The Pinball Arcade

MrC · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 17:14

What worries me is I'm not even drunk.

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 49232

"You think you got the balls to take on MrC? He got multiballs, son".

MrC · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 17:33

God, I love this place!

WTB · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 14497

Apology accepted! It was just an inexplicably unprovoked post. I thought it was a joke I wasn't getting!

MrC · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 17:39

WTB wrote:

Apology accepted! It was just an inexplicably unprovoked post. I thought it was a joke I wasn't getting!

I wasn't joking about the heatwave, it's clearly made me go a bit funny in the head. But the apology was genuine, manly hugs all round, if that isn't overdoing it a bit.

MrC · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 19:11

Craster wrote:

"You think you got the balls to take on MrC? He got multiballs, son".

OK, OK, I know I overdid it, but I did entice a mod into a dark and grimy niche thread....now that you're here how about a quick game of pinball? No pressure, feel free to have a half-caff frappucino first and then JOIN US!

TheVision · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 19:18

MrC wrote:

WTB wrote:

Apology accepted! It was just an inexplicably unprovoked post. I thought it was a joke I wasn't getting!

I wasn't joking about the heatwave, it's clearly made me go a bit funny in the head. But the apology was genuine, manly hugs all round, if that isn't overdoing it a bit.

I don't think it's possible to overdo it in this place.

myp · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 19:22

TheVision wrote:

MrC wrote:

WTB wrote:

Apology accepted! It was just an inexplicably unprovoked post. I thought it was a joke I wasn't getting!

I wasn't joking about the heatwave, it's clearly made me go a bit funny in the head. But the apology was genuine, manly hugs all round, if that isn't overdoing it a bit.

I don't think it's possible to overdo it in this place.

I overdid your mum last night. Now she's quadrospazzed on a lifeglug.

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14495

Details of the next table pack

Harley Davidson & Taxi

Never played either in real life but I really liked Taxi on Williams Arcade

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

Hmmmm.

Harley Davidson is a STERN/SEGA table, and not a very good one at that. Problem is that they're using an iteration of the ancient DATA EAST tech which has low quality audio compared to BALLY/WILLIAMS tables. (It's that scratchy sort of low sample rate audio, it comes over in the video.)

The other problem is that STERN/SEGA tables were very much made to a tight budget, nothing in the way of the high-concept table designs that BALLY/WILLIAMS produced.

That's not to say they didn't produce some quality tables, but they're very much at the 'low end' of the market I think it's fair to say.

Taxi on the other hand is a fine table, so probably worth getting the table pack just for that.

YOG · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:24

Gorgar and Monster Bash are up.

Ed: why are they always so temperamental at first? Just completed all the standard goals, but didn't get the achievements, and now none of them are crossed off. The leaderboards don't seem to be functioning yet, either.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

YOG wrote:

Gorgar and Monster Bash are up.

Ed: why are they always so temperamental at first? Just completed all the standard goals, but didn't get the achievements, and now none of them are crossed off. The leaderboards don't seem to be functioning yet, either.

I'll probably hang fire for a day or two until it's all working properly.

Also, I wish they'd stop putting one crap table in with one good table (see also Harley/Taxi) - I have no desire whatsoever to play fucking Gorgar, but I love Monster Bash so I'll buy the DLC.

YOG · **Posted:** Tue Aug 28, 2012 17:25

Gorgar's pretty nasty, aye. The outlanes are an absolute bastard in this version, too. If the ball hits the pin between the in- and outlanes, it always, unfailingly, goes out.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

YOG wrote:

Gorgar's pretty nasty, aye. The outlanes are an absolute bastard in this version, too. If the ball hits the pin between the in- and outlanes, it always, unfailingly, goes out.

Gorgar was never really rated as a table even in its day, its BIG THING was the sampled speech as it was the first table to feature it.

Needless to say that some 33 years later, a pinball table with a vocabulary of seven (count 'em!) words and a somewhat dreary overall design, isn't much of a draw.....

Still getting the DLC just for Monster Bash though.

YOG · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 10:05

Leaderboards are working now. It doesn't upload your scores retroactively, though. I have a ~500m score on Monster Bash that only shows up on the local/offline board.

MaliA · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 10:43

AtrocityExhibition wrote:

Also, I wish they'd stop putting one crap table in with one good table (see also Harley/Taxi) - I have no desire whatsoever to play fucking Gorgar, but I love Monster Bash so I'll buy the DLC.

This is the idea. Otherwise, you'd sell 100 of the 'good' packs and 10 of the 'rubbish' ones. Mixing it up means you'll sell 100 of each.

Zio · **Joined:** 31st Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 6093

It is frustrating, yes. I recently bought the latest pack on the iPad solely for Creature From The Black Lagoon - I've no interest whatsover in Black Knight.

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14495

Zio wrote:

It is frustrating, yes. I recently bought the latest pack on the iPad solely for Creature From The Black Lagoon - I've no interest whatsover in Black Knight.

Black Knight is one I enjoy , but I think thats more just because I used to play the original table.

YOG · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 15:47

4th on the Monster Bash leaderboard. Not for long, I'm sure!

MrC · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 15:56

Hopefully not by exploiting that nudge/jackpot bug.......

Nice one, though.

YOG · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 15:58

Didn't know about any bugs! Nah, I just racked up a lot of points by starting Monster Bash twice, and getting Monsters of Rock going during these rounds. I don't even know how the latter works, yet!

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

MaliA wrote:

AtrocityExhibition wrote:

Also, I wish they'd stop putting one crap table in with one good table (see also Harley/Taxi) - I have no desire whatsoever to play fucking Gorgar, but I love Monster Bash so I'll buy the DLC.

This is the idea. Otherwise, you'd sell 100 of the 'good' packs and 10 of the 'rubbish' ones. Mixing it up means you'll sell 100 of each.

Well yes, I realise that, I'm just a bit upset to see them being so cynical about it.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that they often do one 'retro' table and one 'modern' table per DLC pack, with the chances being that one of each DLC pack at least will appeal to one set of fans.

(In the world of 'real' pinball there is something of a split between those who like the older 70s/80s table and those who like the more modern 1990 onwards tables, that's a bit of a rough split, but it's the general idea. There's also another group who like the ancient electro mechanical tables (pre 1978), which did everything with relays and switches, and had no CPU.)

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14495

The other thing thats slightly cynical is that for every pack they are releasing 1 new table and 1 'updated' table that was previously on Williams Pinball Arcade - so if you were on a budget and were not bothered that there was a slightly update to the tables you cant just buy the 'new' ones you'd want - you have to also pay to get the tables you already have.

MrC · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 7:37

zaphod79 wrote:

The other thing thats slightly cynical is that for every pack they are releasing 1 new table and 1 'updated' table that was previously on Williams Pinball Arcade - so if you were on a budget and were not bothered that there was a slightly update to the tables you cant just buy the 'new' ones you'd want - you have to also pay to get the tables you already have.

True, but they're a business not a charity. I happily paid 40 Euros for the Williams collection and now they're asking roughly 4 Euros per two-table pack - still sounds perfectly reasonable to me, especially when you get leaderboards (eventually) for the updated "old" tables. Then again, it was verging on criminal that they didn't implement friends leaderboards in the Williams Collection in the first place.

WTB · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 14497

I'm enjoying all of the tables, even the "shit" ones. It's nice to have them. But granted, I didn't have the Williams Collection so I understand your complaint.

MrC · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 15:55

I wasn't complaining - on the contrary I think TPA has been tremendous value for money. Talking of the "shit" tables, I do actually like the old ones. Nice short games and however much randomness there is, you can still counter it with skill (1.9 million on Gorgar, for example)

WTB · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 14497

Oh, I was referring to Zaphod as the person complaining! Not that he was whinging or anything. Also, skill? I don't know what you're talking about. :'(

Nemmie · **Joined:** 13th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 1643

Grabbed the new tables on my Galaxy Tab and the Taxi one seems bastard hard. The table is very steep and the ball whizzes around at faster than my elderly eyes can keep pace with.

The Harley one seems moderately more fun because I can actually have a decent game on it. Nothing too exciting.

This is the first table pack where neither tables has lit my fire after an initial play.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

I haven't even bought the Monster Bash/Gorgar DLC on 360 yet. Partly because I really do not fucking want Gorgar, partly because I'm bumming CSGO so hard, and partly because I'm a bit pinballed out, for some reason.

I blame MrC for depressing me with his scores.

MrC · **Posted:** Sat Sep 01, 2012 15:18

AtrocityExhibition wrote:

I haven't even bought the Monster Bash/Gorgar DLC on 360 yet. Partly because I really do not fucking want Gorgar, partly because I'm bumming CSGO so hard, and partly because I'm a bit pinballed out, for some reason.

I blame MrC for depressing me with his scores.

Don't be daft, they're all beatable, but you have to beat the people between me and you first. And when you finally cave in and buy Monster Bash, you can get depressed by YOG instead, who has double my score on that one

YOG · **Posted:** Sat Sep 01, 2012 15:29

You could easily beat that Monster Bash score, too! I got it on my second or third go, just by getting lucky and starting a couple of 'Monsters of Rock' rounds. I reckon a decent game could net you about 10bn.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

So I succumbed to the DLC yesterday.

Gorgar is, as expected, dreary and boring - can't imagine I'll get much playtime out of it.

Monster Bash I'm going to leave until my chum visits later in the month for his annual pilgrimage to the IOM. (I had one quick go and I've left it at that.)

Reason being if I rack up a massive score on Monster Bash and get loads of practice in he's going to (rightly) accuse me of basically cheating at our GAMES FACE OFF, which runs for the duration of his visit and encompasses pool/darts/table football at the pub, and console/PC/MAME games in the house.

If I leave Monster Bash as a 'virgin' table we can have that as part of the GAMES FACE OFF and have it be a fair addition to the championship.

I did beat my score at Medieval Madness, but I'm still down at a pitiful 146million. The castle shot is bastard dangerous, has a habit of just bouncing straight back down through the middle of the flippers.

YOG · **Posted:** Sun Sep 02, 2012 13:31

I can't even hit the castle consistently, TBH. I just can't find the spot on either flipper that will send the ball there.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

YOG wrote:

I can't even hit the castle consistently, TBH. I just can't find the spot on either flipper that will send the ball there.

It was going for the stupid castle that knobbed my 146m game up, I had completed all the awards to start the battle of the kingdom, just had the bastard castle crusher award to get.

I think maybe it's best to try and do it during multiball, so losing a ball isn't so disastrous, assuming you can get destroy castles during multiball, which I think you can.

Attachment:

Capture.JPG

MrC · **Posted:** Sun Sep 02, 2012 15:27

If I remember it right the castle was an almost unmissable shot from the "fat" end of the right flipper, especially if the ball was still moving after it bouncing off the left one. You can definitely destroy castles during multiball. The castle is a safe shot until the drawbridge comes down. After that I usually waited for a multiball to destroy the gate.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

After LOSING MY TEMPER with Medieval Madness and then making the mistake of trying fucking BOP again, I decided to unwind with a bit of Gorgar.

No one was more surprised than me to find it quite enjoyable, I took a scan over the rules and even on such an ancient table there is a bit of strategy involved, I hadn't realised the way the GOR and GAR drop targets had to be taken down before becoming available again, made a big difference. (Well, they pop back up independently of each other, but you can't complete a 'GORGAR ROUND' as it were without taking GOR and GAR out.)

Didn't help me beat MrC's score of course, although I did chuckle to see that my score was 666 thousand, quite appropriate for a demon themed table

YOG · **Posted:** Sun Sep 02, 2012 21:02

I still need to get the 'special' from the 1-2-3-4 targets. That's my only remaining Wizard Goal for that table. It seems so easy, because I think all you have to do is light every target three times, but they're reset if you lose a ball, and it's amazing how quickly you will.

I like the older tables, though - you really feel like you're fighting for every marginal increase to your score, instead of just being handed squillions for starting some crazy Happy Hour round. Sadly, on Gorgar, I got my highest before the leaderboards were ready.

YOG · **Posted:** Wed Sep 05, 2012 22:51

Heh, there's a funny glitch on Gorgar. It only happened once, but the ball went through the right wall of the outlane and back to the plunger. Saved my ass.

CraigGrannell · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 1639

In case you chaps haven't seen it, Pro Pinball Kickstarter, with new Pat Lawlor table. SQUEEEE!

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14495

A delay for the latest pack on iOS

Quote:

Unfortunately, there has been a delay in the iOS update and release of Table Pack 5. Due to a problem caused when we updated a files on our CDN (Content Delivery Network), the Harley table download now fails on the iOS update that we submitted to Apple two weeks ago. We will have to make a new build and resubmit it to Apple for approval to fix this issue. The approval process is currently tracking at 10 days, so our new estimated release of Harley and Taxi on iOS in September 15th. We apologize for the delay.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

CraigGrannell wrote:

In case you chaps haven't seen it, Pro Pinball Kickstarter, with new Pat Lawlor table. SQUEEEE!

Hmmm not entirely sure how I feel about this one.

The Web could definitely do with an update, as the oldest table I think the highest res it supported was 1024x768, and it's been impossible to run properly since the dawn of Windows XP anyway. So I'm in for that.

Timeshock is arguably one of the finest pinball tables ever. BUT it runs at 1600x1200 as it is (how fucking bonkers was that in 1997?), AND it runs perfectly in Windows 7 AND it already looks fucking gorgeous AND if I'm honest, I don't think it needs an update. (Online leaderboards would be compelling though....)

Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey, frankly, I never really rated that much. Yes they were good, but didn't come close to the masterpiece that was Timeshock IMO. I tried and tried and tried to get into both of them, but always ended up going back to Timeshock.

However, the draw of a new Pat Lawlor table is simply irresistable, so I'll go in for $50 on this one. $400,000 is an incredibly ambitious target though, I can't see this one making it over the line TBH, although I've love to be proved wrong.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

zaphod79 wrote:

A delay for the latest pack on iOS

Quote:

Unfortunately, there has been a delay in the iOS update and release of Table Pack 5. Due to a problem caused when we updated a files on our CDN (Content Delivery Network), the Harley table download now fails on the iOS update that we submitted to Apple two weeks ago. We will have to make a new build and resubmit it to Apple for approval to fix this issue. The approval process is currently tracking at 10 days, so our new estimated release of Harley and Taxi on iOS in September 15th. We apologize for the delay.

I tried playing BOP on the iPad yesterday (Mrs AE has been buying DLC for it, without my permission! >:(

) - very hard work compared to the 360 version.

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14495

AtrocityExhibition wrote:

I tried playing BOP on the iPad yesterday (Mrs AE has been buying DLC for it, without my permission! >:(

) - very hard work compared to the 360 version.

Which ipad ?

On my ipad1 it was a little jerky which made it difficult at times to get the timing right although i think at some point i've managed to lose the scores off it (possibly when i switched to an ipad2)

Oh and BOP is the table of the month right now so you can play the full version for 'free'

CraigGrannell · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 1639

@AtrocityExhibition: I agree it's probably not going to make $400k, but the thought of those tables in Retina on the iPad AND a new Lawlor table? TAKE MY MONEY, PRO PINBALL GUYS!

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

zaphod79 wrote:

Which ipad ?

On my ipad1 it was a little jerky which made it difficult at times to get the timing right although i think at some point i've managed to lose the scores off it (possibly when i switched to an ipad2)

It's an iPad2, it all runs perfectly smoothly and there's nothing 'wrong' with it as such, I just can't get the hang of playing it on a touchscreen instead of the shoulder buttons on the 360's pad.

YOG · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2012 17:31

I think the Popcap tables for FX2 are out. The Plants vs. Zombies one is, anywho.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

The ST:TNG kickstarter has reached its goal so that table is definitely going to happen in Pinball Arcade :DD

More awesome news, they're going to do the Elvira and Scared Stiff tables too, but apparently the licensing for these is a lot more straightforward so no Kickstarter required.

Serious question now, how do we make sure our 'virtual pinball arcades' are going to be accessible for ever and ever? There's a very good chance I'll buy any and all DLC these guys ever put out for Pinball Arcade, that could run into hundreds of pounds across tens and tens of tables.

What happens when my 360 blows up? I can redownload everything I guess.

But what happens when the 360 is obsolete, or the old Live servers get turned off, or something like that?

With my MAME collection, I can back it up, archive it out to DVD, keep an extra copy on my NAS etc etc.

How does one preserve their Pinball Arcade collection? (Or indeed their whole XBLA collection?)

Curiosity · **Posted:** Sat Sep 08, 2012 13:23

I dunno.

Should ask them.

zaphod79 · **Joined:** 16th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 14495

I love Scared Stiff as a table so thats great news

I'm thinking that the IOS one should work as long as i have an iOS compatible device whereas I have no idea whats going to happen to the Xbox one (there is still talk of a PC version at some point in the future).

For anyone playing it on the PS3 or Vita they have managed to put out another broken update :

http://www.facebook.com/pinballarcade/p ... 5580231174

Quote:

We need to let everyone know that a major problem has been discovered in the Pinball Arcade PlayStation3 update that was released in North America today. If your PS3 is set to the 480 or 720 display modes only the original four tables are visible in the table menu. The temporary solution is to use the 1080 display mode if you can. We will be submitting a new patch to Sony on Monday that fixes this problem and we hope to have it deployed within a week or so. This is the second PS3 patch in a row that shipped with a major problem- we want to let you know that this is NOT acceptable to us, and that we will be making immediate changes to our testing and submission procedures to make sure this does not occur again, on any platform. In the meantime please accept our sincere apologies. Within the next several months we will be adding the ability to purchase custom virtual pinballs for use in the game. We will offer all of our PS3 customers a free custom ball as a small token of apology for the inconvenience we've caused you. Thanks for sticking with us, and thanks again for your support of the Pinball Arcade.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13385

Medieval Madness is driving me fucking nuts.

I can routinely score 100-125 million, best score is 146 million.

The way I play it is I try to get all the MADNESS rounds lined up at the same time, including the trolls. Then when I shoot the MADNESS hole I get the maximum values for all the shots as I start them all at once, and also get to do the trolls without risking losing an only ball (since the troll shots are really dangerous).

This isn't too bad to get done, and that then goes onto ROYAL MADNESS, which I can manage to finish some of the time.

I still haven't completed CASTLE CRUSHER so I haven't got onto the round that's awarded for completed all the 'green lamp' awards at the castle shot.

Point being, that still leaves me sixty five gazillion points short of MrC's score. So what's the deal then, do you need to loop the table five or six times to get the really big scores?

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The Pinball Arcade
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Be Excellent To Each Other

The Pinball Arcade For just about every OS in Jan

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The Pinball Arcade
For just about every OS in Jan