Bristow, VA
Quoted from Deez:Is there a logical reason for this or is it a cost savings?
Weird use of "or" here, considering the answer is yes to both. 
(Topic ID: 142802)
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Quoted from swampfire:Just saw this note on the STTNG IPDB entry (emphasis added):
Patent #5,350,174 [BELOW THE PLAYFIELD BALL DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR A PINBALL GAME] filed October 28, 1993. Granted September 27, 1994 to Ritchie et al. Assignee is Williams Electronic Games, Inc.
EDIT: Yep, Williams (Rick?) still holds the patent:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US5350174A/en
The patent was for the "transporter" tech that preloaded balls into the VUKs on that game, making it seem like balls were going in one hole and instantly coming out another on the other side of the playfield.
Quoted from DNO:A subway is usually a spot that can jam up with all the balls, if the VUK stops working, disabling a game completely.
not necessarily. STTNG's code is smart enough to deal with broken VUKs. it can detect that a cannon isn't loading properly, and it will automatically only load balls into the other cannon, for example. was surprised to see this happen mid-game when an actuator arm broke on one of my cannons. the Battle Simulation mode normally alternates loading one canon and then the other, but it didn't miss a beat and just loaded balls into the right cannon for all the shots.
Quoted from Aurich:The bottom fell out of the market, and the pressure to keep pumping out product to keep the line moving means that programmers are being given literally half the time they used to be. So nothing ships complete anymore.
yeah. also, today, with the prevalence of the internet and the ability to easily install pure software code updates, there is, realistically, less need for code to be complete at release. it is unfortunate for us owners and players, but true.
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