The Pinball Arcade announced for Vita, 3DS, PSN, XBLA

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 9 December, 2011

From the makers of Pinball Hall of Fame.

FarSight Studios has announced The Pinball Arcade, due out on iPhone, iPad, Android, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Vita early 2012.

The pinball simulation comes with four tables at launch: Tales of the Arabian Nights, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Theatre of Magic, and Black Hole. Two tables will be released each month following that, as well as new features, including online tournaments and head-to-head play.

A Facebook page has been set up, and a Pinball Arcade website launched. Its debut trailer is below.

FarSight Studios is a US developer that's been going since 1988. It's made a raft of baseball and American Football games throughout its history, as well as Pinball Hall of Fame, considered one of the best pinball series.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 6 months ago

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  • Subdominator #1 6 months ago

    Normally I'd say Pinball FX 2 is enough. But as Zen recently has done way too many unrealistic pinball machines with animated characters I am looking forward to a second platform with classic machines. The start lineup looks pretty bad (not interested in anything but Ripley's) but at least there is hope they bring some classic tables like Indiana Jones in the future. Or Terminator 2. Or Star Trek.

  • evild_edd #2 6 months ago

    I do enjoy a decent pinball game, but this will have to be top notch to compete with the mighty Pinball FX. Something about the movement of the flippers didn't quite look.....I don't know, "weighty enough" perhaps :S

    The first two tables didn't look particularly inspiring, but the Black Hole with the upside-down inner section looked awesome.

    Will try the demo on XBLA.

  • Eldritch #3 6 months ago

    Black Hole looks ace!

  • chaserslo #4 6 months ago

    Tables look interesting enough, but the ball physics just can't compare with Pinball FX.

  • xenonexe2558 #5 6 months ago

    Pinball FX is great in that it can do a truckload of virtual things that are impossible in real life : the animated characters , insane ramps and VFX. However the big news with The Pinball Arcade is the giant back catalogue of real tables. The best of these have been extremely well designed: flow, clear objectives, modes. I have never played a computer table that comes close in terms of design. Even simple things like cued music and FX are missing. It's extremely hard to design a machine that ticks all the boxes, and even many real tables were lacking. So fingers crossed they choose the right ones. Many classics are licensed themes: Addams Family, Twilight Zone etc, which I would be surprised to see, but there are awesome titles like Attack / Revenge from Mars, Whitewater, Medieval Madness all ripe for the picking.

  • homerramone #6 6 months ago

    Not normally a fan of video versions of pinball. they just cannot match the real thing. however i did get zen2 and whilst its not the same it is fun.. its just different fun.
    Be interested to see what classics they produce. Theres a couple i would buy for 'old times sake'. Centaur would be grand, as would Flash, Barracora and possibly Twilight Zone.
    Edited by homerramone at 09/12/11 @ 16:41

  • Auyx #7 6 months ago

    I am a massive fan of Pinball FX and I just cant see myself playing this. Would seem like a massive step backwards with regards the ball physics and table quality. I echo the sentiments of other commenters that Zen could do with releasing some more realistic tables to balance the more outlandish stuff but I don't think this will be the answer.

  • sonicyoda #8 6 months ago

    If it's the same developers as the Pinball Hall of Fame games then you shouldn't worry. It's in good hands.

  • ozzzy189 #9 6 months ago

    The arabian one is on Williams pinball classics. Which i own, and is far better as a pinball game than the zen games. A tate mode would be great though. I'll probably get this. If the price is right.

  • ozzzy189 #10 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:50:26 12-12-2011

  • IronGiant #11 6 months ago

    Whoever does perfect versions of the Simpsons and South Park tables gets my money :)

  • Feralx1 #12 6 months ago

    So it's on Playstation Vita twice :)

  • JuanBlanco #13 6 months ago

    Oh my god..... Theatre of Magic!! I used to play a lot of (real) pinball back in the day, and this table really is one of the best there is. Also, Zen pinball on the 3DS is very good...

  • pac666 #14 6 months ago

    Williams Hall of Fame is actually superior to ZEN/Pinball FX if you prefer real tables. I own both Williams and ZEN/Pinball FX and Williams feels just too fake after Williams Pinball. This is a day one for me. The ball physics are better (more realistic) on Williams for all those of you who are saying otherwise, the ZEN/Pinball physics feels binary as apposed to the Williams analogue feel.

  • Turfschipper #15 6 months ago

    I hope the vita got tate option. and then flip with the back touch pad.

  • lucky_jim #16 6 months ago

    Are these the same people who did that collection of Williams tables for the PS3 and 360 a while ago? Cos that was really good.