Yes, loving the widebody format. It gives the PF a bit more umphh...

The lit side panel is standard on all heighway games, here is their latest cabinet, you can see where the art goes:

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Hey, I'm not crazy!!!

Wonder how many LE's are left? Still showing available, but a ton of names on the preorder forum..too lazy to count, and as someone already posted, don't think the forum is exclusive, anyway ...

Hey No worries, but I will admit you had me wishing I missed something for a minute there. I could see side box lighting matching and somehow tying into the Fibre Optic Ramp Lighting on the ’35th Anniversary Edition’ version.

That's a great idea though, submit it to Heighway! Who knows it's still early.

Oh dear Lord I have to go change my pants now!

Thanks for setting us straight

Why the large cutouts at the flipper buttons, start button, and shooter rod?

Perhaps because it's supposed to be modular for easy part assembly swap outs. That's kind of Heighways thing.

The modular design. Alien will have a manual plunge, but Full Throttle has a button plunger.

Games could have 1 or 2 flipper buttons, etc.

When you swap the playfield, you swap the plunger.

New article from Pavlov Pinball:

http://pavlovpinball.com/alien/

Potential of 2 screens...one in playfield AND backbox!!!....this is officially killing me now.....I must turn my focus away ...time to play some PB, watch football, and a nap....can't be happier to be a part of this!!!

Andrew mentioned this as a potential "mod" for Full Throttle in the past. I hope they do it, because the games are swappable it would be a one-time purchase so I'd do it in a second.

Good article. The best part that I read (the quote is from Andrew):

Heighway won’t be drawn on what Alien assets the licence includes or whether any of the original actors have or will be approached to produce original call outs. “I can’t reveal the intricacies, but I can say that there will be clips from the movie in the game,” he says.

Agreed!!!

Thanks for the link to the article.

So dual LCD screens are being looked at that play synchronized clips from the movie plus there will be another LCD screen in the spinning toy that shows an air lock opening clip to reveal what mode you started? Wow. I bet the LCD and zenomorph on the spinning toy will be easy to get to compared to the Queen who will be reserved for something spectacular.

He can't yet comment on using the original actors for call outs. That's probably good, meaning something at least is in the works.

He did say Nordman has been working on Alien for almost a whole year now but when asked if Greg Freres is involved he said "No comment. Take from that what you will." Uh ...ok. I take it as he can't say, but he did?

Their playable virtual version with sounds has a fairly complete rule set already.

Still experimenting with sound cards and bass speakers to make the audio stronger. Sweet! And connecting it to what he calls HiFi which I'm interpreting as a home theater receiver. So will this be the first pin with surround? If only.

Alien will have WiFi connectivity to upload high scores and allow the use of pre-paid credits? I have no idea what pre-paid credits would be for.

Holy Moly! These are some big doings brother! That was more information than I have ever found on what's going on with the Alien machine.
Thanks so much for the post. Any other telling articles out there?

Glad you like the piece Yipykya.

Just a couple of things:

Just to clarify, Andrew said "No comment", not "No comment. Take from that what you will." (The take from that what you will bit was my comment on his quote.)

As for the pre-paid credits, I think what Andrew is planning is that you can have an online account and add credit, and then when you go to an arcade or bar where there is a Heighway Pinball machine you will be able to log on to it somehow and it will then display your high scores from before, and you will be able to pay for games from your online account rather than having to pay with coins.

Cheers,

Paul

Cool idea!

I wonder if the login is going to be similar to Arachnid's HotButtons? HotButtons can store player names, track stats, and store credits.

Thanks mfresh, my bad. I'm quite new to the realm of anything Pinball and I don't know enough to make a decision on that subject either way. Don't even know who Greg is yet but from what I have gathered Nordman is quite revered. I bet if I was there when Andrew said that, I could have read his body language and tone and been able to infer.

The pre-paid credits is a pretty cool idea but I won't be able to take advantage of that due to my location. I was originally thinking Heighway was going to bring back gambling. I kid

Hey, everyone.. I can't help it either love this theme and with it being refundable... why not?

As far as making the down payment on the LE and potential taxes...

Are there fees for every type of payment besides money wire? When you use a Credit Card?

Obviously there will be a shipping charge? But will there for sure be no taxes? Since it seems to be like ordering any other pb machine online?

I'll have to pay taxes, 13% and shipping unless Andrew finds a Canadian distributor. Its will easily cost me an extra grand+ to get this game. However for me totally worth it, amazing theme for pinball. I'm hoping that the trim becomes optional, not digging the lime green would rather have black powder coat. But not that a big a deal, Dennis Nordman is a great designer and I have a feeling this will be special pin.

From what I understand, Heighway will get their games to Chicago. From there you pay to get it to you, just like any other game.

He is talking to Playdium now. Not sure the status of that, but if you haven't already you may want to tell Guylaine you're a potential buyer.

Great communication from this company!

For now. As I recall, all of the "boutique" guys start out this way. Time will tell if this one will be different.

Not trying to be negative, as I like this machine; just trying to be a realist. I hope this machine sees the light of day, in large quantities.

Some boutiques have a basement and "an enthusiastic dude".

This "boutique" has a 40,000sqft facility and a world famous pinball designer with a proven track record.

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Agree this is EXACTLY why I have no problem putting a small "refundable" deposit towards this game... I seriously doubt Predator/JPOP ever see final product light of day to all those who put down deposits...

+1000!!! I hope for the people invested in other preorders, it works out (at least a refund of something)...reading the threads it don't sound very promising.

Heighway just doesn't strike me as (or look like) a boutique....it certainly appears they are very viable, already staffed, one game pretty much done, nice manufacturing facility (so far), and great communication. I quantify "communication" as straightforward, direct answers to relevant questions.
They seem like business guys, who have a passion for pinball (fortunately), not the other way around.....

When are the moderators going to put up an avatar for the Alien game so I can put it on my wish list or collection

"it doesn't" instead of "it don't" good grief....grammar 101 please....

I don't know why people keep referring to Heighway as a "boutique" pinball maker. Just because they haven't delivered a pin yet does not make them "boutique". They plan on selling as many of the pins that they make as possible, and as pointed out above, they have a big factory in which to build the machines.

Boutiques would be much smaller runs (a hundred or so) and built in small shops, not a factory.

I love it when I can agree with RobT, I had a few questions regarding my pre order and putting some extra cash I had down, sent an email that was answered almost immediately by Andrew, a few days later another query and same thing, then I sent a thank you to his pinside contact and the next day I had a response. This company is no flash in the pan in my opinion and Dennis Nordman doing Aliens with an LCD on the playfield, amazing.

Let them ship some games and let them be good, until then I see a pic of an empty warehouse.

How about after the pin is actually revealed to start?

I'm with you Hazoff, no way to go wrong with that combo!

Will there be a distributor in Australia?

That's great news, thanks very much for the update.

Thank you Andrew....

Agreed....

Heighway, thanks!
Happy to be in #65!

Excuse me for asking this - maybe I am missing something, but on the website, it says "US $6,150" for the standard and "US $7,850" for the LE. Is the $3900 price for the "kit" that you can swap in and out of if you already own FTT?

Apologies for sounding ignorant. I honestly just do not know. $4000 for something awesome like Alien definitely caught my interest; however, I am quickly starting to think it is "too good to be true" .

Very interested in this game. Been watching hwp since I first heard of full throttle and was bummed cuz that theme is not for me Please get Canadian distribution!

The play fields come out and can be swapped. So if you own one of the pins, the second playfield is much cheaper, but of course, you'll only have 1 set up at a time, cause you'd only have one cabinet.

Yes. The playfield, translite and cabinet side panels swap.

would love to hear that motion sensor somewhere in game.

Because around Pinside, boutique means anyone other than Stern. The current King of boutiques is JJP.

Trudeau, huh? So Gary is letting him moonlight with you guys?

Very cool......