If Sigourney Weaver does not want her likeness on a pinball machine or wants big $ for the right to put her likeness on a pinball machine, her likeness will not be on a pinball machine. What Andrew or Aurich or the pinball community or anyone else wants does not matter. I am confident that the aforementioned would want access to all assets, from the full video, to full audio. Heck, I'm sure they'd love to have Sigourney do custom callouts; however, it is what it is.

Somewhat off topic, OK maybe a lot; however, when I was a young kid one of my friends got a spot on a TV ad for a local gas station. This was back in the 60's when businesses gave away stuff. It was the summer and they were giving away a free beach ball with a fill-up. I'll never forget going over to his house and seeing probably 100 inflated beach balls and 50 cases of non inflated balls in the garage. At first, I thought that was really neat...but then I started wondering why they didn't deflate some of them so they could get their cars into the garage and besides why do you need 1000 beach balls. So, yeah, keep your t-shirts and coffee mugs, I want $ and a cut of the action

I have no dog in this fight; however, as a now retired Program and Project Manager, I understand the frustration in dates that are not simply missed but missed with variances of 2, 3, 400%. If I were in this, I would ask for actual updates to better assess the quality of the projections. "It should be ready in two weeks" isn't really an update. For example:
"We received the list of Fox changes 6 weeks ago. We made all requested modifications and resubmitted the artwork 4 weeks ago. Their turnaround has been typically 6 weeks, so we expect to have final approval in 2 weeks." Versus "We received the requested changes 10 weeks ago. For a variety of reasons, we did not make two of the changes but have offered alternatives that we feel meet the spirit of the requested changes. The changes were submitted 6 weeks ago. They typically take 6 weeks to approve; however, based on prior experience, it adds a couple of weeks when an alternative has been submitted. Therefore, we think we should have final approval in two weeks"

Both examples suggest two more weeks. However, they provide enough info to determine how likely the projections are to be met. In the first case, you would feel pretty confident while in the second, you feel less confident and are prepared for the potential of another round of reviews. I'm not sure if Heighway has a true PM working this. If so, perhaps they can lift snippets from the regular status reports to give people a better sense of things.

I don't understand this. Is the person that 'cuts the checks' assembling the game? Further, I would want to resolve cancellations and refunds as quickly as possible so that you don't inadvertently ship a game to someone that has cancelled his or her order. (Not to mention the legal muck of shipping a game to a new buyer before you've fulfilled the contractual obligation of the original buyer.) I assume all this will sort itself out but that statement is a head scratcher.

The biggest concern I have comes from my experience in the software industry, where acquisitions, buyouts, mezzanine financing, etc. was the rule of the day. Everything is moving forward while Heighway is standing still. That usually means the value of the assets are depreciating. One need only look at the changes in the market over the past 6 months. New JJP game in production and another rumored on the horizon. A couple of new Stern games available (AS and BM66) and SW just announced. New offerings from Spooky and a new manufacturer (AP) that seems to have a potential winner on its hands. All of this eats away at the value of Alien to the point where it risks becoming a small run collector-only offering. That changes the financials dramatically. Where I have seen things get off the tracks is when things drag out, the owners (shareholders BoD, Sr. mgmt, etc) still believe they have an asset worth X but with the movement of the market, it is now only worth 75% of X. It can be tough to overcome the psychological impact of that reality.

I do hope it works out...it really needs to happen soon or they risk the market getting even further away.

Probably my favorite Arnold movie....by the way, it must be asked...Is that a hydrofoil?

It's a bit of a predicament. HW is obviously insolvent at the moment. They need to sell new games to cover their current liabilities (preorders). Regardless of how great the game is, there is a limited number of people who will buy it. To become a viable company, they have to produce new titles. Unfortunately, the time from game idea to full production is measured in years. So, they have to work on new titles now. While people may be pissed off at announcing the next title at TPF it doesn't change the reality that HW is spending time and $ on that next game. They really have no choice.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of HW is that they brought in 'new' investors who would have had a working knowledge of the situation. Heck, every Pinsider had enough knowledge to know they were insolvent. And we all would have done our due diligence to understand the depth of that insolvency. The 'new' owners were billed as experienced businessmen and yet it is clear that the new HW was under-capitalized. from the start I'm not sure how that happens unless they weren't that experienced or at least not experienced in acquisitions or perhaps they just invested money they could easily afford to lose. You may well be right that they are looking for new $. I suspect this time it will be much harder to get.

Control freaks fall into three categories. I've run into all three of these in the Software and Consulting industries

One is the mad genius type. They want to control every aspect because they know they can do it better and faster, which is often true. Where they run into issues is that they can do the work of 3, maybe 4 people, but not a dozen or two dozen. They can hire great people who are lured by the genius, but anyone worth his or her salt, eventually loses interest and moves on.

The second type is the poster child for Dunning-Kruger. They think they are the brightest person in the room and, therefore, no one else's opinion or skill measures up to theirs. Unlike the first type that can attract excellent people for short periods of time, these guys tend to attract incompetent people.

The last is the con man. The one that must control things in order to keep the truth hidden. People who work for these types tend to be very trusting and/or naive. Some hang onto the very end, others figure out things aren't as they seem and jump ship before it blows up.

I wonder which of these is Andrew? Perhaps a mix or none of the above?

Given that CT has bowed out (at least for now) and HW's financial position, what are the odds that HW is actually sitting on that container of games? More specifically, what are the odds that the recent blast of games showing up in Europe are the USA CT games? Doesn't seem like it would take much to swap an LE plaque.

More like Braille theme....cause you ain't seeing this one

Arghh...I guess the one positive is that (fingers crossed) it is not the electronics and mechanical components. I'm sure there are lots of competent cabinet and metalworking shops in your area that could make a replacement. Sucks, I know, more money, to be sure but at least you're not staring at some trashed proprietary board shaking your head filling out paperwork.

I'm sure you are correct. He lives just down the road from me a bit. Every time I've had a machine delivered or picked up, it's the same driver and he is always coming from or going to his place, which is why the long queue. Hopefully, your wait won't be too long given it's limited to cabinet work. (I keep thinking about reaching out to HEP to try to drop by one day just to see his work. I'm always in awe of people that have the skills and patience to produce at that high of a level...off topic)

I think this is the thing people may not understand. It would be one thing if this was an achievement of great pride and joy, something you'd look at, smile and feel good about. However, based on previous posts, it seems like this is more an object of remorse, of what could have been, of what-ifs. It appears that this is not what you would have created if only Andrew had given you the freedom to talk directly with the people controlling the license.