I would not be surprised if that area comes mylared from the factory.

My main problem with Kiss is that it has huge areas of the playfield that really do nothing for player. The giant Gene head covers the spinner which doesn't even work well...so it just seems like a huge waste of space. The "map room" area is another area that you get the ball into, and who cares. Doesn't look like any wasted space on Aerosmith...every area looks like a fun shot and purposeful. And if you've never seen the "fling trick" from NBA...it's AWESOME and FUN...so when people start to shoot the lock shot and see the ball flying through the air and into the toybox - that's a "WHOA!" type of crowdpleaser...people will want to play this game just for that shot and the multiball reveal.

Yup! I'm not sure if Jacky's box has a magnet to catch it like NBA...that's what made it always work on NBA.

Here's how it worked on NBA:

That's a smooth controlled feed, though. Almost no different than a ball launch that hops off a small incline. I forget if IJ4 had mylar in the ark area...based on recent playfield issues, I'd probably mylar that area if it doesn't come with it.

Even though I'm impressed by this reveal, I'm not buying NIB games. I'll play it once it hits a location near me.

I think if you put a red dot filter on it, it would look good. Seeing it in full HD reveals its flaws as animation. The art style is fine and cohesive with the package, but just judging the animation as animation - it looks like bad Flash from the 90's. Floaty puppets with no sense of timing. When elements pan, they're choppy. DMD animation, despite its limitations, usually had good animation principals and timing. Watch the snake match seq on Met or any of the TWD stuff. Lots of great timing, overlapping action...good animators using true animation skills despite the resolution and lack of color. That's also the key to good TV animation - good timing makes limited animation really appealing. There's no timing or real animation principle in the shot of the band playing - it's just random limb movements.

Now, despite my critique - I don't think the animation flaws are a detriment to the game. The style matches the rest of the art package well enough. Would I like them to do better? Yes. Is it a deal breaker for this title? No.

Actually - South Park is a great example of "bad" animation that's actually good due to TIMING. Notice that the characters don't "float". They're animated in a way that looks like a child making their own stop motion animation with paper cutouts. By having characters "pop" about, it looks funny, it works for the humor, and your mind fills in the blanks...it's the same principal that appealing DMD animation usually has. I was playing Metallica last nite and got to Seek & Destroy, which features the band playing - similar to the Aerosmith band playing scene. Each band member has two poses...the guy playing guitar for example, his head pops up and down, no inbetweens. His arm pops up and down on his guitar. Now - someone might look at that and say it's "cheap" animation...but it's totally functional and looks snappy and funny. Compare that to the Aerosmith band playing. Everything just floats evenly...sure it's "smoother" than South Park or DMD style animation...but is it GOOD animation? Smooth does not equal good.

The good news is that Iron Man is better than most of the new pins! So...you win!

You're ugly and smell like poop. That's negative. I didn't really mean that...just trying to make a point. Don't just dismiss an opinion on a discussion board for an expensive toy as "negative". We're the audience for this product reveal. A product real is an attempt to sell us something. Something expensive! Honest reactions and first impressions are to be expected! They're not all going to be positive.

Go to ANY message board dedicated to something...movies, video games, cars, food....these things literally exist for people to discuss their opinions on things they have passion for. If you don't like someone's opinion, ENGAGE in conversation...tell them why you disagree with their "negative" opinion. What you posted is a lazy cop out.

That sucks to hear. The reason that toy worked every time on NBA is because there was a magnet in the backboard which would grab the flying ball, then drop it through the hoop. I wondered why the lid of the open chest didn't have a magnet to catch the flying ball...great - the one cool toy that I found impressive doesn't work as intended.

Were they passing out applications for purchase consideration?

Just like Ghostbusters, eh?

Are you implying that Ghostbusters was "dialed in" and had the "kinks worked out" by Stern before shipping when YOU YOURSELF had to get a replacement playfield!?!?!?

Are you dismissing every person who's posted about their GB problems & flaws and the mods required to make it quasi-playable? Are you dismissing the bugs that have been in the software updates? Are you forgetting about the Slimer redesign? Are you forgetting about Slimer dragging his ass all over everything on the Prem/LEs? Are you dismissing the insert ghosting problems? Did you get some magical GB that has no bugs, no flipper gap, no STDM cheap ass drains, no outlane bounce-outs?

Getdafaahkattahere!!!!!

Lonnie/Lyman combo.

Yeah, unless it's LITERALLY the same like FGY/Shrek, it's completely irrelevant to worry about layouts being similar. All the little differences change how the ball is going to react and where it's going to go, code changes what you want to shoot for. When Iron Man came out, everyone shunned it and said it was just Austin Powers....see how that turned out? Learn from the past.

I was just talking about people comparing designs and dismissing them as "the same game".

Well, that is definitely looking likely. Each song will probably have a different series of colored shots to aim for, some different multiballs, super this, super that, nice light shows. Lyman really took "non-story" themes of Metallica and ACDC and really went crazy creative with them. Aerosmith will most likely be fun, but not blow anyone away looking creative nuance. For me, Kiss's shitty toys ruined the game for me ...so if this is Kiss with better toys, it's already more appealing to play.

Seems to be the case at the moment. Once it's peppered with custom callouts and show voice clips and more complete code, that could change. Blows my mind that people had to fill out an application and pay $15k to be a beta tester.

Stones is actually a really fun pin. If you can get over the "cheap" factor (everyone seemed to with Iron Man), it's just plain fast and fun. Solid IM-style rules, too. Much more fun than Kiss.

It's corporate product art, but it actually looks better than Game of Thrones and Star Trek, IMO. In fact when I sold my STLE, I replaced it with Stones lol.

C'mon, GOT is quite possibly the ugliest game Steve's done since 24. ST isn't ugly per se ...but it doesn't feel like Star Trek. Since Steve took to heart complaints about "actors on the playfield", his games have looked completely generic. If a theme is about CHARACTERS, like ST and GOT - having a playfield devoid of characters lacks, well...character! Very generic, not to mention GOT's Gottlieb-level headshot collage Photochop-job on he translites and cabinets. Yes, Stones is Photoshopped as well....but more competently and with appealing color design. ST's playfield looks like 80's sherbet in space.