Wickerman2, Thank you! I'm happy to hear the shaker can be manually adjusted as we've seen with past shaker motors.
Now I will add the shaker to my order.

FYI: It's a cointaker shaker on FTh and I'm assuming I can adjust it similar to other shakers via the arms/weights...I have NOT taken the cover off yet to confirm that but I can't imagine it's much different.

I figure it would be nice to have for future titles anyway depending how they implement on each...you can always turn if off depending which playfield kit you have in.

GREAT! That's good news.

So it's just a Cointaker Shaker and we could add one later if we wanted to?

Also....how hard would it be to just your own EL lighting to the side blades on Alien? I can't imagine it would be that difficult.

Did wicker buy his FT through Cointaker? That might explain why he has a CT shaker in his game? I can't imagine Heighway would ship over CT shakers to put in games sold in Europe, so maybe shakers depend on local suppliers in that games region?

This is great! A request to Heighway design team.
If making it all software adjustable proves to be problem, then making it easy to change the weight offset manually would be nice.
If you are making your own shaker motor assy, what people need is an easy way to set the weights-offset.
2 weights with one side having detentes (flats) on the shaft without the screw glued in.
The weight could be moved out of sync by 0, 45, 90, 135 degrees.
180 degrees is the same as being 'off' so we don't need that.
If that's too many settings, then simply settings of 0 and 90 degrees offset is good.

I think that won't work. We are talking about the inner shell. The outside shell should be easily replaceable.

No, CT shaker also in Europe. The red tremor one.

Nice lineup

I just replaced my red trimmer on Ghostbusters with a coin taker regular Shaker motor as the red tremor was too violent and there's no adjustments in Ghostbusters that will change it although they are in the Diagnostics but unable to change the vibration from Full to minimal in software the new shaker from coin taker shakes 30% last and works perfect

I've followed this thread closely for last few months. Not ready to pull the trigger, but very close to getting in touch with Andrew to get in on an LE before they're all gone. Not exactly losing sleep over the decision, because by all accounts it is and will continue to be a great pin and a "safe" purchase. However, since I only have room for 5 pins, one of my current collection has to go, so it's not a no-brainer for me either.

Anyway... on the point of my post. Had to drop the truck off today for a little work this afternoon... waiting in their customer lounge for a few minutes for a ride from a friend. Look over at the small TV they had in the corner and AMC channel was on.... looked a bit closer and saw Parker getting speared by the Alien's inner jaws (edited for TV). Seriously can't make this sh%t up... What are the odds of seeing this scene on this particular 5 minutes of my day where I was looking at a TV. Maybe someone is trying to tell me to shut up and put my money down??

Hmmmm... seems like the only morally correct decision is to buy an Alien pinball machine.

It's an omen!

Thanks PinballRulez for the info. I have heard they are the HULK of the shaker world and shake your game around pretty hard

Any further update on LE approvals?!

True. I hope and bcd already pointed out that the shaker gets a better integration in Alien. When I turned the shaker on in my Full Throttle for the first time people evacuated their houses because they thought there was an earthquake going on

Thank you! Just what I needed.

Maybe, but Dallas won't make it out of the game.

For those who want to tame the shaker, this image shows a great way to do it.
adjust shaker motor (resized).jpg

I think you have a shaker fetish chuck

I know .. Its a real problem

Probably not too hard, but might be expensive. I just researched EL panels after thinking the exact same thing. Seems the cost of EL panels goes up exponentially the bigger they get. Add to that their long tapered shape and the power supply to run it and the $240 they are charging isn't really an outrageous price.

Now the "fiber optic" lighting for $800, someone explain THAT one to me...

not sure about build costs on anything but fiber optic ramps add another board I believe...$600 at the factory instead of 800 for what it's worth

At a guess there is the hardware:

Fiber optics themselves
Additional power supply maybe?
Driver blocks/emitters to run them
Additional board/s
Additional wiring/harness/connectors and misc hardware

And then maybe some behind the scenes costs incurred:

Additional code to make them interactive
Additional install time on the assembly line.

For a really good price comparison the Tron Pro Ramp kit was what $400/$450 and as amazing as the kit was (possibly one of the best mods ever) I would like to think Heighway is offering a superior product.

I wonder where the fiber optic ramp lighting will run on Alien. Will it only be on the plastic return areas or can we expect it to extended along the entire ramp, including the metal ramp itself?

I'd love to see something a little more creative with the fiber optics, we have seen solid colours and flashes back on TRON

Apart from on the Nostromo I can't remember many fully functional lights in either Alien or Aliens, it would be awesome if you start out and they function 100% and as you progress into the game if the ramps could pulse and flicker - almost as if the game is deteriorating as the environments do in the films once shit hits the fan.

Then again I wouldn't mind this feature on the entire games lighting. And we need red GI (can't remember if Aline has RGB GI) during ambush just finished watching Aliens again and the lighting during the ambush and Hudsons last scene pure adrenaline inducing!

Can the sideblades changed with Full Throttle blades if you change the kit or are the sideblades decals?

I think this is a great suggestion! Nice shiny ship slowly goes dark and dirty..

The thought popped into my head watching Aliens tonight.

In Alien the Nostromo is super clean and bright everything is crisp by the third act the things falling apart, flickering lights, steam vents blowing off, power outages in corridors etc

Aliens follows a similar pattern except the Marine team replaces the Nostromo they start out fully loaded suited up by mid way they are in tatters and lost half the team not to mention the environments begin to get messed up from Alien ambushes and gun fights.

Just thought it would be cool if the pin could somehow recreate those subtle but immersive trademark.

Yes to RGB GI.

Ah , gotcha , that clears it up for me , thanks . The el would obviously be cool , but not necessary for the blade to look cool .

Well my order for a Standard is in and I can not wait till it arrives.

Sounds like it will be only a few weeks.

Awesome! Sounds like production should be ramping up soon if the wait will only be a few weeks.

Hi Andrew,

Do the games in Italy now have the planned flasher installed for the Alien head? Also, do you think we will see LE's revealed by or at the Texas Pinball Festival?

Thank you

Absolutely! It would be awesome to have a "Hudson Final Stand" stage to the ambush mode where everything is red expect green shots that kill aliens. Having it play along side video clips from that scene and audio from Hudson in full swearing glory sounds awesome.

I think the smiley face was a tip to the post being sarcastic. It doesn't seem like there are any 'true' production games out right now.

Nope was not sarcastic at all just happy. Games are shipping....will have it in a few weeks at my house.

Order was from Cointaker, still a few left in the coming shipment.

I'd like to believe that (had alien on order from cointaker since last summer) but in February cointaker said they would have standards shipping out by mid Feb and 15 LEs by mid March (right now). Neither of those happened.
No LE art shown yet and the few games that have shipped (direct from Heighway not cointaker) don't have production boards or final art in the flipper overlays.
I'm just hoping to get my game sometime this summer.

I'll can wait if needed. I have plenty of machines to play to keep be busy.

Has anybody looked into saving some money and buying directly from Highway?

I did, but I think you get hit either way. The website cost does not include shipping, so I believe all shipments have to come through the US distro

No US distrib if you're paying door-to-door air freight shipping, which I'm pretty sure most the people ordering from Heighway is doing. Once it ships via air from Heighway, it will be delivered in no time.

Not to mention it's only $350.

I just checked with Heighway and for the standard edition with the 27" LCD is a savings of around a couple hundred compared to Cointaker.

HEIGHWAY standard with 27" is $6,950 plus Shipping $350 to your door. Plus $30-$40 for other shipping fees that may or may not be added on. Total--- $7,340

COINTAKER standard with the 27" LCD for $7,495. This includes all shipping charges and extra fees.

What size is the standard size backbox LCD? Is the 27" really worth the extra $500? Give me your opinions please.

Yes. Here is why:

1. You are future proofing your pin for future Heighway releases that will leverage the screen. This split across these future pins reduces the cost.

2. $500 is very similar to the $399 for a color LCD, and much more impressive.

If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will

100% Y E S!

Super awesome. Crisp image, you will love it.

As others have said, a colorDMD is $400 upgrade. Makes this a bargain in comparison.

Oh, so the standard does not come with any LCD screen in the backbox? It's just a backglass?

As a fellow person who has ordered from CT, I will back this with 100% certainty.