Jersey Jack Pinball?

[Critic]

The new WOZ table looks so beautiful, but I doubt I'll ever get a chance to play it - though I know Jay Richardson has at least one in my city. Is there any chance of Farsight striking a deal to digitize either WOZ or the upcoming Hobbit table? I'm sure they are expensive licenses and I know these are fever dreams, but it would be a dream come true if they did!

Critic

 

[brakel]

The new WOZ table looks so beautiful, but I doubt I'll ever get a chance to play it - though I know Jay Richardson has at least one in my city. Is there any chance of Farsight striking a deal to digitize either WOZ or the upcoming Hobbit table? I'm sure they are expensive licenses and I know these are fever dreams, but it would be a dream come true if they did!

Critic

There's little chance just from a technical point of view. It would be expensive to code the emulation and there's not much chance of the emulation being able to run on mobile devices.

 

[Edan-Grossman]

Adding to what brakel said, jjp machines run on a desktop pc with a Linux os. My best guess is that only a medium to high-end pc could currently emulate a system like that. Even then, it would take quite a bit software to do that.

I'm not saying that jjp will never make its way to tpa, it probably won't happen for a while.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

not to mention the LCD in the backglass is a crucial element to the game.

 

[MegaDrive (Mark Wyda)]

There's little chance just from a technical point of view. It would be expensive to code the emulation and there's not much chance of the emulation being able to run on mobile devices.

They don't need to emulate it or script it: they would have to actually port it.

It would be a big undertaking though, a totally different league than what they do now and it would take much longer than the current month turnaround for tables that were used to.

Then you run into the fact that besides PlayStation 4 and PC, I doubt any of the platforms could run both a port of a the game code and the standard table graphics at the same time.


Anything is possible though. Who knows . Would love to see it .

 

[brakel]

They don't need to emulate it or script it: they would have to actually port it.

It would be a big undertaking though, a totally different league than what they do now and it would take much longer than the current month turnaround for tables that were used to.

Then you run into the fact that besides PlayStation 4 and PC, I doubt any of the platforms could run both a port of a the game code and the standard table graphics at the same time.


Anything is possible though. Who knows . Would love to see it .

I think emulation is still a valid term. Part of the emulation process is to get the I/O of the board to talk to the virtual table in TPA. That still needs to happen and that isn't a simple porting process.

 

[Deltaechoe]

they would have to adapt the TPA engine to the new systems, they haven't done that yet and it would be expensive and that doesn't take licensing fees into account too

 

[Kolchak357]

Jersey Jack is saying they will have a huge announcement next week (see comment below). There is a lot of speculation on Pinside that they will be announcing that Pat Lawlor will be designing their third pin. Others also are guessing that since they are in London that the next pin will be a Harry Potter theme. Just thought I would post this here in case anyone want to discuss or take a guess of their own.



You know what they say, good things come in threes!
Next week, Jersey Jack Pinball, Inc. will be making an EPIC announcement! Big news for us, and the entire pinball world!
Can you guess what the announcement might be? Visit our Facebook and Twitter Pages to join the conversation and take a guess.
Also, Jack will be attending the EAG Expo in London next week from January 21st-23rd.

 

[Bowflex]

I was surprised nordman and geese never did more. I heard they were charged with doing an unlicensed table but that never had any more news. Lawlor would be huge. Arguably the greatest designer of games and undoubtedly the biggest free agent out there. I would love to see jjp do 2 tables a year and introduce some themes sans license.

 

[Kolchak357]

There is some talk of an unlicensed haunted house theme. I'd loved to some some real creativity with an unlicensed pin too.

 

[chadderack]

My guess?

Haunted House will actually be located at 1313 Mockingbird Lane

Maybe they got the rights to The Munsters!

 

[Bowflex]

Well I wish the announcement would come soon. I already am losing patience with the Apple situation and lack of a newlsetter.

I have been reading up on the rumors. Seems like most think it will be announcement of Pat Lawlor on the team and possibly table #3. I've read haunted House remake or something and that could be awesome but I'd rather see them try something different and never before done.

 

[Bowflex]

According to Pinballnews.com, Jack had to cancel his travel plans last minute and is not attending the show in London.. While that doesn't mean there won't be an announcement made, it sure makes it a much less ideal presentation. For something so important, to have a stand-in or to video-conference in the announcement would be rather awkward.

 

[Kolchak357]

According to Pinballnews.com, Jack had to cancel his travel plans last minute and is not attending the show in London.. While that doesn't mean there won't be an announcement made, it sure makes it a much less ideal presentation. For something so important, to have a stand-in or to video-conference in the announcement would be rather awkward.

Thanks Bow, I hadn't heard that. Guess I'll stop waiting for news this week.

 

[Bowflex]

Thanks Bow, I hadn't heard that. Guess I'll stop waiting for news this week.

I am definitely checking the pinside forums and pinballnews for updates. I will post if I see anything but the pinside forum members don't seem to realize Jack cancelled his trip.

 

[karl]

Since they announced that this will be good news for both JJP and the whole community, I am guessing this has nothing to do with the Hobbit.(custom voices with Benedict Cumberbatch would be epic for me though)

More likely a well known designer has struck a deal. Could be Pat Lawlor,(now, Lawlor and Larry DeMar would actually be special) could be John Popadiuk (he is still very much into designing and he is trying hard to make it happen with custom builds etc). Brian Eddy would also be a scoop. They have talked about an original theme with Dennis Nordman before.

Lots of possibilities. The safest bet though, is that a lot of pinside members are gonna be disappointed, no matter what it is ;-)

Looking forward to the news. Any good news regarding pinball is fine by me, small or big

 

[chadderack]

According to Pinballnews.com, Jack had to cancel his travel plans last minute and is not attending the show in London.. While that doesn't mean there won't be an announcement made, it sure makes it a much less ideal presentation. For something so important, to have a stand-in or to video-conference in the announcement would be rather awkward.

....

....


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these go up to 11

 

[Shaneus]

Well I wish the announcement would come soon. I already am losing patience with the Apple situation and lack of a newlsetter.

I have been reading up on the rumors. Seems like most think it will be announcement of Pat Lawlor on the team and possibly table #3. I've read haunted House remake or something and that could be awesome but I'd rather see them try something different and never before done.

I heard from a friend that Pinside discussion veered into Pat Lawlor territory. But honestly, I don't know why he carries so much credibility these days. His last few tables were average *at best* and his last good ones from "the golden era" were far too complicated for the casual player to pick up (just listen to Josh Sharpe's comments on TZ in a recent Coast 2 Coast Pinball episode).
That the Pro Pinball guys were going to get him to do a custom design for their first KS and there was barely a dent made towards the goal says something, IMO. People aren't necessarily keen on his style of machine. Look at X-Men vs. AC/DC or Metallica. Former being a very Lawlor-esque design, never garnered as much appreciation from pinball fans as much as the latter.

rant over?

Edit: Oh god, JJ doing a Spinal Tap-themed machine? That would be *perfect* for a machine with an LCD. Gimme.

 

[MegaDrive (Mark Wyda)]

I heard from a friend that Pinside discussion veered into Pat Lawlor territory. But honestly, I don't know why he carries so much credibility these days. His last few tables were average *at best* and his last good ones from "the golden era" were far too complicated for the casual player to pick up (just listen to Josh Sharpe's comments on TZ in a recent Coast 2 Coast Pinball episode).
That the Pro Pinball guys were going to get him to do a custom design for their first KS and there was barely a dent made towards the goal says something, IMO. People aren't necessarily keen on his style of machine. Look at X-Men vs. AC/DC or Metallica. Former being a very Lawlor-esque design, never garnered as much appreciation from pinball fans as much as the latter.

rant over?

Edit: Oh god, JJ doing a Spinal Tap-themed machine? That would be *perfect* for a machine with an LCD. Gimme.

I really don't think Twilight Zone is complicated at all. Gum ball, regular multiball, and lots of modes you start from the piano, power field, and slot machine. Lots of stand ups, the Dead End which nobody really goes for, and the piano shot.

I don't even think it's really all that deep either. At least not compared to LoTR, Ripleys, or Simpsons. So I just don't get that sentiment at all.

Simpsons and LotR confuse me a bit. So I don't think TZ is near them in regards to that. Now Ripleys; that can be a little confusing, because each mode has very specific goals, and the wizard mode is very hard to get. TZ is tame in comparison.

His tables are so unlike any other. You know immediately a Lawlor design from any other designer. I am not familiar with his last games besides Family a Guy which I really like.

That Kickstarter was just redicilous. That wasn't lawlors fault: the pro pinball guys were asking for way too much money.

 

[vikingerik]

Twilight Zone's complexity drastically stood out at the time it was made. Other games have surpassed it since then, but in 1993, TZ was way more complex than anything else. Not just the rules, but the playfield size and number of shots and gadgets in the powerball and powerfield and gumball and clock. TZ's reputation has stuck with it over the years despite the rest of the industry catching up to it.

The "you know Lawlor design" is that his games always have that list of small modes that are rapidly lit and started with just two shots. Whirlwind's cellar, Funhouse's mirror, Addams' mansion, TZ's door, Road Show's cities, NGG's wheel, Monopoly's dice rolls, RCT's rides, Ripley's continents. Every Lawlor game works that same way and that's why they feel tiring. You do the same thing over and over, not just within a game but across multiple tables.

I don't like most Lawlor games but do like TZ, and finally put a finger on why. TZ has the most stuff going on besides that "Lawlor mode list", and also has three different ways of starting the modes (slot, piano, battle the power). So there's less mindless repetition, and more emergent complexity in features that are not inherently complex but create interesting interactions with each other.