Is this it for Farsight / Pinball Arcade?

[wilbers]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzFNylQanRQ
Hmm, ATgames partners with Taito for licences to use in new pinball games but doesn't say in that video who is making the tables. Could Farsight have been contracted for this?? It looks suspiciously like its either that, or a company new to making pinball games like ATgames hiring people and making them themselves which seems less likely if they haven't started to make new video games themselves already.

 

[Lykaion23]

What gonna we lose next, patch for pinball arcade Steam scheduled at 14th of october 3am UTC+2

 

[jaredmorgs]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzFNylQanRQ
Hmm, ATgames partners with Taito for licences to use in new pinball games but doesn't say in that video who is making the tables. Could Farsight have been contracted for this?? It looks suspiciously like its either that, or a company new to making pinball games like ATgames hiring people and making them themselves which seems less likely if they haven't started to make new video games themselves already.

Chris and I saw this press release as well.

We have some ideas, none of which are official.

 

[AcadDude]

Chris and I saw this press release as well.

We have some ideas, none of which are official.

Sounds like a podcast!!


or a small part of one?

 

[shutyertrap]

It does, doesn’t it? We’re gonna wait a bit though for more info. After writing off FarSight for dead with regards to pinball, we need to see if they are indeed involved with this. Our behind the scenes speculation turned quickly rather hostile toward the possible software, which would be rather unfair and only further make us look like Zen homers than we already do. But yes, at some point it’ll be a podcast segment.

 

[trash80]

It does, doesn’t it? We’re gonna wait a bit though for more info. After writing off FarSight for dead with regards to pinball, we need to see if they are indeed involved with this. Our behind the scenes speculation turned quickly rather hostile toward the possible software, which would be rather unfair and only further make us look like Zen homers than we already do. But yes, at some point it’ll be a podcast segment.

AtGames has been working on this for a while. They secured the Taito (a wholly owned subsidiary of Square Enix) retro property license at the end of last year and structured the deal to use the old video game IP in things beyond just legally selling emulated games in the Blast, etc. From what I've heard, the upcoming AtGames Legend Pinball System will come with 22 Taito Licensed original tables. Here are the specs of the cabinet which is considerably bigger than the Toyshock and Arcade1Up cabinets.

Maybe we will get reskins of real tables, you know, like what Taito (in Brazil) did back in the 70s/80s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taito_of_Brazil

And for those that were not aware, or may have forgotten, AtGames and Farsight signed a developmental partnership earlier this year. https://www.newswire.com/news/atgames-and-farsight-studios-announce-new-multi-faceted-strategic-21159727

 

[shutyertrap]

I thought Legends Pinball was coming with 22 Gottlieb tables from FarSight. I do have a very sneaky suspicion the Taito tables using their licenses of popular vid games, if FarSight is making them, will be nothing more than reskins of Bally and Williams machines. This is how they’ll get around the loss of license while still being able to utilize past assets. From there I go much more cynical, which is why I’ll wait for concrete news.

 

[trash80]

I thought Legends Pinball was coming with 22 Gottlieb tables from FarSight. I do have a very sneaky suspicion the Taito tables using their licenses of popular vid games, if FarSight is making them, will be nothing more than reskins of Bally and Williams machines. This is how they’ll get around the loss of license while still being able to utilize past assets. From there I go much more cynical, which is why I’ll wait for concrete news.

You are probably correct about those 22 licensed tables being Gottlieb tables and I got my information crossed up. We did get to see Farsight reskin Haunted House already (Ghostbusters) and we also got a peek at their table design skills with Doctor Who:MoT, so you can count me in the cynical camp as well.

 

[wilbers]

Changes to ATGames before release. Better shape cabinet, lockdown bar, coin door, etc.

 

[Firefox2000]

^^It does not look like it is running at a stable 60 fps, looks like the frame rate is all over the place, so i don't know if that is the cabinet or the capture device, the phone or YT.

 

[morenoquinteiro]

I like the Farsight simulation. I used to get mad at them, because the UI looks horrible, but you know what, I value them a lot now. I bought all the tables before they were retired, spent some good money on it and I don't regret it. The physics are really good even today, not as good as in the Zen Pinball simulation, but if you stay away from Zen from a while, you get used really quick. It is just bad when you directly compare them, so staying away from Zen helps a lot.

I hope this company can keep their activities, they made history in pinball simulation and show true love and passion for it. My relation with them goes back to the Nintendo Wii time, when I played their game for that system, and I lost the count of how many great hours and moments I had with it. I had a stressfull job back then, a very tiring one, and family situation was bad too with lots of internal fights and bad moments, it was a small window of happiness and relief to turn on the game on my Wii and play Firepower or Space Shuttle (my favorite tables back them). It was so relaxing, just letting the ball roll, maybe a bit of a beer, and there you go. It made me forget all my problems for a while.

So yeah, I hope they keep around somehow, their products are really good (except the UI, but Zen Pinball's UI is not that good either btw). I love how they have detailed instruction for each table, something Zen never did. I first thought I did a bad thing buying all the tables, but after the initial excitement about the Zen recreations, I see myself coming back to the Farsight game more than I thought I would. Big secret, as I said before, is to not play both at a short distance in time (just wait a few days or weeks), the direct comparison makes the Farsight ball feels too "floaty", but when you just play Farsight, it doesn't feel that way because you have nothing to compare to. So it is still a great game and many of the tables are not present (and many probably will never) in Zen Williams collection, so I'm pretty satisfied with it. Forums and rankings are still working btw, as far I'm concerned, so that's a great thing.

 

[ScotchYeti]

Well, chances are slim that they will stay around for long. It's great that they have managed to publish so many tables even if the quality is inferior compared to ZEN, not to forget about the STERN tables. I have to agree that when you just play Pinball Arcade then you adjust to their physics pretty fast. It's only when you play some real pinball or the ZEN tables that their weaknesses become obvious.

It's funny that you mention the Wii. It was a quantum jump from the Williams Pinball Hall of Fame to the Pinball Arcade but yeah, you can always have a great time.

 

[wilbers]

A hint of a change - delisting, some tables removed? Seems the Indie Gamer Chick knows something the rest of us don't.
https://twitter.com/IndieGamerChick/status/1513546151710011394

 

[wilbers]

..and as it specifically mentions Stern it does imply that Stern (or less likely, even Farsight themselves if the cost of doing so is higher than the residual sales they are still making) may not have renewed that license and that it will run out over the summer. A strong possibility anyway.

 

[tenparts]

People are seriously overrating Zen and VP, while seriously underrating TPA. Zen is a shady company and none of their releases feel even slightly like actual pinball at all. Meanwhile, all work done in VP is constantly held back by VP itself, no matter how many updates that wretched old thing gets. These are not good alternatives and people should stop recommending them all the time.

TPA is all we really have. What should be happening is that we should be boycotting Zen in TPA's favor, but considering that everyone hated TPA at every point during its life, that seems unlikely. If TPA goes, digital pinball goes, unless and until someone is willing to appear to put Zen and VP in their place. That seems unlikely too, so digital pinball is basically doomed, while real pinball is becoming increasingly harder to access.

 

[yespage]

People are seriously overrating Zen and VP, while seriously underrating TPA. Zen is a shady company and none of their releases feel even slightly like actual pinball at all. Meanwhile, all work done in VP is constantly held back by VP itself, no matter how many updates that wretched old thing gets. These are not good alternatives and people should stop recommending them all the time.

TPA was awesome for its time. Provided a mountain of tables, much fun was had. Zen then improved the physics and the look. All of this has built upon previous iterations.

TPA is all we really have. What should be happening is that we should be boycotting Zen in TPA's favor, but considering that everyone hated TPA at every point during its life, that seems unlikely. If TPA goes, digital pinball goes, unless and until someone is willing to appear to put Zen and VP in their place. That seems unlikely too, so digital pinball is basically doomed, while real pinball is becoming increasingly harder to access.

If TPA goes? It has been gone a long while. Part of the animosity against Farsight was the Stern deal that didn't amount to much. Lots of hope, little follow through. Farsight is done. Personally I want Zaccaria to get the Goettlieb license. I mean they are reskin'ing some of them for the Taito's, so why not?

VP isn't perfect, but goodness, I've got nearly 200 tables dated from 1932 to the 2000's. Some tables probably you can only play in a handful of locations in the US. I think VP is awesome, if nothing else, as an archive. But the ability to play other tables not released in a while (or never released) on a recent PC, with an AtGames table, that is priceless!

 

[shutyertrap]

People are seriously overrating Zen and VP, while seriously underrating TPA. Zen is a shady company and none of their releases feel even slightly like actual pinball at all. Meanwhile, all work done in VP is constantly held back by VP itself, no matter how many updates that wretched old thing gets. These are not good alternatives and people should stop recommending them all the time.

TPA is all we really have. What should be happening is that we should be boycotting Zen in TPA's favor, but considering that everyone hated TPA at every point during its life, that seems unlikely. If TPA goes, digital pinball goes, unless and until someone is willing to appear to put Zen and VP in their place. That seems unlikely too, so digital pinball is basically doomed, while real pinball is becoming increasingly harder to access.

This has to be the silliest 'hot take' I've read in quite a while. FarSight has not made a new digital pinball table since 2018 I think? And no, TPA was not universally hated during it's entire existence, far from it. The biggest gripe just had to do with there being so much potential that FarSight refused to expand upon. I also laugh at calling Zen a "shady company" when FarSight quite literally had been putting out shovelware software for their previous 20 years of existence. And then there's "so digital pinball is basically doomed" which is outright laughable when you consider how much money Zen is investing into digital pinball, how much they are expanding, and how they actually have a 10 year plan in place, that was submitted to investors, to ensure digital pinball will only continue to grow.

So like I said, a very silly post. And that's without even bothering to compare graphics, physics, or gameplay, all of which TPA falls behind in.

 

[Rayder]

I know it will never happen, but I wish Farsight would have at least fixed the remaining glaring issues in the PS4 version of TPA.

Mainly, Black Hole's background sound not looping properly, and the flipper sounds disappearing on Dr. Who. Most everything else I can forgive or ignore, but those two things are very annoying.

 

[vfpcoder]

This has to be the silliest 'hot take' I've read in quite a while. FarSight has not made a new digital pinball table since 2018 I think? And no, TPA was not universally hated during it's entire existence, far from it. The biggest gripe just had to do with there being so much potential that FarSight refused to expand upon. I also laugh at calling Zen a "shady company" when FarSight quite literally had been putting out shovelware software for their previous 20 years of existence. And then there's "so digital pinball is basically doomed" which is outright laughable when you consider how much money Zen is investing into digital pinball, how much they are expanding, and how they actually have a 10 year plan in place, that was submitted to investors, to ensure digital pinball will only continue to grow.

So like I said, a very silly post. And that's without even bothering to compare graphics, physics, or gameplay, all of which TPA falls behind in.

shutyertrap,

I'm going to miss your sage wisdom when this forum expires. <sigh>

I still regularly play TPA tables on my VPCabs "Vertigo" as well as FX3 and VPX tables. They all have their merits and they all provide an experience which is about 70-80% of the "real thing" which is about all I have ever expected. I'm looking forward to 'fx' -- but right now my (already updated) Vertigo will need to be updated again in order to have the horsepower to fully and properly run it.

I think there has been a blunt to the excitement for Digital Pinball. A lot of it had to do with FarSight losing the Williams/Bally license combined with the pandemic which killed new releases from Zen. For almost two years there were hardly any new digital reproductions of pinball tables to discuss here. I suspect that interest will ramp up again -- especially if we ever get 2nd generation Virtual Pinball cabinets from Arcade1UP and/or AtGames.