There will be no EM this season

[Jeff Strong]

relax brothers and sisters,i was brought up on EMs and I really love them,bottom line for me is I get a new table every month.to be honest I would love some more EMs,but it doesn`t bother me if we don`t get them.just have a look 54 tables,beyond my wildest dreams.i thought if we got 20 tables I`d be happy as a pig in mud.54 tables great collection ,I`m really really happy !!!!!

Your posts always cheer me up man .

 

[mikehg]

I have great fun with pinball tables like Big Shot, Genie, Black Hole and Gorgar .
I don't own the Season two so far but I will buy the retail disc early february.
Really looking forward to play Goin'nuts, Central Park, Haunted House, Space Shuttle and so on.
Nothing wrong with old pins, I like the difference between them and the modern tables.
I like a big variety, would be happy if Fireball/Paragon/Eight Ball Deluxe and Sorcerer would be included in the near future.
Xenon will join us soon, hope so.
I heard that the replay ability is not so good on Xenon, but I see no problem there.
In every TPA session (1 hour long) I play 4 or 5 tables and the next time I play other ones, I mix them up to keep them fresh.

+1

The thing raw popularity statistics miss is what economists call marginal utility - which here translates to the value of variety.

If there are 2 EMs in the game, and ten times as many 90s Williams DMDs, the value of a new table to their respective fans is quite different - a 90s DMD fan is more likely to think "Do I really need this table?", and an EM fan is more likely to think "Awesome! 50% more tables!"

I like every era, and am probably more drawn to variety than your average player, but it needs to be remembered that part of the appeal of TPA is variety, and the preservation of history - playing games you'd never get to play otherwise. How many people buy season passes in part because of variety and history? You'll never measure that in sales stats for individual tables.

 

[AshleyAshes]

They could always announce Jive Time as a free table.

 

[Fungi]

They could always announce Jive Time as a free table.

And I'd still pass on it.

 

[Kolchak357]

Variety please. Thank you.

 

[Kaibun]

We're never going to get Ace High, are we? They should have released that one instead of Central Park.

 

[Rayder]

I think EM's require a whole different method for re-creation, since they can't just plug their physics engine into a DMD ROM that runs the table. They have to manually account for all the rules of the tables. Couple that with the fact that the mainstream gamers don't tend to buy EM's (at least, that's what we're told) and they just aren't profitable enough for FS to bother with.

I'd sure love me some Eight Ball Deluxe though.

 

[Espy]

I think EM's require a whole different method for re-creation, since they can't just plug their physics engine into a DMD ROM that runs the table. They have to manually account for all the rules of the tables. Couple that with the fact that the mainstream gamers don't tend to buy EM's (at least, that's what we're told) and they just aren't profitable enough for FS to bother with.

I'd sure love me some Eight Ball Deluxe though.

To be fair, the rules of most EMs won't take too long to recreate. I wouldn't see that as much of a stumbling block.

 

[vikingerik]

Implementing EM rules isn't a stumbling block. Any decent programmer can whip together such a rule set in a day or two. Heck, you see computer games more complicated than that done in a weekend hackathon.

The real work is in the modeling and texturing, which takes just as much effort for an EM as for any other table, but of course won't earn nearly as much in sales.

 

[Zaphod77]

an em table is effectively a simple table script written in hardware. so yeah they are easy to recreate. done all the time in visual pinball... but to recreate it and have it also look good. that's the trick.

 

[shutyertrap]

I think the biggest trick for FarSight to pull off would be making an EM play like an EM. Those flippers sound like fury but don't have much oomph behind them. Same with all the pops. These are slow rolling tables, which completely screws you up if you are used to doing dead flipper passes or even just timing your flips. On a table like Big Shot, that center shot for the 8 ball should not be bouncing out due to force of the flipper. Even the widebody SS tables like Paragon, Embryon, Space Invader, and Future Spa are slow rollers, though the flippers are what we are all used to, and the ball can have moments of speed.

But yeah, as for scripting the rules...it's not like these tables are deep or stack with modes. The light show (if there is one to even be had) is all but basic.

 

[SilverBalls]

The EMs really need some attention in the sound department too. Table reset sounds, better ball rolling sounds, flipper hum, etc.

Some of the VP tables do this wonderfully and it almost makes you forget you are playing a Sim.

 

[vikingerik]

I think the biggest trick for FarSight to pull off would be making an EM play like an EM. Those flippers sound like fury but don't have much oomph behind them.

+1, this is so crucial. So many older TPA tables have problems with overpowered flippers: Big Shot, Gorgar, Haunted House, Firepower, even up to Pinbot. Black Hole and Genie also do but at least those games aren't hurt much because the widebody space acts to dilute the ball's speed.

It's not clear Farsight even recognizes this problem, though. It feels like the flippers are the same strength on every game except Central Park, despite being nowhere near true historically.

 

[soundwave106]

I'd sure love me some Eight Ball Deluxe though.

Luckily being an early Bally SS (which they emulated for Centaur), this would be emulated if they chose to do it.

 

[Espy]

Implementing EM rules isn't a stumbling block. Any decent programmer can whip together such a rule set in a day or two. Heck, you see computer games more complicated than that done in a weekend hackathon.

The real work is in the modeling and texturing, which takes just as much effort for an EM as for any other table, but of course won't earn nearly as much in sales.

To be fair the modelling would be less intensive, as the majority of the shapes would be simple like flat plastics or bumpers. No dragons or Arnie heads to render!

 

[David T. Melnick]

Your posts always cheer me up man .

------------
Thanx, Jeff, for your fact. Smiles all around eh.

 

[JJH516]