Andrew, we all appreciate how you are doing things different from the "others"....But in regards to your different pre-order model, would it be possible to give us realistic updates on how many Alien le pre-order spots remain? I understand the feeling of not knowing how much time is left to get in will compel many to pre-order this pin so i'm sure i just answered my own question here with a no!
But how about a compromise of letting us know when all of the 500 spots are filled and you begin to start putting folks on the backup list?

Not trying to stir the pot here and i don't know if anyone else has already caught this, but this quote was from the first post on this thread from HP 1mo,3weeks ago...With the whitewood being pushed out several more weeks from here, that makes it 2 or more months late at least. This is inline with D.N. claims about missing deadlines.

BTW. Im in, No plans on cancelling yet, and would rather wait a year for this thing to be made right instead of a rushed product and false deadlines which do nothing but fuel the fire.

I feel we are in good hands here. That other hot topic thread should be a grave warning as to how swift things can change when you play with peoples $$$...

Nice! What if all us pre-o folks put it on like a cod clan tag...the whole left side would lite up the same..your call...just tell me if im being lame

Some nice Alien updates on the heighway website forum www.heighwaypinball.com

or more time playing

that gloss red is slick!!

im in...norcal...wouldnt mind picking it up

is this a case of no news being good news?

wow! responded to my post on a forum in under 20 minutes after 3 weeks of silence...

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I feel the same, too bad a certain someone was losing sleep over this...would have been nice to have that stamp on it...

I hope everyone understands that this is heighway's "halo" pin. They are going above and beyond on this thing to attract major awareness to their brand. You've got rotating beacons, neon ramp, extra interactive toy being added because they felt the other one just wasn't enough, a freakin smoke machine hookup, Aurich on the art! and this thing hasn't sold out of this GIFT of only 500 LE spots yet!?!

A couple years ago this would have pre-sold thousands but the pain over those 2 years has been without precedent. And those vapor pins of pain were expected to be the next BBB, tron, cactus canyon, etc...I think Alien Le might just fall into the A+++ class!

Did you request #444 or was that what they gave you?

It was just "ok" in the grand scheme of it all, but iv'e still watched it like half a dozen times...next time any of yall watch it, tell me that the bridge ship control deal that Mr. Elba is behind the whole movie doesn't look like a treadmill...

Ironic that Heighway's original vision were pins without any backbox at all, to a backbox with 2 screens...Like my daughter always tells me, "Words have power!"

Seems like hands were tied by Fox on using the egg and ALIEN script...but in regards to the border, the bottom portion starts off asymmetrical and becomes more symmetrical along the sides into the top...Starts to look kinda mirrored, especially with the skulls in relative positions. I think more randomness within the border would be fun.

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I'm torn on getting either backbox screen that simply mirrors the playfield one. If Heighway could share some concrete plans (even if its just a planned update down the road) as to whether that screen will have unique content, it would make this decision easier.

Exactly! I'm the primary player as well. The small one does make more sense as it would seem easier to glance up and take in vs. a huge monitor. But still seems kind of pointless to a home gamer if it's just a mirrored image.

I've actually decided to carve out a spot in my shop for this one so i can go out there in the middle of the night for a smoke pumping, beacon flashing, sub pounding Alien adventure without waking the whole house up!

Funny, I just scrolled up and saw this....hope something doesn't end up being wrong with me...

So I'm a virtually day one le pre-order...probably one of the first 10....before the Nordman blowout....before Aurich....before any of the hype for a pin that will be well over a year, year and a half late for delivery.

I haven't bitched or complained not even one time...Always have been a defender and pumper of this company.

If I were at the helm of this company, I would offer a small consolation to those like myself by way of maybe a free backbox screen or least a discount on one.

I don't agree with the mentality that we should just accept delays and broken promises because that's just the "industry standard"

Just my opinion...I run a couple small businesses. Anytime I feel that I've inconvenienced a customer, i'm quick to send them a small refund or free upgrade. I've never even been asked, just take it upon myself to throw out tokens and it always seems to come back my way twofold by building up a loyal customer base. I wouldn't expect my customers to "learn some lesson" because they trusted my word and then I under delivered.

I get what you are saying here, but we aren't talking about a $60 video game or $10 movie ticket that's late by a month or two.

We had the lead designer publicly blow out on pinside because of a majorly unrealistic release date and not wanting to have his name attached to such. I don't feel like playing detective right now but I kind of remember Andrew trying to downplay Dennis's claims which have turned out to be all but true.

He's alive...

Not to sound ominous, but iv'e always wondered about the succession plan of these pinball companies...hopefully a woman takes over one someday so I can get "my little pony" MLPLE

I know, this is the same way I feel every time I pop open my safe and feel like Dutch from commando, I think what the hell are my girls gonna do with all this someday...Oh Wait, Commando pin Andrew? "What happened to Sully?....I let him go!" "I eat green Berets for breakfast" "Let off some steam Bennett"

ya think?

Anyone else find this disturbing? This was compiled from this one page alone, imagine if someone compiled every single one from this thread and all other threads...It would be enough to compose a multi page thread itself.

It's the unrelenting one sided conversations you keep trying to have with someone who ignored you. It just makes me feel kind of dirty every time I see it and its not even directed towards me.

But the rest of you are correct, I am getting played by responding to and quoting this guy which is creating nothing but noise in this thread and others. For that I apologize, and promise not to do it anymore in 16' and beyond.

Looking forward to the pf reveal! Fox not wanting to change a single thing sounds very positive!

I'm in.

Surprised someone hasn't started one of those lists yet..

After seeing an Alien shooter game on location the other day, I'm guessing quite a bit. It was horrific, something I could have probably pulled off on my laptop running vista.

In regards to the pf review, is it anything in the realm of TBL? That one seemed to go over well with the crowd.

The fact that any are left is something that really trips me out when you consider that other pin that sold out with a backup list 2 times bigger than the run itself...I think an official U.S. office/distro with heighway sample games avail. to play would help move enough units to justify the cost...I know, walk before you run...

And how about posting that simulated gameplay video we used to hear about?

That and the pf reveal would be a one-two punch!

cool, thanks...and damn you guys....been waiting to see that thing for a year!

kind of a dick move to post the flyer...I mean if it was weeks ago and kind of a sneak attack like the gb leak, it would have been kind of cool....But right in the moments before the artist having his little moment to put it up in a fun way he had planned out for everyone is pretty shitty!

Well ya know that seems to be my mo in life, always the advocate for integrity...

just because you can do something doesn't always mean you should...

back to Alien...I like the top half (screen area up)

Bottom area compared to say Hobbit is a meh...But better than the lower of RZ, imo...

waiting on population and lighting to make a final decision about how I feel.

Still in!

Kinder was 30 something years ago for me so some of you here may think that's fairly recent....But I just kind of pictured Aurich, head down, hands in pockets, kicking a can down the street after your big poster reveal...Enough melodrama for you there?

Are you able to adjust brightness/contrast in the lower playfield for instance, without fox approval?

If so, would that be considered?

uh oh, here come the Illuminati conspiracies...

Hobbit revised more than just the art...so a few more months of approvals to get the art right on this one wouldn't bother me...

Can't tell you how many times iv'e redone my work to make it perfect, but with some of Aurich's comments about this being the last license job, i'm getting the hint of him being a bit burnt out on this.

I'll probably get flak for this, but if I had his position, Pinside would have been turned off, aside from a simple post here and there to let you know i'm still breathing, and I would have thrown myself into this project with as few distractions as possible.

Ugh! Drama fest has completely tainted the love fest!

Any chance we can just scrap the whole Alien thing...Re-theme this awesome table to something unlicensed and let the Aurtist have free reign?

You did it with the Animal house deal to Full Throttle...

It did sound cool didn't it?

Do tell, please..

Flashbacks from 1 year ago

Flashbacks

lol flashback

Now you have just shed light on his activities which is the exact opposite of ignoring him, and he just won by finally getting a solid reaction from you. Plus you more or less just admitted to listening to his podcasts, which i'm sure you will shoot me down as saying, "No, somebody just told me what he is saying" Nevertheless, you know the content of his podcasts and it has affected you enough to break pinside rules by calling another pinsider " A moron, idiot who doesn't know shit from gold"

Come on dude, ignoring someone is just that...IGNORING!

Agreed that most of what he spews is filthy, but if you sift through it there are some flakes of truth to be found....For instance, is there another pinball art designer who comes onto pinside bashing the art of the competition? I get it, you're freelance, not an employee, but you did take the stage with heighway & pass the mic., which does carry some weight Aurich. It's not fair to leave Heighway in the wake of your turbulence!

Well if that's the best response you have to my post, then by all means, please make me the pvt. Pyle eatin his jelly doughnut while everyone suffers...Clam up...Drain this thread.....And knock this F-ing Alien out the park instead of worrying about Kaneda's podcast!

pvt.pyle_(resized).jpg

Ya, definitely a deal breaker for me if we don't secure these assets...Make it happen Andrew!!

Sure hope so man! Old Lance may come a bit cheaper than big time avatar Ripley...He was in that gem of a screenplay called "Pumpkinhead" afterall...

So were talking about modes for the guns in every one of your pictures here, what about the folks holding these weapons?

Is it more about me as the player using these weapons against the Aliens?

So for instance, when I'm in Smart gun mode, do I yell out, "Let's Rock!"

Nice! Looking forward to the "Heighway clearcoats 4 playfields podcast"

Would have been nice to see the classic queen profile with the iconic elongated skull & the extendo dentures thing shooting out the mouth...

Oh wow! I must have missed that post...looking forward to that now!

Could you imagine the Horley art guy coming onto pinside & snapping on customers to not buy it when his playfield was getting trashed?

Not the 2 that this pin is based on...Apparently the mood around here is to just be happy with what you do get, and if you don't like it, Don't buy it!

So all games will have wifi out the gate?

You are far too prolific of a poster and reader and listener of all things pinball to not listen to a podcast with your first name in the title.

Please be honest with yourself and to the rest of us...

Understood and apologies sir.

Just have to call bs on things sometimes...yadadamean!

Is it possible to go from deep in development to production in a few months?

The spectacle of this once great thread is well deserved of a company who hasn't delivered on their word many times now....Much respect to Nordman who tried to warn us.

Nah, I call you someone who can see clearly in this dark room filled mostly with folks bumping into each other looking for the light switch...

The irony of it being that i'm one of those money down guys too....my mom tells me stories of how I used to spit out the pacifier all the time...

How about we lock this thread up...Andrew has walked away for months in terms of showing anything substantial. Nothing good will come about here as the trajectory is clearly crash and burn territory.

Let Heighway start a new one, clean slate in August where he gives truthful updates and realistic timelines.

Easy what? You don't think all this porn crap is 10 times more disrespectful to Heighway than anything i've ever posted which collects rampant down votes?

Imagine a new customer, never hearing of pinside, Googles this alien pinball machine which they just found out about, and Google brings them here for the first time...

Ok, then which of these should I believe? How does that fool me once saying go?

I don't care about JJP delays, jpop/skit b scams & pinball is hard etc...

Conversely, I don't care about the efficiency of Stern & Spooky...

This is Heighway Pinball, Andrew Heighway told me things that were untrue which compelled me to give him my $$, and the above statements are his words to us all...

This is true...sold off my collection to have a collection of all Heighway titles so you can look forward to me in future Heighway threads...

I remember...And I also remember Andrews response to this

If he were to come out and say, "Hey guys, Dennis is right...we are way behind on this one but doing the best we can"

I would have respected that...

I know some of you think I'm trollish and need some kleenex or whatever...But my agenda is simply nothing more than holding Andrew accountable for bs'n us and compel him to be a straight shooter going forward...I'm done...see ya'll in August

Holy shit!! Welcome back!!!!

How could one snitch if they never even listened...?

That's a cool word...I like it

Sooo, Since you went there...are you going to address the snitching on Chris claims?

It's kind of a serious thing to some of us...

It's cool man...dodging the ? and ignoring both yours and my requests have given us the answer to this one...

And here we go...

Damn...you just ran in here like a spewicide bomber...

spewicide_(resized).jpg

Oh really! Well then, Andrew I would like to cancel my pre-order as well & can you please send me to the customer retention department for my screening of the secret video so I can decide if I want to "stick with it"

Buy Silver!

Not sure what I'm looking forward to more...
This pin or the prequel sequel

Pre order without any expectations!

I preo'd direct early on and looking back at all the missed release dates made me a little bitter...not from an impatient standpoint like mk6 always tries to pitch at me, but more from an expectation of honesty and integrity especially from a new startup trying to build trust!

I like Andrew Heighway and the enthusiasm he brings, and I really hope his talk of "consolidation in pinball" doesn't become a statement of irony...

I say hold off on putting those type of thoughts into Andrews head...this could be a trick to make everyone raise prices just so they can drop them back down on the next title to undercut everyone again.

This is a pinball war as far as I can see.

So everyone is dropping bombs..stern, jjp, spookay, and now some jpop game...cmon Andrew, show us your missle!

I'm trying to find the emoticon of the little guy rolling around on the ground in hysterics

Should or Will?

Should sounds a little back door openish

Just a shaming device which promotes censorship...Why can't it be something more friendly like a sliding scale?

oh wait, tried that and everyone was acting like stern just asked $15k for a vault.

Its still $8150...you guys aren't looking at the USD price

or $7850 for us early guys

I found the correct USD pricing on one of those screens I was clicking through...Can't remember which one though

I felt the same way...the strangest thing came to my mind when that stick shot out...the rip cord on my he-man road ripper

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How do you feel about this grossly late pin being ready for its worldwide premier at expo only completed "to a degree" ?

Because supposedly the only thing holding it all up was fox...I'm a preorder same as you and have no problem admitting that I have been completely bullshitted

Oh and your Aimee email was sent a month ago talking about production in 3 weeks...again, more bullshit

Andrew, you do realize that you are getting played right? Coming into your own thread and calling a pinsider a coward.

Poor form sir.

Fair enough. Have a safe flight.

At this point I need more than just words.

Nothing like some good pictures of parts & games on the line to instill confidence in customers. Do that and the 50% money will roll in.

Nuts and bolts in bins is not what I'm talking here...I want some 100's of painted Smaug heads on a rack type pics.

I believe the intent of this thread to build hype and secure pre orders has failed.

The first several dozen pages of this thread realized that intent. However, at this point it seems to be doing more harm than good.

Just imagine a new customer who knows nothing about this project, coming into this thread now at this point.

This thread has become speculative mess with people arguing about how many full throttle units have moved....Really?

Lock it! Let someone else start some speculative alien thread in the meantime...at least it won't be the the manufacturers own "Alien Pinball Official Game Thread"

Start new with games on the line, games in containers, birds eye view promo videos of actual gameplay & a simple statement of "Games are shipping now!"

Mining my posts to cherry pick these quotes and alter the context of my post.

No worries man...not offended...200+ down votes in this thread and I'm still here

#Alien pre order lives matter

Btw..awesome bike!

Seems like a humble & honest post...thanks for acknowledgeing the missed dates instead of just throwing out new ones.

Sorry if I've let my disappointment in things get the better of me at times.

I know you guys are workin hard over there.

"Hickok45 here"

These little edited snippet videos are cute and all...but when will we get to fill our tummies with a meaty full on gameplay one?

I mean why not? The first 20 games are about boxed up and ready to go right?

He has already updated your request...30 games done in the next 9 days....100 more next month.

Some solid questions you asked here! It would have been nice to see these answered along with the other questions which were answered quickly.