FarSight should announce something...

[dtown8532]

Stern recently announced Iron Maiden which, of course, has sold all its LE’s before any pics are released. If FarSight still gives a hoot about this property they should ride that wave. Are they getting the digital rights to recreate this pin? Keith Elwin. Considered the best pinball player of all time designed the playfield layout. Along with the superb artwork it looks like another music pin winner for Stern.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Smart marketing. Seems like we've been longing for that from Farsight since day 1, eh?

 

[karl]

Farsight of the union

That's a smart move that Stern has started with lately

A short monthly write-up about what's going on with the company

 

[Kolchak357]

Or maybe keep putting out the monthly newsletter, but with actual news of upcoming plans/activity.

 

[Heretic]

They should just go all in an create their own ip and playfeild, inspried by 80s cartoons thundercats heman and dungeons and dragons, theyve played enough by now

 

[QuickAceItsA2ndChance]

Or maybe keep putting out the monthly newsletter, but with actual news of upcoming plans/activity.

This. It would be nice to have something to look forward to with TPA. I don't need firm promises of a release date until that date is set in stone. But it would be helpful to know what's in the works and how it's going.

 

[Gorgias32]

At this point they are probably all catching up on all the sleep they have missed with the breakneck release schedule for the last 6 years. But I agree that when the dust settles I'd love to know what is happening.

This product (TPA/SPA) is well loved and the community is used to getting frequent updates. Right now we're all holding our collective breath, waiting to see what comes out - will something (news, patch, new table) happen in April? Will it be 6 months? Will they change direction completely? It's all a mystery. And it makes me a little nervous.

 

[Citizen]

the community is used to getting frequent updates.

Except the SPA portion of the community. Or any portion of the TPA community other than mobile and Steam.

 

[strells]

Do we think there is any chance that they will ever be able to release any of the new pins that use a true video screen instead of DMD? I can't see how they could do that and still support all the platforms they are on, simply due to performance issues. Anybody know what the resolution is on those displays? They certainly look HD which would require some honking processor power to run along with table graphics and physics.

 

[wolfson]

oh well , we know Farsight , we`ll just wait and wait !!! we have heaps of sport at the moment , I`m just catching up with the surfing from Bells , Mick Fanning through to the 4th round . The Commonwealth games start tomorrow night , College basketball Final all the Football and the Baseball just started and Pinball and Racing games in between !!! my kids and grandkids are healthy , what else could a boofhead like me ask for!!!

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Do we think there is any chance that they will ever be able to release any of the new pins that use a true video screen instead of DMD? I can't see how they could do that and still support all the platforms they are on, simply due to performance issues. Anybody know what the resolution is on those displays? They certainly look HD which would require some honking processor power to run along with table graphics and physics.

The Jersey Jack machine displays are 1080p. I'm not sure of the resolution of the Stern displays.

 

[Gorgias32]

Except the SPA portion of the community. Or any portion of the TPA community other than mobile and Steam.

Well, I meant news updates (with the monthly newsletter). You're right that only TPA on mobile and Steam get app updates at a reasonable frequency.

 

[Snorzel]

I am a fan of Farsight and their products, nothing against Stern, but if the deal with them is keeping the channel of communications closed between Farsight and THEIR fans that is an issue

 

[Heretic]

I am a fan of Farsight and their products, nothing against Stern, but if the deal with them is keeping the channel of communications closed between Farsight and THEIR fans that is an issue

The stern deal shouldnt affect farsight in terms of other manufacturers, if stern are limiting even a carrot on the stick or basic news it would but an annoying issue, if that was the case as weareedumactionally using learnings we need to get old man stern drunk and in love withus

 

[Spork98765]

I am a fan of Farsight and their products, nothing against Stern, but if the deal with them is keeping the channel of communications closed between Farsight and THEIR fans that is an issue

When has the channel of communication between FarSight and their fans been an open one though? The biggest communication event of the year was usually the "12 days of Xmas", and that was traditionally filled with speculative announcements more than anything of substance. Can anyone cite a clear and open communication from FarSight that actually gave anything more than marketing hype-speak?

 

[shutyertrap]

When has the channel of communication between FarSight and their fans been an open one though? The biggest communication event of the year was usually the "12 days of Xmas", and that was traditionally filled with speculative announcements more than anything of substance. Can anyone cite a clear and open communication from FarSight that actually gave anything more than marketing hype-speak?

Well, considering I conducted 2 interviews with Bobby King during the first 2 years of TPA for BlahCade Pinball Podcast, that in addition he answered questions via email that we collected from this very forum on numerous occassions, that Mike and Norman have both been frequent guests on the podcast, and in certain threads on this forum various employees of FarSight have communicated and answered questions, I'd say they've had a much larger channel of communication with the fans than most games. You want to talk marketing hype-speak, what would you call Blizzcon? Does EA jump into fan forums and joke around with posters? Shoot, does Zen even do that?

FarSight has walked a razors edge of having too much communication that bites them when things change, and not enough communication making people feel like they don't care. You have to remember, especially in the case of Stern, FarSight can't be 100% transparent with all their dealings, nor should they be. The SPA app is case in point, where Stern hired FarSight to create a product for them as opposed to TPA where FarSight purchased the license and could choose what info to release.

 

[Snorzel]

The farsight guys interacting on this site have been great, any info is appreciated. My thing is like the title says they need to announce SOMETHING, and I dont mean "look were releasing on ANOTHER platform before we even have what is out now working correctly, isnt that great?" I mean plans for future release tables, if you cant tell us whats coming next tell us when you will be able to tell us. I look into this game every month and more to see whats coming next, at some point Im going to stop looking. Keep us hooked farsight! No other game has had me perpetually excited for 6ish years.

 

[HotHamBoy]

I don't see how the new LCD platform is even possible for Farsight so I'd count out anything Batman 66 and after.

Ghostbusters was a struggle, it released 9 months late and had big problems for months after on all platforms.

The new LCD platform is even more demanding. What's more, it's a whole new system of gigabytes of video, graphical overlays and more in dense folder trees with complex calls. With DMD, the app is just drawing the dots as if it were a DMD display and that takes up no space. With LCD, the video is pre-recorded, graphics and animations and other various display assets are all stored and called up. That's a ton more data, that's a ton more processing.

It's not happening on the current platform.

Think about it. There's a reason the next tables are Big Buck Hunter and Woah Nellie. The only SPIKE table is Ghostbusters and the struggle was real, they don't seem to be eager to tackle any more any time soon or they'd be going after garaunteed big sellers like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead.

You think they'll even bother with the new LCD platform?

 

[PeacemakerPIN]

I'll say the biggest problems with producing these modern Stern tables is time.

All those monthly releases for TPA was taking it's toll.

As for the LCD platform, I expect compressed video. Unlike the real machine, there is no reason for high bitrate video. (Would suck for those with a Cab though)

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

With the LCD platforms, they are at least going to have access to the raw video in whatever format it comes in. Has anyone successfully implemented LCD screens - Stern, JJ, or anyone else's - in VP yet?