Zen Pinball Demo on PSN -- cool pin!

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Thu May 14, 2009 10:04 pm

I was checking to see what the latest PSN game demos are available to d/l and a new pinball game demo called Zen Pinball from Zen Studios is out now. It's a 231MB d/l and only allows you to try out one out of four pinball tables. If you score 2,500,000pts. before your three balls are up, the CPU tells you that the "Time Trial" is up but you can still continue to play with the current ball in play.

This demo is very fluid and runs in 60fps with multiple viewpoints to choose from and looks awesome in HDMI format with crystal clear clarity of the entire pinball table. I wouldn't be suprised if any former ProPinball staff had a hand in making this cool Zen Pinball game. The full version game of Zen Pinball is just a mere $9.99 on the USA region PSN site and allows for further individual adjusting of all the pinball tables' parameters (like how you can change settings in the ProPinball tables). It's about time that a high-quality pinball game arrived on the PS3 platform...the wait is finally over. ^_~

Pinball wizards will like this PS3 pinball game indeed. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Thu May 14, 2009 10:19 pm

Ahh, there is a demo? Have to try this out, thanks for the info PCEFX!.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Thu May 14, 2009 11:19 pm

Does anyone know whether the tables are different from the Zen pinball tables on the 360? The game has a different title, so probably different tables.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Thu May 14, 2009 11:37 pm

The PS3 demo of Zen Pinball only allows you to try out El Dorado table. The other three tables are V12, Tesla and Shaman (assuming if you decide to buy the full version game, then the other three tables become unlocked). It is presented in 720p with Dolby Digital support as well. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Fri May 15, 2009 12:37 am

the demo is sweet - i'll probably buy this one. look forward to some multiplayer with you guys. it even has video chat built in.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Fri May 15, 2009 5:23 pm

Went down to my local Target today and bought one of those $20 Playstation Network Cards. That cool $9.99 USD d/l of Zen Pinball should be worth it. I noticed that during multiball of the ZP demo, it seems like the second ball has a knack for going down the drain rather quickly. The trick is to try to keep both balls in play as long possible -- easier said than done, of course. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

silvergunner · Post by **silvergunner** » Fri May 15, 2009 6:53 pm

Bought Zen Pinball yesterday and I´m very satisfied with.Play it 5h and have a lot fun.Fans must pick up this Game.
All 4 tables looks and sounds very good.Nice:It will be more tables release in future for download content...Finally a good pinball game for ps3.The Online-Multiplayer part works fine,too!
Found the "V12"table the toughest,can´t get a million score :oops:Need a lot more practise,two minutes after start a round:GAME OVER!!!

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Fri May 15, 2009 7:00 pm

silvergunner wrote:Bought Zen Pinball yesterday and I´m very satisfied with.Play it 5h and have a lot fun.Fans must pick up this Game.
All 4 tables looks and sounds very good.Nice:It will be more tables release in future for download content...Finally a good pinball game for ps3.The Online-Multiplayer part works fine,too!
Found the "V12"table the toughest,can´t get a million score :oops:Need a lot more practise,two minutes after start a round:GAME OVER!!!

Yep, the ol' phrase: "Practice makes perfect" rings true in this ZP game. Guess it's to get them fingers all limber and sit down to an ace game of pinball on the PS3. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

silvergunner · Post by **silvergunner** » Fri May 15, 2009 7:01 pm

professor ganson wrote:Does anyone know whether the tables are different from the Zen pinball tables on the 360? The game has a different title, so probably different tables.

Yes,it`s complete different and ps3 exclusive!A member of triggerzone said the tables on ps3 are much better,the 360 tables are great though...

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Fri May 15, 2009 7:02 pm

silvergunner wrote:
professor ganson wrote:Does anyone know whether the tables are different from the Zen pinball tables on the 360? The game has a different title, so probably different tables.
Yes,it`s complete different and ps3 exclusive!A member of triggerzone said the tables on ps3 are much better,the 360 tables are great though...

Thanks for the heads up on that cool info...you should check it out, professor ganson. ^_~

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Fri May 15, 2009 7:08 pm

Just tried the demo; I like it!
The mechanics work very well, graphics are nice and the 'demo table' is very well done. Also taking a close look at the table with the sixaxis is flawless and very practical.

Also, I lol'd at the score cap in the demo, it's at 2.5 mil I believe.

silvergunner · Post by **silvergunner** » Fri May 15, 2009 7:22 pm

I would like to open up a highscore-table,agreed?

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Fri May 15, 2009 10:18 pm

silvergunner wrote:I would like to open up a highscore-table,agreed?

I suppose that if we all share our PS nicknames, the in-game highscore can be sorted by friends.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sat May 16, 2009 4:49 am

I like how you can choose your favorite color for the Dot Matrix screen display instead of the traditional yellow colored one found on most modern-day pinball tables -- choose from blue, red, green and so on...whatever feels right to compliment the pinball table overall color scheme at best. ^_~

It seems that Zen Studios is an old hand at creating pinball games, the ZP game on the PS3 feels really polished. Can't wait to see what other new pinball tables will be offered down the road to spice things up. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

silvergunner · Post by **silvergunner** » Sat May 16, 2009 2:01 pm

PC Engine Fan X! wrote:I like how you can choose your favorite color for the Dot Matrix screen display instead of the traditional yellow colored one found on most modern-day pinball tables -- choose from blue, red, green and so on...whatever feels right to compliment the pinball table overall color scheme at best. ^_~

Please explain where I can do that!

silvergunner · Post by **silvergunner** » Sat May 16, 2009 2:13 pm

Turrican wrote:
silvergunner wrote:I would like to open up a highscore-table,agreed?
I suppose that if we all share our PS nicknames, the in-game highscore can be sorted by friends.

good idea!

@all

please place your PSN-nicknames here,I will take over your nicks.So we can compare our scores on www!

PSN:SigRig

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat May 16, 2009 2:53 pm

silvergunner wrote:
professor ganson wrote:Does anyone know whether the tables are different from the Zen pinball tables on the 360? The game has a different title, so probably different tables.
Yes,it`s complete different and ps3 exclusive!A member of triggerzone said the tables on ps3 are much better,the 360 tables are great though...

Very cool. I just got an email from Sony about the game this morning, and indeed the tables looked unfamiliar and interesting. I did like the 360 tables visually, but the gameplay just didn't quite measure up to the Williams collection-- no surprise since the latter is pinball bliss.

I will definitely dl this just as soon as I can get around to updating my system-- a task that involves running a cable. For some reason my wifi connection is too weak to deal with those lengthy, regular system updates that are required for using the PSN store.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sat May 16, 2009 3:42 pm

silvergunner wrote:
PC Engine Fan X! wrote:I like how you can choose your favorite color for the Dot Matrix screen display instead of the traditional yellow colored one found on most modern-day pinball tables -- choose from blue, red, green and so on...whatever feels right to compliment the pinball table overall color scheme at best. ^_~

Please explain where I can do that!

Change the size and/or screen position of Dot Matrix Display on-screen:

From the Main Menu screen, select "Help & Options", select "Controls" option and choose either the left or the right analog stick to be the default control for resizing and/or re-positioning Dot Matrix display. You can move the display to either the left hand-corner portion/center portion/right hand-corner position of the game screen by pushing left or right on the chosen user defined analog stick. You can re-size it in three different sizes by pressing up or down on the chosen user defined analog stick.

------------------------------

To change the default color of the Dot Matrix display:

Choose a pinball table & start a new pinball game session, pause the game to bring up the Operator's Menu selection on-screen, select it to enter it, press right on the PS3 D-pad to bring up "Main Menu U. Utilities" selection, press right or left on the PS3 D-pad to select "U. 4 Extra Adjustments" option, "Dot Matrix Color Preset" option appears with "4 00 Default Preset (Fac Setting)" underneath it, press left or right on the D-pad to select user defined "Preset 1 through Preset 7" and then hit button "X" to change Dot Matrix overall color scheme. There are eight different color schemes to choose from (including the default factory setting of "yellow" color). Exit Operator's Menu with "Circle" button to save new Dot Matrix color setting. Start a new game with your favorite Dot Matrix color setting.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Sat May 16, 2009 8:30 pm

All those different viewing angles and they neglect to include a useful one...

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sun May 17, 2009 1:15 am

E. Randy Dupre wrote:All those different viewing angles and they neglect to include a useful one...

It wouldn't be that hard to include some more different viewing angles like how it was with the four different Pro Pinball series in a future downloadable update. Of course, the subquential pinball tables got better with each seperate Pro Pinball release. Timeshock is a personal favorite of mine. Empire went as far to include a full-color owner's manual of the virtual Timeshock pinball table for completeness as a testament to building a solid pinball game from the ground up. There is always Zen Pinball 2 sequel to look forward to with improved physics, handling and other features that weren't touched or addressed in this first version. ^_~

After playing the ZP pinball table of V12 for a few hours, it's a difficult one to play, let alone master it on default factory settings with just three balls and the default incline slope setting as shown on the built-in line leveler gauge at 6.5 degrees. If you change the pinball table's individual parameters, the CPU won't let you upload your scores to the leaderboards since it's regarded as a customized personal pinball game anyways. (Of course, playing a "custom" game on the Pro Pinball series wasn't recognized either but if you played on default factory settings and scored high enough, you got a personal alphanumeric code that you could enter on the ProPinball site and see how well you fared against others.)

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun May 17, 2009 8:46 am

@ Randy: view 5 suits me fine, I use that one most of the time.

I have a noob question. Everytime you finish a 3 ball play the game keeps track of your scores: best score, best minute score, max speed achieved. This, even if you suck and don't qualify for the online rankings (my case). Now, when I quit the game and restart it, these scores have gone. Why the game doesn't permanently save my poor attempts at being good?

@PCEFX!: does altering the dot matrix color invalidate score ranking? I thought messing with any of the operator menu had that effect.

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Sun May 17, 2009 8:54 am

View 5 is the distant one that doesn't scroll, yeah? That's the one I'm using, but it doesn't allow you to see the top half of the table properly.

I don't know why modern pinball videogames only offer pre-defined camera views instead of allowing the player to manually place the camera. That'd be a vast improvement and it seems like such an obvious omission.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sun May 17, 2009 12:20 pm

Turrican wrote:@ Randy: view 5 suits me fine, I use that one most of the time.

I have a noob question. Everytime you finish a 3 ball play the game keeps track of your scores: best score, best minute score, max speed achieved. This, even if you suck and don't qualify for the online rankings (my case). Now, when I quit the game and restart it, these scores have gone. Why the game doesn't permanently save my poor attempts at being good?

@PCEFX!: does altering the dot matrix color invalidate score ranking? I thought messing with any of the operator menu had that effect.

For Turrican,

You have to get a high enough score in order to post for the on-line rankings. If you fail to meet it, the CPU does save your poor and lowly scores even if they aren't high enough to post on the leaderboards (it does on my PS3). Strange that your d/l'ed copy of ZP doesn't save scores -- maybe retry downloading the full version ZP game again and see if that fixes that troublesome issue? ^_~
'
As for the answer to your second question, the CPU will still accept your score (assuming that it's high enough) even if it is a simple user defined change for the dot matrix color scheme. ^_~

What's interesting to learn that if select any one of the different pinball tables, if it is adjusted in the Operator's Menu, the CPU will remember that particular table as being a customized one (even if you leave the other three on factory defaults or mix 'n' match both factory defaulted & custom games). The CPU will tell you that your scores won't be posted though if it is custom though. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

silvergunner · Post by **silvergunner** » Sun May 17, 2009 3:33 pm

@PCEngineFan

Yesterday,I discovered it(dotmatrix color-change!)Thanks!

Score-saving:

Thought the same,why my scores are gone?If you are in the Top 1000,your sores will be saved.If you kick out from Highscore Page your scores will erase!

I try out all views,and for me view 3 works well.But I wish there was an option to change the view like in pro-pinball series

Sometime the Plungers(the one above,not the main plungers) doesn`t work accurate,especially at V12 table.
On Shaman:In some Feature-Games the plungers above don`t work,first I thought there is a bug.
Hope,in case of some imperfections,a quick update release will fix it!

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun May 17, 2009 10:38 pm

silvergunner wrote: Thought the same,why my scores are gone?If you are in the Top 1000,your sores will be saved.If you kick out from Highscore Page your scores will erase!

I'm on the same boat silvergunner. I bought and downloaded from the European store - maybe this is a bug not present on the US version?

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sun May 17, 2009 11:22 pm

Turrican wrote:
silvergunner wrote: Thought the same,why my scores are gone?If you are in the Top 1000,your sores will be saved.If you kick out from Highscore Page your scores will erase!
I'm on the same boat silvergunner. I bought and downloaded from the European store - maybe this is a bug not present on the US version?

Yes, I have the USA version of Zen Pinball from the USA PSN site. ^_~

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Mon May 18, 2009 3:53 am

Well, seeing as this game(or some versions at least) doesn't save the score unless you're good enough to have your name in the online leaderboards, which by the way made me realize how much I suck at every single table, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a little 'private' highscore-table... ^__^

PSN: JunkTower

silvergunner · Post by **silvergunner** » Mon May 18, 2009 3:35 pm

Turrican wrote:
I'm on the same boat silvergunner. I bought and downloaded from the European store - maybe this is a bug not present on the US version?

solved:you need a higher score ,get as better as the last scorer(Rank 1000.),it will be saved.[grammar in use is pain in the ass

]

now I´m Rank 712. on V12 table(6,534,204)and Rank 235. on Tesla
(8,051,700),
but Ranks can changes every minute!

currently I use view 1(not 1w!) and I´m scoring much better now!

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Mon May 18, 2009 4:38 pm

About the flippers, dunno if you guys already know this but activating the top flippers has to do with pressure sensitivity - if you push the button lightly, you'll only activate the main flippers otherwise you'll activate both main & secondary(top) flippers.

I guess it has it's practical use if there are multiple balls on the field and you want to "keep" one with the main flipper; you can just keep the L1 button(example) lightly pressed and still operate the upper one by giving it a slightly stronger press. (might be useful on the Tesla)

EDIT: corrected some embarrassing misunderstanding

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Mon May 18, 2009 5:56 pm

ZOM wrote:About the plungers, dunno if you guys already know this but activating the top plungers has to do with pressure sensitivity - if you push the button lightly, you'll only activate the main plungers otherwise you'll activate both main & secondary(top) plungers.

I guess it has it's practical use if there are multiple balls on the field and you want to "keep" one with the main plunger; you can just keep the L1 button(example) lightly pressed and still operate the upper one by giving it a slightly stronger press. (might be useful on the Tesla)

You mean flippers instead of plungers, right? You pull back on the plunger to launch the ball onto the table playfield (by applying various pressure to the PS3 controller's button "X", you can launch the ball soft, medium or hard however you like) and use the flippers to score points. Yeah, it's with the pressure sensitive PS3 controller's L1 and R1 buttons that activate the lower and upper flipper sets. ^_~

It is possible to to launch a ball into play and score a 100,000 point Skill Shot bonus on the V12 pinball table but it takes the right amount of pressure on the plunger to successfully pull it off. The CPU awards you with a 110,000 Skill Shot bonus if you can pull it off on your second ball and 120,000 points on your third ball's Skill Shot. It's a bit tricky but it can be done. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

shmups.system11.org

Zen Pinball Demo on PSN -- cool pin!

Zen Pinball Demo on PSN -- cool pin!

Change size + screen pos. & color of Dot Matrix display