I agree, it's good stuff. I recently looked at the table list, and was surprised at how many tables they are up to!

Great lineup of tables, perfection on the ipad!

This is the game that got me into Pinball, lol. I love playing this game when I can't get to an arcade for my pinball fix.

Farsight's series of recreations was the main catalyst for getting me into real pinball, but they still have a long ways to go, the lighting especially. I was playing AFM last night on my smartphone, and something didn't seem right when I was in Strobe Multiball. That's when I remembered, "Oh yeah, the lights are supposed to be off in this mode!" Ha. The table is fully lit during this mode in the handheld digital version.

Not sure if you can blame Farsight because it is the devices that can't handle advanced lighting effects like GI shutting on & off. I think their new version debuting on PS4 will have dynamic lighting & hopefully do all these things, or at least will have that capability (as for if they code for it, who knows). But ipads & phones will remain limited for quite some time.

the plungers suck on all virtual pinball games. not much you can do about it...?

It takes some practice, but once you learn the sweet spot on the plunger gauge on any given game its o.k.

Cool stuff.

I love pinball arcade. It blows my mind how fast they recreate these games. It will never take the place of real pinball, but it is nice to have on road trips, when you cannot find any machines. Oh yeah,....playing pinball in the crapper is a whole lot easier now too.

Work productivity fell of a cliff...

Lighting you say? Let Timeshock show you how it's done:

Yes, I know. Not a real table like farsight's recreations - but the tech & physics are outstanding.

OMG that looks amazing! If all virtual pins looked like that i may add one to the lineup!

I can understand on the mobile devices, but what about when the devices span to more powerful platforms like the XBOX 360 and the PlayStation 3? And now upcoming on the PC? They should be able to handle a little more in the terms of detailed lighting than they currently do. Especially when the camera zooms in and you see they are still using relatively low quality textures overall. The Zen pinball games (or Pinball FX on the 360) have shown greater levels of detail are possible on the same hardware. I just find it a shame that Farsight has waited until this upcoming generation of hardware to start making improvements in this area.

Yes, this is exactly what sprung to mind first when I was making my initial comment previously. This is how it should be!

Would be nice if they bring more sterns
Like
T3
Lotr
Tspp

Bought it because I work about 10+ hours a day and I can get my fix while at work. As far as pro goes not really interested in the ball changing. I need to buy the full packs and plan to when my buying actual pinball machines die down.

Visual pinball has all these tables and they are free. Visual pinball blows them away on graphics and lighting. farsight tables don't play as good as a VP tables setup correctly. Did I mention they are free also. Jpsalas makes some great tables for VP, have a look and the game play is great. http://www.gethome.no/jpsalas/

STOP IT! I'm trying to resist buying an iPad. You just messed that all up...

Because they have to code for the lowest common denominator. They can't really custom code each table for each platform. Instead they are all pretty much ports. They will tweak lighting effects like for PS3, but they aren't really going in & altering game code.
I do wish they would at least increase that common denominator. The phone I had last year could run TPA pretty well & it was 3-4 year old phone.
I would rather they use more resources to up the level of quality for mobile even if it means not supporting some older phones. Game looks incredible on my ipad3, yet I know it could be even better if they really wanted to, so that is pretty encouraging.

I'm really looking for the PC release this month & unless that is crap, which is shouldn't be, I'll probably mostly be playing on that anyways.
Also you can't really compare Zen to Pinball Arcade. Zen doesn't have to deal with emulation which means they don't have all those extra CPU cycles being eaten up. I still think TPA could improve some things, but maybe not to match the level of Zen visuals.

Me and bro got ipad 2
Mum got ipad mini
Dads got iPod touch 4 (was my iPod but sold it)
And I've also got a iPhone 4S
And a bunch of apples in a basket in the kitchen

I'm not sure how true this is other than the tables definitely being free, I guess it depends. I've worked with & been a part of VP for a decade now, but even I'm not sure there are many tables that are overall better than what TPA has. TPA has good physics consistently. In VP 1 out of 10 tables might be to this level. VP still has a couple little issues that keep physics from being able to get nailed quite as well as Farsight can. Although Farsight does need to support flipper drop catches but I know they have talked about getting that sorted out. VP doesn't exactly do a great job at this either.

VP also only seems best these days if you have an expensive cabinet, which is a shame because I really have no interest in one. JPSalas would do all sorts of great tables for desktop as well but I don't think he is making them anymore.
I've worked on Indiana Jones & TAF updates that might see the light of day soon that I think people will like. This is where VP is best, for tables like those that Farsight hasn't created & might not. Most other tables that Farsight has already done I simply don't play them in VP anymore.

Huh?? You can easily play it in portrait mode....if you do that on the vita it just becomes like the iPad in that you have to use the screen for touch "virtual" flipper controls. It shows you the whole table...albeit small because of its screen size. Also yeah the bigger screen on the iPad is batter....but visually the vita has an OLED screen and blows the iPad away! It's just a bit tougher to play in because of its screen size.

I like pinball arcade for 3 reasons:
1. MUCH easier to understand the rules when it clearly shows text of your goal achievement
2. I can play tables I don't usually get to play
3. It's portable. I can play it in the car, I can play it while taking a dump

I have every table on my Vita and play them almost daily. Physical buttons make the experience better than the iPad, but the graphics are a mixed bag (muddy resolution on CC & AFM, Dr Dude is unplayable, SS is slow). Overall, a great batch of tables.

The Pinball Arcade is what got me into pinball. I initially grabbed it when I first got my Android tablet and wanted to test out a game. PinBall arcade was free and came with TOM along with some other machines.

Fast forward eight months and I am sitting right next to my first pinball machine. A WHO Dunnit I am busy polishing and waxing.

I did investigate the pincab option and spent a lot of time with VP but its just all over the place and in the end I could not justify the expense when I factored in for that kind of money I could just buy a physical machine (or two with the price I paid for the WHO Dunnit) and play the rest on TPA.

Stern is mad not to be doing virtual releases utilising TPA along side their physical machines. Would drive sales up for sure I reckon.

Congrats on WD! I feel the same way about simulations & virtual cabs. They are just too much money & hassle. & each table (VP) can look & play different than the last & I don't have the time to tweak things to my liking. At least with Farsight there is consistency between tables & they already play much like I hope they would. Just hit a button & start playing, nothing else to worry about. Can't wait for TPA on PC though.

I also put priority on my real pins. Nothing better than a physical mechanical game in front of you, but I do use TPA because you can't play real games all day & not get bored of them eventually & need to try other stuff (unless you have a large collection) to mix things up. That is where TPA does well for me. Keeps me busy so I'm not burning out too quickly on my real pins!

I bought the pro tables for tables I already own in real life. I figured the free view would be a good reference for shop jobs, etc. I haven't really ever used it for that purpose, and remember being a little disappointed that you couldn't spin the camera, but maybe that's an unrealistic expectation.