Having Full Throttle in my lineup, the panels are so eye catching, no one has ever said "I wish the art covered more of the cabinet". Instead they say "WOW!". It is a big leap over traditional cabinet art to have the illumination and I'll take the trade off.

Seeing Alien lit side panels is going to be SICK!!!!!

I imagine Heighway or a Modder to make them interactive in some way, as I suspect they are lit w/ LED's somehow.......drooling...

Quick question: ??

for the US delivery, what are the taxes that would be incurred as well as the US shipping (roughly)?

I'm just asking because it's like $8050 plus shipping (?).

I'm trying to compare to a GOT LE which I'd say should be $7800 (free shipping).

My understanding is none, as far as duties or anything weird. Heighway will has US distribution like any other game, the "overseas" part won't affect you. But maybe someone who's bought Full Throttle can confirm how it worked.

You pay for shipping from Chicago only as I understand it.

There is about $100 fee for the company dealing with customs otherwise you pay for boat or air shipping.

You know, I guess you early guys aren't the best example, you were dealing directly with the UK before the first container for the US arrived. I dunno, I'm not the official answer here, but that's what Andrew has said, US distribution like normal once things are established more.

Have you received your FTH yet?

One concern I have when I see any manufacturer that is so far off in their release estimates is the unexpected hit on their resources.

If they really expected to release FTH at the beginning of 2013, then it must be tough to absorb the extra 2 years of salaries and other expenses needed to keep the business running.

When they announced Alien would be released in April 2015 at the October 2014 Expo (only 7 months) I just shook my head in bewilderment as they hadn't even shipped FTH yet. It wasn't their first game so shouldn't they know better?

Still, they are getting FTH out and that is a huge accomplishment as the other boutique failures have shown us.

As long as a company is not out to scam us, I trust that they are working hard to produce the game they promised. Communication may help us feel better about our pre-order, but in the end, the proof is in the final product.

Aurich, I appreciate and respect your response.

In "sought of" related news I saw your full alternative Star Trek graphic set for the first time in person on Saturday. My friend in Columbia, SC picked up a brand-new ST Pro and his other friend bought your kit as a gift for him. I know its cliche but the pictures don't it justice and it looked fantastic in person. Having you part of the art team working on this pin was definitely a good move on Andrews part.

Thanks man, I appreciate it. I'm sitting here reading pinside because it's not *quite* time for lunch, but close enough that I don't want to get back into this playfield stuff I was working on last night and have to stop.

Which is a fancy way of saying I'm procrastinating.

Today's plan is to throw some chicken on the smoker, put on my headphones, and get into Alien art for the afternoon, and then relax with cocktails and tasty food for the evening.

This is why it was such good news to learn about the Bacardi deal. A cash infusion to develop another product. It also delayed Full Throttle because they changed their focus for that until it was done. But to me it was the "best" reason to delay something, since it results in cash coming in, not just burning cash for years on end.

On one hand I can see the appeal of an Alien LE cab being covered in art in addition to the backlit side panels. But then you'd be essentially forcing that cabinet to only house an Alien playfield.

Same for all future Heighway LE games. No matter what the cabinets need to remain modular for Heighway's system to even work. Any cabinet artwork has to be interchangeable. My guess is that this is one reason why the shallow backbox is a good design. It doesn't look odd to have no artwork on the sides of it.

How about art panels on the inside of the cabinet above the playfield for Alien? Is the term Alien "blades"?

These would have to be designed to be easily removed and reinstalled. So, not adhesive, meaning you'd need brackets or slots or something, and the fixings would have to not interfere with a pivoting playfield. So I doubt it? Else they would have to be built into the PF.

But I agree that sideboard artwork looks awesome. Nothing stopping third parties from making mods but I'd expect anything Heighway produces for their cabinets to be fully modular with the purpose of unlimited interchangeability.

Agree, but believe this is part of the appeal of an LE, its uniqueness ( which is the reason I went this route). Suspect Andrew has other cool titles up his sleeve that I'll be swapping play fields, but Alien shall always be Alien for me....

I understand that folks used to the way Stern does things will find the LE 'uniqueness' underwhelming.

If the LE were to have an additional art package on the cabinet itself then consider the extra costs and complexities associated with that which would raise the price of the LE units even further. Paying artist to design more complex art, R&D and production/outsourcing for printing directly onto, or decaling, the cabinets, and the bifurcated production associated with that as well. I don't believe it would be worthwhile.

It's not as if they'll lose a customer for not having it either. If anything, they're more likely to lose LE customers by printing extra art on the cabinets. Not only due to the inevitable higher price, but also by making it less attractive to buy a game kit to install into the LE cab in the future. Right now the only downside is potentially having trim colours not match. Which is enough of a downside for a handful of LE customers in this thread to have explicitly purchased the Standard trim package.

Good point, I hadn't thought of that.

Yeah it's understandable that a little pre-release hype was needed. I hope that Heighway can get to the point to where Stern is at where they can announce the game and a couple months later release it. I like that feeling. I think releasing Full Throttle and seeing pics of the games in homes has built more hype honestly.

I just saw the part about being able to start one movie or the other which I like as well as having middle modes that can run on either.

Seems like it will be a fun as well as deep game.

Has there been any more discussion or reveals about the modes or code?

I just looked at the prices because I'm dreaming of an Alien pin and my wife asked how much. If I was able to make it work with Heighway I wouldn't bother with LE and just get a standard cab and take advantage of interchangeable games. The lights up top and smoke machine being talked about with the Alien LE would lock the cabinet to that game.

I am picturing the Alien swap in a black standard Full Throttle...

I haven't seen them yet myself, but the LE is supposed to have Tron LE style fiber optic ramp lighting. Optional upgrade for the Standard. That would be my choice since it would "travel" with the playfield if you stored it.

As the for the modes, I don't want to discuss anything I'm not supposed to, but if the two movies aspect has already been talked about I guess that's safe. The plan right now is to have each film be a self contained run, complete with wizard mode, and you can choose which one you want to play first. Plenty of things outside of the self contained parts too. I think it will be a nice way to break the game into chunks. Might be doable to beat one movie in a game for instance, but a challenge to beat both, plus all the other parts. Plenty more to talk about later when it's time.

LE changes that easily swap out would change things in my mind. The prices for FT and Alien LE are similar, but it looks like Andrew has way more plans for Alien LE from what I have read here and saw at ReplayFX on Youtube.

I myself, ordered an Alien LE as I have no idea how the "beacons" or anything that doesn't "travel" with the playfield works. I do not want the green trim either but do want the upgraded art work. Lets hope they have chrome or metallic black as LE options. I am not buying more than one machine as the whole point is to be a modular system saving space so they need to explain how things that don't travel with the playfields work and what options are for art as it is also fitting into the modular side incasement which is the same on every machine correct? If this was a truly modular system all around, I would have bought the FT LE but now will just wait for a second hand playfield. Money left on table.

Whew....anticipation overload!!!...........

+1

I'm sure the beacons aren't glued down or anything. All I know is what Andrew has publicly discussed. And that's that new games will ship in some kind of box/crate, and you can put the playfield you don't want in it and store it under the game if you like. I think all the games are on full rails that stand up on their own on the floor. Keep in mind that my involvement is from across the pond, so I haven't actually touched or seen any of this stuff, just repeating what I've heard. People like frolic know more than I do, he's got a game he can touch!

I'm sure you can just take the beacons off and put them in a drawer or whatever, no big deal. It's a topper, it's not anything gnarly.

I have no clue at this stage what the plan is for the trim. But I've seen a lot of people express concern that the green was a little too specific for something that's being sold as a modular system. Maybe since it's the LE it doesn't matter. But when the time grows closer I'll make sure Andrew and I have a discussion about what makes sense. He's a sharp guy, and he reads all the feedback too, I'm sure we'll sort out what's best. And if that means the green stays then so be it, not promising anything! But I can promise that we'll talk about it.

Will there be an unlimited number shipping for the standard version of Alien?

Yup

I spoke with Andrew directly and he is looking into the chrome option.

Cool. I'll talk to him too.

That sounds like a great idea to be able to beat one movie and head into the next one.

I just want to point out that it was a little after 7pm my time when Andrew posted that. He's 8 hours ahead of me. Doing the math the man is up at 3am still posting on Pinside. This is the crazy person I work with!

Apologies, as this turned out rather long...

OEM Sideboard Art Blades

Seems simple enough for Heighway to do in a modular sense for all their titles. It just has to be incorporated into the cabinet design. (Router) As far as customers purchasing inside art blades, I would think for LE buyers the "extra" bit of atmosphere it creates is a given. SE buyers? Heck yeah, if they're going to purchase the extra playfield and topper bits to enjoy an LE level game experience, what's another optional accoutrement?

Should a manufacturer pass up the extra future $$ potential it could bring in or let the $$ go to the 3rd party aftermarket? Stern made some beautiful art blades for TWD with a simple repeating pattern that looks fantastic on their LE.

It's still so very early in the game, if Heighway starts this with the Alien cabinets (and let's face it, this is the title that's going to put a lot of Heighway cabinets out there) it will become an instant extra revenue source for them.

You swap your playfield - you swap your blades. They don't have to be given away, but come on... When you discover a title you really love, your going to want to "dress it up," isn't that what most pay to do to their favorites?

And the blade artwork doesn't have to be expensive or fancy. Sure, for the LE Alien title I would pay literally anything for original organic Gigeresque blade artwork. But you know what? If I couldn't get that, I would be happy as a clam for custom fitted blades with a simple generic space starfield to fill in this empty blank area (perhaps with a few nebulously placed doodads here and there).

And if your a person that doesn't want art blades? Don't buy them - and don't slip them in. I'm sure without the installation of optional blades the inside cabinet area would still look suspiciously similar to how FTH looks now.

But with all the wonderful potential that Heighway's cool new playfield lighting has, I'll bet even a simple starfield design on the blades with the stars having a "mirror" like reflective aspect something "more" could be born unto the Alien pin experience.

Or not. I'm just rambling.

^^^^What he said! Great idea, that wouldn't be too hard to implement with the equipment Heighway has in house. We can hope.

So what's you're suggesting, to be clear, is that there are sideblades, built into the game, that are standard on the LE, and an optional upgrade on the Standard?

The idea isn't new to us, I think it's interesting too. Just personally, not speaking for Heighway. I like the model of building pins like Mini, the car company. They let you customize the shit out of your Mini on their website, and charge you for each upgrade. It's awesome, really get a tricked out model, but you can spend a lot if you go overboard. And hey, for some people that's fine, right?

Just make it all optional (sideblades are cool, but super unnecessary to play) so that no one feels gimped. Special art, lighting upgrades for things outside the playfield, special effects (smoke?, shaking), all that kind of stuff that adds to the experience, but isn't about the actual gameplay with the ball.

So just for my own curiosity, I checked with the mod market for these. Looks like they range from $75 - $160 in price. So that gives you the economics of what it takes to make something like that worthwhile.

But if you're a company that is doing 20 different titles, making blades is one thing. If you're doing it for just one game right now, that's another. So I'd think you'd have to charge on the more premium side to make sure you don't lose money on the whole thing.

Are people willing to pay $150 for a visual upgrade like that, if it's done right, and not an aftermarket product that you have to be careful to not scratch etc?

Also, to be honest, I think at that level you can't auto-include it in the LE. It's just the reality of the market. The bulk of your buyers of upgrades will be the LE buyers. Without them there really isn't a reasonable market. You have to cut off the LE BOM at some point, or it's too expensive to make too.

One nice thing about mods is you can order them later. Ge the game, see if you like it, and if it's a keeper then put some money into making it extra special to enjoy.

Nope. Just a 1/8 inch or less removal of inside cabinet wood routed from every single cabinet in the shape of the art blade. An indentation where the art blade is set into. The art blade fills the area so it is flush and doesn't interfere with anything.

Heighway can offer their art blades from that point on for every title they ever make as an option to all 3 buyers: LE, SE, and Playfield buyers.

And if no art blades are offered for a particular title or just never installed, so what, it won't be noticeable anyway.

It shouldn't cost much for a manufacturer such as Heighway to print the art blades in house once they have a pattern and a method. The only thing that changes from one playfield design to the next is a software file.

Gotcha. Tough to do now, would screw everyone who's already ordered, and all the cabinets already built. Might have to be attached to the playfield, if that's possible. Would eliminate scratches though!

Yeah I know the FTH people would be out. I don't have an answer for that, just that it's still very early in the Heighway legacy and it could be put in place by the time the next title is built. Lots of future dollars could be captured though if implemented sooner than later.

Any mention of a Sigourney Weaver toy?

I find it interesting that they will let you choose what movie to play and that each of them will have their own wizard mode but there deff should be one last wizard mode for those lucky few that are able to complete both of them (not that I expect to be one of them )

Aurich said a few dozen posts ago he would try to be impartial which is not quite possible. I think I can help in this context. Pre-orders are an odd thing. You put x dollars down and wait. How long you'll wait is unknown. The manufacturer is damned if they communicate too much, excitement is lost at some point. They are also damned if they don't, people pull their money at some point. Stern doesn't do everything right but not revealing, or taking money, for a new machine until it's a month or so away from shipping is the right way to do it. Lots of excitement. You see what you'll get layout wise. You know software won't be done

So, pre-orders, you as a purchaser can handle them or not. You may end up with a machine you'll like or not. You may even lose your money as evidenced in a couple of examples. You may get regular updates, you may not. Those updates may contain interesting info or news of more delays. Not for everyone. I refuse to pre-order anything. Quite hard for the manufacturer for reasons stated above. Let's hope someone get's to no pre-order money ever and does reveals like stern. Until then if you have pre-order money in you have to deal with the situation and expect nothing.

IMO

Had to make it...

Alien_01.jpg

Are you done chessiv I think you may be pleasantly surprised on code for this one. They may have just hit it out of the park. Im still in China so tues has come and gone for me

Now back to Alien!

Good effort!