Round 3: Q & A With Bobby King: Answers

[Richard B]

At least they have System 11 now.

It seems, at least with Bally/Williams, that they are starting with the newest, and progressing in reverse order to the oldest.

 

[Brian Clark]

They have and they are...There IS external testing going on.


Now now, they arent saing they arent putting in effort, they are saying they are finding it hard.

.
It sounds to me they need to clean up what they have before they invest more time and energy into other stuff which makes sense to me, most newly implemented features caused issues one way or the other on some platform. Dont get me wrong, this imo should include the older SS, and Mike already said Gorgar, Bk emulation closer with system 11 emulated.


Again with the harsh conclusions, they didnt say it was impossible and the obviously are putting effort in.


Im sure you are, but I dont think they are. They need to look where their money comes from. Not just from a "must make more profit!!!" pov but also to ensre the continuation of this projet

All that said, its easy for me to take this stance, my favourite Pinballs are almost all System 11/WPC/Whitestars: all emulated MPU's. Unfortunately for people that prefer older era machines, that goes for a high percentage of people and thats where FS business priority is (and arguably should be to ensure the longterm succes of this project).

bavelb, I have doubts about Farsight due to their track record outside of pinball and how even the previous pinball collections had major bug and issues (lock ups and many bugs in Gottlieb PHOF PS2 US, various bugs, including a major Funhouse bug in Williams PHOF, that is in ALL versions, Harem bug in ToTAN PHOF 360/PS3, 30 FPS, even with 3D off in PHOF 3DS). Farsight didn't say older emulation was impossible, but they did mention more than once that Gottlieb emulation may not be feasible. I just want them to put the best effort possible in older and newer emulation. I understand full well that they need to focus on what's popular to keep up sales, but I find it disappointing that it's assumed I don't know this just becuase I want them to put effort in older, as well as newer tables. Personally, I think the older tables would sell more if they put more effort into getting them right (and I'm not saying they don't put any effort at all. I just feel they can be more accurate). Many of them still have a following, and a few are still on top 100 lists. They may not be as big of a hit as MM, Attack from Mars, or TAF, but they are part of pinball, not to mention awesome games in their own right.

 

[Bass Mummy]

It's great to have such a level of engagement with the community on the part of the developers. You really don't see it very often. Thanks so much.

 

[bavelb]

bavelb, I have doubts about Farsight due to their track record outside of pinball and how even the previous pinball collections had major bug and issues (lock ups and many bugs in Gottlieb PHOF PS2 US, various bugs, including a major Funhouse bug in Williams PHOF, that is in ALL versions, Harem bug in ToTAN PHOF 360/PS3, 30 FPS, even with 3D off in PHOF 3DS). Farsight didn't say older emulation was impossible, but they did mention more than once that Gottlieb emulation may not be feasible. I just want them to put the best effort possible in older and newer emulation. I understand full well that they need to focus on what's popular to keep up sales, but I find it disappointing that it's assumed I don't know this just becuase I want them to put effort in older, as well as newer tables. Personally, I think the older tables would sell more if they put more effort into getting them right (and I'm not saying they don't put any effort at all. I just feel they can be more accurate). Many of them still have a following, and a few are still on top 100 lists. They may not be as big of a hit as MM, Attack from Mars, or TAF, but they are part of pinball, not to mention awesome games in their own right.

Sorry, i didnt mean to sound degrading or pedantic, I wasnt just responding to you specifially but to "the public in general" who might feel that way and wonders why FS doesnt pay more attention to that. To me, their chocies are logical but like I said, it's easy for me to take this stance as I'm not that passionate about anything pre system 11.

Again, apologies.

 

[Michael DiFilippo]

Make an exclusive "The Goonies" pinball machine or another old popular movie!

 

[Brandon Debes]

Make an exclusive "The Goonies" pinball machine or another old popular movie!

Some dudes are making a Predator licensed table in their garage. There are whiteboard videos up on YouTube. The DMD stuff actually looks pretty rad.

 

[Kolchak357]

Some dudes are making a Predator licensed table in their garage. There are whiteboard videos up on YouTube. The DMD stuff actually looks pretty rad.

Yeah I was reading about it on Pinside. Someone had posted the same videos. It looks great. Think of all of the call outs you can get from that movie. I hope they can pull it off.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Here's an older thread we had about Predator, if anyone feels like reviving it:

http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/271-New-Table-in-Progress-Predator-Pinball

 

[spoonman]

5.) What is the status of older SS emulation? Will current tables such as Black Hole and Gorgar be updated with full emulation?

It’s my understanding that older SS emulations can be problematic due to timing issues with the emulated chipset when you consider all of the devices (hardware) that we run our game on. This is still to be determined.

That's really too bad since they were setting out to make the best possible recreations possible so people who don't have access to the classics can have a chance to play them.
My brother played Black Hole for the first time and said he couldn't stand it and I had to explain it doesn't play exactly the way it should and that it will be much better soon.

Anyway, what I'm hearing from Bobby is "We can't emulate the SS romsets on an iPod Touch, so the 360, PS3, Mac, and rest will suffer for it."

Isn't this the very reason they are refusing to release TPA on the 3DS?

 

[Richard B]

Anyway, what I'm hearing from Bobby is "We can't emulate the SS romsets on an iPod Touch, so the 360, PS3, Mac, and rest will suffer for it."

Isn't this the very reason they are refusing to release TPA on the 3DS?

I agree. Make it the best as possible on the best platforms, then if the others can't handle it, too bad.

 

[shutyertrap]

The fact that FS is thinking about doing original creations is exciting. Hearing that they want to redo the front end before allowing tournaments...bummer we have to wait, glad they're gonna do improvements. I really get the sense that a year or two from now, we're all gonna be amazed at how different everything is from when it started. Personally I'm kinda having fun playing in a not quite perfected arcade! And I really really dig that the developers are listening.

 

[lettuce]

Maybe Windows 8 would be a way FS can bring TPA to the PC??

 

[spoonman]

Maybe Windows 8 would be a way FS can bring TPA to the PC??

I haven't read up on Win8, but what would it offer Farsight that Win7 doesn't?

Do they have something against Steam's service?

I'm pretty impartial on the PC version anyway since I've chosen the PS3 for my main TPA fix. I couldn't decide between the 360 or the PS3 until
Farsight made the deal with the free Vita versions. I don't yet own a Vita, but some day I will and this will be one of the reasons why.

 

[Richard B]

I haven't read up on Win8, but what would it offer Farsight that Win7 doesn't?

It's got some terrible, draconian DRM, which includes activation limits.