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

[Gorgar]

They posted keywords about their announcement: Pinball FX, Pinball FX3, Williams Pinball

It seems that we may get one last table (prob Indiana Jones) on pfx3!

 

[1adam12]

They posted keywords about their announcement: Pinball FX, Pinball FX3, Williams Pinball

It seems that we may get one last table (prob Indiana Jones) on pfx3!

If so, I’m in!


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[Sloopy_DE]

It's Indy, and it's on FX3 (or will be in 03/22)!

https://youtu.be/_8GRbIrVwVc

 

[yespage]

Kind of hoping a couple other tables would join it. Small tables would have been fine. It is a big one though and a new one.

 

[Narc0lep5y]

...and no kickstarter or EGS required. Excellent.

 

[zmcvay]

Great news after a long drought! Just hoping the other shoe doesn't drop.

Besides the fact that if I do want it on the new Pinball FX platform I'll have to buy it again later of course.

Would be nice if some other exclusives were confirmed to be headed there, either the 2 Oculus Star Wars tables or the Pinball Party ones. The Oculus exclusivity for the Mandalorian must be up soon at least.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Side by side comparison, in case anyone's interested -- FX3 vs Unreal:

FX3 looks great as usual, but Unreal is looking sharp and vibrant! I can only imagine what the other Williams games will look like. That being said, I wonder what kind of graphics settings are utilized in the Unreal version.

 

[francis247uk]

Looks great, thanks for posting!

Have Zen said anything about Pinball FX coming to PS5 and Xbox Series consoles - will they also be a year wait after the epic exclusive, so March 2023 release?

Also are they scanning the assets at 4k (or above) for Pinball FX do we think, or are they doing that already with FX3....

 

[shogun00]

Have Zen said anything about Pinball FX coming to PS5 and Xbox Series consoles - will they also be a year wait after the epic exclusive, so March 2023 release?

Epic Store exclusives don't affect console releases. The PFX3 version comes out on console in March as well.

Pinball FX (reboot) will release out on PS5, XBS, and Switch over the summer. Zen also confirmed that they are also making PS4 and XB1 versions, but I'm not sure if they will release out over the summer as well.

 

[yespage]

It looks a bit sharper in the Unreal engine. Maybe a little less washout with lighting in the background. The table looks better on the right, however, I think part of that is the number of lights on in the game play.

 

[Scared Stiff]

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.

Well, the only one non-TPA table thing is about to change. There’s been numerous Zen originals since Solo. Just all on Apple Arcade.

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.

Why is it a flawed idea? 5 bucks a month for over 200 all-you-can-play games with no ads? People spend more than that on coffee in one day, let alone one month. It’s totally a good deal. And I’m on a six month free trial so it’s not even costing me anything right now.

 

[1adam12]

Side by side comparison, in case anyone's interested -- FX3 vs Unreal:

FX3 looks great as usual, but Unreal is looking sharp and vibrant! I can only imagine what the other Williams games will look like. That being said, I wonder what kind of graphics settings are utilized in the Unreal version.

Maybe it’s my age, but I am perfectly happy with the FX3 engine. I feel that apps hit that point a long time ago where they were meant to be obsolete after a few years. I’m sure the new software will be noticeably better to some people, but I’m just happy to be able to play these tables decades after playing them IRL. I’m thrilled about the Indiana Jones table, and think it will have been worth the wait.


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[Xanija]

Side by side comparison, in case anyone's interested -- FX3 vs Unreal:

FX3 looks great as usual, but Unreal is looking sharp and vibrant! I can only imagine what the other Williams games will look like. That being said, I wonder what kind of graphics settings are utilized in the Unreal version.

The difference is quite noticeable. I'm a huge fan of sharp graphics.

 

[yespage]

Why is it a flawed idea? 5 bucks a month for over 200 all-you-can-play games with no ads? People spend more than that on coffee in one day, let alone one month. It’s totally a good deal. And I’m on a six month free trial so it’s not even costing me anything right now.

I don't think it is flawed, as they are trying to cash in on the non-pinball gaming person. But for me, pinball on a tablet?! Like having T-Day dinner through a straw. And in the world of today's media and gaming options, it is best not to force dedicated gamers to wait and find something else to spend their money on.

 

[Scared Stiff]

I don't think it is flawed, as they are trying to cash in on the non-pinball gaming person. But for me, pinball on a tablet?! Like having T-Day dinner through a straw. And in the world of today's media and gaming options, it is best not to force dedicated gamers to wait and find something else to spend their money on.

Yeah well that bridge was crossed long before the Apple Arcade deal, when they decided to dump their own engine and go with Epic’s which made everything come to a grinding halt. And to each’s own. I’ve been a dedicated pinball player since the 1970’s and I LOVE being able to play on a tablet. Actually I have been playing on my phone more lately. And for me that’s still a heck of a lot of fun. I can’t stand at a pinball machine anymore. Don’t have the stamina for it. Hands can’t handle it for long either. This is perfect for me and my situation. But I can understand why it wouldn’t be for others. At least the wait for new tables is almost over for everyone. Indy is coming!

 

[pinballmonster]

Digital pinball with a controller kinda sorta makes sense. But there are just too many variables involved: the size and weight of the controller, the travel of the buttons, input errors, and the odd parallels or lack thereof of controller inputs vs actual pinball buttons and plungers.

Pulling a plunger by swiping down on a screen and activating flippers by tapping, on a rectangular display feels a lot more natural than holding an enormous egg shaped controller in your hands and arbitrarily assigning functions to buttons and levers.

You also have to take into account button/lever travel latency, so you have to hit shots (more than) slightly earlier with a controller, whereas tapping and swiping directly on the screen at least feels like the latency is minimized.

As far as zen's business decisions, I'd imagine there's a lot less revenue for Williams tables compared to say, FPS games: COD, Fortnite, etc. They've got to grab any bag they're offered.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Digital pinball with a controller kinda sorta makes sense. But there are just too many variables involved: the size and weight of the controller, the travel of the buttons, input errors, and the odd parallels or lack thereof of controller inputs vs actual pinball buttons and plungers.

Pulling a plunger by swiping down on a screen and activating flippers by tapping, on a rectangular display feels a lot more natural than holding an enormous egg shaped controller in your hands and arbitrarily assigning functions to buttons and levers.

You also have to take into account button/lever travel latency, so you have to hit shots (more than) slightly earlier with a controller, whereas tapping and swiping directly on the screen at least feels like the latency is minimized.

As far as zen's business decisions, I'd imagine there's a lot less revenue for Williams tables compared to say, FPS games: COD, Fortnite, etc. They've got to grab any bag they're offered.

Keyboard player here, been that way on PC pinball since the Full Tilt / Maxis days. Couldn't get behind a controller apart from consoles. The way I play, I want the experience to parallel that feeling of a real machine, and keyboard makes more sense to me. A traditional controller with just 1 finger on each flipper button, it feels very strange and awkward.

What's missing from FX3 (and I'm going to assume in the upcoming FX) is custom plunger controls for the mouse. It's been implemented on FX2, which is strange.

What's suffering on many different pinball games with nudging on a keyboard, is that there are too few variables. It's not just a 0 or 1 deal, you need fuzzy logic behind it. SlamIt Pinball was WAY ahead of its time.

 

[pinballmonster]

Another nice aspect of playing on a tablet is that you maximize use of screen real estate.

There's so much wasted space on a standard 16x9 display.

Hopefully, the next iteration of Williams mobile pinball will feature higher res tables. The latest m1 chips and snapdragon 88x GPU's should be able to handle whatever zen can throw at them.

 

[suffocater]

[MENTION=8047]pinballmonster[/MENTION]:
Turn the screen by 90° and you got no wasted space at all. On Controllers I say I don't feel any delay (cabled), a little buttontravel is only realistic and I find I have quite good nudging control with an analog stick.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[pinballmonster]

Nudging with joystick controllers is clearly superior ergonomically compared to reaching to and swiping at the top of a tablet screen.

Continuous tapping on a tablet or phone can also irritate your joints, so the bit of cushion afforded with buttons and triggers is probably slightly preferable for longer sessions of gaming.

My only significant gripe is that I can't get any controller to work without input errors in macOS. Gaming support is abysmal.