Is the Williams license in better hands now? Would a wide variety of tables by TPA be

[1adam12]

I’m not sure how long it’s been now since Zen took over the Williams pinball license. As I understand it, Pinball FX3 is done, and they’re moving on to 4. There has been no new table for quite a while. Would it have been better for Farsight to keep the title running, despite the lower quality?


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[Naildriver74]

Yes

 

[ATARI]

Yes

 

[1adam12]

I’m both happy and surprised at those responses. It seemed like the license had real value to Farsight, whereas it’s just another property for Zen. I can’t believe they’re getting their moneys worth.


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[ATARI]

When FX4 is released how many packs/tables will there be before FX5 comes out and then FX6... By the time xbox series x gets widely available in stores the next gen. XBOX will be out.

 

[tomwaits]

For me, Zen getting the WMS license has ended my interest in digital pinball. I haven't purchased any of their WMS tables. I only play on PS4, and won't buy censored tables. They've only released one table that wasn't in TPA. Devoting development resources to WMS tables means there hasn't been a Zen original since Solo (except the two Star Wars VR exclusives). The license changing hands has been a disaster to me and after buying every table in ZP1, Marvel, Star Wars, ZP2, and PFX3 until Solo, they've lost a customer.

 

[yespage]

Meanwhile, I can play the WMS tables on my ALP table via the Nintendo Switch, both arcade and realistic modes, and it looks great, better than Farsight (which is dated quite a bit, literally), because Zen got the rights. The FX3 physics were also greatly improved on Farsight's. They didn't release many new tables, but on the other hand, they release among the most popular (this is a business and they need to make money).

It hasn't been perfect, but it ended up being better than I expected. Then add a merger and Pandemic, and one can understand why things kind of paused. The deal with Apple was somewhat unfortunate as that created a greater pause in releases for consoles and PC. Yes, they do very well with that deal, but the consumer, not so much. Especially when in my opinion, pinball on a tablet is like sex on the phone (the old phones).

So, a mixed bag, with extra baggage on the side with things they couldn't control. Hopefully 2022 recovers for digital pinball table releases. Certainly, 2021 was a decent year for digital pinball table machines.

 

[1adam12]

Those are some good points, with the pandemic putting things into a tailspin. I do think Zen really dropped the ball. Farsight did fan polls and worked to put out tables that were high in demand. Bride of PinBot is still a favorite and one of the tables that has me visit the mobile app from time to time. There were some great tables out in that era, so to speak, such as the Elvira table.
The way the business is being handled with things like Apple Arcade are indicative of how businesses seem to work harder and harder to just find a dedicated audience willing to pay for some special service. I’m thinking about things like the big ten network, the nfl network, and so on. It’s a flawed comparison, but I think you get my drift. As of now, Zen has taken a specialty product and tucked it away in a special corner. I won’t pay for Apple Arcade, so I’ll just have to miss out. I can only hope not many people shell out for it so it can prove to be a flawed idea.


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[Pete]

Zen does a great job... very slowly lol. Farsight was amazing at giving us awesome stuff consistently and did a good enough job that I still enjoy playing TPA. I'm sure Zen will give us some more stuff over time. a really long time. it has gotten pretty ridiculous. and jeez man of all the un-digitized tables to be the first to come to zen... Friggin Space Station, really?! Not that i hate the table... but as the first ever pick to impress us with their taste and nerdly knowledge of pinball tables they bring us a whatever table that no one would have asked for. It's #$@##^ Bull$E%# #$%#^%# @#$$!!! Just get visual pinball X kids, download all your tables for free. VPX is amazing, near everything has been done. They just got a decent Police Force so that completes the entire williams/bally set from the 80's though 90's (70's mostly complete, 50's-60's missing a bunch of stuff you wouldn't want anyway). Once you get all those you kind of dont care what zen does. Make yourself a checklist off pinside and try and collect every pinball table you can get your hands on (600+ have been done), someday they might shut the scene down so hurry up.

 

[1adam12]

Is there an easy to use VFX setup? I’ve used it in the past with mixed results. I found some great and unique tables, but it seemed like some worked and some didn’t. Maybe I had to find a specific format. It seemed very involved. I’m not used to that!


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[BostonBuckeye]

Zen is going to make an announcement (massive is what they said) on a William's table on their Pinball Show this Thursday. I just watched a promo video for this episode and the host of the show pretends to crack a whip. Gee, I wonder which license they just obtained.

 

[1adam12]

Zen is going to make an announcement (massive is what they said) on a William's table on their Pinball Show this Thursday. I just watched a promo video for this episode and the host of the show pretends to crack a whip. Gee, I wonder which license they just obtained.

And as I understand it, there are two different tables, aren’t there? Is one much more popular than the other? I played one about 20 years ago that was pretty great.


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[BostonBuckeye]

I believe Stern made one as well as William's. The William's one IJ: The Pinball Adventure I believe is the one that everyone considers the holy grail.

 

[1adam12]

Yes!! That was an amazing table!!


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[Pete]

Indiana Jones would go along way in terms of making us insane pinball people suddenly not so unhappy with zen. If they put IJ out they might even be able to wait another year without putting anything else out before we start to go stir crazy again and talk smack ha

1adam12 i was frustrated at first too, but then i found some videos on youtube that made it easy to figure out. Now I couldn't possibly live without it. don't give up YOU NEED THIS!!! lol

 

[BostonBuckeye]

Zen also posted a photo of Akos holding up some tools standing in front of (mostly blocking) an IJ machine. I have a feeling this site is going to get a little more lively than it has been for a very long time.

 

[yespage]

...until we find out there is a 12 additional month lag on release, after it goes out on Epic in 6 months.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

...until we find out there is a 12 additional month lag on release, after it goes out on Epic in 6 months.

3 months, launch confirmed March 2022. 1 year deal.

 

[zmcvay]

3 months, launch confirmed March 2022. 1 year deal.

Indy will probably end up being a 1 year exclusive at this point...to the Intellivision Amico.

 

[yespage]

And in 6 months the Blahcade episode will be the two doing Pinball related knitting.

Jared: And when I pull this, the flipper moves.
Shutyertraps: That is fabulous.