600 ball run on Virtual Pool 4

I once shot -28 in Tiger Woods Golf in a single round with medium wind, tiger tees, long rough -- basically the hardest settings without using gale force wind (just one click lower, breezy it might be called). No mulligans, etc, etc.

You wanna know what that means?
Absolutely nothing.

If someone runs 20000 balls in virtual pool or -28 in Tiger Woods golf - who cares. In Tiger Woods golf, your swing is always perfect and once you understand how the game figures break/speed, you make the adjustment and make putts from wherever. Same with the wind/elevation, when you know how much the wind/elevation affects you from what distance, you adjust and get the heartbeat every single time.

In VP, your stroke is as straight as a beam of light. So, it's the same thing. Assuming the aiming thing was indeed turned off and once you get the hang of where to aim, you just move the mouse and make the ball.

It's like guys that get 100000000000 points in Pac Man on a single quarter because they know the ghost patterns for every level.
This...

VP is fun and all as a diversion and VP3 had decent online play when players were available to play against... other then that, thats about all it's good for in terms of practice IMO.

I guess it can help with pattern play but that is going to mainly help with shot selection of shots you are good at in game, not in real world.

It's a fun game though, but I wouldnt buy it as a solution to not having room for a home table and expect it to improve your game.
 
The summary is at http://vponline.celeris.com/vp4offover which mentions 17 pool games. In the past VP has included one pocket. If someone has tried the computer opponent, I'm curious about the level of strategy in VP4.

I played Max Eberle on the straight pool and the 9 ball. The computer's artificial intelligence in choosing patterns in both games leaves a lot to be desired.

The last VP I played was #1 where the best computer player was Dead Eye Dan. I think Max's pattern selection is slightly better, but still not even at a B level real life player, IMO. That said, it must be a daunting task to come up with an intelligence system that picks a good pattern. I wonder if total cue ball travel on any given pattern choice could be/is a criterion.

All said, I'm enjoying the game, and would recommend it to others. I will have to get better at the controls to be able to play it better.

I'm on a MacBook Air, booted up into Windows 7. The game runs perfectly on my system. I'm using the built in trackpad, and I actually like swiping my finger across it. It feels more natural to me, than VP1 did when I used the mouse.
 
... I guess it can help with pattern play but that is going to mainly help with shot selection of shots you are good at in game, not in real world. ...
When I was practicing patterns with it I only used it in "tracking mode" and only used "reasonable" strokes. I never used the mouse for shooting and I never tried to aim by sighting ball against ball.
 
When I was practicing patterns with it I only used it in "tracking mode" and only used "reasonable" strokes. I never used the mouse for shooting and I never tried to aim by sighting ball against ball.

Right, but the game isnt going to notice a possible real life hitch in your stroke that could cause you to dog something easy. That happens to all of us.

I havent played vp4 but I know in vp3 once your got your aim down you had to hold a key down to actually pull back and forth to shoot the ball, vp4 looks very similar to vp3 so I imagine that the controls are the same/similar... holding that key down locked your cue in place. There is no way the cue was going to hit a different spot on the cueball than where you wanted it to.

Another thing... if I cue up with extreme low (or anywhere else on the ball for that matter) the amount of spin i get on the cue ball is insane compared to real life. In real life I doubt there is a human that can get the stroke that someone can get in that game.

Im with Spider on this one... the game is truly amazing as a game and a simulator... i dont see it being that useful when it comes to a training/practice tool. There are entirely too many variables in real life...
 
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Please post proof of that. I doubt it seriously.

They do -- there's actually a pro gaming tour that's funded by some of the biggest companies in the world. I looked into this some time ago, but found they did mostly 1st person war gaming at that time.

Fatal1ty, who was one of the top guys, was making hundreds of thousands per year (that was many years ago--- it's prob much more now).

Here's one of the biggest events of the year:
http://www.wcg.com/renew/wcg2012/prvod.asp
 
They do -- there's actually a pro gaming tour that's funded by some of the biggest companies in the world. I looked into this some time ago, but found they did mostly 1st person war gaming at that time.

Fatal1ty, who was one of the top guys, was making hundreds of thousands per year (that was many years ago--- it's prob much more now).

Here's one of the biggest events of the year:
http://www.wcg.com/renew/wcg2012/prvod.asp


Yeah one of the tours is the mlg. Idk how big they are now they may have downsized but it was big when I was in high school when I was kinda into gaming. My buddies and I played halo and snapped off a few local tournaments no money added and made about 100 a piece between the 4 of us. it was fun for sure lol.
 
Please post proof of that. I doubt it seriously.

Starcraft 2 prize list for the month of May 2012

http://esfiworld.com/feature/starcraft-2-prize-money-stats-may-2012

And this is 5yrs ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P39gP4QnXxE#!

Yeah one of the tours is the mlg. Idk how big they are now they may have downsized but it was big when I was in high school when I was kinda into gaming.

MLG is bigger than ever
 
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Yeah I remember when Fatal1ty was huge. Dude had motherboards and videocards with his name on them.

He was an insane Quake 3 player and FPS games in general.
 
I never played it, have no idea how difficult it is. What I did see was pretty good pattern play. I been playing pool for 30+ years (27 in pool rooms) and I play all games ok, except 14.1, For my speed of play my 14.1 game is the weakest by a huge gap. My high run in 1P (12) is higher than in 14.1-not many players can say that. :embarrassed2:

also note that when I watch rotation pool 9,10 ball its rare I see a pattern played different than I'd attempt, I dont get out often as I should but I dont see many differences in my shot selection than I do a top player. I just dont deliver. In one pocket I see that i'm shooting the wrong ball often. Lots for me to learn there.


my point being, because i'm so weak at 14.1 and strong at rotation games When I watched this video game, who ever ran those racks played good patterns cause i sure as heck didnt see the patterns he played and I dont get out playing 14.1. I always get into a pickle 5 or 6 balls into a frame. and I can play(some). So who ever did this knows a bit about pool; video game or not, nobody can play that nice of patterns and not know a pile about pool. I know they are nice patterns cause I wouldnt have played most of them like he did and he got out, i dont. When I was coming up in 9 ball I didnt see patterns, when I did learn how to move the rock my game jumped huge. Cause I can shoot straight., So IMO patterns are as important as how straight you shoot. And if you shoot straight cause its a video game, you still have to know 14.1 patterns to play good and get out.

I cant imagine a video game being 10% as difficult as pool, the balls and physics looked reasonably natural, i hadnt seen this before and its by far the best pool video game I ever saw.

good job

eric
 
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Nobody said it was REAL POOL.....Its a simulator...

No it's not.

Merriam-Webster said:
sim·u·la·tor
noun \ˈsim-yə-ˌlā-tər\

Definition of SIMULATOR

: one that simulates; especially: a device that enables the operator to reproduce or represent under test conditions phenomena likely to occur in actual performance

In order for something to be a "simulator" it actually has to "simulate" the actual physical performance of an action.

As realistic as the physics of the ball collisions might be in VP4 it does not simulate actual pool play because it does not simulate the actual pool stroke.

One of these two things below is a simulator of actual golf, the other is not, guess which is which and then guess where VP4 lies.
 

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No it's not.



In order for something to be a "simulator" it actually has to "simulate" the actual physical performance of an action.

As realistic as the physics of the ball collisions might be in VP4 it does not simulate actual pool play because it does not simulate the actual pool stroke.

One of these two things below is a simulator of actual golf, the other is not, guess which is which and then guess where VP4 lies.

Yes, but in the first choice putting is not realistic because you are putting on a 100% flat surface.
 
I'm a gamer...what button combo do I push to snap my cue over my knee after just missing the record? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start?

Just like in Golden Tee where you can purchase newer clothes/custom clubs and balls etc can you buy custom ear muffs or arm/ankle weights?
 
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