The Pinball Arcade Catch-All

Not sure if I should drop the money on iOS version or the XBLA one.

I enjoy pinball on the go as it's an easy pickup and put down option. But I also love me some Xbox flavoured cheevs. Thoughts impressions from owners of both (or should I just quit whining and get both)?

iOS has a free version with Arabian Nights unlocked. You could try that and see how it feels first.

Ghostship wrote:

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.

On XBLA I think there are only two controller setups (and they're strictly for flipper control) -- LB+RB / LT+RT.

I got the iPhone demo. Actually it was 99c for me. I find there's an ergonomic delay for the flipper buttons. You have to hover your thumbs. Pinball buttons trip very early in the throw (cherry microswithches?), so very little delay is noticeable. I found how you grip your phone helps. Would be way easier on the iPad. The less your thumbs have to travel to the screen the better. You have to find the safe minimum distance that keeps you from accidentally flipping, or holding one up.

Yup, still hate playing pinball on my phone, but it sure was fun giving Bride of Pinbot a whirl as I remember seeing that game but never being man enough to play it (as a kid). My god it's noisy and flashy in all the right ways.

$10 for the initial tables and $5 for two tables seem quite steep to me though.

If you think about 50c a play, it's not bad.

Played this for almost 5 hours straight on my Vita on the flight home. Works amazing and it was rock solid for me. For those who are mildly frustrated as I was by the Vita's horizontal screen not easily showing a lot of the playfield, do what I did by accident and turn your Vita sideways for 5 seconds. You're welcome.

There's no way to hypnotize my wife into believing that a new vita is actually my old PSP is there?

Ghostship wrote:

There's no way to hypnotize my wife into believing that a new vita is actually my old PSP is there?

Maybe cover up the logo underneath the screen somehow. At a glance, I could see the unfamiliar eye thinking both systems are the same in appearance.

garion333 wrote:

Yup, still hate playing pinball on my phone, but it sure was fun giving Bride of Pinbot a whirl as I remember seeing that game but never being man enough to play it (as a kid). My god it's noisy and flashy in all the right ways.

$10 for the initial tables and $5 for two tables seem quite steep to me though.

Ghostship wrote:

If you think about 50c a play, it's not bad.

Sure, but considering it's $10 for the console versions, the fact it's the same price for my phone is a bit bizarre to me.

Completely unfounded guess but I think the ps3 version is the vita version. The menu text is huge at startup. The menu is a little different. It maybe it scales with resolution. What is the vita resolution? ItsHD isn't it?

Just installed this on a new iPad, and it is pretty much broken. I should have read the app notes, but it's apparently been broken on new iPads for a couple of weeks.

Ghostship wrote:

Completely unfounded guess but I think the ps3 version is the vita version. The menu text is huge at startup. The menu is a little different. It maybe it scales with resolution. What is the vita resolution? ItsHD isn't it?

The PS3 version is graphically different. The lighting and textures are of a higher quality. I would not be surprised if the menu is the same, however. For a good reference, look at the Black Hole table. VERY different between the two. Still looks good on the vita, but the PS3 version is amazing. My only issue with the PS3 version is a bit of slowdown. It's rare, but it happens. The Vita version is a bit buggy, as well. Looking forward to some update to fix a few of the interface issues on the Vita.

Toddland wrote:
Ghostship wrote:

Completely unfounded guess but I think the ps3 version is the vita version. The menu text is huge at startup. The menu is a little different. It maybe it scales with resolution. What is the vita resolution? ItsHD isn't it?

The PS3 version is graphically different. The lighting and textures are of a higher quality. I would not be surprised if the menu is the same, however. For a good reference, look at the Black Hole table. VERY different between the two. Still looks good on the vita, but the PS3 version is amazing. My only issue with the PS3 version is a bit of slowdown. It's rare, but it happens. The Vita version is a bit buggy, as well. Looking forward to some update to fix a few of the interface issues on the Vita.

Yeah, there are two separate downloads on the PS3 when you buy it (which was nice of them). One for the PS3 and one for the Vita. The PS3 was 100 mb larger, I think.

I think I wasted my money picking up the Black Hole table for the iOS version.

Not because I'm not having fun with it, but because you can play it for free until you'd get on the high scores board, and I rarely do well enough to cross that threshold.

Vargen wrote:

I think I wasted my money picking up the Black Hole table for the iOS version.

Not because I'm not having fun with it, but because you can play it for free until you'd get on the high scores board, and I rarely do well enough to cross that threshold.

Funny, I found Black Hole to be the one table where I hit that threshold without even trying. Ripley's is friggin hard for me to reach that limit while on my phone as the table is gigantic.

I'm saddened that the scores don't auto-upload on the Vita if they were scored while I wasn 't connected to the internet. I got a top 10 score in Arabian Nights that won't register, now. I will have to content myself with the fact that I had a kickass run while on the train.

Also: if you can build up a big enough bonus, when you trigger the princess you can "collect bonus". I had a 12x multiplyer with over 1.2 million in bonus that I was able to trigger 5 times in one round. That helps for score chasing on that table.

Good tip, thanks! I find that having a couple of good runs that are long enough to get a good feel for how the goals of the table flow is critical to getting comfortable and having fun. Until you can be at least a little strategic, you're just whacking the ball around. =)

necroyeti wrote:

Good tip, thanks! I find that having a couple of good runs that are long enough to get a good feel for how the goals of the table flow is critical to getting comfortable and having fun. Until you can be at least a little strategic, you're just whacking the ball around. =)

Took my son to minigolf yesterday where he and I played the "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Monopoly" pinball games. Truer words were never typed. We ended up just "whacking the ball around" for a couple of games.

The iOS version updated with fixes for the new iPad.

SirRockford wrote:

The iOS version updated with fixes for the new iPad.

And it looks amazing.

A review of the actual Black Hole pinball table.

Toddland wrote:

We ended up just "whacking the ball around" for a couple of games.

Which is of course also a fun and honorable way to play! =D

PSP, 360, and now iOS. How many times will I have to buy this awesome program?
Facebook integration? No thanks. Also I'm a little bummed that once you purchase the tables the credits you earn are essentially meaningless. Also, is it just me or are the offline high-score tables a bit screwy on some of the tables? Especially on Bride of PinBot?

Twilight Zone has reached its target at Kickstarter and they're shooting for Star Trek TNG next. Awesome!

Thank You for Helping Us Add the Twilight Zone

Thanks to the dedication and generosity of our Kickstarter backers the
Twilight Zone pinball project has been successfully funded! We are amazed
and humbled by the tremendous outpouring of support the project received
from all of you.

Amazingly our backers pledged substantially more than the amount required
for the Twilight Zone licenses. As promised we will apply the excess towards
the licenses for the fantastic Star Trek: The Next Generation table. We'll
be launching a new Kickstarter project in the next month of two for this new
table, and based on the head start we feel very confident it will be
successful too.
You guys are amazing!

We will soon begin the process of disassembling and capturing our new
Twilight Zone table. We'll post some updates along the way to keep you
apprised of our progress. As the launch date for the table approaches
(hopefully November) we will contact you with details about getting your
Rewards out to you.

We are incredibly excited to get going on this great table. Thanks again for
your support!

Hmmmm. I haven't been following the news on this but I have been wondering when new tables were coming down the pike. Is this their strategy for adding content? Kickstarter?

necroyeti wrote:

Hmmmm. I haven't been following the news on this but I have been wondering when new tables were coming down the pike. Is this their strategy for adding content? Kickstarter?

Only the ones that have big licensing fees associated with them. They've been adding new tables at a rate of about 2/month for the last few months.

Nice After ST:TNG I hope they do Indiana Jones.

shoptroll wrote:
necroyeti wrote:

Hmmmm. I haven't been following the news on this but I have been wondering when new tables were coming down the pike. Is this their strategy for adding content? Kickstarter?

Only the ones that have big licensing fees associated with them. They've been adding new tables at a rate of about 2/month for the last few months.

Wait, what? Where the f*ck do I see this? Apparently I need games to spam me with requests to buy DLC. God XBLA is a mess right now.

necroyeti wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
necroyeti wrote:

Hmmmm. I haven't been following the news on this but I have been wondering when new tables were coming down the pike. Is this their strategy for adding content? Kickstarter?

Only the ones that have big licensing fees associated with them. They've been adding new tables at a rate of about 2/month for the last few months.

Wait, what? Where the f*ck do I see this? Apparently I need games to spam me with requests to buy DLC. God XBLA is a mess right now.

Don't know about the XBLA version, but the iOS version routinely gets a monthly update with the new tables.