silver lining to having to wait. At least we can count on the packs being more polished and having less bugs. Just look at how messed up Black Knight is on PS3. I have no problem waiting so long as the quality is there, and the next update will keep me happy for quite some time.

If anyone from Farsight is reading this. Maybe you guys should start doing Quarterly updates on 360. That way we know when to expect updates. Waiting isn't a big deal, it's having any clue what the release schedule is going to be that sucks, imo. If we know to expect big updates every 4 months I think that keeps everyone happy and their expectations in check.

 

[Richard B]

It's simple numbers. Slydogg compiled the sales of the DLC on 360 so far. It's around 5-6k units per pack. That's roughly 25-30k in revenue per pack.

However once you factor in the fact that Microsoft takes a cut of those sales (I've heard they take as much as 50% but I hope that's wrong), and then you factor in it costs them 40k for a title update, then you see that the left over profit margin is slim.

That's why they need to put as many packs in an update as possible. That way they can maximize profits.

And who can blame them? If they aren't making profit they aren't going to support the platform period, this isn't a charity. This is the reality of the situation.

Since I'm realistic, I'm actually HOPING they delay packs 4,5, and 6 and don't submit them until Twilight Zone is ready. That way we'll get 3 packs + Twilight Zone in the next update, which could drop anywhere between November or December all things considered.

There is a silver lining to having to wait. At least we can count on the packs being more polished and having less bugs. Just look at how messed up Black Knight is on PS3. I have no problem waiting so long as the quality is there, and the next update will keep me happy for quite some time.

If they're going to indeed wait for TZ to be ready, why not dump pack 7 in there as well?

 

[Krzysiek Grzelak]

If its not a charity, then tell us '' sorry guyz, but we wont release any more DLC for UR platform, coz therez no profit 4 us...
-c ya, and bye bye.


-Thats wot i call honesty

 

[Mark W**a]

If they're going to indeed wait for TZ to be ready, why not dump pack 7 in there as well?

Hell yeah!

I'm just saying if I had to guess, they'll do pack 4,5,6 + TZ in November or December, then packs 7,8,9 + TNG...maybe by like Feb 2013?

I don't know how they will do it but if they release a big update right before Twilight Zone hits and we have to wait 4 months for TZ that will be heartbreaking.