The Pinball Arcade Catch-All

That is ridiculously cheap for DLC. This game just hit the "must buy" part of my list for this year.

Coming soon will be cross-platform tournaments. That sounds cool, I wonder if they'll have a page for leaderboards?

A couple of ambiguous non-admissions are Gottlieb's Haunted House and attempts at The Simpsons and Terminator 2 licenses. The PC version will have all of the Williams and Gottlieb collection tables. They've also posted some shots on their Facebook page of their new balls.

The Twelve Days of Pinball they started last week seems to point that on Day 12 this will launch, but doesn't point to the platform. My bet is the PC version dropping first.

From their facebook update:

"As of today, we are still projecting a launch on iOS and Android later this month and confident that we’ll hit it. We are doing our best to be a launch title for PS Vita in February, and the Mac version will also release then. The 360, PS3, and PC versions will be released at the end of March. We’ll use this extra time to improve the game and address as many of the comments that you’ve given us as we can. Please help spread the word about the game if you like what you’ve seen. For The Pinball Arcade to be successful and continue delivering tables for years to come, we’re going to need a lot of help getting people to notice us. In the meantime, we’ll be looking into limited beta releases soon on mobile devices, so check back on our Facebook page for details!"

Blarg. Just show me ONE screenshot of this in cabinet mode and im happy.

They are going to have a limited beta on iPhone, iPad, and Andriod, if anybody's interested.

I got picked as an Android beta tester. Not sure when it will be released.

I saw on Facebook the other day that this is scheduled to release on iOS and Android this week. Color me excited.

I was supposed to be an Android beta tester. Got the first email, then seemingly missed the next one with the download info. Then I keep getting other emails about updating using the info in the second email.

So basically, they're toying with me

I'm holding out for the 360 version, as neither of my portable devices can probably hack it.

Ahhhh, who am I kidding? If I see reports that an iPad1 can play this reasonably well, I'll bite.

I just picked up the iPhone version and played a quick game (99c for Arabian Nights). So far I'm not that impressed. The physics make the ball feel extremely light and floaty. Also not being able to play it in landscape mode is really a downer. Landscape is just more comfortable to play for longer sessions and allows them to zoom in on the table a little more.

Edit: And for leaderboards it uses Facebook. Yeah right I'm going to enable that!

Is it a universal app on iOS?

EvilDead wrote:

I just picked up the iPhone version and played a quick game (99c for Arabian Nights). So far I'm not that impressed. The physics make the ball feel extremely light and floaty. Also not being able to play it in landscape mode is really a downer. Landscape is just more comfortable to play for longer sessions and allows them to zoom in on the table a little more.

Edit: And for leaderboards it uses Facebook. Yeah right I'm going to enable that!

It's SLIGHTLY floaty, however I'd caution this. 99% of the pinball machines you've ever played have been tweaked wrong, if you've been playing in bars and bowling alleys and the occasional ill-maintained arcade. Two things conspire to make these machines almost universally off level, with the back legs as high as they co and the front legs bottomed out:

1: The game is harder, which means more quarters per hour.
2: The game is never properly cleaned and waxed, so the ball plays very slowly. To mask this, they just crank it up.

If you go somewhere where they REALLY care (Alameda, New Hampshire) and actually level the machines per their setup instructions, you'd probably be shocked how slowly some machines play. In the case of the TOTAN, the real table I've played up in New Hampshire for hours on end is about as floaty as the one in the iPhone. On my virtual table, its tuned slightly faster.

The difference between a new, well maintained machine and a tired old machine tends to be that the new machines are faster off the solenoids (meaning the ball kind of rockets off flippers and slingshots) but slower in terms of gravity (because the playfields are adjusted properly). This actualy creates more deceleration and acceleration in the game, and makes it assloads more fun.

An old, crappily maintained game that's still held level will feel slow, period, and actually can be prone to "sticking" in places where the rubbers are flat or the plastics have recessed into the wood. Hence the "just crank it up" solution.

On Cory and my four square machine, the game is so old as to be nearly unplayable if its at its factory specs for level. We'd need an entirely new, non-pitted playfield and all new plastic inserts that aren't worn for it to play like new again.

I'll take your word for it as I rarely play real pinball machines and when I do they are in the type of places you are talking about. Also I have been playing allot of Zen in the past year.

I plan to put some more time into it when I'm away from work. I imagine you will be talking about this on the podcast sometime soon?

Edit: I just read that you can change it to landscape mode but not while in game. This should help a ton on the small iPhone screen.

OK just tested it: After you select the table you rotate the phone to landscape mode prior to starting the table. It will not work once in game. Its a strange implementation but it works.

Just tried the Android version on my Evo 4G. Is it just my older hardware, or at the flippers laggy?

Not going to buy any tables with it like this.

Also, the music when I launched the game stuttered a lot. May be my phone is just a bit underpowered.

It's going to be a long, hard wait until "late March."

Official word is launching on XBox 360 on April 4th for $10.
Polish up your balls!

MaxShrek wrote:

Official word is launching on XBox 360 on April 4th for $10.
Polish up your balls!

Day 1, DONE!

Downloaded it last night and I love the weighty feel of the ball.

The presentation will be very similar to anyone who played the Williams Collection, although the tables look much better, in my opinion, with Tales of the Arabian Nights being my standout (despite it being included in previous pinball collections). I just love the lights and sounds of that game!

There are minimal camera choices but I think they do a fine job and I like not having to flip between 6-8 views during play to try and find one I like. That said, I'd really like to have a custom camera option implemented someday.

Bought. Good stuff, and looking forward to new tables. I don't have Gold, but I assume friends can still be on each others' leaderboards, so anybody who wants a friend entry to boost their self-esteem, add me up!

The menus and non-table artwork are kind of eye-bleeding but the tables are extremely well done and the physics are amazing as always. No one does pinball reproduction like FarSight. They also announced the PS3 and Vita versions are coming out on the 10th and the DLC will be cross-compatible between the two which is awesome! I'll be in Iceland when the Vita version comes out but if our hotel wi-fi is decent, I'll totally be buying that for the flight back.

Bought the vita version. It's mega fun, but a little buggy. I have run into issues with inputting initials where it will keep the input mechanism on screen through the next game, obscuring the board. Also, I've had it hang once. Still, Arabian Nights is spectacular.

Played Theatre of Magic last night (ps3) for about two hours.
What kind of scores are you guys seeing?
I thought I was doing ok at about 1.8B, but that ranks in the 2000s. Yes my friends list is empty. Bookmaker if you want to score chase.

Ghostship wrote:

Played Theatre of Magic last night (ps3) for about two hours.
What kind of scores are you guys seeing?
I thought I was doing ok at about 1.8B, but that ranks in the 2000s. Yes my friends list is empty. Bookmaker if you want to score chase.

Who else is playing on PS3? A good friends leaderboard to chase might be enough to talk me into this game.

SixteenBlue wrote:

Who else is playing on PS3? A good friends leaderboard to chase might be enough to talk me into this game.

I'm considering this for PS3 unless the PC version magically appears in the near future.

My only complaint about the PS3 version is that the nudge on the left stick is awkward. If you're facing a down the middle drain in RL, you can nudge a flipper over to the ball in a lot of cases. I brace my thumbs against the player side of the controller for this and for guitar hero because I'm usually kind of animated with the shoulder buttons. It makes it hard to get to the nudge quickly.

The flipper buttons are analogue, can it be remapped there? I'll be looking more on my next session. I dare not start it up during the day, lest I lose the rest of the afternoon's productivity.

SixteenBlue wrote:
Ghostship wrote:

Played Theatre of Magic last night (ps3) for about two hours.
What kind of scores are you guys seeing?
I thought I was doing ok at about 1.8B, but that ranks in the 2000s. Yes my friends list is empty. Bookmaker if you want to score chase.

Who else is playing on PS3? A good friends leaderboard to chase might be enough to talk me into this game.

The leaderboards are hosted through facebook and you can chase scores across platforms, if you know who you're looking for. Just make sure you don't miss the opportunity to stop it from posting scores to your wall; unless you want that. There's a pop up when you start up. Probably just the first time. I have yet to start it up the second time.
The friends list is a convenient shortcut though.

Ghostship wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:
Ghostship wrote:

Played Theatre of Magic last night (ps3) for about two hours.
What kind of scores are you guys seeing?
I thought I was doing ok at about 1.8B, but that ranks in the 2000s. Yes my friends list is empty. Bookmaker if you want to score chase.

Who else is playing on PS3? A good friends leaderboard to chase might be enough to talk me into this game.

The leaderboards are hosted through facebook and you can chase scores across platforms, if you know who you're looking for. Just make sure you don't miss the opportunity to stop it from posting scores to your wall; unless you want that. There's a pop up when you start up. Probably just the first time. I have yet to start it up the second time.
The friends list is a convenient shortcut though.

Oh....not into games integrating with Facebook.

SixteenBlue wrote:

Oh....not into games integrating with Facebook.

Yeah, I refuse to give the iPhone version my facebook login. Zen Pinball does this much better.

Because Facebook is evil?

Ghostship wrote:

Because Facebook is evil?

Facebook's evilness is pretty much irrelevant to me. I just want complete control over what info is shared and where. I don't want video games to be linked to non video game things. I want PSN (or Live or Steam) friends to see game things, I want social friends to see social things, etc.