The 12 Days of Christmas:

[ZenTron]

I don't see how any avid TPA fan can simply not pay attention to announcements on the TPA FB site. I have no idea of FS's financial predicament but we all know Pinball is hot and FS plans to capitalize on this in 2014 with the announcement of Orbals. They also plan to reduce the number of tables produced, and reduce the price of Season Pack 3. I would prefer Orbal to be shelved, the team dedicated to fixing bugs across all TPA platforms and 20 tables released in 2014.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

In general, it is unwise for software development houses to put all their eggs in one basket. I'm not surprised by the Orbals announcement at all, nor do I consider it a bad move in and of itself.

I have a feeling (and this is only unsubstantiated speculation based on my experiences in software development) that while TPA was somewhat more successful than FarSight expected, it also has cost them more in terms of money and time to develop than they expected. Hence Orbals: A quick mobile game to bring in some cash while not tying up the development staff too badly.

I would prefer Orbal to be shelved, the team dedicated to fixing bugs across all TPA platforms and 20 tables released in 2014.

The developers were working at unsustainable speeds before. The engineering triangle rears its ugly head: fast, good, cheap, pick any 2. Previously FarSight picked fast and cheap, and while I'm not going to say TPA turned out bad, I think we all can agree it could be much better than it is. By releasing only one table a month now, thereby increasing the average time devoted to one table from 15 days to 30 days, FarSight is now trying for good and cheap. While it's only a sample size of one, if all Season Pack 3 tables have the quality of Fish Tales, I for one would be quite pleased.

 

[ZenTron]

Does anyone think the major catalyst for Orbals was to get TPA back on XBox360? Maybe FS found a loop hole and a new publisher and by releasing a second game can somehow piggy back TPA onto the agreement?

It is a far fetched theory but they did mention they had a plan for XBox360 they were working on. "Orbals, the trojan horse to get TPA back on 360"

thanks

 

[superballs]

Does anyone think the major catalyst for Orbals was to get TPA back on XBox360? Maybe FS found a loop hole and a new publisher and by releasing a second game can somehow piggy back TPA onto the agreement?

It is a far fetched theory but they did mention they had a plan for XBox360 they were working on. "Orbals, the trojan horse to get TPA back on 360"

thanks

You mean Orbals would cost 90$ on xbox live and include 2.5 seasons of "Free" DLC for TPA?

 

[shutyertrap]

I personally know the behind the scenes story of the 360 and the current efforts to get it back on, but can't say a word. Other then, keep fishing, as so far no one has come close to the real answer. Think on the business end of things and the policies of publishers and getting published on 360.

 

[vpalmer]

I personally know the behind the scenes story of the 360 and the current efforts to get it back on, but can't say a word. Other then, keep fishing, as so far no one has come close to the real answer. Think on the business end of things and the policies of publishers and getting published on 360.

man, your posts with "I know something but cant say" have as much benefits, as TAF picture at FS's FB

and one good advice about X360 - just forget about it, atleast cuz it is "past gen"

 

[Heretic]

buncha secretive pricks i agree,

vplamer what would make you happy? apply for an nda then youll know it all.

 

[Kolchak357]

A one vs one online challenge mode? Could be fun.

 

[karl]

Sounds great. Looking forward to checking it out. cool news.

 

[superballs]

man, your posts with "I know something but cant say" have as much benefits, as TAF picture at FS's FB

and one good advice about X360 - just forget about it, atleast cuz it is "past gen"

Maybe we should all think about the benefit, or lack thereof, to others before posting anything...i bet the forums would dry up faster than a chia pet in the desert.

 

[brakel]

I personally know the behind the scenes story of the 360 and the current efforts to get it back on, but can't say a word. Other then, keep fishing, as so far no one has come close to the real answer. Think on the business end of things and the policies of publishers and getting published on 360.

The way that a company qualifies to publish to Xbox live for the 360 is to be a publisher of disc games for the 360. So FarSight could publish a completely different game on the 360 on a disc and then qualify to apply to be a live publisher.

But I don't know how that let's them out of their contract with Crave. I don't know the terms of the contract. Hopefully the contract is over at the end of the year.

 

[Kevlar]

I like the sound of 1 on 1 challenge mode, this could make it easy to have a TPAF knockout tournament running.

 

[vpalmer]

vplamer what would make you happy? apply for an nda then youll know it all.

i know very well what is nda, and even muuuuuuuch more serious version of "nda" than "some videogame company make suppa-secret feature", and as i already said having nda and keep talking to people "i know something but will not tell you anything =P" looks like childish tease not bringing any useful information.
on the topic: 1 vs 1 feature could be good (as opportunity to see steam friends scores), but as an announce - we already had hear this several months ago, and "The concept is still undergoing design" so i'm glad to see such big progress in its development.

 

[nstalkie]

In games like Soul Calibur V, you can pick up to 3 "rivals". You get to see their rank, win/loss ratio on the main screen each time you login to PSN and it got updated frequently.
I think Dragon's Crown has a similar system (Dunno, as I haven't registered anyone there). I think it would be a great addition to pinball arcade. I think it would be nice if you could register rivals globally (so for all tables), but could also customize single tables to include other rivals.

Now I just need to find actual friends who play pinball arcade on PSN

 

[goo_back]

Some of the reactions sort of remind me of someone who complains when they get a Christmas gift they don't like...it's a flippin' gift, man. Farsight doesn't have to do any of this "12 of Christmas" stuff, ya know...I think I need a vacation from all this, lol.

You really just love everything they do, don't you?

Don't do it if you don't have anything to tell people. It's a fair criticism.

 

[Heretic]

this **** so bad ots priceless

 

[brakel]

You really just love everything they do, don't you?

Don't do it if you don't have anything to tell people. It's a fair criticism.

How about this. Don't read it if PR fluff is going to piss you off!

 

[Naildriver74]

Check please

 

[danivempire]

I must tell, as a newbie in TPA's world (discovered it just before pack 20 was released), this whole 12 days of christmas gave me high expectation.
Yes at first I was a little bit disapointed with the "news" they gave but hey, I'm not pissed or anything ^^

maybe the last news is gonna be an awesome pinball news???
Addams Family maybe ^^

yeah... would be cool ^^

 

[Bowflex]

I don't expect anything too earth shattering but if there was a major thing that came along, like any top-5 kickstarter table venture, I doubt anyone would be too wound up about the orbials game or any other non-event announcement.