Houston, TX
Quoted from Davidus56:Heighway sold the Alien intellectual property to a third party
Let me guess, the 'Pinball Brothers'?
(Topic ID: 106728)
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Alien (Heighway Pinball)
Heighway Pinball, 2017
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Quoted from SunKing:Let me guess, the 'Pinball Brothers'?
Is this true?
Quoted from Davidus56:I got an email from the bankruptcy attorney that Heighway sold the Alien intellectual property to a third party before declaring bankruptcy. That is just another example of fraud committed by these scoundrels.
I haven't received an email but it doesn't surprise me.
Once played, the ALIEN draws everyone's spell.
A shame what happend at Heighway... that pinball is already legendary.
Quoted from SunKing:Soooooooo pretty!!!
1.2 code is what opens this game up...I swear if you can dial in the pops - now with magnet that FLINGS...Wooooooo!!!
Is this a LE, did you have a preorder for the pin?
Quoted from SunKing:OMG!!
Guys, I know there's a WIDE mixture of emotions surrounding this pin. For those who've been burned by HP, I really do sympathize greatly, but please forgive me this indulgence..
ALIEN PIN IS AWESOME!!
...when it's working. At the moment, mine is 100%.
I was two shots away from Newt Multiball. I needed the chestbuster (super hard shot), and then a shot to the xeno. Well, I shot it up to the pops - and it starts popin' around - hits the chestbuster and keeps on popin' right out to the xeno and BAM!! Newt screems, the ball is grabbed and eaten and multiball begins.
Sooooooooo Coooool~!~!~!
Yes - that's the xeno eating my ball (hehehehe).
I did play a working Alien pin the other day, just one play so not like I’m an expert by any stretch, it had a wide selection of shots and the two LCDs were great and the move assets are awesome far better than any other pin I can think of except maybe TH.
However I didn’t like the feel of the pin. I mean it just wasn’t there with B/W pins or JJP and I played a Iron Maiden LE at the same time, and the Maiden pin was just better feeling don’t know if it was flow or something else seems like Alien ball was rattling around some while other pins are more precise feeling.
Of course this is just IMO and doesn’t mean the Alien pin is not good. But gun to my head I’d take a nice JJP or even a Stern (depending on the title) just for feel, and that does not even account for how I’m scared of maintenance nightmare of owning an orphan pin like Heighway.
Quoted from Averell:Once played, the ALIEN draws everyone's spell.
A shame what happend at Heighway... that pinball is already legendary.
It’s a real shame because this is a great theme and this pin could have sold thousands.
Quoted from rai:It’s a real shame because this is a great theme and this pin could have sold thousands.
It seems like that was what Andrew was betting on, trying to make it across the finish line.
The insane thing is the Pinball Brothers totally ditched marketing the game. They no showed the 2 most important pinball shows of the past year (Expo '17 and TPF '18, let alone all the other shows) with no Aliens on the floor at all.
I'm not saying they should have taken more pre-orders, but if they saw that there was potential for the game to sell, maybe the company could have been better resourced with cash, instead of the hard line they drew apparently.
Now as more people actually play the game, it will likely change everything, but too late now.
Melbourne
Quoted from Ballypinball:Expo 18 hasn't been on yet nor 19 TPF
lol. I took a time machine. Edited my post.
Quoted from frolic:It seems like that was what Andrew was betting on, trying to make it across the finish line.
The insane thing is the Pinball Brothers totally ditched marketing the game. They no showed the 2 most important pinball shows of the past year (Expo '17 and TPF '18, let alone all the other shows) with no Aliens on the floor at all.
I'm not saying they should have taken more pre-orders, but if they saw that there was potential for the game to sell, maybe the company could have been better resourced with cash, instead of the hard line they drew apparently.
Now as more people actually play the game, it will likely change everything, but too late now.
Spending money on show appearances would have been lunacy when there were massive costs associated with all the extra development and fixing work they had to undertake, and with the general overheads and debt pile.
Combine that with inability to produce large numbers of machines, and very weak demand, and you'd likely have seen them going down sooner, and possibly taking some of the new order money down with them too (which they state they didn't).
That's if distributors would even have been willing to place larger orders, based on show demand, given the unreliability and questions over how long they'd last.
After they realised Alien was never going to be economical or break even, the idea was to try to get Queen out as quickly as possible. But they couldn't sustain the losses, Barry leaving to DeepRoot probably delayed it significantly, and they couldn't afford to get a bunch of new people in to help Dave.
Quoted from rubberducks:Spending money on show appearances would have been lunacy when there were massive costs associated with all the extra development and fixing work they had to undertake, and with the general overheads and debt pile.
Much of the design team was here in the US, so the expense of getting one of those guys to the big shows would not have been massive and they could have promoted it, either on the floor in a seminar (I believe David Thiel was at both shows, not sure about the others). As pointed out, I don't think there was even one to play at either show this past year. Had they gotten the design team their games and timed it with shows, possibly even shipping direct to show and then to the owner, they could have had presence at a reasonable cost. If they were relying on new sales to save the company and eventually get the early buyers their games, not sure how you don't go, however, if their plan was already to transfer assets out and then fold Heighway, and leave the debtors hanging high and dry, well, I guess that not going made sense.
The problem with the game didn't have anything to do with promotion. Getting games to shows is useless if your factory and build and infrastructure and company and everything else is fucked. It's not like there wasn't demand. If they could have just built games like that they could have sent them out instead of refunds.
Kruševac
Quoted from frolic:It seems like that was what Andrew was betting on, trying to make it across the finish line.
The insane thing is the Pinball Brothers totally ditched marketing the game. They no showed the 2 most important pinball shows of the past year (Expo '17 and TPF '18, let alone all the other shows) with no Aliens on the floor at all.
I'm not saying they should have taken more pre-orders, but if they saw that there was potential for the game to sell, maybe the company could have been better resourced with cash, instead of the hard line they drew apparently.
Now as more people actually play the game, it will likely change everything, but too late now.
At this point, thank God they didn't. How many people need to be burned.
Quoted from rai:I did play a working Alien pin the other day, just one play so not like I’m an expert by any stretch, it had a wide selection of shots and the two LCDs were great and the move assets are awesome far better than any other pin I can think of except maybe TH.
However I didn’t like the feel of the pin. I mean it just wasn’t there with B/W pins or JJP and I played a Iron Maiden LE at the same time, and the Maiden pin was just better feeling don’t know if it was flow or something else seems like Alien ball was rattling around some while other pins are more precise feeling.
This is 100% spot on. While it has a ton of unique shots, Alien doesn't 'flow' as smooth as other pins (sorry Hilton). The left ramp, for me, seems hard to hit - it's just off the sweet spot you'd expect. So yeah, it takes a while to get used to some of the shots, and until that happens, the ball is going to 'clank around' a bit. This is exasperated even more if the game isn't working properly.
Before updating to version 1.2 of the code, the xeno magnet really didn't seem to do much other than grab the ball occasionally. Also, the pop bumpers will always need adjusting to work properly. So yeah, if the shots are a bit clunky, the magnet doesn't do much, and the pops aren't working - the game play kinda sux. HOWEVER - and this is why I was drunk posting Tuesday night (while also watching the Rockets tie it up with Golden State) - I finally got my game working 100% - and with version 1.2 of the code - I was seeing action like I'd never seen before. I'm not kidding when I say version 1.2 was almost like getting a new game.
Quoted from Roostking:At this point, thank God they didn't. How many people need to be burned.
I get it. In the end the factory had to actually ship something (that works).
Quoted from rai:I did play a working Alien pin the other day, just one play so not like I’m an expert by any stretch, it had a wide selection of shots and the two LCDs were great and the move assets are awesome far better than any other pin I can think of except maybe TH.
However I didn’t like the feel of the pin. I mean it just wasn’t there with B/W pins or JJP and I played a Iron Maiden LE at the same time, and the Maiden pin was just better feeling don’t know if it was flow or something else seems like Alien ball was rattling around some while other pins are more precise feeling.
Of course this is just IMO and doesn’t mean the Alien pin is not good. But gun to my head I’d take a nice JJP or even a Stern (depending on the title) just for feel, and that does not even account for how I’m scared of maintenance nightmare of owning an orphan pin like Heighway.
I had posted this after I had been playing it for a while:
It does take getting used to. You are going to CLUNK a lot of shots until you figure them out. The shots are pretty tight and some are really tight. Once you start to get a feel for them this thing can really flow! Upper right though the upper left loop is STUPID FAST. Even back to back outer loops can get cranking.
Favorite shot of course is the lower right to the middle left to the upper right to the upper left ramp. It's like nailing the "Picard maneuver"...but more satisfying.
Until you find the shots, you will be bricking around a bit. Alien's geometry is so non-traditional it will feel vastly different until you get dialed in. Then you start seeing the speed and combo needs.
When you just walk up to it... it's dark, confusing, and 'large space but I don't know what to do'. You need to find the shots and get some intro into even WHERE the shots really are made from to start dialing in.
It is not super friendly to walk ups.. but once you adjust.. you start seeing all the possibilities.
Quoted from Astropin:I had posted this after I had been playing it for a while:
It does take getting used to. You are going to CLUNK a lot of shots until you figure them out. The shots are pretty tight and some are really tight. Once you start to get a feel for them this thing can really flow! Upper right though the upper left loop is STUPID FAST. Even back to back outer loops can get cranking.
Favorite shot of course is the lower right to the middle left to the upper right to the upper left ramp. It's like nailing the "Picard maneuver"...but more satisfying.
It’s hard to put my finger on it, some games *are* more clunky than smooth. These can still be great, I think LotR can be clunky. I was just giving my first impression of both Alien and Iron Maiden LE the Maiden felt great on my first play reminds me of Tron in that regard where it was just nice shooting.
Lots of satisfying shots once you master the basics. From left to right ...
Easy difficulty - left saucer aka vent 1, left orbit, left ramp, airlock, Xeno, right ramp, right orbit, middle 3 of five weapon targets and a,p of apc targets
Medium difficulty - center ramp off top flipper, inner orbit off top flipper aka vent 3, c of apc, left weapon target
High difficulty - chestburster, vent 2 and right weapon target.
Game is mixed bag of shots required - from easy to hard. Shooting a game can sometimes feel a bit clunky but once you learn shots and can hit them, there is lots of flow and gameplay is ultra satisfying with video, lights and sound engaged.
So what are you guys who have one doing for tech support or parts? What if something goes wrong with it, what do you do?
Quoted from Oneangrymo:So what are you guys who have one doing for tech support or parts? What if something goes wrong with it, what do you do?
Leaning on the community:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/heighway-pinball-support-full-throttle-and-alien
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/weyland-yutani-dedicated-to-keeping-3-alien-specimens-alive
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-sele-technical
There are some smart people who own or are familiar with Alien who thankfully enjoy helping other Alien owners. Just digging up where to source several of the parts such as servo motors or I/O boards is already a good start--who knows what they'll come up with to keep these going as time passes, but I could see this game running better than ever thanks to the ingenuity of the Alien collector community.
Quoted from rai:It’s hard to put my finger on it, some games *are* more clunky than smooth. These can still be great, I think LotR can be clunky. I was just giving my first impression of both Alien and Iron Maiden LE the Maiden felt great on my first play reminds me of Tron in that regard where it was just nice shooting.
...or maybe some games just have tighter shots that are less forgiving and require more practice to hit repeatedly. Just yesterday I played a game of CV and everything was super smooth...then played a game of ToM and it was a clunk fest for the first two balls until I adapted to the slightly tighter shots.
And I agree - Tron is still one of the best shooting games!
Quoted from Damonator:...or maybe some games just have tighter shots that are less forgiving and require more practice to hit repeatedly. Just yesterday I played a game of CV and everything was super smooth...then played a game of ToM and it was a clunk fest for the first two balls until I adapted to the slightly tighter shots.
And I agree - Tron is still one of the best shooting games!
I totally agree with your opinion on some pins have tighter shots and it takes time to adjust to make them.
My Alien is tuned in that very rarely I have an issue hitting my shots. Then I’ll play Batman 66 and there are days I feel it’s very clunky, once I play a few games and adjust my shots to the ramps, it flows smoothly.
Tron is a great shooting pin!
Quoted from frolic:I get it. In the end the factory had to actually ship something (that works).
For what it's worth, I respect you opinion regarding Heighway since you own, and are happy with your Full Throttle.
Quoted from Davidus56:I got an email from the bankruptcy attorney that Heighway sold the Alien intellectual property to a third party before declaring bankruptcy. That is just another example of fraud committed by these scoundrels.
Should be News of the World, but seems no one cares, hopefully, they Have Another Thing Coming. Never forget.
Quoted from pincil8:Should be News of the World, but seems no one cares, hopefully, they Have Another Thing Coming. Never forget.
I care, just not sure what I can do about it or with it.
Regina, SK
Quoted from Gooch:I care, just not sure what I can do about it or with it.
hey c'mon.. the gooch used to be a feared man!
Hi folks...
Here are the official links for the Alien 1.2 software release:
Update package: http://pinballbrothers.com/updates/hpa12.upd
Release notes: http://pinballbrothers.com/updates/hpa12-rn.txt
** IMPORTANT: THIS CODE SHOULD ONLY BE INSTALLED ON MACHINES THAT ALREADY HAVE SOFTWARE 1.0 OR HIGHER! ** Using this package on machines with any 0.xx code version may cause serious problems with your machine.
To update your game software:
1) Download the update package file, "hpa12.upd", and copy it onto a (FAT32 formatted) USB thumb drive. Please ensure that this is the only *.upd file on the thumb drive -- delete any other .upd files that might be on this drive.
2) Insert the USB drive into a USB port on the game's CPU. (Note: you can make your life a lot easier by purchasing a USB extension cord, and running it from a USB port on the CPU to somewhere near the coin door.)
3) Enter the operator menu, and navigate to Actions > System Update.
4) Press Enter. The screen should advise you to insert your USB drive (which you already did) and press Enter to apply.
5) Press Enter. The update should be very quick, just a few seconds, after which the game will automatically reboot into the new software.
6) Verify that the installation was successful: the game and video software revisions on the startup screen and first operator screen should show "1.2".
** IMPORTANT: THIS CODE SHOULD ONLY BE INSTALLED ON MACHINES THAT ALREADY HAVE SOFTWARE 1.0 OR HIGHER! ** Using this package on machines with any 0.xx code version may cause serious problems with your machine.
If you're lucky enough to have an Alien, we hope you enjoy this software release. We tried our best to make the game shine.
Have fun...
-- The Alien Team
Alien was clearly one of the best new pins of the year. So, two questions for anyone that might know.
1) If the Heighway owner’s sold the I.P. rights to Alien, is some other company going to try and build it?
2) I lost my ass on this game. But, if a reputable company re-released it, I would pony up and buy it. Are other pin ballers that got burned like me, still interested if it was re-released?
Bonus question - where is Andrew and what could we do to him legally to make him suffer for the fraud he perpetrated?
Quoted from Dee-Bow:hey c'mon.. the gooch used to be a feared man!
The Gooch was revealed to be a girl. That was the "breakin' down the stereotypes" twist on that show.
Quoted from Davidus56:Alien was clearly one of the best new pins of the year. So, two questions for anyone that might know.
1) If the Heighway owner’s sold the I.P. rights to Alien, is some other company going to try and build it?
2) I lost my ass on this game. But, if a reputable company re-released it, I would pony up and buy it. Are other pin ballers that got burned like me, still interested if it was re-released?
Bonus question - where is Andrew and what could we do to him legally to make him suffer for the fraud he perpetrated?
1) It's still a very unreliable game, which would remain a major headache to support. Its current boardset etc is going to be very expensive to produce given the huge size of some of them and all the wasted PCB area. License won't be cheap either, and after all the drama Fox may not even wish to be associated with it any longer. Would some of the suppliers even want to get involved again? I'd say no chance ... unless Pinball Brothers decide they want to lose even more money on it.
2) -
3) Merthyr Tydfil area of South Wales, according to what Dave said on Pinball Info.
Yes, likely. But are you willing to pay? If you are, be prepared for a situation where there are no recoverable assets.
One thing Andrew was relatively shrewd about was ownership & liability, and doing what ever he could to get out of monies owed, or delay recovery as long as possible. See HW Pinball Sales Ltd (a company with no balance sheet or assets) being the vehicle by which he registered the lease for their penultimate (huge) facility in, and then absconded, owing over $100k & leaving the landlord high and dry.
He knows better than anyone all the shit he got up to, so it would be surprising if he hadn't taken measures to move assets out of either his name or UK jurisdiction. See also why he's likely so keen to disappear off on his hydrofoil - which it was claimed on one of Kaneda's pieces that now redundant employees had said there was circumstantial evidence suggesting he acquired it with company funds.
Furthermore, if indeed his assets are 'protected', then what likelihood is there of him sticking around to face the music, given that he clearly intends to leave anyway - with the hydrofoil in Italy and recent fund raising efforts in Sydney for it. Of course, he could still either lose a case or be convicted in absentia.
Quoted from frolic:The insane thing is the Pinball Brothers totally ditched marketing the game.
They couldn't even fulfill existing orders. Marketing was the last thing they needed to worry about.
Quoted from Ferret:Hi folks...
Here are the official links for the Alien 1.2 software release:
Update package: http://pinballbrothers.com/updates/hpa12.upd
Release notes: http://pinballbrothers.com/updates/hpa12-rn.txt
Version 1.2 is AWESOME! MORE FLING!
Well, I said no posting here unless I got a machine:
a) Lost my $1500.00 deposit to HW, as I was a way early preorder, long before distributors were even chosen. It was obvious the Company was tanking.
b) Identified a collector who had an LE NIB in Sweden (one of the last batches that were actually built, apparently...2/18).
c) Purchased LE #139 from him for $9900.00 plus shipping
d) This is a "true" LE, green trim (couple of pics attached). Euro build (obviously), but switched the power on both PS and main board, no coin mech.
My intent with posting is not to gloat, as many lost $$$ (like me, and even more), but rather to simply let the community know I got my hands on one of these, it's a solid machine, and look forward to enjoying it for quite some time. With no schematics, challenges await, but nothing really scary except the I/O boards.
I was an advocate for this "grail" theme (overused term) for years, as most know...this was a journey for me (understatement), which has ended with a game ( and added cost, for sure).
1.2 loaded, and the machine exceeded my expectations. The Company, sadly, did not.
I just got my LE from Austalia, unfortunately there’s damage. Trying to get it worked out, but with limited parts might be difficult.
Be careful with oversees shipping.
4D1A44D8-2887-4EAE-A1ED-DD79DD7389E9 (resized).jpeg
5E5AD05B-3DBD-41EB-994D-00F1A9119CE9 (resized).jpeg
Quoted from way2wyrd:Gratz. It looks great. I've been debating the same plan
If you can find one....highly recommend it. Think there were only 100 made (120 of the standards, not counting the first 20 something that were garbage). I think they were showing a few for sale in Australia?
Quoted from brett:I just got my LE from Austalia, unfortunately there’s damage. Trying to get it worked out, but with limited parts might be difficult.
Be careful with oversees shipping.
Man!!! sucks....I paid for airfreight (around a grand), and sweated bullets until I picked it up......
Quoted from MK6PIN:If you can find one....highly recommend it. Think there were only 100 made (120 of the standards, not counting the first 20 something that were garbage). I think they were showing a few for sale in Australia?
Is that factual as mine is one of the early production models perhaps even what you would call a prototype. It works perfectly and has the new code loaded on it. Probably thanks to Pinsider Libtech who stayed in contact with Heighway Pinball and brought it up to full operating condition.
I did the airfreight also. I thought it was the safest way to ship.
I just picked up on Friday, with a 17 hour time difference it’s been difficult to communicate.
I requested to have it insured, like I do on all my pins. We’ll see if they take care of it.
I’ve been in communication with the distributor. If they can’t or won’t replace, I hope they have parts to send me.
I even went to the airport to pick up, once it went thru customs.
Quoted from violinfather:Is that factual as mine is one of the early production models perhaps even what you would call a prototype. It works perfectly and has the new code loaded on it. Probably thanks to Pinsider Libtech who stayed in contact with Heighway Pinball and brought it up to full operating condition.
Mark has a great pin. libtech did a great job on fixing any of the issues and making it look great with that powder coating.
I should of grabbed yours, Mark.
Quoted from violinfather:Is that factual as mine is one of the early production models perhaps even what you would call a prototype. It works perfectly and has the new code loaded on it. Probably thanks to Pinsider Libtech who stayed in contact with Heighway Pinball and brought it up to full operating condition.
Have no idea of actual "facts" #'s wise. I do know the ones that Andrew "built" required extensive efforts to get them running, if at all. Glad yours is working great!!!
Quoted from brett:I did the airfreight also. I thought it was the safest way to ship.
I just picked up on Friday, with a 17 hour time difference it’s been difficult to communicate.
I requested to have it insured, like I do on all my pins. We’ll see if they take care of it.
I’ve been in communication with the distributor. If they can’t or won’t replace, I hope they have parts to send me.
I even went to the airport to pick up, once it went thru customs.
did the same exact same thing...whew!!!! Mine was insured for 10k cash, as I was concerned about parts availability. I hope it works out for you!!!
Quoted from brett:Mark has a great pin. libtech did a great job on fixing any of the issues and making it look great with that powder coating.
I should of grabbed yours, Mark.
No worries Brett. Enjoy the LE. The improvement of the magnet fling with the updated code is fantastic. I hope that you manage to get some replacement parts.
Quoted from violinfather:No worries Brett. Enjoy the LE. The improvement of the magnet fling with the updated code is fantastic. I hope that you manage to get some replacement parts.
Thanks Mark.
These are the risks we take, I’ve been lucky up until now.
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