Zen Studios (of Nintendo DS game Flipper Critters fame) have recently launched the Pinball FX site, Pinball FX being an upcoming Live Arcade game of course. This looks like a real treat for me, I’m a real sucker for pinball games and have been enjoying them since way back, starting at Pinball for the NES and then a long love affair with Digital Illusions’ wonderful Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Illusions.

So whenever I see a new pinball game I get that warm, nostalgic feeling. Even if it’s nothing fancy, like Pure Pinball (available for PC and Xbox), I still play it inside out and love every second of it. A Live Arcade pinball release, which has been hinted on before, is music to my ears.

Pinball FX then, how does it look and what will it pack?

Live chat via the Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera

Three vibrant, 3-dimensional tables provide dozens of hours of play

State-of-the-art physics model that surpasses the best titles in the genre

Tables start out simple, but new challenges open up as a player’s skill
advances

Flipper arms can be controlled with hand/arm motions via the Xbox 360
Live Vision camera

Downloadable tables on Xbox Live Marketplace

Real-time head-to-head mode for online multiplayer competition

Amazing realism and polished presentation

The Live Vision Camera support is a bit surprising, but sure, why not. I sincerely doubt that it will work out well playing with it though, but live chat might be interesting. Or not, I generally want to play games when I’m sitting by my Xbox 360, but that’s just me.

Three tables pre-loaded is OK, pretty standard. The option to buy more sounds great, but I really hope they won’t overcharge us Lumines Live style. The three tables have themes, as is customary in pinball games, and as usual they’re a bit stale. Agent, extreme and speed, does that sound familiar to you? Of course it does. Still, it’s not the themes that’s the important part, but the layout and playability. The screens look great, so I have high hopes for this one, although I’m a bit worried about the perspective. Will we get the overview that a good pinball game needs to excel gameplay-wise? XBLArcade mentions a possible May release, since apparently Aaron Greenberg spoke of an upcoming pinball game, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Above: The “Extreme” table
Below: The “Speed” table

Below: The “Agent” table

Check out some more screenshots on the official site.