Round 3: Q&A With Bobby King

[Sumez]

I wasnt that impressed with "Ripley's", and I wasn't at all impressed with what I saw from "Metallica". I think the only one that looked pretty cool was "AC/DC".

AC/DC is pretty cool indeed. Metallica is all bells and whistles, it's fun to play, but it's so difficult to drain that when you actually do it, it seems completely random and not something you could have avoided. It's possible to have a great game just flipping randomly, and you'll hit something most of the time. As pure entertainment, it's great fun, but it's no Lawlor.

Ripley's however is all Lawlor, and I too didn't like it much at first, but find a strategy guide on the forum here, get into the rules, and play going for the big scores and mode stacking. It's a unique and incredibly well designed table.

 

[shutyertrap]

Basing your opinion of modern Sterns solely on RBION and Metallica is like basing your opinion of 90s B/W's solely on No Fear and NBA Fastbreak.

Whoa whoa whoa. Don't go draggin' NBA Fastbreak through the mud like that. How dare you, sir. Say whatever you want about No Fear though!

And yeah, playing these games is a lot different than just going off how they look. I personally find Metallica to be a total throwback to early 90's machines, while things like AC/DC and LOTR are excellent examples of how deep the rule sets can be with current Stern.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Really appreciate all the feedback, folks. We put a lot of work into this, so we're glad to hear people are enjoying it.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Great job on this.

And another plus is that Bobby didn't promise any work for me I didn't already know about.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

And another plus is that Bobby didn't promise any work for me I didn't already know about.

That's good. A few times he mentioned stuff like "yeah, we're aiming to have feature X in there by date Y", and I was thinking "oh God, do the programmers even know yet?".

 

[Jeff Strong]

Great job on this.

And another plus is that Bobby didn't promise any work for me I didn't already know about.

Thanks Mike! I was hoping that would be the case. I also thought it was awesome when we had to pause the interview so Bobby could call your office to doublecheck on the BK ROM emulation stuff

 

[spoonman]

the beginning of RUSTY CAGE as an intro song for spoonman

That does have an awesome intro! It makes me think of Road Rash 3D, but I was thinking "Spoonman" would be more appropriate.

Hey guys, please ask them about a Simpson's pinball Kickstarter next time. Whenever a new KS is brought up TAM is almost always the only table that's mentioned. I believe the Simpson's is a nice light hearted table which will make people like Tabe happy and that's always a good thing.

 

[Naildriver74]

Great job on this.

And another plus is that Bobby didn't promise any work for me I didn't already know about.

Hey Mike, what are you talking about WORK, as much time as you put into this it can't be work. I'd say your like me and get paid for what you love too do.

 

[kimkom]

Thanks for this! Just listening now.

Was that a slip regarding Xbox One, or has that version been confirmed?

 

[kimkom]

Stay away from X-Men and Avengers though, or you will continue to slide into depression.

Hey! I quite enjoy Avengers

 

[Espy]

Basing your opinion of modern Sterns solely on RBION and Metallica is like basing your opinion of 90s B/W's solely on No Fear and NBA Fastbreak.

Hunt down and play a few games on an AC/DC (Premium or LE), Lord of the Rings and/or The Simpsons Pinball Party and see if your outlook on modern machines improves. Stay away from X-Men and Avengers though, or you will continue to slide into depression.

Don't forget Spider-Man. A Ritchie classic. The layout is like AFM with an upper flipper, but the rules give equal emphasis to all parts of the playfield, not just the "UFO" (Sandman).

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

And Family Guy, which brings back some of Lawlor's classic play field design. It feels like a W/B machine!

 

[kimkom]

Cool interview fellas, thanks!

Really liked the idea of having a wrap-up discussion between yourselves, I thought that worked well.

Just wondering if Mike Field is still with FarSight, and if you had a chance to chat with him?

 

[Mark W**a]

I think I'm the only one not excited about the modern day tables.

I wasnt that impressed with "Ripley's", and I wasn't at all impressed with what I saw from "Metallica". I think the only one that looked pretty cool was "AC/DC".

Personally, I'd rather have all the good mid 80s-late 90s tables over anything new. I understand why people want the new stuff though.

We're going to get all the mid 80's through the 90's. Everything they can get, through regular licensing and Kickstarter.

The way they talk of the newer stuff is like Wayyyyyy down the line. There talking about once PS4, Xbox One, and PC get a foothold and become the primary platforms. Once mobile catches up and is powerful enough for it. That's when we'll see newer SAM Sterns, and the "Day 1" cross digital and physical release of the tables. I'm thinking 2015 at the earliest.

To me that's the most exciting part of what was revealed in the interview. Farsight is definitely doubling down, and in it to win it for the long haul so to speak. And that is very awesome news .

 

[Mark W**a]

Basing your opinion of modern Sterns solely on RBION and Metallica is like basing your opinion of 90s B/W's solely on No Fear and NBA Fastbreak.

Hunt down and play a few games on an AC/DC (Premium or LE), Lord of the Rings and/or The Simpsons Pinball Party and see if your outlook on modern machines improves. Stay away from X-Men and Avengers though, or you will continue to slide into depression.

Whhhhhaaaaattttttt? X-Men is my favorite of the newer Sterns. Amazing table, unlike anything I've ever played. One of the most unique designs I've played not just from a Stern but any modern game!

Avengers isn't bad. If they just fixed that damn Hulk issue where balls get stuck in him, and fleshed out the rules a bit, it could be really good.

Avengers. Spider-Man. Iron Man. AC/DC. Metallica. X-Men. Star Trek. Family Guy. Simpsons. Lord of the Rings. Pirates of the Carribean.... these are the types of licenses that, I feel, would bring the mainstream attention to the game, and steal some of it away from Zen Pinball. Talking about kids who have never played a real pin, talking about casual players who have never played pinball but love these films and properties.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Whhhhhaaaaattttttt? X-Men is my favorite of the newer Sterns. Amazing table, unlike anything I've ever played. One of the most unique designs I've played not just from a Stern but any modern game!

Avengers isn't bad. If they just fixed that damn Hulk issue where balls get stuck in him, and fleshed out the rules a bit, it could be really good.

Mode play on Avengers: Make 4 of the same shot to start a mode. Make 40 of that same shot to finish it. (I'm not kidding.) The machine also has a bunch of inserts blocked from the player's view by other playfield elements, terribly insensitive slingshots, LEDs positioned for maximum glare/blindness, etc.

X-Men got somewhat improved with the new code update, but the magnet/wheel in the middle still throws the ball straight down an outlane way too often, there is a lack of decent non-death shots to make from the lower right flipper, the Magneto Multiball takes way too much effort to start for the points it's worth, Weapon X Multiball takes too little effort to start for the points it's worth, etc.

Avengers. Spider-Man. Iron Man. AC/DC. Metallica. X-Men. Star Trek. Family Guy. Simpsons. Lord of the Rings. Pirates of the Carribean.... these are the types of licenses that, I feel, would bring the mainstream attention to the game, and steal some of it away from Zen Pinball. Talking about kids who have never played a real pin, talking about casual players who have never played pinball but love these films and properties.

I'm the exact opposite. I really wish someone would create a good non-licensed pinball so that we can stop having mediocre games (with a few notable exceptions) that rely solely on their theme to carry them.

 

[dtown8532]

Just finished listening. Great job JS and SYT. Nice to see these interviews still coming.

 

[Russell Bergman]

Congrats and thanks to Jeff and Shutyertrap to a fun and very informative interview! Ya'll keep up the great work!

 

[spoonman]

The only negative thing I heard, and we all pretty much knew this, is that it's unlikely we will see newer tables show up anytime soon on the PS4/PC/XBO as the tables are designed where the money comes from and it sounds like it's the iOS/Android crowd.

Until they become much more powerful, which will probably be many years, I guess we can't expect them.

 

[shutyertrap]

The only negative thing I heard, and we all pretty much knew this, is that it's unlikely we will see newer tables show up anytime soon on the PS4/PC/XBO as the tables are designed where the money comes from and it sounds like it's the iOS/Android crowd.

Until they become much more powerful, which will probably be many years, I guess we can't expect them.

The flip side to that though is, people can stop requesting these type of tables. What starts out as a request soon turns into a "when the hell are they gonna get to it!"

Instead we can all just get to wondering what 80's and 90's tables are coming.