Fruit Machine Chat

Where did the thread go?

Secondly, why is it Gamestec are so staggeringly incompetent?
The MOTD Free Pass crash bug is still there, issue after issue. As far as I'm concerned it may well be accountable to programming ineptitude due to the fact that some muppet decided to fiddle with the original code but in the real world it amounts to theft and nationwide provision of a faulty service. If the industry insiders who read this forum (I know who you are) are still around, fix it, I've had enough.

You've 'had enough'? Excellent, that kind of strong language should make them get their house in order.
If I go in a pub and see a big oval cabinet I turn around and walk out again.
I think it was three weeks ago I discoverd a Wetherspoons had took one in. I tried a game of PMP 'winning' £1 with no chance of going further, then went to MOTD.
No prizes for guessing what happened.
I didn't bother telling the barstaff or complaining, just walked out with the frozen screen wasting someone's electricity.

rogerthymes wrote:You've 'had enough'? I tried a game of PMP 'winning' £1

Ah, PMP, a game which is still running on Gamesnets despite it being flagrantly in contravention of current HMRC guidelines. (Not the only one either, I might add).

rogerthymes wrote:You've 'had enough'? Excellent, that kind of strong language should make them get their house in order.

We are, I believe, on the same side here. Agreed though, doing more than talking about it will be required to have any effect, but I don't think it hurts to raise the issue.

cp999 wrote:Ah, PMP, a game which is still running on Gamesnets despite it being flagrantly in contravention of current HMRC guidelines. (Not the only one either, I might add).
We are, I believe, on the same side here. Agreed though, doing more than talking about it will be required to have any effect, but I don't think it hurts to raise the issue.

Most certainly we are on the same side, no problem!
The guidelines are surely useless.
My main bugbear at the moment is when I occasionally find a game of old style Trivial Pursuits - can't remember the name of the type of cabinet but it's got the 'peg' version of Battleships on too.
Anyway, 50p a game - pick three cards for the endgame where the prizes range from 1p to 5p ffs!!!
I've probably mentioned this before on here but its daylight robbery. Literally. It should have asign on it saying "PLAY THIS GAME AND THE BEST YOU CAN DO IS LOSE 45p!!" Roll up indeed.
These machines are crap.
The itboxes are crap
The Gamesnets are crap
Rant over.

I took a decision several weeks back to ignore all Gamesnets from my lists unless it's something like the last pub of the night in a location where I'm staying over and there's no time to get somewhere else before closing, and I haven't regretted this decision once. They are slow, unreliable and seem completely repellent to punters - the proportion of time you actually witness anyone playing one is tiny even in comparison to the other cabinets. This of course means that the few decent games on them are almost always in a rubbish state.

The MOTD Free Pass bug is however something else entirely, as you say cp999. The striking thing about it is that Gamestec have proved they can "leap into action" when it suits them, as shown by the speed and scope of the removal of the Caesar's Palace II game with that unfortunate programming error. Either they have still never tested Match of the Day on any of their cabinets (they clearly didn't test it before initial release), and are actually unaware of the bug, or ... they just don't give a shit. The latter seems hugely more likely given the ridiculous length of time that this has been left unfixed, and such a lack of pride in their own products and lack of interest in customer care point in only one direction for them.

Actually I may be being unfair on them. On their website, we are promised that Gamesnets offer "Remote diagnostics for rapid fault fixing":

http://www.gamestec.co.uk/products/digi ... z-machines

You really couldn't make it up!

Nil Satis wrote:they just don't give a shit.

Some further gems from their website:

Gamestec wrote:The immense popularity of Itbox, combined with advanced technology and the best choice of quiz games

Gametec wrote:Sleek, modern design cabinet with touch screen techonolgoy [sic]

Rarely have I laughed so much. And the coup de grace:

Gamestec wrote:All games are rigorously tested on-site to ensure maximum playability

I think the last word was meant to say profit not playability

What is the difference between gamesnet 27 and 26?

cool wrote:What is the difference between gamesnet 27 and 26?

Skillball Bingo's returned! Woo-bloody-hoo. Thought I'd have a go just for auld times sake. Gone up to a quid a pop. Couldn't be bothered to 'risk' a quid to try and win a quid.
That stupid Piggy game is there - sample question "Which one of these paintings did Dali paint before the others?"
And IQ/QI - which should let you win £2 if you're the first person to play it, otherwise it'll just kill you.

Don't like QI why the necessity to impart knowledge using either using the comic method (or that's what they think they are) or the smart arse method e.g eggheads.compare a programme such as Q of S in 70's and 80's with the shite it is now.why does everybody has to be funny? I'm superficially put off games.didn't play x factor for a long time because of the T##T simon cowell offering his insults and musings.apologies for grammar tired!

Let's not forget Gamestec couldn't get MOTD to work properly on itbox either. In contrast, it runs fine on Kudos or on Open cabinets. Similarly, BAM worked so badly on itbox they ended up taking it off, and when first implemented on Gamesnets the train bonus didn't work. All of these things would be spotted with five minutes playtesting, so I can only conclude that they don't playtest games at all when transferring them from other platforms and just assume that the game will work. They thoroughly deserve the Caesar's Palace 2 debacle. In addition, their game loader doesn't (and hasn't, since at least issue 18 ) work reliably with certain games, being prone to load the game with screen randomly misaligned; not that I particularly care regarding the games currently affected: however in this case, five seconds' playtesting would spot it! I suggest that anyone who (like me) is irritated by such amateurish incompetence and laissez-faire attitude to maintenance makes a point of leaving Gamesnets crashed via MOTD when they finish up.

A couple to add to that list - on about 50% of Gamesnets there is an odd bug with Million Pound Drop whereby the central area of the screen (via which you select the subject matter for each round and the amount to gamble on each answer) doesn't respond, but the bottom part of the screen does, so you can still play the game but much slower than needs be, as you have to wait for the subject matters to self-select and can only play with the 200,000 stake not the 500,000 one. On Secret Letter the slower screen/processor response times and sometimes impossible targets have fundamentally changed the nature of the game from its original GWHL incarnation.

As I said above, for these and other reasons I no longer waste my time on such amateur offerings!

Nil Satis wrote:On Secret Letter the slower screen/processor response times and sometimes impossible targets have fundamentally changed the nature of the game from its original GWHL incarnation.

Which was usually, in fairness, a free £20 in 7 mins payment in return for removing the game. The GN version also incorporates a charming 0.05, 0.04, 0.03, 0.01, 0.00 countdown when you're pushed for time, bugs pertaining to the game score and occasional "free advance through next round without doing anything" bug on the latter stages (after round 6). Imbeciles.

what about the itbox conversions by gamestec the gaming equivalent of brandishing a crucifix to a vampire.I cannot cross the threshold of a pub with this crock of shite both in quality of games and the lamentable way they run.

cp999 wrote:Let's not forget Gamestec couldn't get MOTD to work properly on itbox either. In contrast, it runs fine on Kudos or on Open cabinets. Similarly, BAM worked so badly on itbox they ended up taking it off, and when first implemented on Gamesnets the train bonus didn't work. All of these things would be spotted with five minutes playtesting, so I can only conclude that they don't playtest games at all when transferring them from other platforms and just assume that the game will work. They thoroughly deserve the Caesar's Palace 2 debacle. In addition, their game loader doesn't (and hasn't, since at least issue 18 ) work reliably with certain games, being prone to load the game with screen randomly misaligned; not that I particularly care regarding the games currently affected: however in this case, five seconds' playtesting would spot it! I suggest that anyone who (like me) is irritated by such amateurish incompetence and laissez-faire attitude to maintenance makes a point of leaving Gamesnets crashed via MOTD when they finish up.

Noticeable on PMP!!! but weirdly seems to depend on geographical area in my experience.