TZ vs. TAF

[RetroDude]

It would be nice to have TZ and Addams Family as legally licensed games instead of ones that simply rely on stolen copyrighted images, sounds, music and designs.

As cool as Future Pinball and and Visual Pinball could be, I'd just as soon stay on the legal side of that line.

I'm a software developer myself. I try to respect intellectual property rights.

 

[Dutch Pinball ball]

Yes i think you are right dude. But in this case, i mean the pinballworld, pinmame has done the business more good then harm.

Unlike all other ''by internet stolen'' property offerings.

But in the end you still are right off course. If have to be honoust, i used it alot a copuple a years ago. But without that i would have never come to this site and or buy pinball arcade which i am planning to do now.

And... now i am here. i am even thinking of buying a NIB real machine. (couple of years operation, not because of the wife but becaue of my wallet and still only consideration)

So, maybe its not all bad, pinmame.

 

[Richard B]

Yes i think you are right dude. But in this case, i mean the pinballworld, pinmame has done the business more good then harm.

Unlike all other ''by internet stolen'' property offerings.

But in the end you still are right off course. If have to be honoust, i used it alot a copuple a years ago. But without that i would have never come to this site and or buy pinball arcade which i am planning to do now.

And... now i am here. i am even thinking of buying a NIB real machine. (couple of years operation, not because of the wife but becaue of my wallet and still only consideration)

So, maybe its not all bad, pinmame.

I agree. Unlike MAME, which, with a few exceptions, makes buying the full size arcade cabinets unnecessary, pinball will never be successfully reproduced in virtual form, unless there are major breakthroughs 3-d or holographic technology. When I play a table in VP, I am more likely to play it in real life, since I know the rules and the ins and outs, and enjoy a machine a lot more when I know what I'm doing.

 

[RetroDude]

How has it done more good?
It's not helping the pinball manufacturers.. as they are not getting any revenue nor selling machines.
It's not helping clubs, bars, arcades and the like... as people aren't putting their coins into machines to play.

FarSight is putting out fully licensed games.
The owners of the Intellectual Property for all of these games are getting revenue, via licensing fees.
FarSight is getting revenue.

As far as I am aware, UltraPin is pretty much the only company out there that has actually licensed real games for the full-on cabinet style pinball machines.

There are some other computer games that simulate/replicate real pinball machines, but very few of them are acually licensed products.
(Microsoft Pinball Arcade comes to mind.)

Zen licenses what they release, but they aren't replicating existing machines, as far as I am aware of.

The only way I see where any of the home-brewed pinball simulations has directly helped the industry is when UltraPin used PinMame for part of their build.
Even then, the revenue for the industry was from the licensing fees, not from the development or use of PinMame.

Buying real machines helps the industry.
Playing in arcades that buy new machines helps the industry.
Buying legitimate, licensed games helps the industry.


I guess I'm one of the few folks that seems to respect copyrights and other intellectual property rights anymore.
Sad.

 

[Dutch Pinball ball]

I think you are over reacting, plus, all the companys you just named are fairly new.

Yes, pinmame did refresh pinball interest for alot of people, and i mean alot lot. Its not out of disrespect, but more because pinmame, at the time was the only option, and still is, which can play all machines. Handmade, by fans, not by unrespectfull thiefs.

Without pinmame there would never been farside. Many pinmame players switch to real machines and farside now which they would never have done if they did not kwnown or played pinmame. And i think the amount of people that already were buying real machines did not quit of pinmame.

You should see pinmame as a sort of community mod for pinball emulation. Like mapeditors make custom maps for shooters, or total war mods with conversions. Stuff like that, i think that is pinmame -like.

Not a cheap rip-off , besides that nobody is earning from the tables sent out to the community. I know some of the great pinmame modders do have a job now in the real pinball business today. And i think pinmame owners even have agreemnets with for example Stern.

Like i said, Its not all bad.

but you may have your own opinion off course. I speak for myself, i agree with me and still i am not sad, at all.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Without pinmame there would never been farside.

Not true. FarSight Studios was established in 1988; the first of the MAME series of arcade emulators was not developed until 1997, and the Visual PinMAME engine that powers Visual Pinball is newer still.

 

[RetroDude]

I'm all FOR having a community of people working together to create the software and hardware to build computer simulated pinball games.
That's simply awesome.

When folks use those tools to build original designs for games without violating copyrights, that's super awesome.
Creating your own game using these tools is simply astounding. Those that do so should be applauded for both their skill and their creativity.
I just wish the creativity and skill were used in a completely legal manner.

I'm not aware of any companies or rights holders (like Stern) giving free usage rights to their intellectual property.
If that's the case, that's great. Go for it. I'd love to know more about it.

The licensed games, such as Twilight Zone, Addams Family, etc. are called licensed games for a reason! The pinball manufacturer had to license the rights to the names, images, sounds, etc. used in those games.

If you are playing one of them currently, you ARE violating copyrights and could indeed be considered a thief.

I know that I am unlikely to sway many of the folks here, but it doesn't make me any less wrong.

What's the big deal about FarSight, that's gotten them so much attention?
THAT THEY ARE PROPERLY LICENSING REAL MACHINES.

 

[Dutch Pinball ball]

I understand what you mean, but i dont think a normal game, rip it, an dplay it. Cant be transferred to this situation.

I just think its not 1 on 1 the same.

But ok, i am sorry i used it.

 

[Brian Clark]

Without Gary Larson there would never been farside.

fixed. As mentioned in other posts, the Pinball Arcade makers are FarSight. Before PHoF, they made games for NES and Genesis. I heard the Genesis NFL games might be good, but for a few of their Genesis and NES games, the less said about them, the better.

 

[Jeff Strong]

lol @ Gary Larson

 

[Moon Jump]

I voted for "I like them both". Sometimes I just like The Addams Family just a little bit more, then I'll play a TZ and have a really good game then I'll like that more. So I like em' both. I'd love to see both of them, but if that means having to flip Farsight 50 grand for every table then I'll just say have an EM game with a generic title.

 

[Laurence Merraine]

Personally I think the Addams family is the better of the two, but then again, it's closer to a pat lawlor classic machine than what tz was.

Sounds really weird saying this, but tz isn't in the top 10 of my machines, though I still enjoy it.

I think though, that tz is going to have to be made for tpa for a number of reasons. This will draw people into tpa, and provide a lot of credibility for a lot of players who may get into tpa because of the game.

I would question how any game with that many balls will work though on a iPad.

Games I want to see personally, party zone, diner, black knight 2000, swords of fury, earthshaker. Either way, I still feel I will try and buy everything they make, sometimes a game needs time to get used to.

Funhouse plays differently from the machines I played with the kickout a lot faster, and didn't drain as bad. Do I love it still? Yes, because if you lined up 100 funhouses they would all play differently.

 

[Richard B]

Personally I think the Addams family is the better of the two, but then again, it's closer to a pat lawlor classic machine than what tz was.

Sounds really weird saying this, but tz isn't in the top 10 of my machines, though I still enjoy it.

I think though, that tz is going to have to be made for tpa for a number of reasons. This will draw people into tpa, and provide a lot of credibility for a lot of players who may get into tpa because of the game.

I would question how any game with that many balls will work though on a iPad.

Games I want to see personally, party zone, diner, black knight 2000, swords of fury, earthshaker. Either way, I still feel I will try and buy everything they make, sometimes a game needs time to get used to.

Funhouse plays differently from the machines I played with the kickout a lot faster, and didn't drain as bad. Do I love it still? Yes, because if you lined up 100 funhouses they would all play differently.

Doubtful we'll ever see Party Zone. It uses a lot of licensed tracks and, even though the game uses synthesized renditions that are a far cry from the original recordings, getting them all cleared would be a licensing headache, as they are from different bands. Then again, CFTBL has the same problem, and that is a likely release, so who knows?

 

[Brian Clark]

Doubtful we'll ever see Party Zone. It uses a lot of licensed tracks and, even though the game uses synthesized renditions that are a far cry from the original recordings, getting them all cleared would be a licensing headache, as they are from different bands. Then again, CFTBL has the same problem, and that is a likely release, so who knows?

I didn't know the music in Party Zone was licensed. I thought it was all original. Maybe I'm mistaken, but are you sure you aren't confusing it with Party Animal (which does have licensed music)?

 

[Richard B]

I didn't know the music in Party Zone was licensed. I thought it was all original. Maybe I'm mistaken, but are you sure you aren't confusing it with Party Animal (which does have licensed music)?

I know the Who's Pinball Wizard is one of the juke box songs. I'm not familiar with the other selections - I assumed that the other tracks were also licensed, but PW might be the only one.

 

[Brian Clark]

I know the Who's Pinball Wizard is one of the juke box songs. I'm not familiar with the other selections - I assumed that the other tracks were also licensed, but PW might be the only one.

oh ok. Thanks for the info.

Edit: NM. I didn't listen to enough of the PZ song. It's definitely the same song. Hopefully, if Farsight is somehow able to get the rights to The Who's Tommy, the song will be under the same license. At least Dr. Dude and possibly the Elvira games are coming.

I'm not sure if Farsight is making the best decision buying and keeping the pinball machines, though. If there's a place close enough with machines, it could be possible to get permission to borrow one for Pinball Arcade, possible with help from someone who restores machines. I know some of the machines in the Pinball Museum in Baltimore are donated. I know many of those machines aren't cheap. The combination of that with maintence may be too costly in the long run.

I found out a couple of the other songs in the Party Zone are licensed as well, and aside from the regular selectable songs, it has Frank Sinatra's Come Fly With Me and Feelings.

 

[Patrick]

TAF! Of course!