Quoted from AlexSMendes:

Wonder why they never made a Traci Lords action figure

Quoted from PoMC:

After all this waiting to see something, I used my money for a first NIB pin for a Game of Thrones that I should be playing next week.

Quoted from Rascal_H:

Save those for anyone who buys this game.

Quoted from Aurich:

I wasn't going to say kaneda's name, and I wasn't going to discuss anything going on with him. Don't feed the trolls etc.
Kaneda emailed me tonight, said that he thought things had gone too far, he admitted his role in it, and asked if we couldn't just squash this. I thought that was big of him to do, credit due where it's deserved. No need to post the details, it's a private email, but that was the heart of it.
I told him I had no desire to "win" and just wanted peace, and accepted. I'm more than willing to just move forward, I'm truly uninterested in the drama, it's just pinball. Hopefully that's the end of it. Sorry to disappoint anyone who was enjoying it.
That seemed worth coming back to this thread to explain. I also want to publicly thank Ted. I gave him shit in private for feeling like he was egging things on, and I wasn't polite about it, and instead of lashing back at me he was a gentleman, and he's the one who brokered the peace. So thanks aman, I truly do appreciate it.
If the two of us can move on can I please ask that thread do too?

Quoted from jonesjb:

From this and earlier posts from Andrew and Aurich. This game sounds awesome, and I don't even care for the alien theme that much. I was thinking Ghostbusters was going to be my next pin, but perhaps my money will be going to an Alien.

Quoted from PinballRulez:

It would be way cool if they could integrate the motion tracker on the playfield screen.

Quoted from gliebig:

I'm glad they didn't put actor's pics on the playfield. That always looks stupid. Looks good to me the way it is.

Quoted from Whysnow:

this is the game I am most excited about currently (by a long shot!)

Quoted from PinballRulez:

I was getting a question about the Alien rules from a fellow Pinsider that is very enthusiastic about Alien. So I tried to consolidate all the info I could find about the rules. So here it is
Introduction
(Info gathered from posts of Aurich and Dave on Pinside)
Programming of Alien by Brian Dominy and Joe Schober, with a lot of input from the whole group.
This is a mode based game. With real modes, not just shoot all the blue arrows, now shoot all the red arrows, now shoot all the green arrows. Every mode has its own feel, with broader strategies about collecting things and incentives to actually try and finish the modes. It feels like that 90s style mode play, married to modern thoughts on pinball rules, and of course we have LCD screens and RGB lights etc. Plus 4 flippers, with dedicated shots for all of them.
Not to mention at least 6 multiballs. There's a lot to do outside of modes, and the game isn't about crazy stacking. The modes for Alien play differently than the modes for Aliens. There will be a lot of ways to play it. Every single mode is an iconic scene from the films. Even the cat is in there! Jones gets his own mode. But basically the goal is to immerse you in the movies.
Both motion trackers from both films will be featured on the playfield LCD screen. The one from Alien is used in more of a tense/eerie mode, focusing on Dallas in the tunnels trying to find the Xeno. The one from Aliens is more balls out and frantic.
The game will have toys for all the iconic Alien stuff. Eggs, facehuggers, a big Xeno with a bad ass magnetic tongue, the queen herself, and the chestburster will even be part of it with the controlled drop target. There's a physical ball lock for the hypersleep chamber. You can get the rotating beacons on top. For the LE and the upgrades we'll have fiber optic lights.
The Xeno head model that sits around the mech is the same size one that's been shown before, and yes, it will 'eat' the ball. What you don't see yet on the CAD is the mini-subway that will take the ball behind the backboard, to be ejected back into play onto the upper corner of the right platform, to drop onto the end of the habitrail and down to the return. In front of the backboard re-entry is where the Space Jockey will stand as a large upright plastic, so it should look like the ball is emerging from behind his turret. The LV-426 area is also the most natural place for him to be.
The Hypersleep chamber is a physical three-ball lock, the 'fourth' ball drawn on the CAD is a visual indicator of how the dispenser works, dropping the foremost ball onto the level below while holding the others back.
We're going to blow the up the playfield at least twice if you look at the wizard modes, and you know everything including all the RGB lighting is going to go nuts for that. Oh yeah, and the LCD screen embedded in the playfield. The pace of the animations is going to be fast, the game will keep moving. No sitting there watching something play out for 20 seconds or anything. This isn't watching TV, it's playing pinball. I'm really thinking about the display like a high rez DMD. Show the score, show objectives, play cool animations to reward you for shots, and no sitting around. The approach for the dashboard on Alien is really more about keeping the data we display really encapsulated and contextually relevant. Keep it in the spirit of a DMD, in how and what it displays, but with all the advantages of an HD display, for high resolution art, numbers and text, and of course video. And that means both in the backbox (small or big or not at all, your choice) but also the playfield. And it has to work for both.
There are 5 weapons to collect, each with their own animation, representing all the important guns of the game. There are more than one way to collect them, I think finishing modes awards them, and you also get them from hitting the 5 weapon standups. Let's see, it's pistol (Vasquez), shotgun (Hicks), flamethrower, pulse rifle, and smart gun off the top of my head.
David Thiel is doing the sound design side, he's also a great composer, the original songs he's doing for the game are awesome. They feel like Alien songs in spirit, intense and eerie, but they're better to play pinball to.
And all the sounds are being synched to the animations, so everything will feel like it works together. Kelly is doing the most grimey edits and animations for this. It's like high resolution clips from the films have been sucked inside the world of MU/TH/UR. Where everything is a little analog and dirty. And then spit back out into HD, with our HUD rendered around it with the vital info.
Modes
As known for now there are:
- 4 modes for Alien
- 4 modes for Aliens
- 1 mini wizard mode for Alien (mutliballs in this mode)
- 1 mini wizard mode for Aliens (multiballs in this mode)
- 4 big multiball modes
- 1 Wizard mode

So moving on, let's take a look at the mode inserts.
As was correctly guessed earlier there are 3 branches, all laid out with the motion tracker layout. We're going to use the RGB LEDs to do a blue "pulse" through the inserts to simulate the tracking, maybe just for the attract mode or something, should be cool looking. Each branch has 4 modes or multiballs, and then a wizard mode.
At the start of the game you pick your film, Alien or Aliens. You're then locked into that film until you finish it. Each film has four main modes, and then a mini-wizard mode. You need to finish the 4 modes for that film (just start them, not complete) and the wizard mode before you can move on to the other film. This then opens up the film you didn't choose. So you can start with Alien, and then try and beat Aliens on the same game. All of the modes are based on parts of the stories. Each one will have video clips and lighting and sounds and rules to capture the feel of that part of the story. I think the pops randomize the next mode, you don't pick like in Stern Star Trek once you've picked your film.
There are also things to play outside of the modes. The Chest Burster controlled drop target / magnet combo for instance, not a mode, can be played during either film path. The APC drop targets on the right are like an old school Bally, you have to hit them in order to get the better reward. There are definitely a lot of cool combo shots. Some things will stack, but this isn't a big stacking game, the modes are about atmosphere and the film, so they won't all jumble together. The Weyland Yutani inserts are the inlanes, and you need to light both to qualify the mode shot.
Color is definitely going to matter too, it's not just window dressing. Modes use color in their rules. Color will matter for communicating other information on the playfield. And of course, we're going to have sweet window dressing.
Generally speaking that's how the modes break down in this game, Alien is a little bit more on the atmospheric side, Aliens a little bit on the faster side, as is befitting the films. We're going to try and make the scoring balanced so that there's no reason to always pick the same film first, but I'm sure someone will find a tournament strategy that maximizes points while minimizing risk, people always do.
To beat the game you have to play through both films, so for home users I don't think the order will be that important, pick based on what you feel like doing, or the opposite of what you did last time or whatever.
The mode order isn't fixed, there are out of mode things to do, and a lot of multiballs, so really at any given point in time there should be a lot to do.
Multiplier Count

Multiplier count in the middle of the playfield. It reads 426.
You light them with the LV lanes up at the top right of the playfield.
And the trick is it's actually 4+2+6, and it counts up by 2s to a max of 12: 2, 4, 6, 2+6, 4+6, 4+2+6
Life Cycle inserts
There are shots with Life Cycle inserts, where you can advance from egg, to facehugger, to chestburster, to xeno.

The first of them is an Egg. There are two Egg inserts, at the orbits.
This of course makes sense because the pops have sculpted eggs on top of them, and there are pop up posts that can divert the ball into the pops, so the orbit shots become part of the rules with the pops.
Standup targets
They are used to collect weapons. Right now we have an idea that will use different colors as part of that.
Weapons will play a part in the rules, we have the pulse rifle, smart gun, flamethrower, Hicks' shotgun, and Vasquez's pistol. You collect them with the standup targets. Each will have an animation.
So Team Heighway.....anything to add

Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

Personally I'm not worried about it. I'm hoping the LE's feature artwork for the Aliens film. That makes sense to me.

Quoted from Roostking:

I just went to Cointaker and they have no information on Aliens. Is the pricing going to be similar to Full Throttle?

Quoted from way2wyrd:

The activities for the weekend!!
-Jeff

Quoted from Pinstein:

More Newt? Really? I cant take anymore as time and again this thread has proven that this title is in incompetent hands. I never saw the elusive video and Im sure its cool but I've seen tons of great movie trailers that were ultimately better than the actual movie. Requesting a refund today. Oh wait, I wasn't foolish enough to put down a deposit.

Quoted from Methos:

Newt sucks.
Need more Hicks.

Quoted from vid1900:

Here is the alien abortion for anyone that did not see it:
» YouTube video
It looks like an ectopic pregnancy, with the squid developing outside of the uterus.

Quoted from kidchrisso:

I could never get a call back from cointaker...went direct.

Quoted from dougram69:

At this rate, the first game will be finished in 2122 when the Nostromo actually lands on LV-426. Ha.

Quoted from MK6PIN:

The good news is we are close......time will fly, and expo upon us.....most of the wait behind us, and there were cool improvements made during the wait ( mainly that screen!!!).....can't wait to see/ play this damn thing!!!

Quoted from MK6PIN:

I did it the day I saw the video......badass is the understatement of the year when you see some of the interaction on it....this is going to be unbelievable w it on the big screen AND playfield...

Quoted from karl:

Actually, Full Throttle was also very late. If they had taken pre-orders from the day it was announced (they waited much longer than JJP before doing that though so smart move there) it would have been almost 3 years late.
You are not to blame here since you did not start the debate, so do not take this personally, but I am getting a bit tired of all the comparisons with all the new companies regarding time-lines. Especially on games that has already been out there for a while.
But who cares. This is happening to all new companies. (Even those with a factory set up early on has had a 2-3 year delay on every pin)
JJP, Dutch pinball, Silver castle pinball, Heighway, Homepin, Nemo, Etc.
I guess the only reason that JJP get mentioned so often is
a) they started pre-orders from day 1,
b) They were the first one,
c) they are the only American company of the new ones, so you get a lot of JJP vs Stern crap.
But I will repeat myself. Who cares? Those who have done the pre-order thing has also had a cancellation option(JJP, Heighway and Dutch) so if the wait is getting on people, they can always cancel. No one is late because they want to be late
PS! Seems like JJP, Heighway and Dutch have all learned their lesson, since they appear to be waiting until they are much closer to production with the announcement of their next titles. We know that both Heighway and JJP has been working on game nr. 3 for a while now.
We live and learn. Customers also. I will not do the same thing I did with The Hobbit, The Big Lebowski and Alien again. But done is done. (and all of them are looking awesome, so that helps)
Moral speech over

Quoted from karl:

Wonder why no-one has talked about the snippets you see of the Alien populated playfield in the new video from Heighway? (when Dave is presented) You can't see much, but it is enough to whet my appetite for the game
Video can be found in the Heighway update thread and here:
» YouTube video

Quoted from Purpledrilmonkey:

Came in looking for the red-hot Alien Pinball news.... second time I've needed this gif in this thread....

Quoted from Jvspin:

Looking forward to seeing the game Andrew and like your optimism but somehow I don't think all of those things are going to come together by next week. Best of Luck though.

Quoted from way2wyrd:

Pinball Expo in Chicago has released the schedule.
http://www.pinballexpo.net/seminar.pdf
Thursday at 9:30 has this gem that i will be going to.
9:30 p.m. “Alien Pinball, The Official North American
Launch”
Speakers: The Heighway Pinball Team
WOOT!
Jeff

Quoted from Mr68:

Here's a tip for all of you keyboard gang banger's. Acting tough on the internet doesn't always work out.
Aurich posted that comment about a month ago along with the usual trash he speaks about me. I didn't retaliate on Pinside or say anything with macho posturing in return. I remained silent to his taunt while his fan boys clicked the thumbs up for him.
Friday early evening at Expo, I happen to see Aurich in the Exhibit Hall. He was about 30 feet away from me talking with a friend. I didn't care he had a buddy with him and I was to face him on my own. I didn't hesitate for a moment and went straight over to Aurich and stepped up on him. I called him a lair and an asshole to his face exactly as he called me out to do.
Aurich back-peddled a step, put his open hands up in the air and said "I'm not talking to you, Kim" and I bitched him out some more.
Nobody got touched, it was over fairly quickly and it didn't go well for Aurich. His friend in my peripheral vision seem dumbfounded and must of thought me crazy and maybe I am. Aurich disappeared after that and I never saw him again.
I doubt Aurich will call anybody out on the internet ever again but if he does you, be sure to look him up.
Prediction: Aurich will reply to my comment here with his usual story of how he has me blocked and cant read but he somehow reads me anyway. Then of course, he will tell a much different version.
I don't care what story he tells or what you guys believe. I know and Aurich knows what happened and that's all that matters to me.

Quoted from PinFatale:

Great job Andrew and the Heighway team!!!

Quoted from thewool:

Only have one question for Dave... how do I get out of this chicken shit outfit?

Quoted from iceman44:

Covenant