ZEN Pinball bounces onto PSN next week for $10

by Andrew Yoon { May 7th 2009 at 11:30AM }

ZEN Pinball will be available on the PlayStation Store on May 14th for $9.99. Our hands-on with the demo revealed a solid foundation for the game, with realistic (if not a bit fast) physics. ZEN Pinball doesn't offer too many frills: don't expect any boss fights, or hedgehog-inspired platforming segments. Instead, you'll get a rather faithful digital recreation of an arcade cabinet, LED display and all.

As expected, ZEN offers online leaderboards, multiple tables and Trophies. However, we're most intrigued by the video chat-enabled online multiplayer mode. You can check it out next week on the US PlayStation Store.

Gallery: ZEN Pinball

Tags: pinball, psn, zen-pinball

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

andrew @ May 7th 2009 11:35AM

I wish the press releases would tell you info for Europe aswell.

vindictor @ May 9th 2009 4:52AM

Me too, absolutely!

PS3Lee @ May 7th 2009 12:29PM

This is a must have for me, so I hope it is coming out on the European PSN as well !!

Teabone @ May 7th 2009 1:52PM

I seriously hope this is not going to be one of those releases that hit the US store and then takes two months to get to Europe. There's zero localizations to be done in a game like this.

Teabone @ May 11th 2009 4:02AM

A post by the developer in the official European playstation forum confirms that the game will be released simultaneously on all continents:

"The release date is May 14th in the EU and Australia as well."

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/05/07/zen-pinball-coming-to-psn-next-thursday/comment-page-2/

I can't wait....

lee.d.stevens @ May 11th 2009 4:32AM

Excellent news, thanks Teabone.

PS3Lee @ May 11th 2009 4:48AM

Excellent news, roll on Thursday. Thanks Teabone.

Torgo @ May 7th 2009 11:35AM

SWEET!!!!!!!

I'm grabbing this right away!

Heavytoka @ May 7th 2009 11:39AM

Awesome News!!

PS3Lee @ May 7th 2009 12:34PM

Andrew (Yoon)

Would you be able to confirm whether this will be a US only release or if possible a date for the Euro release, thanks.

PS3Lee @ May 11th 2009 4:50AM

Don't worry, Teabone has answered this above as a reply to comment one.

Teabone @ May 12th 2009 3:07PM

I easily agree with those that find the price reasonable. $10 is a few crappy burgers at McDonalds or 10 credits at your local arcade pinball machine. If the game is decent I'd pay $30 without hesitation. Of course, everyone has different standards as to what they find expensive or not!

For those in doubt IGN just announced the good news that there'll be a demo available for those who still want to try before they buy:
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/981/981949p1.html

chimaera9 @ May 7th 2009 12:44PM

It looks well-done, but for $10? A game like this should be $5, in my opinion. Has anyone noticed that the average price, no matter what the length or depth of the game is, has been $10? It's because everyone's willing to pay that much. If you went to the bargain aisle for computer games at a department story, you'd see games far more in-depth, with 40+ hours of gameplay, for $5. Vote with your dollar!

chimaera9 @ May 7th 2009 12:46PM

department *store* ...sorry

Heavytoka @ May 7th 2009 12:58PM

10 bucks is perfectly reasonable for this game, esp with the Video chat enabled multiplayer.

greg @ May 7th 2009 1:02PM

If everyone is willing to pay that much for it then they ARE voting with their dollars. Not to mention you don't know a thing about their budget so who are you to tell them what they should or shouldn't charge for their product?

PS3Lee @ May 7th 2009 1:13PM

Ultimately the choice is yours.
To buy or not to buy, that is your question.
Personally I treat it the same as a 'real' shop, if I deem it worth it, I buy it, if not I don't.
Don't be swayed by reviews or other peoples comments about a game, its all about what you personally think.

chimaera9 @ May 8th 2009 2:33PM

Wow, nobody even addressed the issue I brought up, but instead, gave all kinds of sage advice that one should buy if they like it or not, and if everyone's buying it, they are voting with their dollar. Let's get past all the obvious and deal with the point I made, which is that Sony has raised their price point to $10 on just about everything they release now. It has nothing to do with my budget or yours, it's that I see price creep happening. Some games, I think, should be less expensive and fall in the $5 range. What is my criteria? Probably different from yours, but I think that a full fighting game like Tekken is worth $20, as is a full RPG/puzzle game like Puzzle Quest. Arcade-style games with only a few levels should fall far below that, possibly in the $5-$7 range.

This pinball game would probably sell to more people if it was under $10 because they'd be willing to throw a few bucks at it even if they weren't dedicated pinball fanatics. My point is, this is a niche game that appeals to a niche crowd (clearly all who have posted angrily in response to me are of that crowd.) I'm just saying, I'm not a huge fan of pinball, but I'd be willing to buy something like this if it were cheaper--I'm just not going to get as much mileage out of it as the niche crowd. It seems to me that niche games would sell better to a wider audience if the price was more alluring to someone that was interested, but not a dedicated pinball fan.