Alien by a mile!

Tough to compare when they are in different stages of production. I would have thought alien by a mile but after seeing Houdini it really blew me away. Only time will tell

Cant really compare them yet bc both are early prototypes basically, but Houdini looks like it cld be really awesome..... like tom on steroids and then some.

Alien

Alien!!!!!!!!

Tough call. Ask me a year from now when they are off the shelf ready to purchase.
Theme wise Houdini has my attention...but would never preorder.
Alien is already on my hit list.

I believe these two have brought the market pricing back down a notch which is great.

Having played both this weekend, Houdini takes this easily. I would have bet the house on Alien going into the weekend, but I had much more fun playing Houdini. Will be interesting to see how both play out.

Houdini!

The real question is going to which one ships in quantity first.

Houdini then Alien.

At this point it's like asking who is going to capture a Unicorn first.

Well, since Alien is already in hands I guess that is answered.

While Houdini is an awesome reveal and AP might be a big wave [tsunami] in the industry -

Alien is the sh!t and I will be putting many game on it before Houdini is a buyable product. (next to TOM and PM)

Both look great. Alien speaks to me more and is shipping.... slowly, but shipping, so I'm in on that one. Houdini is a wait and see at this point but looks very promising.

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much preferred the play of houdini over alien this weekend. Just seems to be something missing for me on alien...and I love the theme.

I can say the same except......

I much preferred the play of ALIEN over Houdini this weekend...Just seems to be something missing for me on Houdini....and I think
there have been way too many magic pinballs and this one is not even close to the past ones....

Alien all day.

I haven't played either, but having the creators of Alien all being actively involved on here is worth a lot to me.

There is a lot of toxicity around here, and yet they are still here. I like it and appreciate it. Alien is definitely on my radar.

That being said, Houdini looks cool. Would like to play one.

Probably bc its code was 2 weeks old and lots things were not working yet? I think once its done and out of a prototype stage it will be much better . It has alot going on once its all coded and working smoothly.

I'd say neither right now. Down the road if AP can progress I think Houdini has a chance of being the better game. It has tight shots and actually felt pretty good to shoot. Alien looks awesome but just felt bad to me. Not sure what it is but it just felt off and sluggish. It's been in the works for 3 years and Houdini almost caught up to it in a few months.

I voted Houdini but I would have to play it. I was really excited about Alien until I played it. I have put at least a dozen games on it and so far I don't like it that much. I need more time on it. Alien just doesn't seem to generate any feeling of excitement when I play it.

I voted Alien, but not because of what I played at the show. We brought an Alien home for a friend that bought one and we put it on our location tonight. I spent an hour or so tweaking things and getting it dialed in and it plays 10x better than it did at TPF. It has really great flow, sound and lighting. The code is pretty good as well. I had a blast playing it tonight.

Well from the gameplay videos I've seen, Alien had 100s of fast flowing smooth shot options, and Houdini had 100s of dead bricked shots.

Just because a game looks pretty doesn't mean it's fun to play.

Pretty is subjective. I personally thought the new art package on Houdini was pretty bad. I heard a lot of people say they like it though.

Easy........ Both!

May take 5 or 6 years......

For me, it's Alien. Great art, sound, callouts, lots of shots...I think it oozes atmosphere and is a great representation of the the theme. The modes I played seemed well thought out and creative. The games weren't set up great at TPF, but it seems like a game that once it's dialed in would play brutal and fast.

Houdini is really early in its life. I think it has one of the coolest events in pinball I've ever seen. The upkicker to wire form to catapult to the chest, then catapult to another wire form is crazy. There is so much space and hardware dedicated to that one sequence though. To me it seems like a one trick pony...but it is early in its development. It has a lot of shots, but perhaps a litttle too crowded in. I hated the art. The other major toy is the theater and it didn't seem to do a lot yet. It could turn into a good game. I thought it felt really solid.

Houdalien*

*Coming soon from DP

Alien this year. Houdini next year.

If I had more money... then both right now

The chest lock is cool but it ricochet out on me 3 times and it doesn't give you credit for the lock if the game misses. My buddy asked one of the reps if there is any auto calibration for it (like thing flipper TAF or on MB) and they said no.

Both. Have an Alien SE ordered already. Thinking Houdini may be our first 2018 purchase.

Love the way both these games look. Video of both look good to great even.

Alien is far past the prototype stage.

Looks like I got lucky then!

To be fair, I did not get a chance to play Houdini at TPF. It's just not a theme that grabs me. However, that's not to say it can't be a great game. I don't really like the art or theme of Dialed In, but it was really fun to play and I look forward to putting more time on it. For me, Alien is a dream theme and I think the Heighway team has hit a homerun with this game.

For those that played it at TPF, a bright and loud environment is really not the best venue for this game. And as Gov said above, getting the game dialed in helps a lot with the gameplay. Yes, it does feel a bit different from a Stern and it's taking me a while to adjust - but once you start hitting the shots this game is AWESOME. Playing it in a dark, quiet place really lets the machine shine. Trust me, the sounds and light show on this machine rival anything I've seen.

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Houdini is the better game already for me (and my son and wife). I was all pumped to get an Alien, but played several games on it at the show and just didn't like it. The word 'clunky' kept coming to mind and it did play slower than I expected. Houdini is earlier in its development cycle and already seemed more entertaining and I think it might really shine in the end.

Now the pin that caught me off guard because I just figured it would suck, was Aerosmith premium. It was actually a lot of fun and I warmed up to the animations etc after a game or two. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did.

I've seen it bounce out off the back of the trunk, something we will evaluate as ways to reduce that.

Not sure who he spoke with it. There are settings via the service menu to adjust and we have ways to track accuracy and we will be looking at the possiblilty of adjusting power automatically, tricky part is knowing if it is going long or short. We will certainly be doing a lot more testing on it to see how it performs under load, heavy use, etc and that may shed some patterns to help determine issues that can be handled automatically.

In our current testing we have found the accuracy to be quite good, never going to be 100%

Once the machines are back on site We will check out the data to see what the accuracy was at TPF.

Don't worry, we will certainly add code that a failed throw still awards a lock.

How many people have actually finished an Alien mode yet? That was one of many eye openers in the Jack Danger 3+ hr game play video. The video also showed the game still needs work. Made TWD look easy, very very short ball times, and lots of clunkiness (which led to lots of dead ball movements). How was Alien at TPF? I will wait a year after "real" production starts to draw firm conclusions and then look at Alien for a purchase. Plus later purchases means all the inevitable early game issues identified will be fixed.

I'm flummoxed at all the unequivocal enthusiasm for a game based on what has actually been shown so far (and how little). I'd rather see a pin earn and build praise based on eventual real experience (which Alien isn't at yet) than suffer a large fall. But I haven't been around Pinside long enough to see what likely is a wash, rinse, repeat cycle here. The multi-year development timelime hasn't helped at all. By the time such pins comes out much of the enthusiasm has moved onto actual new pins... jumping the shark. Unfortunately, I fear the pretty much universal Alien praise on Pinside is setting (some? many?) people up for eventual disappointment. Expectations have been rah rah'd so high. I'd really enjoy me a good Alien pin and have to wait for the real data to start coming in.

Houdini looks great. With AP's work record on it, it may actually beat Alien to general public availability, which is a crazy thought (comparing timelines). Again, for me it's too early to draw many conclusions from and I'll patiently wait for "real" production games and feedback. Looks very promising though. I'll wait until a year after Houdini gets into real production and then see what the game looks like and decide on a purchase; it will still be a new pin to me. I'd really enjoy me a good Houdini pin and have to wait for the real data to start coming in.

Thata great to hear!

I was 1 mode away from completing the left tree at tpf. Ball time was above average for me. Nudged alot to keep it outta the outlanes. Left out lane has some ball save features. Only played 1 game and it skipped player 2s ball 2 and 3... Played great for me as player 1 haha. Sucked to wait 20 minutes to play a game then not let you have your balls tho. we didnt wait again.

So you don't actually read the forums then.

Alien modes are VERY tough to complete (that's why I ordered one). You don't have to complete them to get to the wizard mode.....but the better you do the more bonuses you get in the wizard mode.....awesome.

Clunkiness? You and I must have been watching a different Jack Danger video.

As has been reported here the games were not set up great at TPF.....they needed some tweaking (as all games do).

Alien has not gotten universal praise here. Many would much rather get an AFMr or Houdini. I prefer Alien.

Best advice I can give you is to play them and see which one fits your preferences. Alien is a widebody, it's still early in the code stage, Houdini is one ramp game with tight shots. I like them both but I will only get one, so I'll wait till I put some serious time on them both before pulling the trigger. Hint: I love the Alien theme but so far the cab and the code on it is giving me pause, Houdini looks pretty packed for the price, I'm thinking 6500 bucks street, it's seems like a good value. Either way there won't be any shortage of either game so be patient.

I dunno man, I thought I wrote long posts, but then I read rosh's essay yesterday ...

My personal take, with obvious bias, is that if you have a choice between a lot of great games, and some of them are done by people who are active here in the community, engaging and listening, and some are from companies that treat Pinside like an embarrassment they don't want to acknowledge and don't post here, don't listen and respond ... well, I'd support the community games.

American Pinball came out the gate a little rough with the jpop stuff, but clearly they've pivoted, left that behind, and impressed the shit out of anyone with a brain with how fast they got that brand new Houdini design done for TPF. Seriously, quite a feat. And clearly now that the cat is out of the bag rosh is super excited to finally be able to share. Love it.

Obviously the Alien team is very active here, and of course I hope everyone buys 3, get one for the neighbors.

I can never say enough good things about Spooky. That Alice Cooper translite is exactly the kind of thing I'd hope to see them do.

Keeping my fingers crossed for Total Annihilation production. Scott is the man. And so on, there's more to come. P3 and on.

We're just blessed with a lot of cool things happening in pinball that are coming from the community. Am I saying don't buy Stern games or whatever? No. Well, maybe a little, lol. Just saying, who's here, supporting, listening, engaging, taking ideas, listening to feedback, all that good stuff? It's not always easy, the toxicity mentioned is real, and it can be draining. I say reward the effort, buy games from your peers, and not the companies who just treat you like a wallet.

So in short, get both Alien and Houdini.

I wonder how many other people as sick of your constant same alternative facts, inability to listen, and outright lies?

Did you actually listen and watch the Stream? It is obvious you eaither didn't or are just lying for the fun of it.
It was stated at the start of the stream and numerous times throughout that the game being filmed was #2 built and a preproduction game. In reality, the only pre-produciton aspect if the under pf light and switch boards. Due to those boards, not all proximity switches were registering 100% and also the lights were not working 100%. Obviusly pretty tough to finish a mode when an intergral switch does not work or a light is not flashing to tell you where to shoot, lol. Luckily I now have the produciton boards in hand and am mid stream of install.

The game is the farthest thing from clunky. It is a new game and shot geometry takes a little time to adjust to. Watch new players step up to any table and it takes a few games to adjust. If you had actually watched the stream you would see a few games where the guys blow it up with major progress. You would also see a game where I hit a 10 way combo that demonstrates the amazing flow and beautiful geometry of the game once you get the shots dialed in.

As for opinions on eventual real world experience. You are smart to always take some time and wait, but I can assure you that things are already making leaps and bounds on the Aliens front. The fact that I have gotten 3 code updates in the first month, a new set of production boards, and all feedback is being taken in and absorbed should be telling. For those that have actual real world experience, the local player base is loving the game and the coin drop does not lie. I can tell you that Aliens is more than 3x the play of any other game in the line up and 3x more than any other new game to debut at this location (a location primarily of players).

For futher real world experience so people are not just hearing from the small group of players in the region, it sure sounds like Aliens got high praise at TPF, it sounds like those games are already onto the production boards and other production parts (only xeno flashers to update later?).

So what is it with you? Are you just commmenting without actually watching the stream, disregaurding the stream is on a pre-production game, lying about the apparent impressions of many at TPF, and/or ignoring the now further reviews from those that played and took home the TPF games?

I thought the 2 aliens that we been seeing on streams were early and just test models ? Im guessing the ones ay tpf are production ones?

Theme alone - Alien. Houdini does nothing for me theme-wise. Obviously have played neither at this point so can't legitimately comment on game play and all the other facets of a pin outside of theme.

I anxiously awaiting in-stock games as I'm itchin' to buy a new pin!

I didn't play the premium, but the Aerosmith pro I played at Expo in Banning was a blast to play.
I would have loved to play it more but there was always a line when we played.

I would say it got very mixed reviews. But that seems extremely common on all new games. People go overboard with praise or negative opinions. It wasn't for me but I thought it had a lot of cool looking features and was impressive to walk up to.

It doesn't help that companies other then stern just about refuse to setup a game to play fast at a show. It's pinball and you have several people there to fix stuff if something breaks (which it will not matter what). Set them up with snappy flippers and some pitch!!! The slow floaty play with weak flippers makes people walk away less then impressed every time. Why is stern not afraid there games will explode when played and everyone else seems to be.

Personally, I'm pleased that both games have their fans at this point and the 'positives' and 'negatives' are being weighed up. It's like politics, a good government also needs a good opposition. Choice is what helps this industry to progress and evolve. All fair play to Stern in how they helmed the ship single-handed through the bad times and built it back up from virtually nothing at one point, but the leaps forward we've seen from everyone in the last five years make everything else since Pinball 2000 seem positively glacial. Some great games, some real meat, but by necessity it was treading water.

Houdini

He who lives in glass house should not throw stones.

LOL. After posting my **first** detailed Alien play thoughts on pinside, including my impression that Alien was not an obvious big winner for me at this point but it's early and I'll wait as I'm still interested in "BUYING", I get IMMEDIATELY attacked and brandished over the coals by a few. Look at all the qualifiers (!) I put before coming to a simple and soft conclusion in my original post. That post may not be epic fan boy style, but it's far from hate. Literally throwing an interested potential future buyer under the bus.

Having used the best known Alien game play video out there to look at it, and specifically qualifying my feedback by noting the early condition, I still get attacked. Can't make this stuff up. Yup, it's definitely the messenger's fault for doing that.
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Show me where I "lied". Again, I literally mentioned I used the JD video, it was early and I was waiting for real production to draw any firm conclusions. You are saying the same thing.

Obviously Alien is progressing; that's why I said I'm waiting to see where it ends up.

My deliberately broad comments regarding praise, actual experience, perceptions, timelines and fears were neither hating on Alien or specific only to it, so go read my post again; it was about what I've somewhat consistently observed on Pinside with Alien and other various pins. That is also why I earlier and separately asked how people at TPF found Alien.

I put off posting these Alien thoughts on Pinside a while because I've seen most others attacked who did not tow the "best thing since sliced bread" line. I purposely put my **first** detailed Alien play thoughts in this post, no broken record, and in this thread... not in the Alien thread. Aaaannnnnnd, it only took seconds to get attacked .

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Astropin, why ad hominem attack? It serves no point and is weak sauce. No, I don't read every single thing on this forum. Isn't that rhetorically obvious? Did I not ask what people thought of Alien at TPF? And I'm not the first or only person to post on pinside that the JD video play of Alien showed clunkiness; sorry it's so offensive to you. The other game play feedback was helpful.

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Thx for some detailed TPF feedback! This is helpful.
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FWIW, I went back and made a few minor changes to better reflect my intent (e.g., a paragraph break) since it got so quickly attacked, lol. The earlier version is already quoted and saved for those who want to see it.

If my earlier post generated such attacks, just wait for the fireworks when an actual requisite serial pinside posting Alien hater gets going. And it's coming. Get a life and let some even slightly alternate perspectives breathe a little, people.
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