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Questions That Drift To the Future-past

BlahCade Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 1m·analyzed·Nov 13, 2016
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Blockade discusses realistic TPA table tuning and tablet hardware recommendations for pinball arcade emulation.

Summary

Blockade Podcast hosts Chris Frebus and Jared Morgan discuss realistic pinball difficulty in The Pinball Arcade (TPA), comparing virtual play to real machine experiences. They recommend Space Shuttle, Circus Voltaire, Safecracker, Dracula, and Addams Family as accurately tuned tables, then pivot to hardware recommendations for playing TPA on portable devices, with emphasis on NVIDIA Shield tablets and Sony Xperia devices.

Key Claims

  • Space Shuttle in TPA has airlock drain design that is brutally difficult, matching real machine behavior

    high confidence · Chris and Jared extensively discuss Space Shuttle's out lane design and airlock difficulty based on recent play experience

  • Circus Voltaire is floaty in TPA because it is actually floaty in real life

    high confidence · Chris states: 'I know people think that it's floaty in the game, but I got news for you. It's kind of floaty in real life also.'

  • Farsight nailed Safecracker's difficulty tuning in TPA to match real machine behavior

    medium confidence · Chris: 'I really think that Farsight nailed that one' after giving brutal feedback during beta testing

  • Dracula's out lanes in TPA are tuned exactly like the real machine - horrible and finicky

    high confidence · Chris: 'The outline tuning is exactly like it is in real life. It's horrible. I finally played it recently, and everything was the exact same experience.'

  • Addams Family's power magnet is overpowered in TPA compared to real machines

    high confidence · Chris: 'the power, which is overpowered in TPA—no doubt about it. It'll stop the ball like dead in its tracks on TPA, whereas it will only just course-correct the ball in real life.'

  • NVIDIA Shield tablet (K1 processor) offers best value for playing TPA on Android at ~$299 USD

    high confidence · Chris recommends Shield tablet as 'entry-level tablet with huge specs' and states 'I think you can probably buy the K1 for $299 US. That is a bargain'

  • Season 3 onwards TPA tables are generally realistic in difficulty/tuning compared to real machines

    medium confidence · Chris: 'I'd probably draw the line at probably season 3 onwards if you wanted to go and get tables that represented how they played in real life'

  • 8-Ball Deluxe tuning in TPA has evolved from 'turbo flippers everywhere' to more accurate play

    medium confidence · Jared mentions seeing 'evolution of 8-Ball Deluxe's tuning over time' and Rob 'dialed it back down'

Notable Quotes

  • “It's basically the presidential version of free play. He can do whatever he likes, play whatever he likes, and do what he likes.”

    Chris Frebus @ ~0:05:00 — Comedic metaphor comparing outgoing presidential term to pinball free play mode during election discussion

  • “Hold my beer.”

    Chris Frebus (referencing social media meme) @ ~0:10:00 — Humorous reference to USA vs UK Brexit comparison meme during election commentary

  • “I really think that Farsight nailed that one. Just—I was pretty hard on them when they were developing that one in beta.”

    Chris Frebus @ ~0:35:00 — Confirms Chris provided harsh beta feedback that Farsight addressed successfully for Safecracker

  • “The outline tuning is exactly like it is in real life. It's horrible. I finally played it recently, and everything was the exact same experience.”

    Chris Frebus @ ~0:45:00 — Validates Dracula's TPA tuning accuracy after playing real machine

  • “It's not holding your hand as you walk through it and going, hey, look at this. Oh, yeah, this is how we'll score a mega jackpot.”

    Chris Frebus @ ~0:48:00 — Characterizes Dracula as unforgiving design philosophy matching real table behavior

  • “The NVIDIA Shield tablet is probably still available from some retailers. It's technically discontinued, but the Shield tablet has a Tegra K1 processor in it, which is practically like a PC processor.”

    Chris Frebus @ ~1:15:00 — Strong recommendation for Shield tablet hardware based on processor power and value

  • “I think you can probably buy the K1 for $299 US. That is a bargain for that spec of tablet.”

    Chris Frebus @ ~1:18:00 — Specific pricing information for Shield tablet value proposition

  • “The only downside is because it does have a K1 processor in it, it chews the juice like nothing else. It is hungry on the battery.”

Entities

Chris FrebuspersonJared MorganpersonThe Pinball Arcade (TPA)productFarsight StudioscompanySpace ShuttlegameCircus VoltairegameSafecrackergameDraculagame

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Blockade Podcast actively solicits listener topics via Twitter and email; demonstrates engagement with audience questions

    high · Hosts discuss Andrew Driver's Twitter question and Graham Best's email about specific topics, commit to addressing listener submissions

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Addams Family's power magnet behavior differs between TPA and real machines; TPA version stops ball dead while real machine course-corrects

    high · Chris detailed explanation of magnet behavior difference and how real machine has 'slingshot effect' versus TPA's immediate braking

  • $

    market_signal: NVIDIA Shield tablet remains available at discounted price (~$299) despite discontinued status; strong value proposition for gaming

    high · Chris: 'The Shield tablets are cheap. They are pretty much an entry-level tablet with huge specs' and 'you can probably buy the K1 for $299 US. That is a bargain'

  • ?

    product_strategy: 8-Ball Deluxe tuning evolved significantly from initial release (turbo flippers) to more realistic current state through developer iteration

    medium · Jared: 'I've seen the evolution of 8-Ball Deluxe's tuning over time. Before, like when it first released, it was just basically turbo flippers everywhere. But Rob has really dialed it back down'

  • ?

    product_concern: Safecracker ball physics overly generous in TPA; scoop exits too easily compared to real machine's unpredictability

    medium · Chris: 'In real life, that ball coming out of the scoop flies out of that table...your whole body tenses up every time' vs TPA being easier

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.185

0:00
This is the Blockade Podcast with your hosts, Chris and Jared. Hey there, hi there, ho there. You are listening to the Blockade Podcast. I am your host, Shut Your Trap, aka Chris Frevis. Joining me from the other side of the world, Jared Morgan. Hello. How is everything going in the U.S. of the A's? Oh, you really want to know how it's going in the U.S. of the A's? Oh, no, I think I know how it's going. Yes, you have seen the week that transpired here. Well, I've seen it, all right. Yes, I'll see you there. Yes, in the good old US of A, we have this wonderful election system where somebody can win a popular vote and still manage to lose.
1:10
It's difficult explaining to people from other countries about our electoral college. I know. Well, I Googled it. I understand it. Yeah, everybody just kind of goes, huh? Why would you do that? yeah it is without going I was going to say without going too deep into the political quagmire that is this new term of election it was interesting to read how the collegiate votes work and it seems like something that's hearkening from the days of the 1800s yes it is yeah so maybe trying to rethink that considering everyone has a car now and can actually get to Right, because here's the thing. It's like we also – okay, so the Electoral College doesn't actually get ratified until I believe it's December 9th or December 19th, something like that. And then the swearing-in doesn't even happen until January. And yes, from the 1800s, that was to allow time for people – The mail to deliver all the votes. Well, not only the mail to deliver all the votes, but then for the people to hop on their horse and buggy and travel all the way to D.C. to be able to witness the inauguration. Right. So, yeah, it is very bizarre because it's like now you've got the president who sits here for the next two months basically not being able to do anything other than do a flurry of pardons and little things to throw in there. Like, I'm on my way out here. Let's make that pass. that went through it I've been wanting to do this for ages let's bash that in as well pretty much meanwhile everybody else is losing their minds over it at the same time it's basically the presidential version of free play he can do whatever he likes play whatever he likes and do what he likes right and yeah so it's interesting times here right now because when half your voting population, I shouldn't say half the population, because literally half the population that could vote didn't. So there's America also. We're wonderful on that front.

Chris Frebus @ ~1:19:00 — Acknowledges Shield tablet drawback while emphasizing power benefits outweigh cost

Addams Family
game
NVIDIA Shield Tabletproduct
Sony Xperiaproduct
Andrew Driverperson
Graham Bestperson
Robperson
Blockade Podcastorganization
  • ?

    product_concern: Dracula's castle ramp is significantly easier in TPA than on real machines due to exaggerated flipper strength

    high · Chris: 'the left-hand ramp, the castle ramp...much easier in TPA than it is on the real table' and comparison of flipper core strength differences

  • ?

    product_concern: Circus Voltaire in TPA exhibits ball flight glitches and flies off ramp in unrealistic ways; Farsight needs to add guards and fix ramp design

    high · Chris: 'The only knock I think people have with playing TPA is it's one of those tables that desperately needs some love by Farsight' and 'almost always in the arcade...the ball will fly off that ramp'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Farsight implementing Season 6 table tuning improvements with platform-specific variations; Android tuning differs from other platforms

    high · Jared: 'in season six, a lot of work has been done on tuning the tables before they go out. At least on Android. It's again, tuning is different per platform.'

    • 3:28
    But of half the people that threw their votes, I mean, it was almost a dead even heat. So it really makes a harsh divide. And yeah, we got protests going on. And it's not pretty over there. It's not pretty. Some parts of the US. we're just here, of course. Right, but then again, what's interesting is you walk around the street here in California and hey, it's just another day.
    3:54
    Yeah, well, you guys all voted blue mostly, anyhow. Oh, it was great. In California, the returns, they have a specific time when they're due, and the news can then start analyzing the numbers and saying, you know, start making their predictions of which way it's going to turn, which way it's not. And obviously for some of these swing states, you know, like Florida, I mean, guys, it was two hours, three hours after the votes were turned in, and they still didn't know which way it was going to go. Yeah. So I'm watching. Well, California, though. I'm watching it. They literally are doing a countdown to 8 p.m., which is when California is locked in. And it goes, it was like 57, 58, 59. And California, all delegates go to Clinton. It was like there was no hesitation at all. No way. it's like yeah this is a surety and it's not right there's some things in life that are basically if California ever votes a Republican it's a landslide win for whoever the Republican is yeah that's right it's just how they vote make California go some other direction but anyway yeah so that's what this week has been this week was in politics the FUBA snafu politics That happened this week. I actually sent out a tweet because there was a lot of nasty things being thrown around by the rest of the world. And I said, remember, it's not nice to kick people when they're down. So when we're talking to our friends in America, the rest of the world needs to play nicely. Well, my favorite was it was a little sign, basically it said, you know, with Brexit in England. And they were like, well, we pretty much pulled off the ultimate oh no, and then the little comment was from America. Hold my beer. Hold on. Wait, wait, wait. Don't count us out yet.
    5:44
    That was like I saw a different one too. It was like, oh, yeah. So, you know, surely nobody, no other nation could do a worse job than England as we do with Brexit. And the U.S. said, hold my beer. I've got this. Yeah, exactly.
    6:01
    All you can do about it now is just laugh. I mean, no matter which side you actually are for. And luckily, the good news is, I was going to say the good news about all this is, California is now legalized marijuana, so you guys are set. Right, you know. Just chuff on and just chuff your way through the next four years and you'll be right.
    6:22
    Oh, man. So a little bit of news that we want to just get out of the way and let you know. So we're going to be taking a break from the podcast for at least the next two weeks. maybe a third week it depends on how much fun Jared has on his anniversary vacation with his wife and no kids and no kids, that's right so there'll be the Euro trip we're going to Abu Dhabi, we're going to London and we're going to Paris so that pretty much sums it up and we'll be spending different time in different places and it'll be great and the last thing in the world Jared wants to do is edit our little podcast even if I went on without him so yeah we're going to do some time out I won't be taking my laptop with me at all. I can just imagine you'd be like, no, honey, I've got to do this. You go shopping. Yeah, go shopping. I've just got to do this podcast thing and then I've got to do some post-production on it. It only took me like three hours max each week. Should be looking at me going, oh, really? Really?
    7:22
    Cool story, bro. All right. I'm going to throw that thing out the window. Who are you dumping the whippersnappers off on?
    7:29
    The grandparents. they are the winners or at least they think they're the winners it's funny because it's actually still school season down here so they're going to be having to do drop off and pick up and all that sort of fun stuff I predict three days in they're going to be like I'm so tired pretty much I reckon that's exactly what's going to be happening as well but we'll be over probably in between airports or either in business class drinking champagne so we won't really care yeah fantastic so we'll let you all know when we're uh when we're going to be back up and podcasting um it's also this is the season with you know holidays in america with thanksgiving and then we got christmas coming up for everybody um we reserve the right to take time off and so we will be that's right because within the um employment agreement of blockade we get unlimited holidays whenever we want to take them. It's an excellent working condition. There is no dental though, unfortunately. So, that sucks.
    8:36
    Are you in dire need of the dental there? Not really. There isn't any. Okay, so why don't we talk some pinball this week? We didn't talk much pinball last week. Yeah, you want to talk some pinball this week? Let's do some pinball. That'd be good. All right. Well, you know what? We've asked for people to go ahead and drop us an email now and then, drop us a Twitter now and then. And this week we had two requests for topics to talk about. From the Twitters, Andrew Driver asked us, what are the most realistically challenging tables in TPA? and I thought, well, that's something that we can discuss, isn't it?
    9:25
    Now, the funny thing is we're really good at talking about tables that aren't realistic in TPA. I've never really thought about the most realistic difficulties,
    9:36
    and obviously I kind of had to narrow the field down to tables that I have actively played recently so I can even think about. Yeah, yeah. But that didn't stop me from throwing in one table that I haven't played in a very long time, but it just seems to play realistically difficult. So let's jump in. I've got five tables that I want to mention, and we'll see what you think about these, Jared.
    10:04
    So the one that I have not played in a very long time, but I find it painfully difficult for some reason on TPA is Space Shuttle.
    10:14
    Oh, okay. I seem to think that it is actually a difficult playing table in TPA. It's hard to control the ball and not have it go out the airlock. And hitting those drop corners to save the airlock is very difficult also. Yeah, you do have to glance them off the right three targets, apparently, is the trick there.
    10:38
    But yes, you do. It's not easy to reopen the airlock. And it's because of that airlock there, the game and the table was designed to drain quite readily down that out lane. So it is brutal down that out lane. Now, I have heard tale that there are railroads available in the TPA version of the game. I myself have just not been able to discover them. I mean, even when people have said specifically what to hit, I'm not getting a regular ball bounce like some people apparently are. So, again, your mileage may vary, but I do remember a time of playing Space Shuttle where I seem to have been able to earn extra balls with no problem in real life. But then again, it might have been a freak accident because I also do. Yeah, I absolutely remember that airlock sucking things up. And I also don't believe locking the balls for multiball was all that easy either. and it's certainly not in TPA, especially the right side lock. I cannot hit that with a practice shot to save my life. It's obviously just it randomly bounces in in order for me to lock that one. Come to think of it, I tend to have them sort of dribble into the holes as well and not necessarily a directed shot. I think the shot, Matt, for those particular holes is a very late flip from the tip. But, yeah, it's an interesting one, that one. I don't know what it is about that table it doesn't come across as being an aggressive table like as far as the drains go but you're right there is an element of risk with it and it does seem to centre around the outlands predominantly I think the ramp is fine like you don't really get too many drains from the ramp and the little dead end ramp where the switch target is that's fine as well like those ones are pretty good but yeah it's anywhere around the out lanes they just suck it down another table that I think some people would question me on but I've played it plenty in real life recently to think that it's not too far off but Circus Voltaire I know people think that it's floaty in the game but I got news for you it's kind of floaty in real life also and those when you shoot the loops and when the ball comes around and it seems like it's just right at the tip of your flipper, that's real life too. I mean, it's sketchy. Behind the ringmaster, yeah, that's a deadly shot in real life and it's somewhat risky in TPR. Almost every single time I shoot the loop, I forget what it's called. It's got a spinner on it that activates it. So yeah, every single time I'm always doing a little nudge because it always looks like it's going down the middle and that you're right, that does behave exactly like that in real life. And also the outlanes can either be liberal or they can be brutal. Right. It depends on how they juggle around because it's a very shallow inlane.
    13:43
    It's like pretty much a post and then straight into the inlane again and likewise to the outlane. So you don't have a lot of time to react and it is somewhat tricky. in real life the ramp shot, the big ramp for the lock is treacherous as well, not so much in TPA I find it's usually pretty safe I think shooting the ringmaster in real life is also a little more treacherous yes, it can be a lot treacherous that being said, I've had games where all I wanted to do was shoot the ringmaster because I thought that would be how I would score best in the tournament and I was able to knock off every single ringmaster.
    14:27
    So, I mean, it's not again, it depends on the table that you're playing, what the slope on the table is, how bouncy the rubber is and everything else like that. The only knock I think people with playing TPA it's one of those tables that desperately needs some love by Farsight. It's one of those that notoriously the ball flies off the table that like we said, it's a little floaty on mobile it does have glitches I have to say that one thing that's totally unrealistic about it is when you shoot the juggler ramp which is the right loop to that wire form ramp on the left almost always in the arcade if you're playing this table in real life the ball will fly off that ramp it will actually leave it because it doesn't have enough guards on it and there is a high likelihood that your ball will fly off the just as it gets to where the out lane is where it has a sharp little twist and you probably find your ball goes down the out lane because it just jumps off the ramp hops down to the out lane and see you later So it doesn't do that on TPA. It's well and truly fastened to it, but it doesn't quite do that in real life. It's a stupid design on the ramp.
    15:43
    Now, my next pick would be Safecracker. yeah that's pretty much exactly how it plays in real life it's a horrible game and it's one of those that you'll have one game where it's over and done with before you can even blink your eye and then another game where you'll just run it and run it and run it and everything seems to be going correct and good but I really think that Farsight nailed that one it just I was pretty hard on them when they were developing that one in beta. Right. Because it was my grail table. Right. So when that was in beta testing, I was pretty brutal with the feedback I was giving them. And I think they pretty much had the difficulty, like the way the table flowed, pretty much okay upon release, which really impressed me.
    16:40
    There's just a few things that were a little bit too easy. In real life, that ball coming out of the scoop flies out of that table. I think it could be harder in TPA because it really, it's like your ass clinches every time it shoots out of there in real life. It is almost like, whoa, here it comes. And you're almost like just your whole body tenses up and tries to get ready to react about which way it's going to kick it out. because in real life too, it's not exactly repeatable in the way it actually throws the ball out.
    17:18
    Because, you know, there's a target for the alarm sort of hanging around there as well. And sometimes it clips it and it throws the ball off and you have to react super quick, otherwise straight down the guts.
    17:31
    Okay. Now, this next one pretty much got universally mentioned when it was first released, and I only recently was able to play it myself in real life, and I kind of got to give it the nod, and that's Dracula.
    17:48
    Yep. That one is... I hate it. In TPA. I hate playing that game in TPA. It is so finicky. The outlands. The outlands, the shot, the scoop on the left-hand side of the table that basically starts all your modes, you might say the mystery hole, I believe it is.
    18:11
    It's such a narrow little gap, and hitting things like rats, which is all the way on the lower right-hand side of the table, is nerve-wracking because you've got to let that ball just go right to the tip before you flip.
    18:27
    It is painful that way. It's all about the outlanes for me on that thing. The outline tuning is exactly like it is in real life. It's horrible. I finally played it recently and everything was the exact same experience. Trying to hit that mystery world was a bear. Trying to hit rats was a bear. The only thing that I will say is that the left-hand ramp, the castle ramp, I believe it is, much easier in TPA than it is on the real table. Yep. It really, even with well-tuned flippers on a real table, it will only just make it around the ramp. Yes. Where it just flies around the thing, like it's got a flipper core three times the strength of it on it. So that would be my knock against it, you know, in TPA. But otherwise, it's that same brutality of if you don't know the rules of what to shoot, you ain't scoring much. Once you know what to shoot, then you can start racking up your score but the table does not help you. It's not holding your hand as you walk through it and going, hey, look at this. Oh, yeah, this is how we'll score a mega jackpot.
    19:44
    The other thing with that table that's usually a really risky thing to do is shooting those center castle targets. Oh, boy. They're like an insta-drain normally on the real table. Yeah. You know, that's three stand-ups you've got to smash because usually over time, unless the machine's well-maintained, the targets start to get a bit of pushback on them. So the bracket goes from being 90 degrees to maybe 100 degrees, and the ball just launches off them, and the ball flies over the play field, over your flippers, and into the out hole.
    20:18
    It's so shit. It's a terrible, terrible game for that. You really do have to keep your maintenance up on those targets because they get slammed. and then my final choice for a table that I think matches pretty realistically the difficulty of a machine in real life goes to Adam's family apart from the power which is overpowered in TPA no doubt about it it'll stop the ball like dead in its tracks on TPA whereas it will only just course correct the ball in real life but that's the funny thing. So in TPA, it'll stop it and send it flinging right down the out lane, which does happen in the real table, but the real table kind of has that slingshot effect a lot of times, where it'll catch the ball, and the ball will kind of arc in a half circle and then release from the magnet and be tossed in some random direction. So in effect, the power can be just as devious on a real table as it is on TPA. It's just TPA is noticeable for how quickly it slams on the brakes.
    21:30
    Yes. But every other aspect of that table I have found to be fairly bang on. Yeah, it's not bad. It's good from both a reference perspective, just for recognizability for folks who have talked about it in the past, but yes, tuning-wise, it's like yes, it does have that feel to it that makes you go yeah, they've got this right. they've got this one the other ones i was looking at um strangely enough um a couple of them come from season six and there's a reason why i picked them from a realism perspective because in season six a lot of work has been done on tuning the tables before they go out uh at least on android it's again tuning is different per platform yeah um but for me on android um I've seen the evolution of 8-Ball Deluxe's tuning over time. Before, like, when it first released, it was just basically turbo flippers everywhere. But Rob has really dialed it back down to the point where it still is maybe a little bit fast, but it's, like, pretty accurate for how that Eero Pinball machine plays now. Okay. So my pick would be 8-Ball Deluxe for that reason because I've been involved in actually getting it tuned right, about the feel of it.
    23:01
    I think also probably I'd say F14 as well is pretty accurate, specifically concerning the Yagov kickback.
    23:17
    That thing, yeah, it's pretty much identical. In TPA as it is in real life, that thing just rockets that ball back towards you. And the fact that because the ball is travelling so fast in TPA that it almost drops frames when it does it, gives you that extra sense of speed when it comes back at you. It's like, yeah, that's about right, actually.
    23:40
    I have to say that Fireball, yes, that's another one as well that I'd give a nod to. Fireball has quite, for me, quite accurate EM tuning now, particularly as they adjusted the way the flippers behave when they're together and you try and juggle a ball on the flippers. That's actually a lot more realistic now and how it behaves in real life. My other question with that would be, I don't know if you've experienced this, but once with the flippers together, me flipping right flipper backhanded basically to the right...
    24:19
    I don't know what you want to call that. I don't know if that's Odin's or the saucer. Then it goes down the lane and collects your 1,000 to 3,000 points.
    24:31
    Once I get in a rhythm, I can go all day on that thing, it seems. I'm totally exaggerating. Maybe I can go 20 shots in a row.
    24:40
    I just wonder if it's that repeatable on an actual WEM? Probably not. See, I've never encountered that before. I've never tried to actually do a repeated shot over and over again. But for me, it's all about the feel of how the game feels when you're playing it just normally, rather than trying to game a shot or something like that. Maybe that's the wrong way of looking at it. Maybe you do need to actually game a shot to understand whether the table is realistic or not. That's what I'm thinking, because in terms of difficulty, until you learn that shot, yes, the table is very difficult. I mean, god, it was killing me. and then I read that on one of the threads and I was like hmm let me try that and I was like wow okay this is and I mean my score jumped by thousands with no problem I was able to bang out the wizard goals no problem once I discovered that and it's kind of a fairly wide window of that shot in terms of getting it up there and rolling it back down. And then it's a pretty safe roll down too. Just let it bounce a couple of times on the slingshots and it's back in your flipper.
    25:55
    Okay. I have a different experience to you and it potentially could be different on mobile than it is on PC as well with the tuning.
    26:04
    So that's another factor as well. Yeah. I mean, I've had the exact same experience on iOS, so I don't know. Okay. Maybe it is. There you go. That's where we differ. But I don't know what you think about this, but Hurricane is one that I'd like to probably put out there as well as being well-tuned. Hurricane is one with the two Ferris wheels of the roller coaster tables. Now, the reason why I give that special mention is that I remember when I was playing this in the arcade back in the 90s, and this particular way the ball travels when it comes out of the Ferris wheel, It goes down without any power behind it. It just dribbles out of the Ferris wheel and then goes down over the flipper loop, and then it only just manages to clear the little top arc of the loop and go onto the rail that takes you to the left outlet. And when I saw that happen in the game the first time, I went, ooh, you nailed that from a tuning perspective because it was like sometimes in the real game it would actually just not quite make it and it would actually feed back down the loop where it actually has the exit to the left flipper. It has like the safety zone that if the ball rejects, it will actually drop it down the left flipper so you don't lose it down the guts. But in TPA, it has this tantalising moment where you go, oh, is it going to make it? And it just goes plop and just makes it onto the rail. You go, beautiful. And the other thing that I love about Hurricane is I think it was probably the first table that Farsight experimented with different ramp tuning on the entries of the ramps because if you don't get a clean shot to that ramp, it'll rattle up the ramp and come back down. I've never seen a table actually do that until that table. But if you have a good clean shot, it'll make it all the way up around the ramp and it doesn't exactly scream around the ramp either. It does make it around the ramp about the same speed as it would in a real table. but if you balk it and you glance it off a target, it will rattle up the ramp and come back down again at you. So that's a pretty accurate representation of how that one works. I'll have to notice that. I haven't paid much attention because... Hurricane.
    28:17
    Yeah, it's not the most exciting table to play. It is one of those limited rule set system 11s, I think. Yeah, once you discover the rules, you just kind of realize that it's... It's not very deep. yeah it's not very deep at all it's really not that deep so really I draw the line pretty much if you're going to give a general recommendation to people I'd probably draw the line at probably season 3 onwards if you wanted to go and get tables that represented how they played in real life with perhaps the exception of the Kickstarter tables like Terminator 2 and Twilight Zone to an extent yeah but I think that would be about it I'd say it would just be season 3 onwards with those ones we've highlighted they're good picks I think they I think you'd be in good stead if you picked those so there you go Andrew that's our response thanks for writing in and giving us a topic suggestion if you have a topic suggestion that you would like us to address why don't you go ahead and send us a note on Twitter and we'll throw it in the hopper and maybe throw it up on the podcast next time.
    29:31
    Or... What's that? I was just about to rudely interrupt you there with a segue. It's ruined. It's ruined now.
    29:40
    What were you going to say to finish off? Well, I was going to say the other way that you can contact us is the way that Graham Best did. That is with an email to blahblahblockade at gmail.com. But did you want to spoil the segue there some more, Jared? No, no, I think it probably makes sense to have a chat what Greg wants to ask, and then I'll go on to the topic that I was thinking of.
    30:07
    Okay. So what did Greg ping us about on the email? Well, except for the fact that it's not Greg, it's Graham. Oh, Graham. Graham, Greg.
    30:17
    Yeah. Thanks for writing. Thanks, mate. That's what we do here in Australia. If we don't know your name, it's mate. G'day, mate.
    30:27
    All right. Anyway, here's what he writes. I've been playing Pinball Arcade on the Xbox 360 and then the Xbox One. Farsight hasn't updated the Pinball Arcade on the consoles in a while, but I still want to play Pinball. What would be a good portable device such as a tablet to play Pinball Arcade Is there a good cheap Android tablet that plays Pinball Arcade well Is it worth the extra money to get a more expensive Windows tablet for the lighting effects or other features Thoughts
    30:53
    Very good question. There's two ways I'd probably suggest you go here if you're looking for a tablet on Android. Look for something from this year or, with one exception, go back a year before this and have a look at the Shield tablet.
    31:13
    The Shield tablet is probably still available from some retailers. It's technically discontinued, but the Shield tablet has a K1 processor in it, which is practically like a PC processor. It's got about, I think, an incredibly insane GPU in it, which is like 840 cores or something like that. and it's got, to go along with that package, it's also got a custom controller that pairs seamlessly with it and it's a very good controller as well. It's Wi-Fi direct, so it's not Bluetooth, but Wi-Fi direct, which means that you can plug your headphones into it and listen to your music while the tablet is plugged into your TV and you're almost using it like a console. so that is what I own at the moment is a Shield tablet and I don't have any complaints it's a super powerful tablet and it's not just good for TPA it's good for Zen and also pretty much any other video game that's released on Google for example if you'd like Pin Out I've got Pin Out which is the new sort of puzzle with the pinball aesthetic game that I've been raising on about so pin out on my Nexus 6P it plays okay like there's nothing performance wise that's problematic on it but there is a graphics mode on it called extreme and on the Nexus 6P it won't do it at all it gets choppy and it looks really really bad but on the Shield tablet it goes meh yeah whatever sure we'll go extreme go anything else so it's a pretty capable tablet. What is the price range or something of that nature? The Shield tablets are cheap. They are pretty much an entry-level tablet with huge specs. I think you can probably buy the K1 for $299 US.
    33:16
    That is a bargain for that spec of tablet. The only downside is because it does have a K1 processor in it, it chews the juice like nothing else. It is hungry on the battery, but that is what you get when you have something with such a hugely powerful processor in it. So I'd still recommend it because it's great and it actually has an SD card slot in it as well and an HDMI out port. So you can actually upgrade the memory and get yourself a 32 gig one and then buy a 64 or 128 gig card and basically use Android's memory system switch out on it to mount your card as a hard drive and use it as a hard drive for your content. So it's pretty nice for that reason. So that would be my hot pick. Okay. But that's not the only option you have. Probably out of the price versus bang for buck, that would be the pick for sure. But if you had a little bit more greenbacks to spend, you might want to consider the Sony line of tablets or the Xperia range. Now, the advantage that these tablets have is they let you pair up a PS3 or 4 controller natively using a proprietary Bluetooth stack that's only available on Xperia devices. So you have access to, probably not so relevant for you being on Xbox, but if you had access to the PlayStation Network, it actually has that built into it. Plus, they're also blisteringly powerful tablets as well. They use a different processor. So I think they're Snapdragon processors rather than Tegra, which is what's on the Shield. But the thing I really like about those ones is they're big, they're thin, they've got large batteries, and they allow you to pair that controller natively without having to route your device and put it on a controller emulator or anything like that. It's all built in to the device, and it works reportedly really, really well. I've seen really positive reviews for it on Pimble Arcade fans, for those people who actually have gone down that path. And I'll tell you what, I play on the PC, I use a PS4 controller, and obviously when I was playing on the PS3, I was using a PS3 controller, but the PS4 controller is really comfortable and excellent for playing TPA with. I find that the analog stick on the left hand side for the for nudging it's exactly where my thumb is it's really reactive for when I touch it so that'd be a big selling point to me to be able to just not have to worry about some third party programs where I make it connect or anything else like that it's really slick pair gone there you go I mean because I imagine that I mean it's also the lag is pretty much non-existent that's correct if it's all native and it's part of the operating system. Yeah, lag is really good. But there are other really commonly known options on Android, like Sixaxis, which is an app that allows you to pair any PlayStation controller to your device. It actually implements its own custom Bluetooth stack that it overloads onto your Bluetooth stack on your device, which means, of course, that you need to have your device rooted to do that because it does need system access. but it's a good solution for those folks who are listening to this going yeah that sounds great but how do I use a controller well six axis is the pick for that so what about the other part of his suggestion is there a windows-based tablet and I gotta imagine he's talking something like of the surface maybe a Surface I imagine probably the only thing capable of running TPA at any decent clip would be a Surface Pro the very latest version of it I can't, I'm not the best guy to ask here because I don't have any direct experience with Surface anything or in fact really Windows anything these days because I'm pretty much all Mac but I understand that those basically are PCs in a palm so So as long as you did your research about things like Bluetooth controller support or even cabled controller support, make sure that drivers are there for it. Because that's the problem, of course, with Windows. It is a driver-based operating system. So you have to make sure that anything that you want to do actually has its own supporting driver set, whereas Android is a bit different that way. I can understand though the attraction of wanting to play or wanting to get a Windows device because of course Windows adds access to Xbox Live and all that stuff that's a big selling point now and clearly Graham is an Xbox user having like he said he was on the 360 he's on the Xbox One right now I imagine that maybe he knows where a Microsoft store is and I would think that if he went to one of those he could download Steam onto any of the devices and then download the trial version of TPA and see how it runs. Yeah, I think if you went in there and you said, look, mate, I'm interested in the Surface Pro 3, the very best, like the highest processor version of it, because of course, when you buy something like that, you have to go for the highest processor. I mean, we're talking like one and a half grand here. At least that's what they're reasonable down here. So that's not a cheap device, not like something like the Shield, which is incredibly powerful and incredibly affordable. But the fun side is you basically get a PC that's in a tablet. In a tablet. So if you want to do away with your PC and use it all in one device, well, it's a hard thing not to say yes to, right? True. So, yeah, I guess those are your options. Android, you've got a good selection of tablets under, I mean, the Xperia is, we'll set you back a bit of coin. In Australia, they go for about $800 or $900.
    39:19
    But I think I imported, because Shield is not released here officially. You have to gray import it. I imported mine when it was $299 US, and I got the controller as well.
    39:33
    And I think that runs you about, I think the controller is about $60 or $70, but worth every cent because it's beautifully integrated with the tablet. so if you can find a Shield go and do it if Nvidia decide to release another tablet again today with upgraded specs and everything I'd just insta-buy it because they actually use basically vanilla Android on their devices very much like Sony do so when Android release a new version like Android 7 the Shield tablet in the past got Android 6 really quickly after they release the code. So you don't actually get stuck with the device. It doesn't get updated. Very good.
    40:24
    Hey, Jared. Yeah. What did you want to talk about before I start talking about this? Okay. Well, I heard some interesting news today. Now, listeners, and I'm sure you will also remember, that children of the 90s will know that no arcade was complete without Daytona USA sitting in there with its track mode running away and the awesome sounds that were there in the arcade.
    40:53
    Really, I think there hasn't really been an arcade, a pure arcade simulator driving game that has matched both the revenue earning potential and just the enjoyment factor of Daytona USA, the original. You've got all those ones that allow you to tune your vehicle and use the card system to do all that sort of thing, right? But that's great, but you've got to basically work on your car in the arcade to do that, and that's really limiting for the casual player who just wants to sit down, drive a car, and then go. Not to mention the person standing behind you going, get off the game! Yeah, exactly right, exactly right. So, again, friend of the show, Andrew Driver, sent around a retweeted a tweet from Sega saying, the wait is over next week daytona usa 3 is released now when i when i heard this announcement i went okay well that's that's really cool it's very strange that they're actually reinvigorating the daytona license all these years because the game was released in 1992 i think and then it had a few sort of incarnations some of which are loosely connected to daytona some which are directly connected, such as it went from Daytona USA to Scud Race, which was kind of like Daytona but with a Model 3 architecture. Then it went to Daytona USA 2, which really was Daytona but with a completely different driving physics engine, which really annoyed a lot of people because they were expecting the same sort of physics engine in Scud Race, or I think it's called Super GT in some regions as well.
    42:29
    And then nothing. but the news is that Sega has listened to their fans and they're putting in the original physics engine back into Daytona USA 3 so it will behave exactly the same way as the Gallup races did in 1992 so you'll be able to drift, you'll be able to do insane feats of driving that really you couldn't do in real life but felt natural in the game basically bring all those memory spheres out of your back, out of your memory archives like in Inside Out, plug them into your main brain center and start playing that thing because it's going to be amazing.
    43:10
    I can't wait. Find an arcade that will have it. Yeah, that's right. And that's going to be the real thing because when it was released here in Australia back in 1992, there were two variants of the game. There were the deluxe, one with the big 50-inch rear projection TVs and they were the like the little twins which were like the sort of 20 inch or 22 inch CRTs so the 50 inch um uh projectors were $50,000 each each so that was not just for like a twin set that was each unit so and the the twins were $25,000 per twin so if you had an arcade that had an eight, like basically a four unit setup if you're using the twins or an eight seat deluxe, you were looking at some serious coin that this arcade are committed to. So in this modern age of arcades, the question I'm asking is, can an arcade owner sustain it? And this is going to be the real question. This is going to be a proving point for Sega, whether they can actually go, hmm, will an operator pony up enough money to link four of these things together and actually relive the glory days of 1990s. Because these things were licensed to print money in the arcades. Yeah, the trick is that today's arcades don't just have kids popping in after school and filling them up. No, they don't. It's changed. It's really much redemption. Redemption is not in the same. And if you want to go play an actual arcade game, you've got to plan for it, essentially. It's not just, oh, let me pop over to the local arcade and see if they have it. No, it's, where is this arcade? Let me drive over to it. Typically in the US it's going to be your Dave and Buster's and stuff like that.
    45:07
    Yeah, it kind of that would be a risky proposition. And then, of course, the operator is going to be like, that sounds like a $2 play a game. oh at least put it this way when daytona usa was released over here it was two dollars back in 1990 oh man so we were getting like two dollars i mean why wouldn't it be for fifty thousand dollars how are you going to make your money back on one dollar a play which was the standard going price for a game on any machine back then so yeah two dollars it was like it actually caused a shift in the industry down here to make operators go you know what i can actually charge a bit more for these premium titles. Because up until then, it was like, we even had some arcades operating in 20 cent games here.
    45:54
    And when Daytona USA came in, it just went, okay, so we can actually, people will pay $2 to play a video game. Okay, that's good to know.
    46:05
    Let up their money from now on So yeah it going to be at least like two bucks a play down here I might even think that some locations are going to be making it three The only racing game that I remember truly enjoying in the 90s that me and my buddy, man, we couldn't resist yet. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of it. So if what I described sounds familiar to you,
    46:29
    well, Jared, either if you know it, mention it. Otherwise, please drop us a note and solve this issue for me. But I just remember it was a sit-down racer with a hard plastic seat, and the thing had a thumper in it. And it was connected to another... So you were going head-to-head against somebody else, and you were able to fire weapons of some sort, like machine gun.
    46:51
    And when... So if you were trailing behind the person, you started firing off your machine gun, the seat, you would just get this... right in your back, just flacking you. And then, of course, you probably wind up spinning out, and then the guy would be able to pass you.
    47:04
    I mean, this is essentially before Mario Kart was really a thing, you might say. But I just remember it being tons of fun. I want to say it was a rally racing game, a little off-road action, because I don't think it was street racing. I want to say it was going through kind of sand dunes and dune buggy-ish kind of nature. but that was the only man I specifically remember the arcade I can remember the wall that was on I remember that that arcade had a bunch of pinball machines also so I basically I was playing pinball machines and then my buddy would be like come on let's play and then I'd go over and we'd play that and just laugh endlessly oh yeah because it was truly an arcade racer in that it was all about the fun and not about how realistic any of it was oh yeah The other ones I used to love playing back then were the San Francisco Rush as well. Okay. Like, that was great. And Cruising USA, I remember going to a trade show, and they had the deluxe version of that there, which is basically a car, and it was on a platform with worm drives on each end, so it actually is a moving motion platform. That thing was amazing. And good old Ridge Racer as well. It was pretty wicked.
    48:23
    But, yeah, I'm not seeing that game that you're talking about. I can't remember any game that actually used to whack me in the back with a transducer. That's what that thing would be. It would be like a transducer. I can't remember that.
    48:38
    Oh, I bet it was. Yeah. No, I can't remember. It sounds cool, though. Yeah. So, again, if any of you discover that, drop us a line at Blockade on Twitter or at ShutYourTraps on Twitter or at JaredMorgz.
    48:52
    Andrew might know. He's a bit of a retro gamer. He may very well know what you're talking about. Look us up, Andrew. Hey, I downloaded during the podcast last week, Pinout. I gave it a little bit ago.
    49:05
    Boy, is it a Tron game. Isn't it? And then you said, it's all about the backhands. So without even hesitating, I was like, here comes the ball, catch that ball, and backhand it. Hey, look at that. It goes right down the path. Isn't that amazing?
    49:19
    I've managed to get to the third checkpoint. I have not actually purchased the game yet, but it's getting to that point where it takes a long time to get far in that game, I mean, truthfully. And you get to that point, and then you see that countdown happening, and you just start sweating bullets because you're like, no, I'm almost to the next jump. And suddenly what used to be just kind of a natural shot to a ramp becomes just you're all thumbs and you cannot juggle a ball to save your life. oh yeah the pressure it just it hits you when the timing starts going down it really does it is a little bit different uh you got to get out of the pinball headspace in that you do other than the flipper flipping the ball it's not about hitting pop bumpers it's not about ricocheting the ball anywhere um it's really not i think about advancing the ball forward um that's exactly what it is it's um i i think the the whole mantra that zen uses here that it's a it's a game telling a story just happens to have flippers with it as well yeah um and in this case it's a it's your goal is to solve puzzles with your things that look like flippers now if you have your headphones in and you're listening to it the flippers actually have almost like a motorized noise to them rather than a thwack thwack noise so it really does suggest that if you're listening closely you get cues to say these aren't really flippers, these are more just control mechanisms to shoot the ball at one path or another and I think it might have been Nick might have said something as well when he was playing it as well and it was that yeah it's Railroad City there seems to be only one right shot to take and one wrong shot to take off each flipper and if you get the wrong shot you mess up looking with an objective eye I think he's probably got a point there it does seem to be a bit railroaded in some aspects of it but jeez I tell you what if you put that aside that soundtrack is amazing and it fits the theme perfectly and I will admit that probably it's the very first video game that I've actually gone and purchased a soundtrack for it was available and I pulled the trigger on it and I have no regrets It is an exceptional piece of audio music. What is interesting is that each level introduces kind of a new aspect for what you're shooting at, because in level three it becomes these little cannons that fire your pinball, and you're picking which path to fire the pinball on. And unfortunately, the distance that it's firing, you can't necessarily tell what the better path is until you've got it yourself. It's crucial to get it right as well. So that's kind of interesting and surprising.
    52:20
    I tried doing dead passes. Yeah, they don't work. No, they don't. So that's why I said you've got to, even though it looks like pinball, you've got to kind of throw out some of your pinball think to it. Now, here's the question I have for you, though, about pricing, because I can swear the price is going up the more I play.
    52:40
    Oh, really? Well, at first I thought it was a 99 cent game. Yeah. And so then when I decided to actually see how much it was going to cost to bump up, I could have sworn it said $1.99.
    52:52
    I'm like, oh, okay. And then today I was playing it and I pushed the button to buy premium or whatever. And it said $2.99.
    53:03
    Okay. So how much did you pay for it, Jared? I paid, it was advertised at 99 cents on the store. and that translated to $1.29 Australian.
    53:16
    So I bought it. Well, as soon as I heard about it, I bought it and Insta bought the unlock for it pretty much because I knew I was on to a good thing.
    53:26
    So, yeah, I guess it's the early bird gets the cheap unlock, eh? Yeah, I don't know. I was worried if it was one of these things where it's like, oh, you're enjoying the game, are you? Oh, you're avoiding paying for it. Well, we got a little trick for you. next time you push that button to buy it, it's going to cost more.
    53:43
    That would be so neat if they did. Maybe I should delete the game off of here and remove the cache and then install it on another Apple device and then I don't know. Maybe I need to go to the App Store and actually see what it costs on the App Store.
    54:01
    It's one of the things where I was like, that's really odd that I can warn that I saw one phrase and then it's not there anymore. It's a bit unusual I'll admit that I'm glad you're enjoying it Speaking of purchases that you might be able to make in the future so Stern has allowed Farsight to make the announcement actually Farsight didn't make the announcement it was Stern that made the announcement Stern Pinball Lab will be available this Christmas on Xbox and Playstation Oh good news for console owners They'll be able to wait three months until packs of tables are announced. But that's okay because they're probably going to be releasing tables every six or eight months anyhow. Well, here's the interesting thing. It looked like it was physical copy packaging.
    54:51
    Oh, really? They showed a picture and it looked like two boxes. One for Xbox, one for PlayStation. So I'm wondering if they're doing what Farsight did with Pimble Arcade on PS4 where they released a hard disk version of it.
    55:10
    And then obviously down the line probably you'd be able to add the DLC. Yeah, that's very interesting. They didn't give a lot of details.
    55:21
    Like I said, when I saw the Facebook post, it was basically saying, hey, Merry Christmas, this will be available in time for the holidays.
    55:30
    There's a thread on the Temple Arcade fans forum that initially they had actually given a hard date in November and quickly pulled that.
    55:40
    Yeah, because let's be honest. Well, I don't know. Again, this is Stern, not Farsight, making any of these announcements.
    55:49
    Okay. So Stern had a release date, but then hastily pulled it. Okay. That's interesting. Whether that means that maybe they're trying to throw one more table, one of the newly announced tables on there or something like that. Again, there's been very minimal information and people are kind of laughing now about Stern and their publicity department where they're like, they clearly got a lot to learn too.
    56:16
    Yeah. It's funny. Their first foray into digital entertainment is somewhat, I don't know whether it's rocky, but it's certainly something they're finding their feet with. And then they did say though, coming soon to Android, iOS, and Steam. So it is a matter of us having to wait for those, but they're going to get it out to the consoles first. And I desperately really, really hope that they're able to do the Zen model and have, when it comes time, everything releases day and date for everybody so that we're not having this issue with the PS4 and Xbox people going, oh hey yeah it's great you announced a table release I guess I'll see it next year yeah that's right it does suck and there's a reason why I switched over to PC and got off that console train because I could see where it was going and it wasn't going anywhere no it was not good at all beyond that I'm pretty much out of pinball news yeah I think I kind of am too actually Well, what a wonderful place to then stop this. I guess we probably should stop. Otherwise, we'll just keep on rambling. Right. We rambled last week. If you like the rambling, just listen to that again.
    57:40
    But instead, savor this. Suckle on it. Spread it out. Instead of listening to it at one and a half speed, listen to it at half speed. Yeah, you're not going to be getting another Blockade podcast for a couple of weeks here. Yep. in which time, who knows what we'll learn. Maybe 12 days of pinball Christmas.
    58:01
    Would they do that again, would they? Oh, I think they might dare. I don't know. It's possible. Oh, man. In the meantime, hey, folks, if you want, and I think it would be very handy to help our friend Graham, if you were running Pinball Arcade on any number of devices, why don't you go ahead and send us a note? again, to our email, blahblahblockade at gmail.com. Let us know what the device is. Let us know how it runs. Absolutely. Does it chug? Does it fly?
    58:37
    Let us know what devices you found work the best with this, and then we can pass it along to everybody else and say, hey, this is what everybody's saying is wonderful to play Pindle Arcade on, or this sucks. I have recently gotten a laptop that was given to me, and it's a laptop from 2013, It's kind of your entry-level laptops. I'll be loading Pinball Arcade on it soon enough and see if that's even an option for somebody to travel around with,
    59:03
    see how it functions on that. Good test. Yeah, I'll try and bring some news on the laptop PC front too and let you all know with that. But please, drop us a line. Let us know what you want to hear back when we do come back from Jared's vacation that I'm not invited to. You don't have to come along, Chris. You can come along in spirit. Just have a look on Twitter. I'll be probably posting some pictures to make you all jealous of me stripping champagne and business glasses as we fly around. Okay, yes, you do that.
    59:35
    Secretly he says on the wristband, you suck. We certainly appreciate everybody's feedback, and we love getting topics because sometimes it helps us, you know, feed the show like it did today. Feed the monster. Feed that monster. Well, everybody, if you haven't done your holiday shopping, We do still sell t-shirts, represent.com forward slash blockade dash shirt. Buy one for the holidays. They make great sleepwear shirts too. Much better than a daggy sweater. Exactly.
    60:10
    And also don't forget to jump on Loot Crate and make sure you drop all of our info in there so that we get some credit for that. There's been some interesting things that they've been doing on Loot Crate. most recently they were doing Doctor Strange kind of figurines or loot packs and no doubt they'll be doing another Star Wars pack crate for when Rogue One comes out in less than a month so we appreciate everything that you can do for us and we'll continue doing this show for you so until next time I have been Chris Rebus he has been Jared Morgan talk to you soon bye bye wizardamusement.com the site to visit for custom pinball shooter runs easy to install, totally unique mention Blockade Podcast for 10% off your order wizardamusement.com sales, restoration, customization don't forget to leave a review on iTunes or your favorite podcast hosting service that Blockade is delivered to you can't improve unless you tell us how now stop listening, play some pinball because as we said you're not going to be getting another uh pinball blockade wow what did i say there pinball block like that but blockade pinball.com if you want to go get anything but