As mentioned on my blog at Indiedb.com , ball slowness has been a chronic problem due to the physics configuration of the game. After getting things to be just right, there's definitely a noticeable difference in the speed and challenge of game play. I've also fixed that pesky issue of the ball going through the "ball guard" lightning beam that stays between the two flippers by replacing it with the replay arrows. It's not exactly the fix I wanted; but since doing that, I've never had a problem with the ball falling through the bottom.
So on to the more exciting news: I think the game is ready to release pending a bit more testing! My goal is to submit it to Desura this coming weekend as a full release, and then keep it on hold through October 20th so I don't have to rush through wrapping up the trailer and get some extra beta testing time.
I'll make the announcement public once it's ready!