Steam / Valve - Mystery Solved?

SilverBalls · Dec 9, 2012

The more popular Pinball Arcade comes the more I am mystified that Steam won't put it up for download. When I just came across this article it occurred to me that maybe Valve have pinball plans of their own.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Valve-Explains-Interest-in-Virtual-Reality-Technology-295761.shtml

There offices are full of vintage pinball cabs, and when I read this I can't help but wonder something is planned....?

'The developer revealed that one of the biggest inspirations for those who are working on hardware (virtual reality) at Valve are the pinball machines that are spread throughout the offices and even forced the company to re-route power at one point in order to make sure that they all stayed on'.

Virtual reality pinball maybe? A collaboration with/without Farsight. Or maybe just a conspiracy theory.... Or I have had one too many beers....

Pinballwiz45b · Dec 9, 2012

Interesting....

EDIT: Since Valve has plans of pinball on their own, why deny Pinball Arcade for the 2nd time, and why continue ignoring it? By the way, this article's 2 months old, but it still would make sense today.

squidlr · Dec 9, 2012

So Valve, apparently huge Pinball fans, allegedly refused Pinball Arcade on Steam? No mystery has been solved. It has deepened.

Pinballwiz45b · Dec 9, 2012

I'm thinking we should contact Valve about this.

EDIT: That was back in March when they refused it.

SilverBalls · Dec 12, 2012

I am surprised more people haven't commented on this. Maybe it was already common knowledge that Steam's office are packed out with Vintage pinball machines of which these machines serve as an inspiration to the people developing virtual reality hardware. Well I didn't know that and would love to know what they meant! (and I am not drunk this time).

Sinistar · Dec 12, 2012

Maybe they think they could make a better PC Pinball Sim and resent FarSight Studios for taking the licenses for Pins they were about to emulate? just spitballing.

ClaudeHenrySmoot · Dec 13, 2012

So per this thread at Pinside, one of the best pinball tournament players works at Valve. (Confirmed per Google search.)

Also note the pics of some of the machines. Xenon - not sure what the other games are.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ot-valve-software-office-tour-pinball

But all that being said, I don't know how big Valve is. A typical programmer may not have enough "say" internally to have a game like TPA snapped up onto Steam.

Sean DonCarlos · Dec 13, 2012

ClaudeHenrySmoot said:
So per this thread at Pinside, one of the best pinball tournament players works at Valve. (Confirmed per Google search.)

Cayle George does work for Valve, yes. I know he's aware of TPA's existence; some of the "Pro Tips" are attributed to him. No idea how much influence he does or does not have over Steam, but I would hope the opinion of the 3rd-ranked player in the world would count for something...

ClaudeHenrySmoot · Dec 13, 2012

Here's an interview he did with Pinball News. At the very bottom... so is he saying he built his own virtual pin cabinet? If he's a virtual pin fan of that degree, you'd think he'd be LOVING TPA on Steam! Very weird situation here. Someone should PM him on Pinside and ask him if he has any insight.

http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/interviews/cayle.html

SilverBalls · Dec 13, 2012

Some interesting stuff there - thanks. The more I read the more I am baffled

nimitz · Dec 14, 2012

How to put it nicely...

Between the many and long unfixed bugs, the non-newtonian physics, the unkept promises, the reduced difficulty in order to appeal to a larger userbase, the lack of communication etc..

The actual pinball community unfortunately doesn't give much of a *censored* about TPA I am afraid, I cannot say I blame them.

SilverBalls · Dec 14, 2012

nimitz said:
How to put it nicely...

Between the many and long unfixed bugs, the non-newtonian physics, the unkept promises, the reduced difficulty in order to appeal to a larger userbase, the lack of communication etc..

The actual pinball community unfortunately doesn't give much of a *censored* about TPA I am afraid, I cannot say I blame them.

You list many issues but you only have a PC listed as your device owned, and that hasn't been released. I have PA on 3 devices and I have very little to complain about - minor issues have been fixed and others will follow. I recommend you try it and judge for yourself rather that take any notice of the facebookers.

Dan · Dec 21, 2012

Well SilverBalls, I bought TPA for 2 out 3 devices listed to the left and before that four copies of PHOF Williams. Take notice of this: reducing difficulty to please the casuals and selling the game as the ultimate pin emulation is false advertising. Selling difficulty adjustments as an extra is unethical.

Ask yourself: Is this goal: "We want our videogame version to play exactly the same as the table played when it was new" accomplished? To me, far from. The closest sensation to a real pin table I had was when I played 70's cabinet tables in VP. As opposed to nearly falling asleep while playing TPA one evening.

SilverBalls · Dec 21, 2012

Dan said:
Well SilverBalls, I bought TPA for 2 out 3 devices listed to the left and before that four copies of PHOF Williams. Take notice of this: reducing difficulty to please the casuals and selling the game as the ultimate pin emulation is false advertising. Selling difficulty adjustments as an extra is unethical.

Ask yourself: Is this goal: "We want our videogame version to play exactly the same as the table played when it was new" accomplished? To me, far from. The closest sensation to a real pin table I had was when I played 70's cabinet tables in VP. As opposed to nearly falling asleep while playing TPA one evening.

If by issues you are referring to the difficulty then that is certainly one of the issues for me to, and like you I want it to play like the real thing. We are only 10 months into the product on many platforms and I am sure they will add adjustments such as a pro-difficulty mode at some point. I want cab support, 2/3 screen support, better mechanical sounds, the ability to control ROM sounds and mechanical volume separately, better light shows, and I hope these will come, but I don't think its fair if I call them issues. Table difficulty adjustments such as slope, flipper gap, gravity, friction should come one day, and I don't get care if it excludes me from leaderboards.

Dan · Dec 21, 2012

I agree 100% with your wish list but I'm afraid none of this will happen because FS has to make money by releasing new packs all the time. They get no income from fixing bugs, do they? And with their limited resources they'll be forced to keep moving on with new tables. I should mention though that I think I've heard some new bumper sounds, but with no changelog I can't tell for sure.

For now I'm done buying new DLCs, I think. But I'll be lurking around and still hoping for a better TPA

AshleyAshes · Dec 22, 2012

Dan said:
They get no income from fixing bugs, do they?

Bugs prevent loss of income because bad product drives consumers away. In the end, it comes down to the cost of squashing bugs vs how it helps the marketability of the product.

Steam / Valve - Mystery Solved?

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