More than a pet peeve...that's a full on bug - a main feature that doesn't work properly.

Beast isn't fine. Beast is awesome. My favorite. Learn to laugh. Pinball is fun. Have some fun geez

true. But I think people need to realize that nib or not, pinball has a cost of ownership that includes getting your hands dirty and tweaking the games. The "I just want to play" attitude is great but these games will always need some tweaks and maintenance.

This is a more recent trend. 10 years ago, only a very, very, small percentage bought NIB pins for home use. If you did own a pin, you probably purchased it off a route, or auction and knew how to fix them up, tinker with them etc..., That was part of the fun challenge. Cheaper than buying/fixing cars.

Now these new pins are aimed at people with upper incomes that have "man caves", or collectors who want pristine machines that will appreciate. Many of these new people in the hobby are not going to want to maintain these. They are spending 7-8k for a turn key machine. Telling them that is going to fall on deaf ears. Look at the commercial for the "Pin", is that target group going to want to spend time working on a pin? That's only for a 3k pin, just think what the expectations are going to be for a 7k one you bought off Ebay.

JJP and Stern created a new segment to sell their pins, with this new customer base is going to be a whole new set of problems for these pinball companies. Just an opinion, but Limited Editions are going to be Unlimited Problems for Gary and Jack.

No its not. If you spend that much you learn quickly whats required. Trust me guys with the most expensive bikes and cars for toys spend more money and time tinkering then driving.
My wife calls my bike half a Harley because I have literally taken about half the bike off and replaced with mods.

Perhaps with "Home Warranties" Subbed out like Square Trade on Ebay does,
The market might expand if someone knew they had a 1 year in house full service available.

Bikes and cars are not the same demographics these new pins are marketed at. Look at the commercial for the "Pin" and look at the theme WOZ. WOZ is being marketed for a new segment of pin owners. Gary said at his last seminar the days of seeing sexy women on a backglass are over.

And so ridiculously easy to fix. The motor should not move back to position 1 from position 2 until the switch in the bottom of the left ramp is hit. I mean, this should've been in the original code (a no-brainer) but at least in the first update. By now, it's to the level on incompetence for paid professionals working on pinball code.

(Now, with that type of feature, there's always the risk that you send back-to-back quick shots up the ramp and the second ball goes over the flippers because of the first shot activating it. But that'd be a really rare case and just a side-effect of a moving ramp).

Fixing the goal structure so you can work towards villian and hero goals at the same time, so you aren't encouraged to time-out modes, is the other big one. Any time the best strategy towards a goal is to sit with a ball on flipper and watch a timer expire (over and over) then you know for certain have failed as a rule designer and programmer.

It's their first time as pinball programmers, but this isn't Borg's first rodeo, and he had a lot of time to work with them especially with the extended production of ACDC, so as owners these are things we've already paid for in July. I had a problem with labeling it as a Christmas gift. I'm expecting not only those no-brainer fixes, but a few wow-factor mode suprises, then I'll feel a lot better about this gift.

The layout is extemely fun to shoot, gameplay is fast, the art is gorgeous, the lighting is superb (esp with the couple Hemi mods I've done) and there's a lot of randomness with the spinner and magnets to keep each game fresh. The code is all that's keeping this one from being a truly great one, and the framework for an incredibly deep game is already set with modes that by themselves are interesting and well-done.

Crossing my fingers for Friday, and trying to stay optimistic...

Beast isn't written by or voiced by a comedian. It's not funny. It's poor acting. Period.

Waaaahhhhhhhhhh

Oh no he didn't!

Beast voice blows chunks, plain and simple....

Wow. I must say I just unboxed Magneto #123 today and updated the code to 1.22 and I have to say this might be one of the best pins I have recently played. The music is rocken, there are tons of shots, characters have personality, so many options and the animations are awesome. I have played Tron LE and While I love the Tron Theme way better, I think Tron is much more repetitious where X-men has so many options and many more "quests" to go on/do. I love the way it plays now and can't wait to see it get even better. I don't understand how anyone can hate on this pin once they have played the LE. Best Stern to Date Period.

Xmen is ranked high. Great game. I agree hb gamer

MATHAFACKOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

"These are a few of my favorite things" is intended to be funny, and it is IMHO

How about Magneto "Have another BBBBAAAALLLL" omg

Sure, it might be funny in a Kelsey Grammer type of voice as Beast should have...not this Kermit the Frog with Down's Syndrome sounding a-hole.

Anyone who can make shots in xmen will quickly learn that this game blows minds away. True story.

And the countdown to a new AUX board starts....... Now. It will be ok though, everyone is getting there game fixed and this will be something we laugh about in the future. Well maybe not laugh, but not worry about anyway.

I like when a shot used to finish a mode also can start another mode...shoot a Cyclops-to-Storm to finish Cyclops - but then that ALSO starts Storm...then you combo Cyclops to Storm again to finish her mode....feels nice!

LOL... So your saying you don't like the voice?

Seriously and they are not that hard. You just need to know the flipper sweet spots and
Need work the upper flipper. The Arcade /blackbird has more uses as well.

Mebeh.

I hope by updating to 1.22 and not playing on earlier versions that I will circumvent this. I just need my DMD'S replaced and it is still Awesome

Dude, totally know what your saying. Combo'ing hero modes is awesome. During those epic games, I'll sometimes look down and have 4-5 hero modes completed in a matter of minutes.

The upper flipper is my favorite in any 3+ flipper game I've owned/played. Storms shot is so addicting. I do have a pet peeve, and we've requested this (hope stern listened) - and that's the rogue shot triggering magneto lock.....it should go right through if there's no locked balls, the lock is not lit, and/or during multiballs. I disabled magnetos lock before and the rogue shot becomes that much better.

Not written by a comedian?

"I forgot to carry the one"
"these are a few of my favorite things"

Sorry but these lines are totally intended to be funny.

I'll agree the voice acting sucks. And it's totally out of place. This isn't a funny game. But it makes me laugh and I enjoy it. It needs to go but I'll miss it.

Beast nor storm voices and lines don't bother me one bit. What does bother me is the spamming of their call outs over and over in a matter of seconds. Remember the early code juggernaut; "you must remove his helmet....blah blah blah" over and over. That exactly how I feel about storm, beast, and even Phoenix.

OK, maybe I won't murder your face now.....it was close, Mark.

Huh, whaaaat? The code is ready ... well no reason to wait until tomorrow, lets see it! My XMEN is waiting ..... I am so hoping to see deadpool!

So how many times a day is everyone checking Stern's website?

Not me! Pinside seems to know the answers before Stern does There must be a lot of moles in the Stern factory

NDA'S dont stop my guys

So, the million dollar question, have your guys given you any heads up regarding what to expect? Major changes? The core features that have been discussed on the board? I'm trying to manage my expectations.

I'm setting my expectations toward light polishing of current rules + combos upping the multiplier. No new voices or much tinkering with the core rules, certainly not expecting significant additional stacking. Here's to hoping my expectations are off.

The rumors of a follow-up update down the road have me thinking it'll be on the lighter side, too.

That would be very disappointing IMO. Stringing this out longer then it has to be creates doubt for some customers on whether to buy future Stern releases. If this is not a significant update I will be pretty hesitant to buy Stern until they get the message. Release pins with near complete code and complete the code in a short amount of time for customers paying thousands for your products.

I don't have my hopes high especially since last years TF POWERpack Xmas present. After seeing what Lyman and Ritchie did for ACDC; I suspect we won't see powerful updates from any games unless they're the leads.

None of the voices bother me. I am really looking forward to the update to bring everything on this game together. What they decide to do with all the voices won't affect me.

It needs significant enhancement to rules.

A few I can think of:

Combos
Stacking modes somehow
Linking hero modes and villian modes
Either make villians easier to complete or give adjustments that allow different levels of difficulty. that was SOP in B/W games.

There are lots of other tweaks and things that people want but the current state is a bare bones ruleset without any real polish.

I've had mine for sale but am waiting/hoping that the update will make me want to keep it longer. A minimal update will likely end me as a future customer of Stern. I was burned once by Spiderman and fell for it again. Shame on me.

Dave

i'm expecting jack shit

A lot of ppl talk about easier villain modes but I don't think that's what villain modes need. Soooo many times do I get one shot away from completing a villain then drain or run out of time. There's is little to no reward for doing villains. Instead of them being easier, a player should not have to repeat the mode if they were one shot away. Mode progression? Perhaps, but why not make it harder to light villain mode and make them a one time mode. Your success vs the villain counts towards dark Phoenix mode. This worked wonderfully for family guy tv modes and there's only 5 modes to do vs xmens 7. I think it needs FGY tv mode style logic incorporated to the villains.

You have mastered enjoying life ; )

So without me running to the 1000 post thread, can someone sum up the aux issue? Haven't experienced it yet on mine that I know.

I love nightcrawler mode most if all, to me it makes the game. However I don't know how is it awarded. I can go like 10 games no NC then I have it back to back games. I'd like it to be frequent than it is now.

Soooo..........

What if the xmas present update is rev 1.22 that has already been made available on pinside by the pinsider who received it in his replacement xmen machine?

I could see a march on the stern factory with pitchforks.

If I see one more XMEN thread hijacked by AUX board issues I'm going to through my computer down a set of stairs.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/x-men-aux-board-issues