If you missed the Star Wars Pinball announcement from last week, you can read all about the game in the announcement blog post. Today we’re taking a detailed look at the Star Wars Episode V :The Empire Strikes Back table.

The Star Wars Episode V :The Empire Strikes Back pinball table is inspired by the events of the beloved film. The exciting action takes center stage on the main deck of the Executors Star Destroyer, and features iconic scenes that play in the dot matrix display when missions are activated during gameplay.

Join Luke Skywalker as he embraces the power of the Force and leads the charge to repel the advances of Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire. The experience would not be complete without a host of fully functional 3D objects including an AT-AT walker (with circling Snow Speeder!), a Tie Fighter, Ion Cannon and, of course, the emblematic lightsabers of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

Activating missions on the Star Wars Episode V :The Empire Strikes Back table can be done by hitting the center bank and collecting the letters to spell out STAR WARS. You can then choose which scene to start, causing the Executor to jump to hyperspace and fly to the affected planet of the chosen scene. There are five missions to complete before activating Wizard mode, which drops you in the middle of an epic battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader!

One new feature in this table: checkpoints for the table missions! This will really benefit your game if you happen to run out of time or encounter a ball drain in the middle of a mission. The next time you start the mission, you will start at the last checkpoint.

Star Wars Pinball will be available as DLC for Zen Pinball 2 on PlayStation 3 and PS Vita later this month, as Cross-Buy entitled content. Look forward to a detailed look at the Boba Fett table next week — until then, may the Force be with you!

Zen Studios has been making pinball games for nearly a decade now, and today is one of the most exciting pinball moments for our studio! We are extremely excited to announce that Star Wars is coming to Zen Pinball 2! Zen Studios has been working closely with LucasArts to create an amazing collection of videogame pinball tables set in a galaxy far, far away!

The first pack of tables include Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Boba Fett, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Beyond these exciting tables, there are seven others in production as we speak, all to be revealed as 2013 unfolds.

Each table features a different iconic moment from the Star Wars universe, with interactive 3D characters and unique gameplay. If you have not yet downloaded Zen Pinball 2, it is pretty easy to do. The free download will give you access to a great library of pinball content, where you can download demos for each table and pick which you’d like to buy. All content is cross-buy entitled on PS3 and PS Vita.

We will be unveiling more details on each table over the next few weeks leading up to launch, so be sure to keep an eye on PlayStation.Blog or www.starwarspinball.com for the latest Star Wars Pinball updates.

May the Force be with you!

For well over two years now, I’ve had the honor of working with Zen Studios on video pinball tables based on Marvel characters and events. It seems only appropriate that Marvel Pinball: Civil War should release the week of Thanksgiving (as part of PSN’s Zen Pinball 2) – ‘cause I’m plenty thankful for these guys and everything they’ve done with Marvel Pinball so far.

Civil War is one of the biggest events ever told in comics, and as you’d suspect, Zen takes representing it in pinball form very seriously. Here are a just a few reasons why you, the fan, will be thankful that’s the case…

Whose Side Are You On? No, really… When Zen and Marvel decide what tables to do, it’s a truly collaborative process. Sometimes they’re Zen’s idea initially, sometimes they’re ours – it’s Avengers-level teamwork, I tell ya! The idea to do a Civil War table came from us, and with it a mandate: If you choose to do Civil War, you have to let the player decide if he’s with Iron Man and Pro-Registration or with Captain America in opposition to the Superhuman Registration Act. “Whose Side Are You On?” was the slogan for the event, and it’s the event’s central theme – choosing sides simply had to be there. And, after a bit of a prologue involving the Stamford incident, that’s exactly what you’ll do…

Your side determines your experience. Choosing sides doesn’t just reflect your beliefs on who’s right – it also affects gameplay. Most of these are quite subtle (different bonuses and ramps to hit and such), but you’ll also see a story-based link: Go Pro, you’ll get help from the Thunderbolts; side with Cap, Mr. Frank Castle comes along to lend a hand (whether Steve likes it or not).

Your skill recruits undecided heroes to your cause. See those fine folks on the Allies/Enemies board above? They’re all up for grabs to be recruited to your side, and doing so – by nailing ramps and targets, of course – helps to affect the difficulty of the epic one-on-one battles between Iron Man and Cap. According to this particular play-through, Iron Man has recruited Spider-Woman, Tigra and Vision, while Spidey, Human Torch, Ms. Marvel and Luke Cage favor Cap. Sentry? Still deciding. (Oh, I suppose I should also mention that your actions can steal a character’s allegiance…)

You’ll relive huge moments from the story. If you’ve read Civil War (and if you haven’t, do it now!), you’ll remember some huge events, from – SPOILER ALERT – the fall of an Avenger to the wedding of Storm and Black Panther. And the one that made national headlines, of course, as you see (and hear, if you click it) above – which of course only plays if Iron Man recruits him from the Allies board.

You’ll relive not-so-huge moments from the story. We worked with Zen to dig really deep throughout the entire epic Civil War event – not just the core six issues, but the tens of issues spanning other Marvel series as well – to jam in as much authenticity as possible. Above, you can see Iron Man and Cap discussing Tony’s decision to go Pro via Iron Man/Captain America: Casualties of War, and you can hear it come to life as you will in the Civil War table by clicking on the image. Needless to say, this is by no means the only nearly verbatim conversation of this type that you’ll hear play out between the two.

You’ll experience things you’ve probably never seen with any pinball table, real or video. Without fail, Zen continually impresses players with their ability to innovate with each new table. That’s no different with Civil War. In addition everything I’ve mentioned so far, you’ll also get to do things like start the whole thing with a two-ball multiball (representing the cleanup after the Stamford incident), or marvel (heh) as tracks manifest from thin air (above) – the kind of thing only possible in videogame pinball.

It’s made by a bunch of really nice Hungarians. I realize this has absolutely nothing to do with how Civil War plays, but I just have to point out how great the Zen guys are to work with. They’re awesome, and not just because they have names like Viktor with a K and Zsolt with a “rhymes with ‘jolt’ so you know he’s a badass.” They deserve to be thanked in public for doing such a great job, not just on Civil War, but for all their Zen Pinball greatness. So… Thanks guys!

If you’re as big a fan of Zen Studios as I am, go ahead and let ‘em know in the comments below. Ask questions, too! I try to respond to everyone…

Hello PS.Bloggites, today we’re giving you something a little different! We are pleased to welcome ourselves — Jeff Green, Community Manager for PopCap Games and Neil Sorens, Zen Studios’ Creative Director — to the show, as we dynamically tag-team this entry. We wanted to share with you a little bit about how Zen and PopCap worked together to create the Plants vs. Zombies Pinball table, releasing today right alongside Zen Pinball 2 for PlayStation 3 and PS Vita. Enough of us rambling though; take a look at the trailer.

Jeff: The first thing you need to know about this Plants vs. Zombies table is that it is built out of authentic Plants vs. Zombies bits and pieces. We handed Zen Studios original game assets including art, sounds, objects, zombies, flowers, plants, defenses – ok, you get it – in a beautiful package of digital goodness. Zen took these and went to work designing another brilliant pinball table. We asked Crazy Dave for some wisdom to send along to Zen: “MMMMMM PINBALL”.

Neil: When we first received all these assets, our excitement level went through the roof. We were beyond excited! The second thing that went through our mind: wait, Plants vs. Zombies is 2D, are there any 3D assets? Obviously, the answer was no. One of the first things we had to figure out was how to translate a very deliberate, slow-paced 2D game into a fast-paced, frantic pinball game with 3D interactive characters. The team went to work creating a bunch of 3D models for the zombies, plants, Melon Pults, and Crazy Dave’s jalopy. We then had to figure out how to incorporate all of these into the table geometry. Luckily, we received tremendous help from the Plants, and Crazy Dave also turned out to be very supportive.

Jeff: When the Zen Studios team started sending us materials for approval, we were seriously impressed with how they were translating 2D to 3D. It was like Plants vs. Zombies was completely new again, totally remade for a brand new experience. The day playable code showed up, we were all lost in a “wow” moment. We about lost it when the “Going Nuts” mission started and fog came billowing in across the table, while zombies started marching toward the door step. That’s when we knew the true spirit of Plants vs. Zombies had been successfully captured in this pinball creation.

This was the very first time PopCap has ever licensed out any of our game properties or worked with another developer on this level. Zen did a stellar job — the table turned out better than anyone could have expected.

Neil: It’s been quite a good time working on pinball over the past few years. We have had the privilege and honor of working with some of the biggest names in entertainment, and some of the most creative people in the industry. Working with PopCap has certainly been an amazing experience, and it’s really cool that our first project together will release today along with Zen Pinball 2. When I look at the game, I see the work of so many… not just Zen Studios people, but people at Tecmo, Capcom, Marvel, and now PopCap have contributed so much to this game.

We sincerely hope you enjoy the new Zen Pinball 2 platform and Plants vz. Zombies table. Don’t forget, this is a Cross Buy game, so buy it once and get it on both PS3 and PS Vita! If you have any questions about Zen Pinball 2, check out the FAQ we have put together in the Zen Pinball 2 forum. We’ll be here to answer your questions all day long!

Zen Studios has taken a different tack since debuting on PS3 (via PSN) in 2009 – the tables featured in Zen Pinball don’t exist in some decrepit arcade or collector’s garage. These fanciful pinball experiences don’t – and simply couldn’t – exist in real life.

Now Zen is upgrading the “platform” for these tables – meaning the physics engine, visuals, and social media experience – with Zen Pinball 2, coming to both PS3 and PS Vita for free next month. I was lucky enough to be sharing a flight out to Cologne for gamescom with someone from the Zen PR team, who handed me a PS Vita loaded with a nearly complete version of the game.

With The Pinball Arcade fresh in my mind, I slipped back into the Zen state of pinball, which has a decidedly different feel. Zen’s pinballs themselves feel a bit lighter than in The Pinball Arcade, leading to longer games. That makes sense – real world pinball tables are there to keep you pumping quarters into the machine; clearly, that’s not a concern here. Even when playing a table in Zen Pinball 2 for the first time, I felt like I was pretty good at it, though that likely means that true mastery will mean posting ridiculously high scores on the leaderboards.

The tables available on this build are all currently available for PS3 via Zen Pinball, so I’ll focus here on how Zen Pinball 2 fares on PS Vita. The visuals are clear and sharp on the OLED screen; while the tables aren’t real, some of them look like they could be. There are a multitude of playing angles available, and you can turn the PS Vita unit vertical to instantly get a more natural playing view. While The Pinball Arcade offers this feature, I found it difficult to use in practice. However, Zen’s friendlier physics make the touchscreen flipper controls a more viable playing option. As you might expect, Zen Pinball 2 offers touchscreen options for all the menus as well. There’s also a pass-and-play multiplayer mode for up to four people, which operates much like you’d expect to play in the arcade.

Two of the biggest draws for the Zen Pinball universe remain in the sequel: licensed tables and crazy stuff going down on said tables. The Marvel universe is well represented, with 13 tables currently available including several notable comic heroes. The worlds of Street Fighter and Ninja Gaiden are represented, and Zen has promised a mystery Popcap collaboration as well.

What happens on those imaginary pinball tables really sets Zen Pinball 2 apart: Aliens abduct your ball on the Paranormal table. A Blanka figurine crackles with electricity on the Super Street Fighter II table. Zemo and Red Skull battle it out with Captain America along the edge of his table. The Avengers is the most ambitious – you choose a character-specific ball (Iron Man, Black Widow, etc) and carry out missions specific to that hero. Oh, and the entire table is the SHIELD Helicarrier from the movie, slowly gliding over a city.

On PS Vita, I found Zen Pinball 2 to be the Yin to Pinball Arcade’s Yang. What it lacks in realistic feel, it more than makes up for in variety and fantastical sequences across its 26 tables. As us pinball devotees find in-person pinball experiences harder and harder to come by, Zen Pinball 2 is another great, inexpensive way to get that flipper fix. If you own any Zen Pinball or Marvel Pinball tables, getting Zen Pinball 2 is a no-brainer.

The new platform is a free download, and you’ll be able to import previously purchased tables from within the app, where you’ll find new Trophies to earn. Zen Pinball 2 and the new Popcap table will be available to download via PSN on September 4th.

In addition, we have a great surprise for you! Our latest table creation, based on a PopCap Games mega-hit (and I do mean MEGA), will be releasing as new DLC content the same day! What might this table be? All details will be revealed later this month during PAX Prime! If you are at the event, we invite you to stop by PopCap’s booth and get first hands on with the table!

As you all probably know, we take pinball very seriously here at Zen Studios, and we see pinball development in two different parts. On one end you have the actual pinball table, which had better be fun and entertaining. We have worked hard to make sure you have an awesome selection of themes and table designs, the most advanced physics, and stellar-looking tables.

On the other end, you have the game presentation, features that make it competitive among friends (beating your own score over and over is fun, but beating your friends is SO much better), and the overall experience. We have worked really hard to make Zen Pinball 2 the finest pinball platform available!

• Zen Pinball 2 is cross platform entitled. Any content you buy will be playable on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita at no extra charge!
• Zen Pinball 2 is a free download for everyone, with trials available for each table so you can try each table before you decide to buy.
• For those of you who already own Zen Pinball or Marvel Pinball content, you will be able to import your purchases into Zen Pinball 2 for free, receiving graphics, physics and social system upgrades at no extra cost!
• Zen Pinball 2 will launch with 26 different pinball tables including the mystery PopCap table!
• A beautiful layout and design featuring all Zen pinball tables under one roof.
• New trophies for all tables!
• New social system with in-game score notifications, challenges, Facebook posting, ProScore (personal performance across all tables) and TeamScore (a combined score ranking you and your friends).
• New rule sheets to help you better understand the tables, while still providing opportunity for discovering the secrets of the table on your own.

As you can see, Zen Pinball 2 is set to take pinball games to the next level. Any guesses on what PopCap game is coming to pinball?

Summer is a great time to game. Open the window, turn up the volume to let everybody know what you’re playing. Another way to celebrate summer gaming is to watch this edition of PULSE which features new and upcoming releases and the annual PlayStation Store Summer Sale. Join Christina Lee for a look at Rainbow Moon — a classic looking 90′s RPG produced by the same folks who created Soldner X. For the PlayStation Vita, Zen Pinball 2 is coming soon supporting cross-play. The PS3 version supports stereoscopic 3D and is backwards compatible for those of you who’ve got the original.

In PlayStation Plus news, Gotham City Imposters is now part of this month’s instant game collection. Check out this zany take on the Batman universe with wacky costumes and bullet flying mayhem. And, finally, the Top 10 features the most popular downloads of June. Not a huge surprise in the number one spot, but check out a couple surprises lower in the list.

So, watch right here on the PlayStation.Blog or download HD, SD, and PS Vita versions from the PlayStation Store after today’s update.

We hope you enjoy this quick look at what’s happening on PlayStation.

Zen Studios is fresh off an exciting and successful E3. Although our presence was modest, we still made a big impact. KickBeat for PS Vita won Destructoid’s Best of Rhythm E3 award, and Zen Pinball 2 was nominated for Best of E3 2012 by IGN and Best Portable Game by Destructoid. We are extremely honored to be included alongside the industry’s best!

KickBeat sure received a positive response at E3. We think it’s because there is nothing else like it, and a lot of people caught on to that. There were also some people who simply told us we were crazy when they watched us play, but once they got their hands on the game they had BIG smiles on their faces. We have some new video that was released right before and then during E3, we wanted to make sure you guys got a chance to view as well.

The first video is the intro story chapter to KickBeat, setting up our Kung Fu style cheesy story. All of these story scenes are hand animated, and yes, we hired professional voice actors. As a matter of fact, at least one of the actors we’ve used came by the Sony booth to say “hi,” as they are all from Los Angeles.

The next video is actual gameplay, set to “I Can’t Wait” by Celldweller. The game is being played at a high difficulty, so you can really see how the game looks when played at its fullest potential.

The next few weeks will be very busy for pinball. The new Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles pack will release next week, and we will have some detailed info to share on Monday (along with a NEW trailer). Zen Pinball 2 should be out in mid-late July for PS3 and PS Vita. We also want to give a big thanks to our friends at PlayStation for showcasing Zen Pinball 2 on PS Vita in their E3 booth.

This was our very first time having our own setup at E3, and it was a total blur – in a good way! Nine hours of nonstop meetings everyday with seemingly every member of the gaming press, Five Hour Energies, and zombie hands (thanks to our Concourse Hall neighbors, Telltale Games and the amazing The Walking Dead Game which I hear was #1 in May on PSN. And that’s just a taste of what our week was like!

Speaking of the PlayStation booth, by the end of the show everyone was wearing the first piece of Zen Studios swag – some really comfy slippers. We do not wear shoes in the Zen Studios office. We wear slippers! They are much more comfortable and relaxing, and these are actually the same style worn in the office. It’s pretty funny, but a lot of people have been Tweeting us pictures of their feet, and a lot of our followers have been asking for these so I think we might actually start making them available on our website. Let us know if you want them as well.

Thanks to all of you for your support over the years!

It’s a truly historic day here at the House of Ideas, as Marvel’s The Avengers is finally making its way to American theaters. I’ve seen it. It’s awesome. I’m pretty sure you’ll agree with me soon. (Maybe you already do.)

As Interactive Manager at Marvel, it’s been my pleasure to work with Zen Studios on the video-pinball adaptation of the film, which, as one of four great tables in Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles, should be headed your way in just a few weeks. It looks a little something like this…

Cool trailer, I know, but you can see it pretty much anywhere. When Sid Shuman and Jeff Rubenstein – who preside over the PlayStation Blog with legendary Thanos-ian tyranny – demanded I present “a li’l somethin’ extra for our minions,” who was I to say no? So, here you have it, my fellow peons – five cool things about “Marvel’s The Avengers” pinball…

5) Zen Pinball 2!
“Marvel’s The Avengers” and the other three tables within the Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles four-pack help to usher in Zen’s new PlayStation pinball platform on the same launch date (best I can give you now: “soon”). You can read all the details here, but the basics you need to know are 1) it houses all past Marvel Pinball and Zen Pinball titles under one virtual roof, 2) it does more stuff than those other two titles, and 3) you can switch between playing on PS3 and Vita at no extra charge. Excelsior, indeed.

4) Real Movie Assets
See that Quinjet? And those 3D character models? Oh, and those S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors with all sorts of high-tech-looking pictures of countries and stuff (you may have gotten a better look at Comic-Con)? They’re all taken directly from digital assets used in the film. So, that is the Quinjet. Those are Iron Man and Hulk. Those are the same S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors with all sorts of high-tech-looking pictures of countries and stuff.

3) You’re Not Just a Ball – You’re a Character…in the Form of a Ball
In terms of sheer gameplay, this is what makes “Marvel’s The Avengers” one of the most unique video pinball tables you’ll ever play. As you may have noticed, none of the screenshots feature a traditional silver ball for this table – that’s because no traditional silver balls exist at any time while you play. Instead, an Avenger of your choosing – represented by the balls you see above – is dropped right into the thick of things, each boasting his or her own unique buffs based on character specialties. (My personal favorite: An exclusive bonus to the skillshot when you’re Hawkeye.) I look forward to watching the Zen Studios forums and seeing how sequence of Avenger selection affects the battle plan for all the hardcore Zen fans out there.

2) Thor vs. Hulk!
‘Nuff said.

1) Movie Guys Helped Make It
This table was a true team effort. In addition to our games group here at Marvel and, most especially, the immense talent at Zen Studios, “Marvel’s The Avengers” features what may very well be a video pinball first – actual filmmaker involvement.

One of the coolest parts of the development experience for me was shooting ideas around with Executive Producer Jeremy Latcham, Creative Manager of R&D Will Corona Pilgrim and few others of Marvel Studios’ finest. They were genuinely enthused about the process, and I credit them fully with coming up with inspiring some of the missions, as well as the idea of having the Helicarrier act as the setting for the board. Once things were in full swing, Will was especially helpful, providing detailed feedback on everything from character animations to the minute details of the table’s script.

All told, the film team provided some invaluable ideas and feedback. You can tell there’s a lot of talent there – the type that’s capable of creating what very well may be the best super hero movie ever, I’d say…

We have been listening to all of your feedback and have included many, many of your ideas into what is our most advanced and sophisticated pinball platform yet! There has been strong focus on keeping the community together, bringing all of your pinball tables under one roof, and then connecting the games across PS3 and Vita. If you are a pinball fan, this will be the ultimate pinball experience on PlayStation!

So, how will all of this work if you have purchased Zen Pinball or Marvel Pinball and any DLC? It’s going to be super easy! When Zen Pinball 2 releases, you will simply need to download and install a game update, and your game will be updated FREE of charge. All of your tables will appear in one location, they will have received updated ball physics and graphics, new trophies and a much deeper social experience including in game notifications, friend challenges and even posting scores to Facebook. This free update is our way of saying THANK YOU for supporting Zen Studios and allowing us to continue work on the game we love so much.

For those of you who are new to the game, Zen Pinball 2 will be a free platform download with trials available for every table. Simply download Zen Pinball 2, and you will have access to an amazing library of pinball tables including the brand new Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles pack, featuring tables based on Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’ Movie, ‘World War Hulk,’ ‘Fear Itself,’ and ‘The Infinity Gauntlet.’ Here is a glimpse of the brand new, redesigned Zen Pinball 2 dashboard, showing how the tables will be presented.

I know you are all wondering about cross platform purchases. We are happy to announce that all content purchased for Zen Pinball 2 will playable on PlayStation 3 and PS Vita at no extra charge! You can enjoy the game at home on the couch and then take it with you on the go without having to pay twice.

There are a bunch of new features available in Zen Pinball 2, such as in game scoring notifications, friend challenges, posting scores to Facebook and amazing stereoscopic 3D. We have spent serious time perfecting this game and polishing every little aspect!

When you add it all up, there will be TWENTY SIX different pinball tables available day one for Zen Pinball 2! We will continue to support the game with regular DLC, and we have new brands that we are developing tables around, including a pinball table based on one of PopCap’s most popular franchises, and we have a ton of ideas for original designs.

Thanks for three fantastic years of support for Zen Pinball! We are looking forward to the next chapter with Zen Pinball 2.