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Massive Pinball Arcade Table Pack Release Dates and Features Update | PSNStores

Massive Pinball Arcade Table Pack Release Dates and Features Update

Posted by on January 23rd, 2013 | 3 Comments | Tags:

The Pinball Arcade was one of my top 5 games of 2012, and will remain one of the most frequently played games on my Vita. Especially if FarSight Studios continues to release DLC table packs at a fairly steady rate. Now we know the tables that are expected to come next and new features we might expect to arrive in future updates.

The next table pack expected for PS3 and Vita is The Twilight Zone and is in fact the first of two Premium Add-On packs. Meaning, for the same price as the Table Packs you’ll only be getting one table in the Premium Add-On. The Twilight Zone is currently the #1 rated pinball table in the world according to The Internet Pinball Machine Database, #2 in the world according to Pinside.

Also with an actual release date is Table Pack #7 featuring Scared Stiff (Midway, 1996) and Big Shot (Gottlieb, 1973). After pack #7 releases, FarSight expects to deliver Star Trek: The Next Generation as Premium Add-On #2 followed by Table Pack #8 featuring Attack From Mars (Midway, 1995) and Genie (Gottlieb, 1979).

The newest announcement posted over at the Pinball Arcade Fans is Table Pack #9 featuring Dr. Dude (Williams, 1990) and Firepower (Williams, 1980). The remaining two Table Packs have a tentative release window of March. FarSight said in an interview with Pinball Arcade Fans that their “goal is to release the best 50 tables of all time.”

Take a look at the complete list of tables and features we currently know for a fact are in the works:

  • Feb 5 – NA/EU Premium Add-On #1: The Twilight Zone

  • Feb 12 – NA/EU Table Pack #7: Scared Stiff / Big Shot

  • Early March – NA/EU Premium Add-On #2: Star Trek The Next Generation

  • Mid March – NA/EU Table Pack #8: Attack From Mars / Genie

  • TBD – NA/EU Table Pack #9: Dr. Dude / Firepower

Table-Pack-9

Announced with no release date:

  • Cactus Canyon
  • Centaur
  • Pin-bot
  • Space Shuttle
  • Victory
  • Whirlwind

Features, additions, and improvements coming in the near future:

  • 2-Stage Flipper Settings: FarSight is looking to add an option to toggle the 2-stage flipper feature on/off in the near future.
  • Backglass Animation: FarSight has recently finished the backglass tech for Cirqus Voltaire and hope to carry it over to the rest of the tables in the near future.
  • Ball Skins: Ball skins are currently being tested a may be included with The Twilight Zone update if no major issues are found.
  • Day/Night Mode Lighting: FarSight is planning to add day and night mode lighting in the future. Currently on mobile, this would require twice the textures for each table and FarSight doesn’t have the bandwidth in their art staff to do this for every table at the moment. Their goal is to support real-time lighting on all platforms before they go back and re-visit this. FarSight envisions a slider on the Table Menu that allows you to adjust the table lighting to your preference.
  • Device Controller Support: FarSight may look into controller support for Android and other devices in the future.
  • Dot Matrix Display (DMD) Options: FarSight is looking into adding options to change the filter, size, position and possibly the brightness of the DMD in the future.
  • Flipper Physics: FarSight probably won’t make new flipper physics active on all tables all at once. Each table will have to be tuned and tested before any physics are overhauled.
  • Free Roaming Camera: FarSight is looking to add a free roaming camera at some point that will be accessible from the Table Menu and the Plunger Camera view in the near future.
  • GI Lighting: FarSight is looking to implement GI Lighting in the near future.
  • HDR Lighting: Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 currently support HDR lighting and FarSight is looking to fully update the lighting on the Xbox 360 to match that of the PS3.
  • Online Challenges: FarSight is looking to add the ability to send out challenges when you beat a friend’s high score on a table in the near future.
  • Online Multiplayer: FarSight plans to add online multiplayer in an update soon.
  • Pinball Cabinet Support: FarSight stated that they definitely plan to implement pinball cabinet support in the future.
  • Pinball Hall of Fame Table Re-Releases: FarSight plans on releasing all, except one or two, of the tables featured on both Pinball Hall of Fame Collections (Gottlieb and Williams) with updated graphics, physics and “true” ROM emulation (where applicable). All tables will be rebuilt from the ground up and feature the new, more sophisticated, physics framework and won’t be direct ports from the PHOF Collections.
  • Posting Offline High Scores To The Online Leaderboards: FarSight is looking to add the ability to post offline high scores to the online leaderboards the next time you go online in the near future.
  • Saving Table Preferences: FarSight has built table preferences into the save file, so table preferences (camera type, camera angle, plunger cam, etc.) should be saved with all future updates. Also, FarSight is looking to have the HUD on/off preference saved in a future update.
  • Single Download For Multiple Table Updates: FarSight is looking to add an option to give the user the choice of downloading all updated tables at once or one at a time in the near future.
  • Tournaments: FarSight plans to bring tournaments to all supported platforms and devices very soon. Its currently being tested in Beta on Android and iOS.
  • Voice-Over Tutorials: FarSight is looking at implementing software compression that will allow them to add voice-over tutorials to the current text-only tutorials in the future.

[Source: Pinball Arcade Fans]