Zen Pinball 2 was supposed to hit the Wii U eShop back in December, but the release was delayed until January so that Zen Studios could fine-tune the game a little more.
We're now a third of the way through the month and there's still no sign of the game, but the developer has at least given some details as to why the process is taking so long - basically, Zen Pinball 2 is something of a ground-breaker, at least in terms of how it's going to be distributed.
Here's what was posted on the company's official forums regarding the delay:
Zen Pinball 2 is the first game of its kind on any Nintendo system (free platform download with paid DLC) so we’re working with Nintendo to make sure there are no issues at launch. It’s a first for them, so we’re doing what we can to make sure everything goes smoothly, even if it means delaying a bit.
Sounds like it's a pretty big deal, at least from the perspective of how it's going to be delivered to fans. Are you excited about being able to play it for free, or would you rather it were a paid-for release with all the tables available from the start? Let us know by leaving a comment.
[source forum.zenstudios.com]
Comments 26
Why not pay for anything and then have to pay for DLC when you could pay for it all?
If the tables are the right price then it shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully they will offer tabl packs to make it a bit more cost effective! Love Zen. Now where's my 3ds dlc!!!
I love anything that is for free.
This pretty much ensures EVERY wiiU owner plays this game. Very clever, and I am looking forward to the free tables, and if they are good I will buy more
just get it out already! ive got euro's burning in my eShop account
It all depends...
If buying all contenents will cost like an expected downloadable complete game then this is just great! Like a demo with the chance to choose how much of the complete version you want to buy ^O^
If the cost of all the tables togheter will be ridicuolus high... then I hope this gonna be the first and last free game with DLC on any Nintendo console >_>
@3dbrains From what I understand there are no free tables. The free part is you can demo any table before you buy. The only free table I know of is sorcerers lair on ios and android!
What you are downloading for free is a "front end". It's like how any major retailer lets you walk into their store for free, and you can pick stuff up and look at it, but then you have to pay for anything you want to buy. The demos on the PS3 are timed, I think 1 minute, but you can play 1 minute as many times as you want.
Prices are $2.50 or $3 per table but there were 5 packs which were about $10, though that may have just been for the first game.
I don't have any idea how big the front end or games are - half filled 500GB HDD in my PS3 - but it may be a consideration for anybody with an 8GB basic system.
I really hope NL starts adding sizes to all the DL game info. I don't think the Nintendo systems only owners realize how big DL are these days. Here's a hint - everything is measured in GB these days, not MB or "blocks".
on PS VIta and PS3 (not sure) every table is 2,50€, which would be 10€. for a 4 tables pack.
This is actually pretty annoying me, to buy single tables I mean, since the real fun here is to compete with your friends, beating their high scores day by day.
This way you can only hope they purchase the same tables as you did.
You are not able to play for free anyway, if its the same as it is on other systems you can download a demo version of each table, and you can play it for about 1-2 minutes until you pay the price for the full one
As much as I like Pinball, and further Zen Pinball, I don't care how it's given to me. The way the DLC will be distributed for this one regardless seems like a winner to me... I can think of worse download/DLC schemes...
Awesome! Means I can buy only the tables I want to play, rather than having to pay full price & only enjoy some of the tables (for example). Hope it turns up on the eShop soon!
I'm not too fussed as long as I can demo tables which isn't the case on iOS and why I binned the app ultimately.
Defintely going to give this a spin. Hopefully they offer bundles of tables or at least a discount for buying the whole lot in one go.
Hurray for a free app on a Nintendo platform! Hope more are on the way!
This actually sounds good to me, as I'd rather not pay again for those tables I already own on 3DS (Shaman, Excaliber, etc.) and just purchase the tables I haven't played yet.
It'll be interesting to see how different the infrastructure is for Pinball Arcade... they seem to be selling you the first 4 tables, and then releasing 2-table DLC packs. I kind of wish Farsight (PA devs) was releasing it like Zen Studios is. But like @Sean I'm "not too fussed" as long as Pinball Arcade comes out already. Drastically prefer the real tables to Zen's fictional ones, nice as they are.
Free stuff is good.
You know what? If you are having problems with memory just get a 1.5TB hard drive for $50! Anyways I assume this is going to be available the last week of this month, unsurprisingly -_-
Better than a kick in the teeth!
I want to be able to buy Marvel tables. If I can do that, I'll plop down money for each one. If not, I'll get this and content myself with the freebies, most likely.
Very exciting news, though, and I hope to see a few more games (not all, but a few where it is fitting) take advantage of this business model.
I'm all for this approach for certain games, but not all! If the tables are cheap enough then this will be fantastic, but only time will tell.
I think the key here is Zen Studios being first on a Nintendo platform to do it like this. It shows how Nintendo has grown when it comes to the eShop and digital distribution. Good for Nintendo!
Cool concept w/ the dlc pay option. I would just buy every table instantly since I love the Zen Pinball games, but I could see how the some gamers may want only certain tables. Be really cool if later they just created tables down the road that are not in initial release.
I wasnt planing to huy it, but Im getting a free time-waster game since I wont buy anything for it. But if I were given a game I'd plan to buy I'd hate buying it in chunks.
@Drobotic
I downloaded the free demon on PS3 then got the 3 table Halloween Pack when it was on sale. That's all I need and only cost me about 7 bucks or something.
Sounds like a similar set-up to the Marvel Pinball demo on 3DS, but with added options to pay for full tables individually. In the demo each of the (two) tables is fully represented as they would be in the paid for version, but after about two minutes, that's it, game over
Whilst I appreciate the excellent table designs in Zen Pinball, I just didn't feel comfortable playing it on the 3DS' screen, so i would probably consider paying again for the tables in the first 3DS ZP just to play them on the big screen especially Eldorado and Earth Defence.
Also really looking forward to Pinball Arcade, loved the Williams and Gottlieb Collections on Wii.
@LittleIrves You read my mind!
No need to download the tables from the 3DS version, but they do look nice on the eShop video
I have a lot of the tables on my PS3, and I can certainly recommend the DLC model. Each table is very full-featured and (at least on PS3) well priced for what it is. The nice thing is that they can keep releasing new tables as they go, so you're not limited to some small set of tables, and then waiting for a sequel or something, like Street Fighter games. Not sure about the Wii-U version, but most of the tables on PS3 have demos, so you can try for a bit, and if you like the table, you can buy it (which is awesome).
My question is, since I already have a lot of the tables on PS3, will there be any new tables released to landmark the Wii-U release? Otherwise, doesn't seem to be a reason to buy any new ones for my Wii U.
Also, any word on online-multiplayer (with video chat)?
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