PINBALL ARCADE XBLA - Xbox One 11/26 Release

[quote name='phantomfriar2002']My ID is Dursman if anyone wants to add a fellow CAG in :)

This is exactly what I was hoping for -- a definite upgrade on the Pinball HOF console game with even better graphics (Tales of the Arabian Knights is noticeably improved), while retaining (if not improving) upon the physics. Even playing for a couple of minutes, this feels "real" in a way FX2 just doesn't...not to knock the former, but it's never felt like real pinball to me. This, as far as gaming emulations go, does.[/QUOTE]

I still find it a shock that some people prefer FX2 over Pinball Hall of Fame. I guess they never played pinball in the arcades. Because FX2, while fun, doesn't feel like pinball in terms of physics.
 
[quote name='crunchewy']Go through the tutorial. The game is much better once you understand how to play it. You can, most importantly, open the gate for re-entry so you don't lose the ball.

In general the tutorials are excellent.[/QUOTE]

That's all well and good, but I suck at these games. I get the gist of what you are supposed to do, but I can't ever seem to be able to do it.

I guess I'll just play the other 3 excellent tables.
 
[quote name='dirtyvu']I still find it a shock that some people prefer FX2 over Pinball Hall of Fame. I guess they never played pinball in the arcades. Because FX2, while fun, doesn't feel like pinball in terms of physics.[/QUOTE]

I don't think a lot of people really care about physics.

I like FX2 cause it's fun with unique tables.

And yes, I played pinball in arcades a lot growing.
 
Downloaded this in the morning and there are some gripes, but not enough to detract me from playing this game.

Gripes:

-Can't map the flippers to the top bumper buttons
-Tutorials aren't narrated
-Graphics seem washed out from the iOS version

If you like pinball, download this game. It's a good value for the money and has Midevil Madness and Bride of Pinbot coming as DLC.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']I have the flippers mapped to the L/R bumpers... its in the settings somewhere.[/QUOTE]

Really? I'll have to look deeper then.
 
[quote name='2DMention']Really? I'll have to look deeper then.[/QUOTE]

look deeper? go to Options > Settings and switch it.
 
alright, just finished up the demo... and I can't wait for my Microsoft Points to come in the mail! please come faster!

I was a big fan of Pinball Hall of Fame. So of course, I tried out Tales of the Arabian Nights first...

here it is in Pinball Hall of Fame (don't judge the animations too much in the 720P video because PHoF is a 60 fps game but Youtube caps videos at 30 fps so you're losing smoothness of the animation and speed as well):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyaLStbI0vg

immediately, the Pinball Arcade version looks better. It's much brighter and very neon looking than the version you see above. I think they made it look too good as even the arcade machines didn't look this good brand new. I think PHoF would match the more subdued colors of the original arcade machine. But the look of the new version is fantastic and maybe matches expectations of today's gamers more who never played pinball at the arcade.

In terms of the gameplay... It's different... I wish I had the arcade machine here to test which version is more authentic. But I will say I can't play the Pinball Arcade version the same way I play the PHoF version. Controlling the plunger for trick shots is much harder in Pinball Arcade. I always felt in control in the PHoF version. With the PA version, it seems like luck so far (but that may be because I'm so used to PHoF). It's also much harder to trap the ball in the Pinball Arcade version which actually is probably more realistic than PHoF.

Now for the other tables, I never had any other table for comparisons so they held up much better! I'm digging the 3 other tables in the initial bundle! But again, the colors just pop. Real pinball tables didn't look this good! I have played Black Hole at the arcade and Theatre of Magic. But never Ripley's.

When I purchase Pinball Arcade, I'm definitely doing new videos and hopefully do a side-by-side comparison video for Medieval Madness and Tales of the Arabian Knights (once I figure out if it's easy to do or not). At the very least, I can show video of one version for a couple minutes and then switch over but that causes comparison problems (if you've taken statistical analysis, you know all the expectation problems).
 
I played this morning when it was released. Overall I'm pretty happy with the tables, the graphics looks fine and the physics are acceptable. I do wish they would have put more effort into the leaderboards/friend comparison. But I understand at some point they plan to implement a "head to head" feature, so I guess we'll have to wait and see how that goes.

I've had a glance at all the confirmed DLC tables coming over the next six months. And while some of them do look interesting, I was hoping to see more Movie/Music/TV related tables. For example; AC/DC, GNR, Tales From the Crypt, Star Wars, Star Trek, Terminator 2 etc etc.

I know it takes a lot more effort on their part to gain the rights for these tables though, and figuring out who to contact is just the beginning of that process not to mention how costly it is. Either way those are the tables I really want to play now. Because the Williams PHOF already covered my generic table interests.

I'll continue buying tables though, in hopes that the support will yield better tables in the future.
 
[quote name='raistlin']I played this morning when it was released. Overall I'm pretty happy with the tables, the graphics looks fine and the physics are acceptable. I do wish they would have put more effort into the leaderboards/friend comparison. But I understand at some point they plan to implement a "head to head" feature, so I guess we'll have to wait and see how that goes.

I've had a glance at all the confirmed DLC tables coming over the next six months. And while some of them do look interesting, I was hoping to see more Movie/Music/TV related tables. For example; AC/DC, GNR, Tales From the Crypt, Star Wars, Star Trek, Terminator 2 etc etc.

I know it takes a lot more effort on their part to gain the rights for these tables though, and figuring out who to contact is just the beginning of that process not to mention how costly it is. Either way those are the tables I really want to play now. Because the Williams PHOF already covered my generic table interests.

I'll continue buying tables though, in hopes that the support will yield better tables in the future.[/QUOTE]

Very true. I'm surprised they were able to make Ripley's a reality. That seems like it would entail some rights wrangling.
 
I picture them having 1 great table per pack and spreading out the great tables to keep people buying in bulk.
 
[quote name='dirtyvu']I picture them having 1 great table per pack and spreading out the great tables to keep people buying in bulk.[/QUOTE]

I don't like this idea of re-hashing all of the Williams PHoF tables. Are we supposed to get tournament and multiplayer support later in a patch?
 
Here's a list of the upcoming tables taken from various places:

Medieval Madness (taken from Facebook post on January 19 - One of the first DLC tables - release date unknown)

Bride of Pin*Bot (taken from a FB post - One of the first DLC tables - release date unknown)

Cirqus Voltaire (taken from Facebook post on December 26 - release date unknown)

Monster Bash (taken from Facebook post on February 7 - release date unknown)

Attack from Mars (taken from Facebook post on February 7 - release date unknown)

Creature from the Black Lagoon (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown)

Funhouse (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown)

Black Knight (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown)

Space Shuttle (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown)

Pin•bot (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown)

Big Shot (taken from iOS release description on February 9 - release date unknown) Either Dr. Dude or Earthshaker (most likely Dr. Dude - taken from Gamezone interview with Bobby King (http://www.gamezone.com/editorials/the-pinball-arcade-interview) on January 29 - released within first year)

TAXI (taken from Facebook post on March 27 - release date unknown)

The developers check this forum rather frequently. So if you have some specific requests I recommend heading there, look for the wishlist post.
 
Yeah, the colors do pop, assuming you are playing on a HDTV like I am. It probably has to do with the fact that the pinball artwork likely wasn't printed in the same manner as displaying it on a high resolution TV screen. Also, this is way better then playing a half-broken table at an arcade, because if you do find any of these tables in the wild they are probably going to be 50% working and dirty and dingy. I would prefer to spend my money on this game rather than put money into a real life table that is not working. Given how much I played today I am sure I already played through the cost of what I would spend on a real life table. Neither solution is ideal, but the only solution to play a real machine now would be to own your own and restore it, which is a very costly and space consuming process and not something that is for everyone!

Of course if you are fortunate you might have one of the few arcades left in the USA that actually maintains their pinball machines then you are probably better off going there to play. But for most of us, that isn't the case. I used to play machines on location but around here there are probably 3-4 machines left in my city and most will be found in a bad state of disrepair by now. For now this and Pinball FX 2 do a great job of giving the pinball experience in the home.

I'd like to play pinbot and bride of pinbot! Also another good one would be the Indiana Jones pinball machine. We had one in the game room at my university, it was a real pain to keep it working, they were calling the owners of the machine every other day to fix it!
 
Bride of Pinbot and Medieval Madness are the first two DLC tables for iOS/Android, so I presume those will be the first for XBLA as well. I'm not too excited by the repeats like MM, but we will be getting new stuff, so it's all good.

Licensed tables are obviously going to be more difficult to get and more expensive, but they did get Ripley's, so there's hope. And there's lots of fantastic unlicensed tables to look forward to (hopefully) getting.

Also, they should have hired some of the pinball designers to help out. They have two John Popadiuk games in the initial set, and he would have been happy to have helped out in making sure it was all 100%, as he posted as such on Facebook.
 
Texture wise it doesn't look as clean as I was hoping (maybe because I'm on 720p). But it doesn't look bad by any means! Plus the physics are still spot on. It's cool having two different pinball platforms to switch between (TPA for realism and PFX for aesthetics/unique tables).
 
I bought this last night, finally, and it's great. However, while the physics are better than any other such game, they still are very digital in nature. By that I mean that the ball does the same things over and over. For example if I try to flipper pass from the right flipper to the left, the ball tends to move in exactly the same path each time, or a small set of possibilities of such paths depending on my timing. Similarly this type of thing happens with making any shot. Sometimes it is frustrating and I wish they could make that more realistic/less repetitive, but nobody else has been able to do better with that either. I don't know for certain, but I think the issue is the granularity of the physics engine. So while on a real game there are essentially infinite variations in your timing, in these simulations there are only a small number of variations. I'm not sure if I'm saying that right, but hopefully it gets the idea across.

I do think it's a little better in that regard than Pinball FX 2, and in any case it's beside the point, because I love these real machines designed by experienced pinball machine designers way more than the fan-made games in FX 2. Obviously IMHO.

I put up a little over 100 million on Ripley's. Pinball Arcade has made me appreciate that game more, mainly because I know the rules now. LOL. I want to seek out a real machine and play it. I still need to get Frog Frenzy and Atlantis. Those goals are tough.
 
Thanks! Go for continents - When you complete all the continents you get all the points you scored in each mode again - that's a lot of points! Plus it lights the super jackpot. Do it again and it's worth even more. Plus you'll be working toward Atlantis via RIPLEY'S letters. I didn't manage that, though. I was one letter away. Darn. I'm not too good yet at getting 5 jackpots during the multiball continents, so I always miss those letters.
 
259,949,860 on Ripley's. :) Good for 12th at the moment. Top player has over 1 billion, though! I got Frog Frenzy and Atlantis. Atlantis I didn't score much on, but Frog Frenzy was lucrative... and awesome! It made my heart skip a beat. LOL!
 
Black Hole sucks. lol. I don't know if it's because there seems to be a 5-mile wide gap between the left and right bumpers, or that 99% of every plunger shot goes to the right, but it seems to be a combination of it being both glitchy AND incredibly hard on top of it. Anyway, I find myself trying to get into it -- and failing -- then going back to any of the three other tables. :)

BTW have they ironed out a DLC schedule? Do they eventually plan on releasing for all platforms simultaneously -- eventually? I've been to their FB page but there are hundreds of comments posted on the wall at this point, making it hard to find any concrete responses.
 
for those still on the fence about getting the game (and why are you???)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o03iCtaHU4s
Ripley's Believe It or Not! 0:48 start of gameplay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJl7zJOxZy4
Theatre of Magic 0:50 start of gameplay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9TPknomwSM
Black Hole 0:49 start of gameplay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slUPrUzz_ck
Tales of the Arabian Nights 0:26 start of gameplay.

Note that Pinball Arcade is a 60 fps game but Youtube caps videos at 30 fps so you're not getting the true sense of animation smoothness and speed that the game actually offers. Also, sorry about the high compression that is occurring that is outside my control (hence the softness of the video). I'll try to play with the encoding settings so that the video is not so heavily compressed. Youtube's transcoding is awfully heavy handed. But they're the only free site that allows gameplay vids (which are technically copyright infringement).

I do wish the camera angles were as flexible as in Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. I haven't played with them much in The Pinball Arcade but it's not as easy or clear or have as many options.
 
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I'm looking forward to diving deeper into Ripley's... It is a really fun machine.

I have to say that while I am having a lot of fun with TPA, I am quite a bit disappointed in the final product. I bought it at launch and have put about 5 hours into it so far. The product just feels unfinished.

Here is my little rant:

The lighting tech for the 360 version didn't get upgraded before launch, which is quite a letdown. Basically this game looks exactly like PHoF with a better looking ball. I was expecting it to look incredible thanks to the new lighting tech that they have posted screens of... Apparently the PS3 release will have the new lighting and the 360 release will be patched in. We will see. This is what TotAN should have looked like...

7046003393_f2563d20c8_z.jpg


The menu is terrible with 4 tables... imagine when they start releasing loads of DLC. It feels like the menu is a direct port from the iOS version. It should be the other way around. If they have as much DLC as they are planning, this menu is going to be useless.

Whats up the the "Full Game Activated" button? Why is it even there? You couldn't just get rid of the button when the full game is bought?

The leaderboards are obviously better than PHoF but pale in comparison to FX2.

The rule sheets in this game are much better than FX2. Although I feel like quite a bit of the extra stuff was left out... The flyer is a nice touch, but even on my 57" HDTV fully zoomed in some of the smaller text was impossible to read. Why cant we zoom in farther? Is the scan not high enough quality?

And the flyer is the ONLY thing in the table extras. Why couldn't we have some of the other cool stuff? Most of these machines launched with little 2 min promotional videos. I would have liked to see those included along with a digital version of the original manual that comes with the machine. Also would have liked a 3D model of the machine that we could rotate around and zoom in and out to our hearts desire.

The physics, while pretty damn good, are still a little wonky. TPA definitely recreates the feel of real life machines more accurately the FX2 ever could. FX2's ball feels much heavier and more predictable. That's not saying FX2 is bad, just different... I enjoy them both quite a bit.

Operators menus are completely absent... There isn't a single way to tinker around with the tables settings. This is completely inexcusable. We bought the tables, let us mess around with them just like we would be able to IRL.

TotAN is an amazing table. I love it, but am disappointed to see it in the launch bundle. I already bought it years ago. Why should I have to buy it again just to get a shinier ball? I never owned the other collection so Black Hole is new to me, but it is by far my least favorite in the pack. I much prefer the DMD machines as that is what I grew up with. They are much more fun, IMHO.

I don't care for their business model... 50% of all announced content for TPA is rehashed. Why not release brand new content first and then follow it up with a Classic Collection DLC Pack? PHoF still plays a great game of pinball. If I wanted to play TotAN I could have just popped my disc in.

I have a sick feeling that all future DLC will be 1 new table and 1 rehashed table bundled together for $5, forcing you to buy both even though you already own one of them in a previous game. I paid $15 for PHoF and felt it was an awesome deal. TPA seems like it will be getting quite pricey with all the DLC.

FX2 has been out for over a year. Farsight knew exactly what their competition was. Did they even attempt to make a game that could compete with FX2? Not really IMO. Sure their physics are more realistic, but the total package left quite a bit to be desired. Farsight has plans to patch in new content and modes. I guess we will see if they live up to their word and make this game much better. I hope so, but I am not going to hold my breath.

TPA is supposted to be a homage to the machines that we remeber playing in our youth. Instead the package is about as BAREBONES as it gets. They got the rights to all the tables... why not take full advantage of them and make a game worthy to hold all those classic licenses.

Like I said before, the game is great fun. It is as close as you can get to playing the actual machine without having to track one down. But I just hoped it would have been so much better. Hopefully Farsight has a few tricks up their sleeve.

Being a pinhead, I will still buy up all the DLC on day one. I am definitely looking forward to Attack from Mars, Circus Voltaire, Monster Bash, and Dr. Dude. Hopefully they can lock down some of the movie tables in the future. T2, Dracula, and Shadow are on the top of my list.

One last thing... Where the hell is Whitewater? It should have been in PHoF, and it definitely needs to bee in TPA!

Score: 7 out of 10
 
Something is holding me back from buying this, not even sure why since I was excited for it. I want to see what their DLC offerings are like I guess - ie, if they're going to try to make me buy tables I already have in the PHoF game just to get other tables I want (like mentioned above). The fact that a PHoF table is in the damn initial download doesn't fill me with hope.
 
Basically this game looks exactly like PHoF with a better looking ball.
Click to expand...

Couldn't disagree more. Go back and put PHoF in, and try Arabian Nights. I did it for fun earlier today and PHoF almost looks like an Xbox 1 game by comparison with this. Every aspect of the game has been improved visually; the colors, textures, lighting, camera -- everything. You're working on memory if you think
the only thing that's improved is the ball. It's not even close.

The DLC tables are also supposed to be available for individual purchase with the pricing supposedly $2 for most but could be higher depending on the specific licensing involved. At least that's what they said a while back. Bundling wasn't the model they talked about.

The fact that a PHoF table is in the damn initial download doesn't fill me with hope.
Click to expand...

While I at first felt the same, the fact that Arabian Nights has been improved visually (regardless of what the other poster claims) and also plays, I think, much better here, has turned me around. It's not just the same thing ported over from PHoF. It's basically a fresh take on the table. Honestly I hope they DO bring back some of the PHoF tables here if they're all going to be upgraded like this, but YMMV.
 
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I have to admit I am working from memory concerning PHoF... I lent my copy to my dad about 6 months ago, and he has yet to return it. The graphics are good in TPA, but they are far from great.
 
I'm loving to have actual pinball tables installed for quick plays any time. It's great this actually finally got released. I do agree with a lot of what KG said. Arabian Nights was a disappointing addition to me since I'm happy with the PHoF version and greatly would have preferred a fresh table. Theatre of Magic and Ripley's are really lots of fun with reasonable goals. Even though I like a lot of the classic tables and love space themes Black Hole just doesn't do it for me. The goals are outrageous and it's just too easy to drain out of that lower playfield.

They really dropped the ball with the lack of social features and avatar support. Those were things people loved about FX2 and would have really made this a friendlier title. The leaderboards are just cold and bland. Avatar awards might have been nice, too, although that's just nitpicking. 3D models would have been great to explore.

I'm really looking forward to seeing if they stick to their DLC commitment. They can repeat as many as they like so long as they can be purchased individually and don't cut into releasing new ones.

If anyone I don't have on my Friends list wants to add me and compare scores feel free.
 
I don't have the Xbox 360 Pinball hall of fame so I can't comment on that one vs this one and I obviously have no complaints about the selection of tables as I don't have the original. IMO I will just buy the tables on The Pinball Arcade as its much easier to quick play them without having to put a disc in. I normally don't like DLC but with this game its one that I prefer to have downloaded so I can play quickly without having to get the disc.
 
holy crap. had no idea this was out. I love PHOF!

Time to stock up on msp.

How much will each dlc table cost? 240?

Can't wait for medieval madness. I can sell my disc version.
 
Since I have PHOF on disc, I'm not jumping to buy this on XBLA until the DLC list looks a bit more impressive.

I do however really enjoy the iOS version! Vertical screen virtual pinball for the win, even if controls are a little tight.
 
I have the disc but this is thee kind of game I need to have digitally where I can lazily jump in at anytime.

I can't get the Harem multiball. I know what you need to do but can't get it. Any good hints? I always dig the goals in this series. I had a good run on Black Hole and only have one goal left to complete the wizard goals.
 
[quote name='bsmiff']Since I have PHOF on disc, I'm not jumping to buy this on XBLA until the DLC list looks a bit more impressive.

I do however really enjoy the iOS version! Vertical screen virtual pinball for the win, even if controls are a little tight.[/QUOTE]

Well I don't think any of the four starter tables
are on disc so to me it's 200 pts per table.
 
[quote name='Viva Las Vegas']TOTAN was on the Williams disc and I can't remember for sure but Black Hole might have been on the Gottlieb disc.[/QUOTE]

The Gottlieb disc was never made for the 360. It's in 480P and pretty ugly on the Wii or 480i for the PS2. Plus, the physics for Gottlieb wasn't even up to PHOF levels, let alone the improvements in Pinball arcade.
 
[quote name='Viva Las Vegas']
I can't get the Harem multiball. I know what you need to do but can't get it. Any good hints? I always dig the goals in this series. I had a good run on Black Hole and only have one goal left to complete the wizard goals.[/QUOTE]

It was basically impossible in PHoF due to a glitch that went unfixed. It has been fixed in TPA tho :)

What you have to do to get it is spell HAREM by hitting the left loop while the Harem light (white light) is flashing. Hit it once, get the H, then trap the ball on the right flipper and wait for the tiger loop (purple light) to expire and it will relight the Harem light. Rinse and repeat. You'll get it after a few tries.

Alternately you can hit the Harem Sneak In 3 times, but that is much harder and requires a lot more luck.

Hopefully that helps a bit. Let me know if I can explain anything further.

I still need to complete Ripley's and Black Hole. Black Hole is going to be a pain.

I'm not looking forward to the wizard goal for Pinbot once it gets rereleased. That was the hardest in PHoF.
 
I hope they can improve the leader boards so that, at the very least, we see the global leaderboards right after a game is finished (toggle between local and global would be good), including only showing friends scores.

The physics still aren't great. I mean they are better than others probably, but still the ball travels in repeated ways. In some cases there might be 2 or 3 ways the ball can travel in a given situation, and in cases the ball does the exact same thing every single time. It's in part due to the granularity of the physics not being fine enough, but also because they are unwilling to toss in some randomness for things like kickouts.

On a real machine the ball doesn't come out of a kickout in exactly the same way every single time. Toss in a little randomness there to make you have to react to the ball instead of being able to rely on the exact same ball path every time. Seems pretty simple to me, but nobody does it. Of course you don't want it to randomly toss the ball down the middle. I'm just talking small variations that result in different ball paths. When a ball gets kicked out in this game, if you hold the flipper up the ball will go in exactly the same path, or in some cases there seem to be 2 variations. The ball goes in one of those two paths every time, at the exact same speed and with the exact same result.

Also, I find it impossible to do drop catches, which is a key technique I use in the real games. I could have sworn you could do that in Pinball Hall of Fame, but I'm not certain about that. So that kind of thing needs improvement too.

I do also wish we had access to machine settings. Obviously changing anything would disqualify you from global leaderboards and achievements during those plays, but it would be fun to be able to change settings to make the game harder (or easier if so inclined). Also, after completing the wizard goals it unlocks... turning off the tilt? Why would anyone who can complete the wizard goals want to turn off the tilt? At least in PHoF it would unlock silly ball designs - that was fun and I'm not sure why the removed that from this game.

These are just complaints, though. Overall it's the best thing out there for sure. I don't regret the purchase at all, and will be buying all the DLC for sure.
 
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Thanks sp8001, I'll try that for the Harem goal. I always thought hitting something on the play field was changing it to Tiger Loop, I didn't know it was just time based.

They really need to fix Black Hole. As someone else mentioned 98% of your plunger shots will go into the right slot at the top.

The user interface is pretty poorly laid out. They should have the leader boards overlaid on the screen of the pin select. I'm trying to be optimistic that they will address the problems but they never did with the PHOF disc so well see. Still love it though.
 
I saw this post in another forum:

Theatre of Magic
This 1995 table is quite complex, with eight different illusions to master. Disappearing balls, magna-saves, and other tricks all add to the fun. It also contains a Mortal Kombat 3 cheat code as a well-known Easter egg.

Does anyone know this cheat code easter egg?


I also saw this list of upcoming tables. Quite a few from PHoF Williams and Gottlieb collections. But there's never been an HD Gottlieb version (only 480P for Xbox1 and Wii while 480i for PS2 and Gamecube). But I don't really like Gottlieb tables anyway.

Taken from various sources, from a post (I take no credit and who knows if this is complete as it's from people collating various articles):

  • Bride of Pin*Bot
  • Cirqus Voltaire
  • Monster Bash
  • Attack from Mars
  • Dr. Dude
  • Earthshaker
  • Creature from the Black Lagoon
  • Elvira and the Party Monsters

previously in The Williams Collection:
  • Medieval Madness
  • Funhouse
  • Black Knight
  • Space Shuttle
  • Pin•bot
  • TAXI

previously in The Gottlieb Collection:
  • Big Shot
 
I ran into a glitch in TOTAN. I had several times in a row the skill shot from the plunger did not register. It didn't respond like you got it or you didn't. It acted as if the ball was never played. Once the ball came to the flippers everything worked fine.
 
Alright finally got around to really playing The Pinball Arcade version of Tales of the Arabian Nights. Here's some 720P gameplay:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slUPrUzz_ck
start of gameplay: 0:26

And for comparison to the original Pinball Hall of Fame version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf9JXJKQMOI


Some notes... I no longer had the raw footage for the Pinball Hall of Fame version so I was working from the MP4 version. So to be fair, I used the MP4 version of The Pinball Arcade version. I record for fun and to have a living gaming history (kind of a like a picture album that I can look back on years from now). So as a result, I don't get paid for it and I'm not going to do multiple takes to get it right or to try to show off or get a high score. So you'll notice that the camera angles don't match and I didn't make an effort to get them to match (because I just want to play the games).

Also, Youtube's transcoder really compressed the heck out of the videos. But even through that, I don't know how anyone can say that PHoF looks the same as PA. The lighting is much more impressive (there's actually bloom instead of flat shading). It's also a sharper game than PHoF. Also note that PA and PHoF are 60 fps games but Youtube caps videos at 30 fps so you're losing smoothness of animation and speed.
 
But even through that, I don't know how anyone can say that PHoF looks the same as PA. The lighting is much more impressive (there's actually bloom instead of flat shading). It's also a sharper game than PHoF.
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Thanks for the videos. To me it's really night and day, which is why I personally think a lot of folks who are down on having to buy Arabian Nights again simply because it's on the 360 Hall of Fame game are missing out because it's definitely NOT the same table/experience as before. It plays differently and it looks a heck of a lot better on top of it. If people actually played one, and then the other, I think they'd notice a stark difference between the two. You can see a difference though even in your Youtube comparisons, and it's even greater when watching in HD.
 
Taken from various sources, from a post (I take no credit and who knows if this is complete as it's from people collating various articles):

Bride of Pin*Bot
Cirqus Voltaire
Monster Bash
Attack from Mars
Dr. Dude
Earthshaker
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Elvira and the Party Monsters
Click to expand...

I loved playing CREATURE on an old Williams Pinball CD-ROM for Windows back in the day. One of my favorite tables! I seriously can't wait for that one.
 
[quote name='phantomfriar2002']Thanks for the videos. To me it's really night and day, which is why I personally think a lot of folks who are down on having to buy Arabian Nights again simply because it's on the 360 Hall of Fame game are missing out because it's definitely NOT the same table/experience as before. It plays differently and it looks a heck of a lot better on top of it. If people actually played one, and then the other, I think they'd notice a stark difference between the two. You can see a difference though even in your Youtube comparisons, and it's even greater when watching in HD.[/QUOTE]

I noticed immediately it plays differently due to the different physics. I couldn't play the new version the way I played the old version. It's pretty darn easy to trap the ball in PHoF but not quite in PA.

But in terms of graphics, it's the little details you start to notice the more you play. Like in PA, the genie's eyes are flashing based on certain events. But in PHoF, they don't light. They're always black.
 
I'm debating whether to get this for XBLA or PSN. This seems to be the main thread for the game for all intents and purposes, so I'll ask here. I heard about some sort of lag on the PS3 version... is there any legitimacy to this claim or just a bum rumor? I generally prefer 360 for games, but for a DLC-heavy title like this I might go PS3 and try to get a long-term gameshare going.
 
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