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mmcirvinI'm still enjoying The Pinball Arcade, but I've switched to getting the Android version and playing that most of the time, mostly because the downloadable content for XBox 360 has been so horribly delayed: they're now saying the first three DLC packs, each containing one new table and one rerun from Pinball Hall of Fame, are going to come out "by mid-July".
The first two packs (Medieval Madness, Cirqus Voltaire, The Machine: Bride of Pin*Bot, Funhouse) have just recently appeared for the PS3 and PS Vita; the third (Monster Bash and Gorgar) is also out on the mobile platforms, with a fourth containing Creature from the Black Lagoon and Black Knight just announced. They've clearly had problems getting their updates through Microsoft and Sony's drawn-out and rigorous approval processes; their updates have been rejected multiple times, and they lose about a month every time it happens. The turnaround is much faster for Android and iOS, though it means these things get released with more bugs (and the Mac OS port seems like an afterthought). I think Farsight needs to hire some in-house testers as soon as they can afford it.
But the appeal of these classic machines still keeps me from writing off the whole thing as a loss. I already had Funhouse and Gorgar under PHoF on the Wii, but I'm enjoying playing them on my phone, especially since Rudy, the creepy talking ventriloquist's dummy head, freaks out Jorie badly enough that she forbids me from playing Funhouse on the TV.
Every so often, I fire up the XBox version and remind myself of how much nicer it is to play this on the console. But Android has the newest shiniest content. I've heard great things about how the DLC packs play on the PS3, and am looking forward to them eagerly.
(The table I didn't expect to play as much as I have, on both platforms, is Black Hole. Which is not to say I'm good at it. Befitting its name, it's a vicious drain monster, and the rules on the lower playfield are horribly unfair, but I think that actually makes it more addictive. There's been much discussion on the Pinball Arcade Fans forum of whether the pop bumper on the lower playfield should close the re-entry gate; it's gone back and forth in various patched versions of The Pinball Arcade, and this appears to actually be an operator difficulty setting on the real table.)
I also hope they can do Twilight Zone justice later this year: the Kickstarter succeeded, though they didn't make the unlikely stretch goal to fully fund Star Trek: TNG as well. Presumably they'll have little trouble making up the difference with another Kickstarter, but they should definitely hold off on asking for more money until they've proven they can get DLC out for consoles in a timely manner.
The first two packs (Medieval Madness, Cirqus Voltaire, The Machine: Bride of Pin*Bot, Funhouse) have just recently appeared for the PS3 and PS Vita; the third (Monster Bash and Gorgar) is also out on the mobile platforms, with a fourth containing Creature from the Black Lagoon and Black Knight just announced. They've clearly had problems getting their updates through Microsoft and Sony's drawn-out and rigorous approval processes; their updates have been rejected multiple times, and they lose about a month every time it happens. The turnaround is much faster for Android and iOS, though it means these things get released with more bugs (and the Mac OS port seems like an afterthought). I think Farsight needs to hire some in-house testers as soon as they can afford it.
But the appeal of these classic machines still keeps me from writing off the whole thing as a loss. I already had Funhouse and Gorgar under PHoF on the Wii, but I'm enjoying playing them on my phone, especially since Rudy, the creepy talking ventriloquist's dummy head, freaks out Jorie badly enough that she forbids me from playing Funhouse on the TV.
Every so often, I fire up the XBox version and remind myself of how much nicer it is to play this on the console. But Android has the newest shiniest content. I've heard great things about how the DLC packs play on the PS3, and am looking forward to them eagerly.
(The table I didn't expect to play as much as I have, on both platforms, is Black Hole. Which is not to say I'm good at it. Befitting its name, it's a vicious drain monster, and the rules on the lower playfield are horribly unfair, but I think that actually makes it more addictive. There's been much discussion on the Pinball Arcade Fans forum of whether the pop bumper on the lower playfield should close the re-entry gate; it's gone back and forth in various patched versions of The Pinball Arcade, and this appears to actually be an operator difficulty setting on the real table.)
I also hope they can do Twilight Zone justice later this year: the Kickstarter succeeded, though they didn't make the unlikely stretch goal to fully fund Star Trek: TNG as well. Presumably they'll have little trouble making up the difference with another Kickstarter, but they should definitely hold off on asking for more money until they've proven they can get DLC out for consoles in a timely manner.
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no subject
Date: 2012-06-30 12:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-30 01:29 pm (UTC)I do think the physics is more realistic on the XBox than on Android, probably just because they're throwing more cycles at it. On my phone, the frame rate can get choppy when complicated things are happening, which makes it harder to play. I can get much higher scores on the console in Theater of Magic, Arabian Nights and Black Hole (I didn't bother buying Ripley's on Android because I don't like it). But that may just be because the control scheme is more comfortable.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 07:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 11:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 12:00 pm (UTC)...Well, OK, I have attempted Funhouse as well. That one used to be everywhere.