489 replies to this topic

[The Loafer]

Without going into a love-fest for the Ipad 3, I don't know if there is a better seller for "retina" display resolution than Pinball Arcade (IMHO of course). It's just freakingly beautiful and there's enough horsepower that I feel no lag whatsover when I press the flipper, which is usually not the case because, well you aren't pressing a button right? Truly impressive, can't wait to play more tables. I do believe this app will force me to buy the tables twice: once for the iOS and once for the PC.

[vfpcoder]

I agree with others on here regarding the first attempt at "post-processing" for the third-gen iPad. Enganging it seems to deliver a "night-mode" effect -- but drastically reduces the frame rate. I'd rather do without it and enjoy the silky smooth ball physics provided by the "normal" mode. If they do manage to get that working in a smooth way, though, it's going to be fantastic!

Speaking of the graphics and game play provided on the third-gen iPad: I swear to you that there are times when I feel like I'm playing *real* pinball!! And the "ball reflections" off the table are the best I’ve seen implemented on any virtual pinball platform. Try out the "Ripley's Believe It or Not" table and watch in awe how the multicolored lights in the center of the table reflect up into the ball as it rolls over. And it's doing this without sacrificing physics in any way!! These guys are absolute geniuses!!!

Edited by vfpcoder, 13 June 2012 - 02:14 PM.

[Tracera]

is it a transformer prime.
havent tried cv on mine yet.
they are supposed to have an android update in the next couple of days to increase performance

I have the transformer prime, and it looks like crap on there to me. Looks like the phone version all stretched out to fill the tablet screen. Hopefully this update will optimize it for tablet devices but I doubt it.

This update has already come & gone. Honestly, not much of an update for me. It seems like it was mostly to help performance on some slower older phones. Didn't do much for my tablet.

I like android, but I must confess something. I spent a little more time with my brothers ipad2 yesterday. The game on that thing just looks & plays so much better. Pinball in general seems a little choppy & laggy on android devices. Meanwhile, the amazingly smooth play on ipad combined with the new post-processing visuals is leading me to go out & get an ipad like right now. Literally I'm leaving within an hour to get one. I'll likely get the new ipad (3). & if I liked it as much as I did on 2, then I would hope it plays every bit as good on 3 plus should look even better.

The difference between the 2 platforms is pretty huge. Now I can see why TPA is as popular as it is especially among ipad users, & of course consoles & soon PC. But I can also see why android users don't always rate the game so high. Though ranking the game is tough unless, like myself, you have a nice ipad to compare games on. That way you know what you are missing. Honestly pinball feels more like real pinball. Flippers feel better as well, the response time & smoothness is very impressive.

I'm not an apple fan, & likely never will be. But this is a case where 1 product seems to do really well in an area I value the most, so I'll bite on it. Now watch as soon as I buy this, TPA will become Tegra optimized with smooth performance on android. The bummer will be that I'll likely have to wait another week for new tables being on apple. But at least I get troll bombs & super skill shot on MM, & certainly some other perks throughout that should keep me busy during the wait.

Yeah I agree with you there. I have the Ipad 3 as well and its the next best thing to the real thing. But when I compare the transformer prime version side by side I had to wonder what happened. Guess an android tablet version fell through the cracks somewhere.

[settingsons]

The new Gorgar and Monster Bash tables are very impressive on the iPod touch 4G - they play very smooth and the physics seem spot on. It is not my ideal way to play pinball as it is so small, but the portrait cabinet style camera views give you a good idea of how the PC Cab build will look.

I recommended PA to a friend of mine and he tried it on his Samsung Galaxy tab and it is really unplayable. The ball flow is so jumpy. A bit of a shame, but maybe they will sort it out.

Edited by settingsons, 18 June 2012 - 05:57 PM.

[MajikBubble]

I find RBION has some framerate issues on the iPod Touch 4, Even when there's not much action going on. Other than that, all tables run fine for me. I hope they add up/down nudging soon . . . having only left and right makes bangbacks impossible.

[settingsons]

I find RBION has some framerate issues on the iPod Touch 4, Even when there's not much action going on. Other than that, all tables run fine for me. I hope they add up/down nudging soon . . . having only left and right makes bangbacks impossible.

Actually its the same for me. Maybe its the ROM emulation? That is the only table I didn't buy. Turning off the DMD helps but still not smooth enough. At least the demos allow us to try them first.

[rob046]

Yeah I agree with you there. I have the Ipad 3 as well and its the next best thing to the real thing. But when I compare the transformer prime version side by side I had to wonder what happened. Guess an android tablet version fell through the cracks somewhere.

My only guess is that with so many different types of android devices they just haven't figured out a good way to optimize things. I hope android tablets get a nice version soon because I know I was getting pretty annoyed with it. If not that, then at least get a PC version out there so that everybody can enjoy a high quality version of the game at least on 1 device. I'd like for everybody to get to experience something along the lines of what we do on ipad3, it will surely suck more people & casual users into this awesome game.

[pinuck]

My only guess is that with so many different types of android devices they just haven't figured out a good way to optimize things.
...
If not that, then at least get a PC version out there so that everybody can enjoy a high quality version of the game

I must have missed the news when they announced that pc's were being standardized down to only a couple versions to ease compatibility…

Don't get me wrong, there's still lots of reasons to complain about apple's closed systems, but at the same time, I constantly see reminders of the benefits, especially in the iOS / android universe.

[settingsons]

Some news from Farsight on various platforms updates, etc......

We have nothing but good news to report today! For iOS (iPhone and iPad) we've fixed some bugs in the new tables, including the Monster Bash Frankenstein multiball camera problem and the Gorgar leaderboard bug. Apple has granted us an expedited review for both the paid and free versions of the app so they should both be available in the next 24 hours.

We finally have a date from Sony for the Euopean version on the PlayStation3- it will be released on June 27th! The European version on Vita is back in submission with Sony and we will announce a release date when we know it. Thanks for your patience on those!

We have had reports of users on Android not getting access to tables they've purchased. This actually turned out to be a Google problem, but we've engineered a workaround and we will be posting a new Android build today.

As announced previously, Table Packs 1 and 2 will be released for the Vita in North America on June 26th. Today Sony granted our petition to move the release date for Table Pack 2 on PlayStation3 up to match that of the Vita, so it will also be available on June 26th (instead of July 3rd). So let the record reflect that sometimes we're early instead of late

The new tables for the Xbox 360 are moving through the approval process at Microsoft. We will announce an availability date when we know it. And we're still working on getting in-app table purchases released for the Mac and the PC version.

Thanks again for your support of the Pinball Arcade!

I am just hoping the PC cab version doesn't need an internet connection.

Edited by settingsons, 19 June 2012 - 08:36 PM.

[Bob5453]

I only have the ps3 to play these tables on and I like the 4 tables available for it, but everything else about this company makes me want to scream. What a circus. It's like they are in a race with someone, maybe they feel they are in a race with Zen pinball. I'll give Zen company an overall 9/10 rating, but TPA company is lucky to get a 5/10 from me.... I picture the TPA guys as chickens running around with no heads.

[settingsons]

I only have the ps3 to play these tables on and I like the 4 tables available for it, but everything else about this company makes me want to scream. What a circus. It's like they are in a race with someone, maybe they feel they are in a race with Zen pinball. I'll give Zen company an overall 9/10 rating, but TPA company is lucky to get a 5/10 from me.... I picture the TPA guys as chickens running around with no heads.

Here' some footage of them in their morning meeting.....

[Mitchell]

Gorgar isn't hard to play on my iPad 2. =)

[OuchTilt]

I've been playing this on my ASUS Transformer and just find it so difficult to control and play, just not enjoyable.

Are there any youtube videos on the Ipad3 version? I can't seem to find any

Is the Ipad 3 version really that much better?

[vfpcoder]

All of the tables now play "super-smooth" on the third-gen iPad as long as you *don't* turn on the "Post Processing" Option.

This includes the RBION table.

Honestly, I prefer to play these tables on my iPad now as opposed to running the comparable table on my PC via VP9. (Don't have a dedicated CAB set up though.)

[rob046]

I've been playing this on my ASUS Transformer and just find it so difficult to control and play, just not enjoyable.

Are there any youtube videos on the Ipad3 version? I can't seem to find any

Is the Ipad 3 version really that much better?

The problem with videos is that they can never really show how smooth the game is because that is just how video works, video can't even show 30 fps let alone 60. & video doesn't really show graphic quality that well either in this case where all video seems like it is shot from somebody's phone onto a tablet, just not good quality. & it is difficult to show off the retina display. It can be done somewhat if in HD, but to properly see it you simply have to see it in person, & it is nice for these pinball games especially TPA so you can now more easily read all the small text on inserts & wherever else on the table. Basically pixels don't exist anymore & you don't see much aliasing going on either. Pretty impressive.

To answer your question, android tablet vs ipad3, yes the ipad really is clearly better, especially when it comes to TPA. & this coming from me who has spent months with the android version both on phone & tablet, so I would know. & I wouldn't of very recently gone out & dropped over $500 for an ipad3 if I didn't really need to & if my android tablet was satisfactory. In general I was fine with the android tablet, but it just didn't do pinball very well. Ball movement never perfectly smooth, & so between that & jaggedy graphics with some bad textures & other funny things going on... I also started to not play TPA very much on android. With graphics, I know they can compete with ipad graphics, but that doesn't mean they will. Zen Pinball is roughly the same as what you find on iPad, but of course this is due to it being optimized for Tegra & not for phones.

One thing that has annoyed me & duped me a little. Farsight has been using iOS screenshots for the android market since day 1. I was always baffled as to why my tables on android never looked exactly like the screenshots, but now I know why. So since videos can't show the smoothness of the gameplay, you might just be better off looking up some iOS screenshots, but even there I wonder if those can show off how the ipad3 looks unless the screenshot is 2048x retina resolution? Then just taking our word for it about the gameplay. How smooth is it? Smoother than any pinball game I've ever played on the PC, including VP, console, or anything else. You almost keep expect a little choppy movement at times, but it never happens. Crazy smooth.

When looking up screenshots you need to be careful because iOS did apparently go through some graphics upgrades a couple months ago, so you wouldn't want to see screenshots from before that, though I'm sure they probably look good as well. Any screenshot or vid you see of Gorgar or MB on iOS would definitely be accurate. I think CV or FH would be as well but I'm not sure.
At this point maybe I should just try to take my own screenshots to share here & see how they turn out. Not sure how but I'm sure I can figure it out. I am curious if the screenshots take at full retina resolution. Oh & the ball looks 100x better on ipad, much smoother graphics on it with nicer reflections happening.

I've babbled enough about this, I think you get my point! Its just that when somebody or some device does pinball well, I like to share it. No reason for it to be a secret. I also find the physics on all tables to be improved. You mention ball control which on iOS at least is much better than it used to be & it seems that now no tables have the super bouncy flippers anymore. Some things can always be tweaked more but I'm just glad they are making progress on this front & with physics in general. Gorgar & Monster Bash were the best playing upon release of the first 3 DLC packs, & since it is also the newest that is exactly what you want to see.

Btw, the above text, I don't throw praise around all that easily. For anybody that knows me from the forums over the years I am very anal about pinball & details & physics. If a game or table sucks, I won't praise it, just like in this case as bad as I wanted the android version to be as good as ipad, I just couldn't convince myself that it was even that close & went & bought an ipad3 (I'm nothing if not committed to pinball!). So far, I can't put down my damn ipad despite my killer PC rig. I know the bloom will eventually fall off the rose a bit. Or better yet I can't wait to see TPA on the PC. If it uses the typical PC game eye candy, it could be quite spectacular, & I'm hoping the physics will be as good if not even better.

Edited by rob046, 21 June 2012 - 10:30 PM.

[Tracera]

I've been playing this on my ASUS Transformer and just find it so difficult to control and play, just not enjoyable.

Are there any youtube videos on the Ipad3 version? I can't seem to find any

Is the Ipad 3 version really that much better?

I have both the Ipad 3 and the Transformer Prime and the difference is like night and day. The transformer prime is supposed to be pretty close to Ipad 3 in graphic resolution and overall power, but TPA fails to make any use of it. All they did was make a phone version for android and the transformer prime stretches it out to fill the screen. With that being said the transformer prime is still a little choppy where as the Ipad 3 is so smooth its scary with the post processing turned off (off by default). So basically Im really happy withe Ipad 3 Version and disgusted with android tablet version. There are not a lot of games that look so colorful and pretty as TPA does on the Ipad 3. I have had people looking over my shoulder playing TPA and go "Wow, I gotta get me an IPAD 3" lol

P.S. - I like my cab better tho.

[rob046]

Hey for those with IOS, TPA is app of the week! So for those who don't have Funhouse yet, get it now for free. & please leave good reviews if you like the game because with the app being in the spotlight this week, we got absolute retards making reviews now. It makes you scared for humanity! Somebody took off 2 stars because they couldn't see the ball rolling like you can on real pinball! Well I own 4 real pins, & all I can say is that if you can see the ball rolling then its time to get a new ball! Instead of rolling you just see reflections, which IOS actually does better than any game I've ever seen.

I've been playing this on my ASUS Transformer and just find it so difficult to control and play, just not enjoyable.

Are there any youtube videos on the Ipad3 version? I can't seem to find any

Is the Ipad 3 version really that much better?

I have both the Ipad 3 and the Transformer Prime and the difference is like night and day. The transformer prime is supposed to be pretty close to Ipad 3 in graphic resolution and overall power, but TPA fails to make any use of it. All they did was make a phone version for android and the transformer prime stretches it out to fill the screen. With that being said the transformer prime is still a little choppy where as the Ipad 3 is so smooth its scary with the post processing turned off (off by default). So basically Im really happy withe Ipad 3 Version and disgusted with android tablet version. There are not a lot of games that look so colorful and pretty as TPA does on the Ipad 3. I have had people looking over my shoulder playing TPA and go "Wow, I gotta get me an IPAD 3" lol

P.S. - I like my cab better tho.

I think it is good to have played on both table OS's like we have. Because you immediately know where each stands & no more wondering if the grass is greener. & as good as things look on ipad3, I still see room for improvement. & definitely with some things that won't affect performance at all so there is no reason not to improve them. For example I see scan marks from a scanner on the PF's of Monster Bash, RBION, & maybe another one I don't remember. Gorgar, the bottom half of the PF appears fuzzier. Stuff like that. But still, after spending months on android it is pretty hard to complain too much about the ipad3 version. All I can say is that I hope despite the praise they get that they don't get too lax with it now.

[jrolson]

PS3 DLC is now live!

Loving how CV's ball & neon color change everytime you load up the table!

[rob046]

I know how pretty these tables are from watching the videos. I won't get around to buying them until later, but FYI it does sound like the lag issue might be fixed. Which means now I can finally play the pretty HDR 4 original games as well, cuz with the lag I just ended up playing mostly on my ipad, which is damn near console quality anyhow.

[ruby651]

Fair warning for PS3 players... you have to redownload the original Pinball Arcade program to get the new downloaded tables to work. I agree with Bob... chickens in serious lack of heads!