New Stern Pinball Arcade: AC/DC Kickstarter is FULLY FUNDED!!!

[jaredmorgs]

Electronic Arts used to be good back in the day, but they've gotten too big in many ways. They're now known for putting out games that don't really work well, and buying up and shutting down smaller studios.

Like buying up PopCap and totally ruining Plants vs Zombies as a freemium smurfberry monster.



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[Pinballwiz45b]

Like buying up PopCap and totally ruining Plants vs Zombies as a freemium smurfberry monster.

Like EA screwing up Sim City 2013, and thus causing EA to close Maxis and a smaller dev to release Cities Skylines.

 

[shutyertrap]

Like buying up PopCap and totally ruining Plants vs Zombies as a freemium smurfberry monster.



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But then they made PvZ Garden Warfare, which is essentially a gateway drug for the kiddies into Call of Duty. You have no idea how many time a day I have to hear about Garden Warfare 2.

 

[Locksley]

I guess it is the venture company behind STERN. Heard that Gary Stern doesn't own the company?

So anyway, they thought there prob is no loss in money in the Stern Pinball App and were willing to fund the extras...

 

[MWink]

Or LOTR....
That will be another day....

I'm a bit torn about all this news. On the one hand it's great to get more pinball in any form, especially with good quality graphics and a serviceable physics engine. On the other hand, I really like having all the tables in one app for HOF points and leaderboard purposes. I understand why they would want to have a seperate app for Stern tables; a new engine to drive the tables and brand recognition. So I still would have liked to have those new Sterns in regular TPA, and I'm a bit saddened to hear that there will be no more older Stern/DE releases in regular TPA.

I too would like to have everything in a single app. I don't like seeing things split up. The way Zen did things is a huge mess IMHO. Also, where was it said that we aren't getting more old Stern/DE releases?

I've had a horrible, terrible, thought about who the "backer" might be.

You're all excited to start up SPA. You click on that icon, wherever it may be. And the first thing you see is....

"Electronic Arts presents ...."

How dare you even suggest such a thing! That probably is the worst case scenario. I can just imagine... After you pay $10 for the table you'd have to spend another $1 for each ball. You want flippers? That'll be another $2.99 each. Joking aside, if it were EA there's a good possibility I wouldn't buy it. I absolutely refuse to let Origin anywhere near my PC. I don't even want their freebies. The ONLY EA games I'll buy are the (usually old) DRM-free ones available on GOG.

 

[Ben Logan]

Just for gits and shiggles, what game studio/developer/individual would people be cool with? I used to joke I'd want Polyphany Digital, makers of Gran Turismo, to get their paws on the game. We're talking about a company that went and recorded every sound they could, measured every variation, on hundreds of cars, just because they wanted to be the ultimate simulator. They then would figure out how to milk every last ounce of processing power from whatever Playstation platform they were on. I mean c'mon, as a pinball nut who of us wouldn't drool over that?

D

I'd absolutely love it, of course. But, I'd settle for spot on ball and flipper physics. TPA's physics as they currently stand feel about 30% of the way there.

Thanks for mentioning Physics 4.0 on the latest Blahcade episode. I enjoyed it.

 

[jrolson]

So the Stern tables we already bought in TPA, will they be free in this Stern app or do we have to buy them again?

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

So the Stern tables we already bought in TPA, will they be free in this Stern app or do we have to buy them again?

Since they're going to be re-done in the new physics engine, yep, probably, unless there is some nice cross-buy promotion at launch. Even then I'd think it'd be half-price or something.

 

[Ben Logan]

I'd gladly repurchase any table if the physics were Pro Pinball quality or (hopefully) even better!

 

[invitro]

Also, where was it said that we aren't getting more old Stern/DE releases?

Here is an official statement copied from the AC/DC Kickstarter page. It's an open question what "new era" means.

FAQ: Is stern Pinball Arcade going to be a seperate app from Pinball Arcade?
Yes. Some classic Stern Tables will be ported to the new Stern Pinball Arcade, but not the other way around. The new era tables will only be released inside the Stern Pinball Arcade app.

 

[Snorzel]

Here is an official statement copied from the AC/DC Kickstarter page. It's an open question what "new era" means.

FAQ: Is stern Pinball Arcade going to be a seperate app from Pinball Arcade?
Yes. Some classic Stern Tables will be ported to the new Stern Pinball Arcade, but not the other way around. The new era tables will only be released inside the Stern Pinball Arcade app.

So one would think stuff like Seawitch and Catacomb might still be up to get in TPA, right? The more tables they can put in both games the better for the sales.

 

[Trackball]

Here is an official statement copied from the AC/DC Kickstarter page. It's an open question what "new era" means.

FAQ: Is stern Pinball Arcade going to be a seperate app from Pinball Arcade?
Yes. Some classic Stern Tables will be ported to the new Stern Pinball Arcade, but not the other way around. The new era tables will only be released inside the Stern Pinball Arcade app.

"New era" probably means "after Ripley's." Ripley's is the most recent game in TPA.

Given what Mr. Obernolte said about today's pinball machines basically having PC CPUs inside, and that power difference between old machines and today's smartphones is what allows them to be emulated, I'm fairly certain this means they can only release more recent machines on Stern Pinball Arcade.

In other words, SPA is taking so long because it's completely different from TPA under the hood.

 

[invitro]

Since they're going to be re-done in the new physics engine

I'm unsure, but I'm leaning toward making this post to say that "redone" might be too strong a term to use. I'm getting concerned that people here are going to expect too much from the existing tables in SPA and Physics 4.0. Here are the relevant official statements I can find in my notes. The first couple are from the AC/DC Kickstarter page:

With the release of the Stern Pinball Arcade we will be implementing FarSight Pinball Physics 4.0 which will be even more realistic.

- Ecktown: @FarSight Studios: In Table Pack One the only table apart from ACDC that really interests me is Star Trek as the other two are already on Pinball Arcade. Will there be a possibility to buy just Star Trek or do I have to buy the Table Pack One for one table that interests me, one I already have if the kickstarter is succesful and two tables I already have in Pinball Arcade? (Which in any case makes me wonder why there will be tables in the Stern Arcade that are already in the Pinball Arcade. Are these tables going to be done again or are they going to be identical with the previous version?) Or is the Table Pack One going to be part of a season as in Pinball Arcade? I could live with that because there certainly would be other tables that I would love to play (e.g. Ghostbusters!). I guess that there would be a total of 10 tables if you go for the season option which would make buying the ACDC table again much more bearable.
- FS: @Ecktown, Star Trek will be available individually. The tables from Pinball Arcade are going to be improved for Stern Pinball Arcade. It's possible there will be something like a season pass in the future but for now Table Pack One is the only bundle.

Here is a PAF post by Farsight employee @Strikezilla01:
There will be a graphical update for Frankenstein and Starship Troopers when the Stern App has officially launched!
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...tarer-is-live!?p=238819&viewfull=1#post238819

Here's a Farsight Facebook post:
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...tarer-is-live!?p=238858&viewfull=1#post238858
A) The price for the newer contemporary tables will be $9.99. Currently, the classics like Ripley's will remain at the $4.99 price point.
B) We have not announced plans to make Season Passes available within Stern Pinball Arcade. It is possible that we will release more tables that have already been digitized through the Pinball Arcade. We can't say at this point if tables will be cross buy but tables released to the Stern app will be enhanced compared to the TPA version.



Anyway... whether "redone" equals "more realistic", "improved", "update", and "enhanced" is a matter of opinion of course, but I think it's an overstatement .

And, to be sure, the ability to bypass an emulator for the SAM/Spike tables means nothing to the older/pre-existing tables, of course.

 

[invitro]

I'm fairly certain this means they can only release more recent machines on Stern Pinball Arcade.

No, this is incorrect, as we know Frankenstein and Starship Troopers will be SPA launch tables. (I'm assuming you're using "more recent" to mean "after Ripley's".)

 

[Slam23]

Oh baby, I used to play that for hours on end.

Remember being able to shatter the backboard? And that the guy with the broom would cuss you out? There was a sequel called MJ vs. Bird that I played briefly on a C64, with a seperate dunk contest for Jordan and a 3-point contest for Bird.

 

[Slam23]

And....back on topic. I was thinking that two seperate apps wouldn't necessarily mean two seperate leaderboards, right? Afaik scores are uploaded to a server that is running independently from the TPA app, wouldn't be possible to let both regular and Stern TPA upload to the server/leaderboards and aggregate with the same account? I would very much like to petition that idea to Farsight.

 

[Ben Logan]

I bought the first three seasons and then stopped buying after being really disappointed by physics 3.0, which amounted to very little in terms of improved ball physics. If Physics 4.0 fails to deliver a major upgrade in realistic simulated ball movement, I'll stick with VP10, Zaccaria, and Pro Pinball.

TPA and SPA have the best table licenses. If they can deliver on the physics finally, I'm totally excited to purchase, even for ten bucks a table.

 

[neilpinbot]

I have kind of drifted away from TPA lately but I am looking forward to playing the newer stern tables that I've never seen in real life. Anyway my thoughts on the new partner would have to lean towards Zen. We know they have backed the previous Kickstarters and they off course already have conections with big licences like Marvel which could come in handy if there's any issues with the Stern/Marvel licence (regarding missed digital rights). I'm not sure if this would be a good or bad thing if it happened. This is only me speculating.

 

[Slam23]

A partnership with Zen? That would be very interesting indeed, but does that make business sense? They kind of operate in different territory with Zen only having originals and TPA predominantly with existing tables (excluding the Ghost Busters thing). I immediately have to think Star Wars offcourse, a partnership with Zen would maybe open that vault door on a little creak? Exciting thought.

 

[canuck]

Blech please no, zen is arcade....tpa is a simulator...

TPA is still, after all this time my most played game, hope they don't ruin a good thing.