Isn't google maps shooting for live video by 2020?

Some examples

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And this

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Take my money now--THIS is the future!

Did your game come today?

are there any new developments since the investors took over heighway?

Nope-but my refund from Cointaker did. I have no idea why they sent that back to me as I stated that I was going to stay in as long as the machine would indeed arrive within 2 weeks. Frankly, I'm relieved...this is going to end and end now. There is still way too much uncertainty regarding Aliens. The whole saga has been a turn-off for me so I'll spend my $$ elsewhere. Maybe-just maybe when these have shipped and someone gets tired of theirs I'd consider it, but for now, nope!

and boom goes the dynamite

ugh... Website still shows the f'n prototype with the roto mech instead of the lcd screen.. keepin' the faith is getting hard.

Guys, bail out. The ship is 1 foot under water now.

So is this really approved by fox or no?

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Missing the goddamn alien head mech

Mine still is as well...

So at least Andrew's pic isn;t lying to anyone

What you see is what you get lol!

Mine to

Didnt you get you get your playfield swapped? Or did DT get your playfield for now?

Just a guess here...
Oct, big reveal expo, much excitement.
More orders placed and promises of games by first quarter 17.
Money on these new purchases used to pay for back order parts and xeno head.
Texas show, more excitment, machine getting close, more delays and promises.
More orders placed, money used to pay for back orders of parts and xeno head fix and development.
More promises..
Can anyone say ponzi scheme? Pyramid scam?
Andrew was way over his head and screwed thia up big time.
New investors.....they just want there money back. License expiring end of year with option to extend a year. But, with no money this will expire Dec 31.
My prediction...a few games will get made but this company is done in 6 mo.
GET OUT NOW, REFUND QUICKLY IF YOU CAN.

As a longtime paid in full Alien LE customer, I thought I would post one last time to give an update on my refund. Hopefully some of you will find this helpful.

I've been waiting on my refund for several months, and I've been pretty vocal in these threads. But when the new ownership group asked for patience during the ownership transfer, I was willing to give them a chance. Realistically I figured the transfer of ownership wasn't going to happen overnight. I never threw a tantrum or tried to do a fast chargeback. I just stayed in close contact with Morgan & Daniel as the weeks passed by, making sure we were both on the same page.

Well they finally came through on their word, and my full $7900 refund was finally wired to my bank account. It's been fully processed, and I couldn't be more thankful. While the refund process took much longer than I hoped, it all worked out in the end. Daniel & Morgan really wanted to make this right for me & they were very accessible.

If you are still waiting for your refund, I'd say just give them a chance. I'd be shocked if everyone who wanted a refund didn't receive theirs soon.

So what were the lessons I learned from all this? Well you've heard them before...

1) Never preorder a pin again.
2) Never let dream theme hype influence your decision making.
3) Never buy a pin without playing it first.
4) After you've come so close to losing your money, you quickly realize that spending $8K on a pin is just plain stupid.

This whole experience for the last 2 years has left me pretty jaded. I won't even consider buying anything new for a while now. I'm just turned off in general. There's no rush to buy any of these new games. No more LEs for me either, it's just a marketing ploy to get you to buy now. No more new companies. No more drama for me. If I can't buy a pin today & have it shipped tomorrow, then no thanks.

With that said, I really think the new Heighway owners are going to turn things around. In my opinion, they seem genuine,, but that's no guarantee of success. I really hope they are able to mass produce these Alien pins at some point. But I think the most important thing is that they need to create a reliable quality product with excellent customer service & support. That's my main concern for the company. I wish them all the best, because Alien really looks like an awesome pin.

And most importantly, I hope every customer gets the pins & refunds they've been waiting on.

Morgan finally reached out to me yesterday about my refund. Hopefully things work out.

Not yet,we are swapping games instead.
He will take the prototype,I will get a production model.

What you are really saying is that buyers have responsibility in markets. When brand new pins became vanity collections for rich dudes, the market shifted. We'll see how long the barcade trend can run to prop the commercial side of the buyers. There will always be guys who really don't care about the price other than it being too low to brag about.

If only they knew someone who could build a hydrofoil and raise it up out of the water...

Yep, that's my problem. The manufacturers just aren't raising their prices high enough to continue impressing my friends.

Was really disappointed there wasn't a $15k Star Wars SLE.

Sorry you're not one of them.

reached out .. meaning. it will be issued ?

Or pins are shipping?

He wanted to clarify I wanted a full refund. Some have requested partial refunds and staying in I guess. No response from my answer of "full refund", though.

Ahhhhaahhaaa.. So this happened..

Happy Friday everyone!!

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What happened, the screen went out?

Whoa! I didn't even notice the screen was out. I like it better that way.

Aaron
FAST Pinball

Sent Roger an email for an update and got a quick response, refunds should be starting very soon and the goal is 100 to 150 standards by the end of August with LE production in Sept. I know its just words but at least things aren't silent, I'm gonna give them the month of July to prove they are for real, refunds being sent will really help with establishing trust.

They might be silent on pinside, but there's a lot more direct communication happening. At least from my point of view.

How did they cut the power, man, they're animals?!

I thought the ball stalled out on the center drain post was the pic! didn't notice the screen out!!

Thumbs up from ferret so I doubt the screen is dead...

Congrats on what?

Thanks. I've had it since March - picked it up at TPF. Since then, I've posted my thoughts plenty of times in this thread.

Yes, I was posting because I was having a great game - when the ball came SDTM - bounced back up then STDM again...and finally rested right on the middle post. It's the first time that's happened to me. ...plus I was pretty drunk, so easily amused.

Oh, and yes - my playfield LCD has been out since May. For anyone interested in the state of my game, I am still waiting on new Xeno mech/board, as well as updated lighting, and hopefully a fix for my playfield LCD. Until I can get the new hardware, I am stuck on code version 0.94.

I get frustrated playing a game if a switch isn’t registering - this is a joke in my book. Heighway is supposedly gonna start pumping out 100+ games a month soon but can’t get this thing running right? What’s the customer service / warranty gonna be like for the new owners if they even start trickling out games? I get liking a theme but I’m out until this mess is completely turned around.

Keep in mind, I got this game back in March. I knew then I was getting a 'pre' or 'very early' production game, and was willing to take the associated risk. Andrew told me then I'd need an updated Xeno, and they were working to get that resolved. I have also been working with Helmut (Svc Mgr) on my issues, and he is almost always prompt to reply.

That said, I think Helmut's hands are tied when it comes to sending out replacement parts. He's been quick to offer advice, but I have yet to receive any of the updated hardware I need. I hope that will change with new ownership. In fact, I have been contacted by 'New Heighway' and they have said they are going to take care of existing customers. Let's see how that plays out. I just sent an email today asking for an update. ...fingers crossed it will be good news.

I know if one of the Alien threads someone recently posted about needing to have their pre-production playfield swapped out before they'd be able to use updated code. Any idea if that applies to your game as well?

SunKing just curious... what are your top 5 favorite pins, and how does Alien compare in gameplay?

I don't need a new playfield - mine is fine. I do need new Xeno mech/board and new GI LED's before I can update code.

For the most part, my top 5 changes like the wind. The only pin that's been consistently on my top five list is Williams FirePower. I like a good mix of classic late 70's/early 80's pins with some new modern pins.

1) Firepower
2) Alien
3) Metallica
4) Paragon / Genie (widebody)
5) AC/DC / Star Trek

Even though I love Metallica, it's for sale. After owning it for over a year, I'm ready for a change. For the most part, that has been my pattern with the new pins. I'll get 'em, LOVE playing 'em, but after a year or so I'm ready to move on. It was the same with AC/DC, Star Trek and Ghostbusters. They are great fun for a while, but don't keep my long term interest.

So far, Alien has been different. I can see keeping it for a while. I *LOVE* the theme, and it's a hard pin to play, so it's still very challenging to me. And probably the biggest thing for me - the sounds. I've said before but it bears repeating, David T did an AMAZING job with the audio on this pin. It's immersive rather than irritating. Oh, and the lighting (even though mine is not working 100%) is still the best I've seen on any pin. Throw on an excellent code base/rule set, and you've got a winning combination.

...and I'm still on version 0.94. I've heard lots of great things about the updates...and can't wait to be able to experience 'em.

The already-great audio package has gotten significantly better in the past few weeks, since daudioguy has had a physical game in his studio. He has tweaked the volume balance on countless sound assets, added dozens or perhaps hundreds of new sound effects and callouts, and put quite a number of choreography requests on my work queue. Good stuff.

Top 5 became a top 7 I see.

Thanks @sunking, glad to hear that you think Alien has staying power. I like the "top 5" question, alongside thoughts on a new pin... It helps provide context on what types of pins someone likes (sometimes there is a trend... flow, stop and go, EM, bash toy focused, wide body, etc). So if someone has similar taste to me (my top 5 changes too but currently is Attack from Mars, Shadow, White Water, Metallica, and Twilight Zone), and recommends a pin, I'll probably enjoy it too.

Just curious, what are your thoughts on Shadow? I only have one pin in my collection (a Shadow), and have the Alien L/E on order, I think they would make good companion pins. Modes, lots of objectives, different ways to play, numberous shots/paths, good audio, balanced scoring, and immersive theme (I have the Aurich translite, so mine is based on the pulp novels and radio show... not the movie).

Speaking of Shadow Ferret are there any double or triple jackpots in Alien? One of my favorite parts of Shadow is the ability to lock the ball in the two saucers, then score double or triple jackpots accordingly... It really adds a level of strategy and dimension to the multiball jackpots. If you are taking requests, I'd LOVE to see something similar to this implemented. If you can do this, and happen to be in NYC, I'll shout you a beer as a thank you!

Not exactly the way Shadow does it, no. But players can activate 2X Playfield Scoring several different ways (spelling DROP SHIP on the ramps, using the Pulse Rifle weapon, or occasionally from Mother), so of course doing that at the right time can be critical to big scores. Also, if you stack multiballs, all jackpots for both multiballs are doubled, and that does combine with 2X Playfield if running. And Super Jackpot values are generally "sum of all Jackpots since last Super"... which does consider the value of any multiplied jackpots along the way. So it's definitely possible to throw down some huge Super Jackpots.

Also also, each multiball has a distinct way of increasing its jackpot values before starting the multiball. I've been futzing with the scoring balance of that in recent weeks... I don't think it was generous enough in the versions of code that are currently in the field. I want advanced players to have a compelling reason to shoot around the playfield before starting multiballs.

Looks like it's gonna open in the mid 50's ranking when the ratings get their weekly update...(unless some more reviews pop in??) I think it's got rock solid odds on moving further up than down.