Pinball Arcade Out Tomorrow on PS4

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Pinball Arcade Out Tomorrow on PS4
Bobby King Lead Designer, FarSight Studios
9 Author Replies

Pinball Arcade on PS4

The holidays are here, and we’re happy to be launching Pinball Arcade on PS4 tomorrow! We’ve been working hard all year on remastering and relighting the classic pinball tables in our game to take advantage of the PS4’s power. And you’re getting a table on PS4 for free.

That table happens to be one of the best pinballs of all time, Tales of the Arabian Nights, which was designed and manufactured by Williams in 1996. We can’t wait for people to try it who may never have tried pinball before. Pinball is a much deeper game than some people think.

Out Tomorrow

The digital version goes live this week in North America. The blu-ray is also getting delivered to a few retailers this week — a great stocking stuffer for anyone who likes pinball (hint hint).

We’re launching with all of our Season One content available. That’s more than 20 tables worthy of first ballot Pinball Hall of Fame inductions. In fact, nine of the top fourteen ever, according to pinside.com are available from day one on PS4. We’re humbled to get to recreate these masterpieces for all of the real pinball fans out there.

Pinball Arcade on PS4Pinball Arcade on PS4

Lighting Tech

Since we started re-creating pinball tables digitally, a decade or so ago, we’ve wanted to implement point lights — the illumination of light from specific points. Pinball tables are a great way to show off this technology. Some tables have more than 100 points of light that have been designed to flash on and off during the different modes and features of the table. I’ll always remember the PS4 for being the platform that we developed this on first.

Also adding to the eye candy is the amount of real-time environment map reflections we can add. Pinball tables are made up of lot of plastic and metal parts. Lots of chrome, combined with lots of colored lights going on and off makes for a beautiful light show!

Improvements

Since we first released the Season One tables on PS3 and PS Vita, we’ve been making fixes and improvements to our engine and each table. These fixes will soon be released for those platforms in a big patch that should be out in January. The PS4 version will get this updated gameplay on day one.

Pinball Arcade on PS4

Discounts

We want to give players who own the PS3 and PS Vita content a discount on PS4. There have been some technical hurdles, but we’ve been able to work with PlayStation to implement a loyalty discount on PlayStation Store for the Season One Table Packs. Players who own all of the Season One tables can buy either of the Season One Packs for half price!

Happy holidays to all of you guys from everyone at FarSight!

pinball arcadeplaystation gamesps vitaps3ps4

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124 Comments

9 Author Replies

  • RE_Player
    December 16, 2013 at 10:46 am PST

    Getting my PS4 tomorrow. This will be my first game for it.

  • FearMonkey
    December 16, 2013 at 10:51 am PST

    I have to own *all* of the Season 1 tables? I have all but four of them. So if I want the ones I already own on PS3 I still have to pay full price to have them on PS4? :(

  • ThaNikilist
    December 16, 2013 at 10:52 am PST

    What about season 3 tables? Will they be cross-buy across all consoles? Any chance of making the games cross-save or cross-trophy, so I don’t have to achieve those frustratingly impossible goals on three different consoles?

    • Bobby King
      December 16, 2013 at 12:09 pm PST

      The Game is not going to be cross-buy. All the trophies are specific to the platform. This is good news to a lot of people that really like to rack up those trophies.

  • Nubuo
    December 16, 2013 at 10:52 am PST

    Wait, so I have to re-buy all the tables I already own on PS3/Vita? That’s terrible news!

    • Bobby King
      December 16, 2013 at 12:15 pm PST

      If the game was a direct port like Zen Pinball it would make sense to offer it for free, but we put a lot of work into creating a next gen experience by utilizing the full potential of the PS4 hardware.

  • tusunami
    December 16, 2013 at 11:02 am PST

    Ugh not happy about this at all, why isn’t zen pinball coming to PS4??????????

  • BearAntlers
    December 16, 2013 at 11:05 am PST

    @Nubuo @FearMonkey – or you could, you know, play them on PS3/Vita, the systems you bought them for…

  • kagatoASUKA89
    December 16, 2013 at 11:10 am PST

    @tusunami it is coming to PS4 just not this week look at the coming soon list of games.

  • tusunami
    December 16, 2013 at 11:11 am PST

    Well first up for those that don’t know about it Zen Pinball is the better deal because it’s cross-buy. So everyone go & get that instead its the better deal anyway.

    • Bobby King
      December 16, 2013 at 12:47 pm PST

      Zen is porting the game to PS4 with the same graphics from PS3. Ours has been reworked for for the next gen experience by utilizing the full potential of the PS4 hardware.

  • FearMonkey
    December 16, 2013 at 11:12 am PST

    @6 – Or, y’know, I would want to play the PS4 version as well as PS3 just like I wouldn’t mind owning some of them on Steam as well.

    Also, I kickstarted Twilight Zone and Star Trek tables. Shouldn’t I get a break on those as well? Not free, per se, since I got it free on PS3 as a backer, but something…sheesh.

  • kagatoASUKA89
    December 16, 2013 at 11:12 am PST

    Does this come with a free table like on all other versions?

  • Darksider71
    December 16, 2013 at 11:14 am PST

    So Zen can give the cross-buy but Pinball Arcade can’t…..sound a little off to me!!!! Guess I am only going with Zen on the PS4. Such a shame too.

  • tusunami
    December 16, 2013 at 11:14 am PST

    Say what the in the post that was a typo that just infuriates me more. They shouldn’t have posted the info on the blog in the beginning of the month then.

  • photopyle
    December 16, 2013 at 11:16 am PST

    Is this free to play, you buy the tables you want? Also, is there local multiplayer?

    • Bobby King
      December 16, 2013 at 1:36 pm PST

      Yes Tales of the Arabian nights is free. The tables have their individual multilayer modes up to 4 locally just like the arcade.

  • BearAntlers
    December 16, 2013 at 11:17 am PST

    @9 Exactly, if you want them on Steam or other platforms you should have to buy them for those platforms. The discount is just a bonus. Cross-buy is an awesome feature, but definitely not something we are entitled to on every cross-platform game.

  • Nubuo
    December 16, 2013 at 11:22 am PST

    What really stinks it that it sounds like there’s no PS4-Vita cross-buy going forward. So if you want to switch from PS3 to PS4 you still need to buy the tables twice to play them on your Vita.

  • BradGrenz
    December 16, 2013 at 11:38 am PST

    No cross-buy is a disappointment, but I wonder if it is related to the licensing deals FarSight has for the rights to the original table designs. Since Zen created all their tables themselves they don’t have to worry about contractual gotchas to the same degree.

  • Zimm108
    December 16, 2013 at 11:38 am PST

    Will the big PS3/Vita patch add trophy support for the late Season 2 tables, or did you reach your trophy limit after the release of Table Pack #15?

  • Rez33
    December 16, 2013 at 11:47 am PST

    Awesome news! Thanks, Farsight! I hope you get a lot of sales before Christmas!
    Looking forward to the update that will have stereoscopic 3D on PS4! Hopefully soon, especially since Zen will have 3D running on day one tomorrow.
    Thanks again!

  • Trucidation
    December 16, 2013 at 11:48 am PST

    Having to own all the tables just to get a discount, no thank you. What a letdown.

  • warlock7
    December 16, 2013 at 11:53 am PST

    Wait a minute!!! We have to pay for the tables again?!? Where’s the love?!? Won’t be supporting your titles anymore. Zen gets all my pinball money from now on… The shortsightedness of some developers leaves me cold.

  • Nubuo
    December 16, 2013 at 11:56 am PST

    Sadly, it’s probably not Farsight’s fault. They have a history of being treated poorly by publishers where Zen gets the carpet rolled out for them. It’s got to be very frustrating for them.

  • GGCAN
    December 16, 2013 at 11:58 am PST

    As a lot of others here, I’ll stick with Zen Pinball2…love that game.

  • thummper
    December 16, 2013 at 12:09 pm PST

    any news on “Cyclone” table being released?

  • Entomorph
    December 16, 2013 at 12:15 pm PST

    Haw! “The Game is not going to be cross-buy. All the trophies are specific to the platform. This is good news to a lot of people that really like to rack up those trophies.” Odd, every other game I got via cross-buy, had trophies on both systems. So no, it’s not good news. It’s a crock. Not to mention I’ve seen how much you charge for your table “packs”. Those of us that already paid for tables on ps3 or vita, despite not owning every single one, shouldn’t have to suffer. Then again.. This is why I fully support Zen instead.

  • FearMonkey
    December 16, 2013 at 12:17 pm PST

    @14 – The discount is a bonus, yes. But it’s a bonus I only get if I bought ALL of the Season 1 tables, which includes two tables I don’t want to own because I don’t like those tables in real life. Why would I want to own them in digital form too? And because of my dislike for those tables, any tables I want on PS4 I have to pay full price for. This makes no sense. If they’re gonna offer a discount on the Season 1 package, I should have the option of pro-rating that package based on how many of those tables I already own and would want to purchase again.
    Basically my only option is to only get tables on PS4 that I don’t already own on PS3 like the Season 2 and Season 3 tables. That’s their loss, not mine. *shrug*

    • Bobby King
      December 16, 2013 at 1:43 pm PST

      We really tried to get a discount for owning just a few tables on PS3, but Sony would only allow us to do it this way.

  • Entomorph
    December 16, 2013 at 12:18 pm PST

    Also Zen Pinball isn’t a direct port. Hence why it isn’t out yet. They’re also putting a lot of hard work into making the game take advantage of the hardware.

  • Slyddogg
    December 16, 2013 at 12:20 pm PST

    I hope you all realize that while Zen is merely porting over Zen Pinball 2 (which I will be picking up as well) with 1080p/60fps being the only difference from the PS3 version, FarSight has put months of additional work into these tables which will make them look and play vastly better than their PS3 counterparts while also running at a solid 1080p/60fps. Please keep this in mind when making your decision whether or not to purchase this upgraded (not ported) version of The Pinball Arcade.

  • Entomorph
    December 16, 2013 at 12:28 pm PST

    Zen Pinball isn’t merely a port. Watch some of their live streams, or read their blogs. They’re putting a lot of work into the game

  • Slyddogg
    December 16, 2013 at 12:30 pm PST

    Barbie herself confirmed that 1080p/60fps were the only differences between the two versions.

  • Snake_E_A_T_E_R
    December 16, 2013 at 12:30 pm PST

    Wonder if pinball arcade will be available in south Africa ? Cant wait to play it.

  • Entomorph
    December 16, 2013 at 12:34 pm PST

    Bobby, and no she didn’t. She said it was going to run at 1080/60fps on this blog. She never said that was the ONLY improvement. In fact on the same blog, she also talked about improved leaderboards. Of course once again, you can simply go to their site yourself, read the blogs, read the forums, watch the livestreams. They’ve talked about the work that’s gone into new shaders and everything quite a bit.

    Anyway, enjoy paying 40-50 bucks for “table packs”.

  • Entomorph
    December 16, 2013 at 12:39 pm PST

    BTW sorry if I’m coming across as a bit of a jerk guys. This just really bugs me. After the way Pinball Arcade launched on steam, I had high hopes that they wouldn’t make the same mistake on PS4.

    Not to mention even if Zen Pinball WAS a direct port, it’s poor form to call out another dev like that.

    Anyway, I’m walking away as to not cause anymore drama.

  • Slyddogg
    December 16, 2013 at 12:47 pm PST

    Thanks for the info and glad to hear that Zen Pinball 2 will feature more improvements than I was originally lead to believe. In any case, I will be picking up both The Pinball Arcade and Zen Pinball 2 on day one. I love pinball first and foremost and will continue to fully support both studios. I hope others will choose to do the same.

  • CatatonicAlex
    December 16, 2013 at 1:03 pm PST

    I guess the reason why this is not cross-buy is because it’s not a cheap port like the one the Vita version got.
    It’s nice that they updated the graphics for the PS4 version but sucks that they just did a quick copy+paste for the Vita one.
    The only game I regret buying……………..sigh.

  • Nubuo
    December 16, 2013 at 1:04 pm PST

    Bobby, I appreciate the response, and I love your game. But how many times do I need to re-buy the same tables? Between PS3/Vita, Steam, iOS, and the various kickstarters, I feel like it’s getting to the point where the game needs to be a client to a service rather than an individual purchase on all your platforms.

  • photopyle
    December 16, 2013 at 1:24 pm PST

    Why is everyone so mad? If you bought Titanic on DVD when it first came out, did that entitle you to a free copy of the Blu Ray when it came out?

  • Nikel-n-Dime
    December 16, 2013 at 1:38 pm PST

    How about you fix the complete garbage ports on the vita. It’s funny when a developer wants money from a customer base, as it appears that the iOS and Droid ports of the same game appear to not only have better physics, but graphics too. The only thing that your company did was exactly that: CTRL+C. Realization was made that they could make more money of another store which shall not be named on this site, by releasing a very, very similar port. All we ask is that you fix the broken DLC tables. They are AWFUL on the vita and sometimes I feel like I absolutely want to snap it in half.

    That said, l will gladly purchase more products from the company as I truly enjoy the PS3 version, however, pinball at the end of the day is…. pinball. It shouldn’t be mind blowing and should be at the top in development regardless of this gen or next gen.

  • Tomoprime
    December 16, 2013 at 1:48 pm PST

    Can I see the some screen shots comparing your hard work between the PS3 and PS4 versions of the game. Lighting is a key factor and we should be able to tell the difference right off the bat.

    Also list any modes that are new for the PS4 version.

    Is there a PS4 demo I can play?

  • BigMesy
    December 16, 2013 at 2:00 pm PST

    Hello I am a big fan of the series and excited to see you bring this to PS4. I was unaware that this was going to be available on blu-ray disc.

    Is the disc version also going to be available in North America? Does the disc version include all the season one tables? What retailers are going to be carrying it?

    I wouldn’t mind buying the game on disc again for PS4.

  • Entomorph
    December 16, 2013 at 2:18 pm PST

    I shoulda walked away.. I didn’t, and now I see this. How many times are you going to say Zen is “just a port” and your game is somehow special. You sound like a broken record. “Don’t be mad at us. At least we put work into our game. THEY didn’t.” This is the worst PR I’ve EVER seen. Speaking of hard work, how about instead of releasing table after table.. You fix some bugs. To this day you haven’t fixed the issue with tables losing track of balls. Though I’m guessing the PS4 version magically will, after ALL this time.

    I dunno.. This just makes me sick. Find a better way to market your game instead of putting the other guys down. It’s sad because despite the bugs, I actually used to like Pinball Arcade.

  • PrimeroIncognito
    December 16, 2013 at 2:18 pm PST

    @ Bobby King

    Sure is a different world than the one we grew up in, eh? It’s gotta be tough dealing with the grotesque sense of entitlement in consumers these days…

    @ warlock7

    The shortsightedness is on your side, buddy. Believe me. You clearly didn’t look into the particulars involved in how everything panned out.

    @ Entomorph

    Jeez, dude. You whine a lot. First of all, “Bobby” goes by “Barbie” on the Zen forums. Second, what FarSight charges for their table packs is well within reasonable bounds. $2.50 per table for infinite plays on pins that you probably can’t find anymore is an incredible deal. You just simply don’t appreciate what you have.

    @ thummper

    I would love Cyclone too! It has been one of my all-time favorites ever since I played it at Castle Park when I was kid. I’ve been hoping for Cyclone on TPA since day one. Keep hope alive… :)

    @ photopyle

    Exactly. Isn’t it funny when greedy people call other people greedy? Spoiled brats…

  • avdavidw
    December 16, 2013 at 2:22 pm PST

    Excited to see this is finally coming but a little disappointed that there’s no cross-buy.

    I’ve bought several tables that I was interested in, and even kicked in on the Kickstarter, but since I haven’t purchased a full season pass I guess there’s no discount for me?

    I might of considered picking up some new tables but it looks like it’s only launching with content I already own and don’t want to rebuy on PS4.

  • PrimeroIncognito
    December 16, 2013 at 2:30 pm PST

    @ Entomorph

    Haven’t you been keeping up on the news about the looming super-patch coming soon to the current versions of TPA? It’s been discussed for months now… AND, Bobby King mentioned it in the article above. Did you not read it?

    I do agree that it wasn’t necessary for Bobby to mention Zen, as I personally believe there’s no reason to even compare the two games since they offer vastly different experiences. But I’m thinking he just got all caught up in the never-ending Zen/FarSight comparisons that everyone else has been unnecessarily engaging in. It probably gets to them after a while. He’s only human. But it’s not anything to remove support over. You’re paying FarSight for their work and the product they bring you, not their friendship. Bobby seems like a nice guy in all of his interviews, so I doubt he mentioned Zen in that manner to be malicious towards them. Just a flub.

    If only he could remove “like Zen Pinball” from his response to #4. The rest of the reply would have been perfect.

    Anyway, I’m looking forward to Pinball Arcade on PS4… when I get one… :)

  • PrimeroIncognito
    December 16, 2013 at 2:41 pm PST

    Actually, now that I think about it, I think I played Cyclone at Bullwinkle’s, not Castle Park… not that it matters, but whatever. I like to be as accurate as possible.

    I sure do miss the Golden Age of arcade gaming!

  • plaztiksyke
    December 16, 2013 at 2:47 pm PST

    I’m a big fan of both Pinball Arcade *and* Zen Pinball, they both scratch a different itch and both developers have been fantastic with post-release support of both content and engine updates.

    While I’m disappointed that Sony is forcing yet another indie developer to enrage their fanbase, I blame Sony’s restrictive policies and not the developers themselves.

    The lighting improvements are awesome, and if they also have lossless audio and cross-buy on FUTURE purchases, then I’m set to buy. These guys have been awesome with post-release support, so I’m sure 3D and other rendering aspects will be on their way throughout the year.

    If anything I might skip Zen Pinball on PS4 since it doesn’t include some of my favorite tables — namely Tesla. Tesla also lost some of its cool particle effects between Zen Pinball 1 and the sequel, and I haven’t been interested in any of their licensed content beyond Plants vs Zombies. Meanwhile, Pinball Arcade has had great licensed tables in the form of Star Trek and Terminator. (Can’t wait for Addams Family!)

  • Entomorph
    December 16, 2013 at 2:50 pm PST

    You are right, some of my points were off. They do deserve to make money, they are running a business. However count how many times he went right to “well they’re just doing a port, and we worked hard”. Whenever backed into a corner. Go over to their official facebook right now to see even more of this. I might have lost my cool, but it’s mostly because of how poorly this is being handled in my eyes. I honestly liked Pinball Arcade, despite it’s bugs, as I’ve already said. Because they are two TOTALLY different games. One is fantasy, the other is real. Pinball Arcade DOES allow us to play tables we otherwise wouldn’t. And yes, they DO deserve to make money. But the way they’re going about it? The way they’re handling the PR? I’m sorry if it flies for you. But it doesn’t for me.

  • Entomorph
    December 16, 2013 at 2:51 pm PST

    Sorry post 46 was @PrimeroIncognito

    Not good at this @’ing and Tweeting and facebooking. Too many video games, not enough time for internetering. ;P

  • PrimeroIncognito
    December 16, 2013 at 3:06 pm PST

    @ Entomorph

    Well, I’m not looking at their Facebook page… I rarely look at “social media” stuff…

    But here on this blog post, Bobby only made a mistake at #4. His other replies that mention Zen were in responses to questions or comments that mentioned Zen first, and I think he simply made the comparison to relate to the commenter and highlight the differences between both games.

    And now I’m thinking that it’s possible that Bobby brought up Zen in his response to #4, which was seemingly unprovoked, because he knew ahead of time how many people were going to compare TPA to Zen… perhaps he jumped the gun, yes, he should have waited until someone else brought up Zen (as someone always does!) before mentioning them, but like I said, I’m thinking he’s probably just tired of it by now. I know I would be.

    That’s only my take, though. I can’t speak for Bobby. I ain’t mad at him though. And Zen won’t suffer due to anything he’s said. No harm done. I still love both teams.

  • Entomorph
    December 16, 2013 at 3:12 pm PST

    Here. I’ll quote his facebook statement to me.. Of course to keep this fair, I blew up like a crazy person first, I did bring up the pricing thing, but my main issue was with my personal opinion on their poor marketing. I even quoted all of his posts about zen from this site.

    “Can you direct us to any information on the enhancements Zen is planning on making for the PS4 version? Furthermore, when you bought a copy of say… Jet set radio for the original xbox, were you given the XBLA version of Jet Set Radio HD for free (just as an example), no, you weren’t. This is normal, it is hard to get across to the fans just how much work it takes to completely redesign a table for the new lighting system from the ground up, not to mention upgrading the textures on tables one by one. We are trying very hard to produce the best game that we can, and will continue to put forth the best effort we’re capable of in adding new features.”

    Now I’m sorry if I see it one way, and you see it another. But when I read that, I see “We worked hard, and they didn’t.”

  • XFRod
    December 16, 2013 at 3:13 pm PST

    @Bobby – Add me to list of those that think bringing up Zen was in poor taste. The games between the two companies scratch different itches. Nobody is playing Zen Pinball for real-world tables. Just like, nobody is playing TPA for over the top, high action, themed tables (that could NEVER be done on a real table).

    While I don’t think your comments were malicious, they were in bad taste.

    Don’t worry, it’s not enough to call a boycott on TPA and, I’ll still be cherry picking the tables I want to play on the PS4. Can’t wait for tomorrow.

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