Squirrel Knight and Digerati announce Cosmic Waves, a brick-breaking adventure coming to PC later this year. Looking at the Announce Trailer it seems safe to say this succeeds at bringing a new perspective to the Pong/Breakout formula where others have failed. Word is: "Cosmic Waves radically revamps the familiar paddle-ball-wall formula with new features that bring greater depth, skill, and excitement to every bounce, rebound, and ricochet." You can keep up with this via its Steam Listing. Here's more:

At the core of Cosmic Waves' unique gameplay are energy towers positioned at the vertical sides of each level. When fully charged, towers can be triggered by the player, causing them to emit a force wave that affects the path and power of any ball within its radius (in pinball terms, energy towers behave like a flipper and bumper combined). Balls energized and propelled by force waves can smash through shields and inflict greater damage on weapons and machinery.

To ensure a brick-breaking experience unlike any other, and in addition to tower-powered ball manipulation, Cosmic Waves features gadget enhanced paddles, action-packed levels, ability-boosting upgrades, a galaxy-spanning story, and amazing music by the super-talented Module (Shatter).