Civil War is available, not sure why they didn't announce it before, but it's there.

My initial download of five demos (two of which were packs) ended up taking 40min, though the initial estimate of nine minutes was too long. I don't know if it's server capacity or distance or bandwidth, but Nintendo really needs to sort this. My iOS 6.1 update was over 1GB and took less than an hour; I think these table demos were a couple hundred MB tops. If I want to purchase I'll need to go back and download the things again. Of course I still don't have even half the demos yet - why didn't Zen include the demos with the initial download?

@Sean_Aaron I'm guessing it was because like you said in the first part if they were included then the initial dl would've probably taken over 2 hours. I think they figured if you want a demo of certain tables and not all it would be quicker!
Btw your quote from last night was acknowledged by the community manager and she said she would take it to the proper people. I'm quite active over there and they always welcome feedback so they can get things better for the next time. Even if its there fault or Nintendo's! This interface might be the reason why it took so long to come out in the first place. At the time this might be the only good option for this type of download?!

I agree, it could have been a lot slicker to get content from the eShop. One trick is to run the game and then go to the Home menu and straight to the eShop, while Zen is still open. A bit like Miiverse going to a game's community when you go Home mid-game, this takes you straight to the relevant page in the eShop.

Why the app couldn't redirect to the eShop itself, however, is beyond me.

That would be a good strategy once I have some content to use in the app itself - I'll keep that in mind.

Makes me curious to see how Pinball Arcade will work because they tend to tie things like user rewards to their online leaderboards which you sign into using a Pinball Arcade account, e.g. I backed the Twilight Zone and Star Trek: TNG kickstarters so I'm entitled to the former on all platforms and the latter on five, one of which is Wii U. If the only way to get the content is via a separate eShop purchase, how could Farsight fulfil this obligation, give me eShop credit?

@Tech101: Cheers. I'll be curious to know if it was their choice or if this was the best solution Nintendo could offer. If so I'd suggest that maybe they consider changing things up a bit. If the download did weigh in at 1.5-2GB it wouldn't be much different from other download titles so it's a hit that's probably worth taking just to ensure people at least demo stuff.

dont forget that Nintendo did not reveal the eShop details to any third-party developer until a few weeks before launch.

I hope this comes to NA soon, I can't wait. Nonetheless, it's a shame that the downloads don't link to the eShop, but is the game itself good? Never played it.

I can't speak for the Wii U version as I don't have one but I have 8 of the tables on my 3ds and another 9 on my android. I personally love every minute of it. Some tables are more fun then others but I still like them all! I'm a bit of a Zen pin all slappy so my opinion leans heavy towards Zen! When it comes out you will be able to form your own opinion since you can sample all the tables! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Btw I played both marvel and Zen on my 3ds for over 500 hours! O.o

@Tech101 just echoing SeanAaron's comments re: downloading.

The 'framework' download comes with the Marvel demo but I only wanted the original tables.
So I went to the eShop and downloaded the full-version, thinking it was some sort of unlock for content already contained within the 'framework' because it can be seen in the menu.
Consequently I had to drop out of the game for a second time to download the actual content for the tables.
On the positive side, I didn't have to reinstall the licence so order of installation for DLC doesn't seem to matter.

I don't consider myself a novice - and possibly not being a novice lead to over-thinking it - but this really felt convoluted. Looking at the eShop arrangement of the DLC, in hindsight, it makes sense but not so when you're in a hurry to be imagining yourself to be playing pinball like Roger Daltrey/Tommy...

My purchases are not appearing on my "my collection" menu screen at all. It says they have been purchased from the eshop when i go there and download manager says everythging is downloaded successfully and installed. Don't know whether to delete the whole lot (including "app") and start again. Maybe I'm doing something thick.
?

I did the second batch and I note that like Schprocket said it does come with the latest batch of Marvel table demos - it wasn't apparent to me that that's what the keyhole symbol on the table icon meant initially. I did what Thom suggested and jumped into the eShop from the home menu to download another batch, but that only removes one of many steps involved which are as follows:

Select "additional content"
Select which additional content you want (up to five - these are split across two screens)
Read a disclaimer about having to have downloaded the Zen Pinball 2 app to use said content and tap a button to confirm
Tap another confirmation about what you've selected
Tap yet another confirmation to begin the download

I can understand the need for a disclaimer if you're not going to build in a system check for the required software (which seems a bit of an oversight), but honestly there has to be a way to streamline this! Oh, and the new content doesn't automatically install - you have to quit and restart the game for that.

I did get to play a few demos and frankly I prefer emulations of real machines. The only stuff I've played so far are the Marvel tables which is what I was initially interested in, but outside of Ghost Rider and possibly Moon Knight I find the designs a bit lacklustre and they start to feel the same. I have a feeling I'll enjoy their original non-licensed tables more, which is pretty much how I feel about real-life pinball.

I would note also that the way the demos work does give you a flavour, but I would have preferred being able to play a single ball rather than having both a time limit on play and a score limit - I really don't get the need for the latter if you have the former. When you hit either of these it pauses the game with a pop-up message telling you to buy it (as Shprocket said it actually says "unlock" here and in the eShop so I assume you're downloading the full table code with the demo as well as if you buy it sight unseen) then you have to wait for the three second countdown and the game continues to play for another few seconds before actually ending. I'd rather be able to breeze through the demos quicker, but this is just picking nits now.

I'm hopeful most, if not all of these things can be fixed in a future release, but hopefully people who are checking it out will persevere. I could see the number of hoops required to get all the demos affecting sales though if folk just cannot be bothered.

you need to download & install the demo tables, not just the tiny unlock file

I have.

I downloaded all demos and purchased one. They're all there. I'd try deleting and redownloading to see if that sorts things.

I have to say I'm not that keen on some of the packs, but there's one or two tables in some which I'd like, but given two standalone tables are cheaper than the pack price I'll do without rather than pay more for extra content I don't want. Hopefully we'll get the option to buy all tables individually someday...

Thanks everyone. I just deleted and re-downloaded and it works fine now. The game also kept on freezing whenever I selected Plants vs Zombies. Anyway, everything is ok now. Yeah, I just want one table from Avengers Chronicle Pack which I wish was a standalone. Also, I just want two from the Marvel Original pack. Slightly frustrating, but I'll just satisfy myself with their demo tables. Went for Vegence and Virtue, Socerer's Lair, Plants vs Zombirs and Epic Quest. ALL the tables I quite like except one of the four on the V&V pack (the X-men table).

Your not the only one to complain anbout P vs Z. Someone on the Zen forums said they have to unplug the system every time they try to load it! Definitely a problem there!

Yeah, it's weird for me too. It's like they kept the interface from the PS3/ Vita Zen Pinball, and weren't able to deliver the content the same way through Nintendo's architecture.

Playing the game on the gamepad is good. It's exactly the same as the PS3/ Vita version, which is good, but lacks for the portability, which hurts a game like this.

I also only have one person on my friends list with this version while on the PS3/ Vita game I have a dozen.

I'm not surprised, considering it came out on those systems, what, about 6 months ago?

I'll end up with the original Marvel pack and the Classic pack, possibly also Mars. If they were standalone I'd get Ghost Rider, Infinity Gauntlet and Fear Itself. I haven't had any issues with Plants vs. Zombies thus far. If anyone wants to friend me, feel free to do so, my Nintendo Network ID is in my signature.

Oh, yeah, there is a good reason for it, but nonetheless the Wii U version is ever so slightly inferior at this stage because of that.

but nonetheless the Wii U version is ever so slightly inferior at this stage because of that.

Your logic does not compute. The fact that it's not even a week old and therefore not as widely used does not make it inferior in any way. That's just silly