I and another member of this forum had the honour of being invited up to Games Warehouse earlier this week for a look at the forthcoming new Paragon version which is, as I understand it, to be rolled out within the next month or so. We were also told we were very welcome to post our thoughts about the new system on here, so here are some thoughts to keep appetite whetted.
Overall, the new release looks good and should provide a much-needed fillip to the SWP market which seems to me to be flagging a bit at the moment. There's a number of new titles for players to get their teeth into, and all in all it looks like a pretty decent-quality package. I've not always been the world's biggest Paragon / GW fan, but with ItBoxes continuing to disappear, GamesNets getting rid of anything worth playing on their cabinets and making the rest £1 per play, and the general rarity of Ind:es and Opens (at least where I play), a playable Paragon line up is in everyone's interests.
There is a redesigned front-end menu, with a number of different menus sorted by genre (e.g. "skill games", "new games" etc.) - it looks good and seemed to work well. It's slightly reminiscent of the old ItBox menu which I think divided things by genre as well.
There are new cabinets as well - I saw two new cabinets, both had a row of buttons beneath the screen (I think I've seen this in the wild somewhere already but can't quite remember where). One of the new cabinets had a dot-matrix display which could be used for e.g. the host pub to advertise a drinks offer, or to advertise the machine, or whatever.
There are a good clutch of new games which will form part of the new release, and some (very) preliminary thoughts as follows:
- Match of the Day - I think Istenem saw this at ATEI. It looks promising - the idea is to answer questions (both football and GK) to advance across a pitch and win games in a cup tournament. It borrows / adapts some elements (the pitch, mainly) from the rubbish Football Manager game on the Opens, but looked a much better all-round game than that. There are also some skill sub-games. This will be 50p play with a £10JP. I can see this being pretty popular - MOTD is a pretty strong franchise.
- Track and Field - again, I think Istenem saw this. It's a licence of the old computer game title with a deliberately very retro feel to it, which was rather fun. The idea is either to play skill games (ported from the old computer game) or take part in Q&A rounds, to rack up points and eventually reach an endgame. Being a malco I didn't play any of the skill games, but I can tell you they make use of the buttons on the new cabinets (although they can be done using the touchscreen as well, as I understand it). The Q&A games were fairly approachable and the game is generous with bonuses etc. so can and does last a long time (I must have got 15 minutes or so out of each of the games of it I played!). The endgame is Q&A based, which might not please skill game specialists: the endgame was fairly tough when I played it, but I was told it can and does get easier - let's see. I think it was either a £25 or £50 maximum prize on this, so nice and generous.
- Beat the Landlord - a straight Q&A game in the vein of Pub Quiz (tho' better looking) or Trivia Whiz Bar Quiz (tho', one hopes, easier). One unusual aspect is this only has one prize - the JP, which will be either £3 or £6 and is apparently intended to be fairly achieveable. It will be interesting to see whether that JP is enough to attract players to it.
- All Clued Up - crossword clues / trivia game which is like a better looking Quids For Grids. I thought this looked pretty good although I onlyed played it once. Can't remember what the JP was on this.
- Trailblazer - pure skill game involving tracing a winding parth from one side of the screen to the other as quickly as possible. Not my cup of tea, but the skills boys will like this, I expect. I was too rubbish to tell how difficult it is but the time deadlines did look demanding.
I think we'll also see Family Guy and Tresure Quest make their Paragon debuts for those who like them. Also, Bullseye has a new two-player mode in addition to the existing suite of games.
Paragon forthcoming new line-up - SNEAK PREVIEW
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QuizMaster
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The ones that got specifically mentioned as going were Buckaroo, Guess Who, and (surprisingly) Are You Smarter.... I didn't check closely but got the impression that some of the back screen dross that has hung around on Paragons for years (that treasure island game, that snooker game etc.) might have been removed, which would be an occasion for rejoicing if so.wires74 wrote:grecian did you notice what games had been
Removed
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Istenem
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it is not in anyone's interests to make this into "yet another thread about word up".
suffice it to say that that game is very good. qed.
i'm looking forward to the new release on paragon cabinets, not convinced the buttons are a step forward but, in terms of tactile involvement, it might make your casual player feel more involved.
As Grecian says, MOTD is potentially an inspired release: there seems to be enough smoke and mirrors to divert from the business of winning any money. GWHL are not fussed whether it is profitable for people who trawl pubs, if the locals enjoy it then the job is done. equally T&F should have appeal, despite misgivings about the length of the game.
one word though if anyone from GWHL is looking in: for the love and honour of God, update PMP. it has proven to be a good game but adding one or two to each category every so often is weak. Eliminator will quickly steal the crown of the multiplayer boozehound game. it is playable and enjoyable. whether it is learnable, i don't know but the stagnant pond of PMP is beginning to smell a bit like poo.
suffice it to say that that game is very good. qed.
i'm looking forward to the new release on paragon cabinets, not convinced the buttons are a step forward but, in terms of tactile involvement, it might make your casual player feel more involved.
As Grecian says, MOTD is potentially an inspired release: there seems to be enough smoke and mirrors to divert from the business of winning any money. GWHL are not fussed whether it is profitable for people who trawl pubs, if the locals enjoy it then the job is done. equally T&F should have appeal, despite misgivings about the length of the game.
one word though if anyone from GWHL is looking in: for the love and honour of God, update PMP. it has proven to be a good game but adding one or two to each category every so often is weak. Eliminator will quickly steal the crown of the multiplayer boozehound game. it is playable and enjoyable. whether it is learnable, i don't know but the stagnant pond of PMP is beginning to smell a bit like poo.
nobody ever wins on those things.
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Barry Trotter
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CrosbyRules
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I've got a paragon unit with the buttons on it. Seem pretty poor to be honest, played a few games that don't have the need for the buttons really, They also don't feel very responsive compared to the touch screen.
I played Skill Six shooter and after several times having to press the button to get it to spin i just stuck to pressing the screen like normal.
I played Skill Six shooter and after several times having to press the button to get it to spin i just stuck to pressing the screen like normal.
betchrider wrote:You go upto a bird and grab her quim and say "im gonna knock the fuck outta this" and see what happens
Re: Paragon forthcoming new line-up - SNEAK PREVIEW
Sounds like a plug to me hahagrecian wrote:I and another member of this forum had the honour of being invited up to Games Warehouse earlier this week for a look at the forthcoming new Paragon version which is, as I understand it, to be rolled out within the next month or so. We were also told we were very welcome to post our thoughts about the new system on here, so here are some thoughts to keep appetite whetted.
Overall, the new release looks good and should provide a much-needed fillip to the SWP market which seems to me to be flagging a bit at the moment. There's a number of new titles for players to get their teeth into, and all in all it looks like a pretty decent-quality package. I've not always been the world's biggest Paragon / GW fan, but with ItBoxes continuing to disappear, GamesNets getting rid of anything worth playing on their cabinets and making the rest £1 per play, and the general rarity of Ind:es and Opens (at least where I play), a playable Paragon line up is in everyone's interests.
There is a redesigned front-end menu, with a number of different menus sorted by genre (e.g. "skill games", "new games" etc.) - it looks good and seemed to work well. It's slightly reminiscent of the old ItBox menu which I think divided things by genre as well.
There are new cabinets as well - I saw two new cabinets, both had a row of buttons beneath the screen (I think I've seen this in the wild somewhere already but can't quite remember where). One of the new cabinets had a dot-matrix display which could be used for e.g. the host pub to advertise a drinks offer, or to advertise the machine, or whatever.
There are a good clutch of new games which will form part of the new release, and some (very) preliminary thoughts as follows:
- Match of the Day - I think Istenem saw this at ATEI. It looks promising - the idea is to answer questions (both football and GK) to advance across a pitch and win games in a cup tournament. It borrows / adapts some elements (the pitch, mainly) from the rubbish Football Manager game on the Opens, but looked a much better all-round game than that. There are also some skill sub-games. This will be 50p play with a £10JP. I can see this being pretty popular - MOTD is a pretty strong franchise.
- Track and Field - again, I think Istenem saw this. It's a licence of the old computer game title with a deliberately very retro feel to it, which was rather fun. The idea is either to play skill games (ported from the old computer game) or take part in Q&A rounds, to rack up points and eventually reach an endgame. Being a malco I didn't play any of the skill games, but I can tell you they make use of the buttons on the new cabinets (although they can be done using the touchscreen as well, as I understand it). The Q&A games were fairly approachable and the game is generous with bonuses etc. so can and does last a long time (I must have got 15 minutes or so out of each of the games of it I played!). The endgame is Q&A based, which might not please skill game specialists: the endgame was fairly tough when I played it, but I was told it can and does get easier - let's see. I think it was either a £25 or £50 maximum prize on this, so nice and generous.
- Beat the Landlord - a straight Q&A game in the vein of Pub Quiz (tho' better looking) or Trivia Whiz Bar Quiz (tho', one hopes, easier). One unusual aspect is this only has one prize - the JP, which will be either £3 or £6 and is apparently intended to be fairly achieveable. It will be interesting to see whether that JP is enough to attract players to it.
- All Clued Up - crossword clues / trivia game which is like a better looking Quids For Grids. I thought this looked pretty good although I onlyed played it once. Can't remember what the JP was on this.
- Trailblazer - pure skill game involving tracing a winding parth from one side of the screen to the other as quickly as possible. Not my cup of tea, but the skills boys will like this, I expect. I was too rubbish to tell how difficult it is but the time deadlines did look demanding.
I think we'll also see Family Guy and Tresure Quest make their Paragon debuts for those who like them. Also, Bullseye has a new two-player mode in addition to the existing suite of games.
