Crystal Caliburn update

It has been ages since I have last written an article for the blog. The reason is simple: nothing is happening in the digital pinball world: just some minor updates of pinballs I do not care much about. But no news from Zen Studios, no new tables for the Stern Pinball Arcade of FarSight, no nothing. And I do not think the current pandemic has anything to do with this.

But then, out of the blue the update notifications on my iPad signalled a new version of Crystal Caliburn. Apparently Fujita-san has not totally abandoned his pinballs. The new version, 1.6, is build with the software development kit of iOS 13. This means that we can be sure that the new version will be working for quite more years in the future. Given the paucity of new pinballs, things like this are precious.

I just hope that Fujita-san updates Tristan as well. However I am convinced that any hopes for a new pinball coming from Littlewing are illusory. Developing a new pinball is a huge enterprise and I do not believe that Fujita-san has time for this. Of course, I would be delighted to be proven wrong. 

Zen-WIlliams volume 5 is here

The three-table pack arrived before Christmas but I decided to post my article with the new year hoping to exorcise the bad spirits that are dooming digital pinball. As always the collection of tables is a fine one. First and foremost we have the Tales of the Arabian Nights

It's a fantastic table, which, curiously I had neglected in the FarSight collection. The graphic quality of the table is unique and the Zen-introduced enhancements do add to the interest of the gameplay. If you buy just one table from volume 5, Arabian Nights is the one I recommend.

Those who follow my blog know that I am a great admirer of Pat Lawlor. Unfortunately I am somehow disappointed by the Zen Studios choice to follow their Lawlor table collection which had started so nicely with Safecracker with two of the most difficult Lawlor tables Red & Ted's Road Show and now No Good Gofers 

I find the play difficult (but then, that may be because of my below-par game) and the graphic additions of Zen Studios do not manage to add to the excitement. Personally I do not care much about the challenge presented by a table. I do hope that in the next volume Zen Studios choose one of the less difficult-more enjoyable Lawlor tables. 

The third table of the collection is Circus Voltaire. 

This is one of the tables where it took me some time before I started appreciating it. One of the reasons is that I find the ringmaster puppet added by Zen downright ugly. So I started playing the classic version before relenting and going back to the "enhanced" one. However, once you are accustomed to it Circus Voltaire is a nice table.

Let's pray for Zen Studios to continue their Williams collection in the months to come.

The end of a morose year

Who could imagine that the pinball landscape would become an utter desolation in the space of one year. Of course the writing was on the wall. When Littlewing called it quits 7 years ago it was clear that the days of glory of digital pinball were over. The close-to-zero prices of the AppStore were incompatible with the development of decent pinball tables. So over the years we witnessed the disappearance of all but one of the major players in the digital pinball business.

Gameprom, who gave us such great tables like RedPlanet and Arcade Pinball disappeared last year. Ditto for Ask Homework, aka Magic Pixel, of Zaccaria line fame. The Pro Pinball revival turned out to be a farce (but did leave all of us ProPinball fans with a bad taste in the mouth). FarSight lost their Williams/Bally license and since then they have gone in radio silence.

Right now our only hope is the Zen Studio line of Williams/bally pinballs. They are doing an excellent job with this but will they manage to make enough money so as to survive? In any case their attempt to monetise their iOS line with the Williams Pinball application has led to a monster which I prefer to forget. 

And just to add to the depression, there are the bad news of Catalina. With the new MacOS the wrappers of ProPinball will stop working. Will somebody provide new and Catalina-compatible ones? I wouldn't hold my breath. 

In 2019 I tried to publish a post per month just to let you know that the blog is alive. I am afraid that this is totally futile. The plan for 2020 will be to publish something whenever Zen Studios present new tables. At least I will write in order to say something positive.