I like the idea of a comic book pin looking like a comic book...in art and animations. I'll definitely be watching the reveal stream to see how everything ties in.

Ahh, thanks..I looked on the Stern website I couldn't find the names for the team.

Me too.
That will decide whether I'm an early adopter or holding off for a year, mostly to let someone repair the call outs, that's whats making me nervous. So far there hasn't been a Superhero game where the call outs couldn't be used to jump start a vomit.

AIQ team;

Game Design: Keith Elwin

Rules Design: Keith Elwin

Rules/Software Support: Raymond Davidson

Lead Software Programmer: Rick Naegele

Artwork: Zombie Yeti

Lead Sound Designer: Jerry Thompson

Music: Ken Hale

Lead Mechanical Engineer: Harrison Drake

Computer Graphics Art Director: Chuck Ernst

Deadpool call outs are great.

Funny. I think they are great and go very well with the comic style the game is achieving. Much better than 3D Animations or Movie Clips would (I know that movie clips are not in line with the game otherwise. Just as an example). Sometimes less is more.

So far i really like what I'm seeing. Looking forward to the gameplay.

I just pre ordered mine ....DAM STERN YOU FOUND MY WEAK SPOT ...

I know getting a game early has its unique thrill and obviously LE's are limited, but why do you feel the need to pre-order a game that will be produced for a while?
I can say only for myself that the game looks really fun, art, layout, animations (so far) all look really awesome and I'm excited for it but have never pre-ordered any game. I'm increasingly thankful for stern's marketing making strides to inform people of their product more and more though because "playing one in the wild" is definitely going to be a challenge. The live streams really help as well.

FOMO

But also for operators, our games make the most money in their first month or two typically, and being the location to get it in hand first players will travel to play it meaning more earnings.

Outside of the LE (at least in today's world), you pre-order just to get it some time in the near future. Effectively saving your spot in line. The last batch of JP premiums that got released from Stern, didn't even fill the waiting lists from distro's let alone take my new order. I had to drop a deposit and effectively pre-order it just to get in a line to get one in the future...and then they dropped AIQ lol.

You could’ve bought any number of used premiums by this point too.

Question for those of you considering the Pro: What's on the playfield in lieu of the Premium version's subway "windows"? Do those windows still expose LEDs under the playfield on the Pro? Or are thse windows switched out for static artwork?

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Same can be said about why do you feel the need to wait? Why do you even care if someone pre-orders or not? I don't really understand what you're trying to get across other than stating that people should feel the way you do...

I don't care one way or the other. Certainly not trying to sway anyone from making their own choice. I was simply asking the people who were deciding to pre-order why they chose to? Someone mentioned operators and that makes perfect sense. I tend to wait with most things to work out bugs/ not take a depreciation hit if I sell later fyi. I'll happily take a gold star and high five either way though.

They are windows with led lights inside, you can see it in the pro features video from stern.

I typically don't pre-order anything, especially not a $7000 thing. I waited until I had played GotG a hundred times before I bought one.

With Stern, especially lately, it's relatively low risk. I've said in many other posts that a new avengers game would be a must buy for me and I hold true to that. The layout looks extra fun with some really flowing shots.

But you do care otherwise you wouldn't be asking people why they don't feel the same way you do. Look at your sentence structure you ended it with your own opinion again on why you don't. Cool you like to take your time wait for bugs/depreciation to pass through so why does it even matter what someone else does?

Pre-orders aren't anything new btw so questioning how these things are marketed seems a little late to the party. If you don't like pre-orders don't support it; unfortunately the majority would say otherwise so it isn't going away anytime soon.

It doesn't matter one way or another, I'm just trying to inquire about why some people are choosing to pre order...
You asked why I didn't/don't so I put it out there. No judgement either way.

Stern puts out a pretty great product from my experience, but their marketing/ promotions have definitely improved a bunch recently and it's nice to see. Really looking forward to the stream tomorrow to see how the game is coming together with call outs, animations and rules.

There are plastics with artwork and lighting under those windows that creates a 3D effect.

Because when you "pre order" a Stern game you aren't pre-ordering it in the traditional pinball sense, where you send thousands of dollars away and hope sometime within the next 5 years you'll actually be delivered a pinball machine.

In SternLand, "pre order" is really the same thing as buying; you'll have the game in a number of weeks. And you'll be the first on your block to have it.

If it sucks?! Just sell it you'll lose like $300. Risk factor on "pre ordering" a stern game is completely negligible.

Not one has come up local or within a distance I am willing to drive, they are all priced silly because of scarcity (many over new pricing), and I don't pay $500 to ship used Sterns anyway.

I guarantee someone streaming wears super hero spandex.

Really miss playing these new games on location.
Several closing their doors around me.

"Each gem has a perk tied to it. If you win the battle, you get the gem you’re fighting for, but if lose that battle for the gem, Thanos gets the gem and when you get the wizard mode the gems he has will work against you"

Sold me right here.....along with the other unique shots, various multiballs & mini-wizard modes. I cannot say enough positive things about the way Keith designs the rulesets for his games & integrates them into his playfield designs. Nobody else at Stern thinks the way he does.

I look forward to watching myself utterly failing every single mode, seeing Thanos collect all the stones, snap his fingers, and stealing half my score before everything goes black & my game ends. Haha

Reading this gave me a chub!

I've driven 4 hours each way to play a machine I wanted to try out. So 8 hours driving, 20 bucks into the machine, a beer at the bar of the location, about 30 bucks for lunch elsewhere. Us pinballers are crazy. If times were normal right now, I'd drive a long way to try out this game.

Seems I'm really lucky with a Stern distributor where you can test games closer than 30 mins. A pinballclub that's open once a month with 100+ games (new ones all LE or CE) in the same town and 2 others in 30 mins driving distance (more Pro not Premium).

I used to be lucky. I had an arcade (Pinball Wizard) that had a ton of games (including classics!). And I also had "Lanes & Games" which was a bowling alley that had a game room. The guy that owned the gameroom would always have the latest games, plus the consistent performers. As a bonus, he took really good care of them. As soon as the Pro shipped he would send an email to a mailing list, and I'd drive over there that Saturday to try out the latest games.

Now we are an island of nothing (I don't mean from the current world, I mean before that). A lot of times I have to wait for a pinball show to see the last year of games.

So yes, you are very lucky. And I hope you stay that way because when it runs out... it's a bummer.

Is it me or does his rules seem easier to figure out? His games feel like they were well thought out from the very start. Love everything I am hearing about this game.

Not to me.
JMO

Same thing sold me on the game that rule/theme integration right there, simply awesome!

Would love to see the snap implemented somehow, snap killing your fingers would be great or maybe just one flipper at the bottom dying after all it’s only half the universe he wants to wipe out so half your bottom flippers dying seems fair.

100% this. You can find Pro’s often, you’ll even find LE’s soon after that, but for whatever reason the premium version of most titles are very hard to come by. I’ve been looking for a GOTG premium for a long time and based on the want ads that get posted here I’m not alone. The premium versions don’t get produced for the entire lifecycle like the pro’s do. Seriously considering buying AIQ NIB because of this.

Do it, AIQ looks fantastic, I always found GOTG a fun shooter but a little lifeless.

You got to take those any way you can get them these days.

Dude has been here for 10 years. You've been here for 10 minutes. Maybe stop being such an argumentative child and listen to what someone with a lot of experience has to say. Cause he's right.
Game looks amazing but I'm waiting on the mountain of "my pf is chipping and pooling OH NOOOO's" threads. Always entertaining. Some of you will never learn lol.

Everybody has their likes and dislikes but for me and “movie themed” games (and please do not try to argue this is a comic game) the call outs and animations with Stern have 2 paths.

Path 1 Use a small team to produce animations and (in the case of AIQ) have Marvel Studios help get voice actors to do call outs.

Path 2 Use the real actors voices and the lines of dialogue (written by top screenwriters) for the call outs AND use clips from the two blockbuster movies.....keeping in mind that these movies have thee best CGI, sound, sets, wardrobe, makeup, etc etc etc and are created by hundreds of people around the world.

Call me crazy but Path 2 has my vote. Unfortunately Stern has skimped ever since GOTG and I don’t see that changing.

They aren’t easier to figure out, you just like his games enough to put the time in to learn them. That’s all it takes with even the most complex rulesets.

Umm...this IS a comic game. Full stop. Lol.

Definitely a comic game...I cannot imagine a logical argument otherwise.

Brilliant. Here's the only catch: Cost.
Your game is the same as the one just announced, but has only 1 ramp, no subway, no spinning disk. Oh, and a mono target bank.
Enjoy!

Yes, I'm being serious. Why else hasn't Stern or JJP been able to use the movie rights and the actors voices previously?

Added to this there are some of us that don't want to watch snippets of our favourite movies repeated thousands of times. I don't want to get sick of the movies by playing a pin. So whichever way they go their will be people who like it and don't. As long as the voice acting is good.......

I feel like you're just as clueless as he is that pre-ordering isn't going away for a multitude of reasons.

People have tons of reasons for both sides, why does it ultimately matter what other people do and why? Do what you want to do based on your own experiences doesn't mean everyone else has had the same; which he was trying to push with his post.

Also don't understand why you need an account for 10 years to prove you have experience? Doesn't mean you know anything. It's like I only started existing since I created my account.

You mean people had a life before Pinside?!!!! GTFO!!!

True.
(edited)

Nobody is talking about "pre-ordering" going away but you. Stern is obviously killing that game.
We're talking about the gamble that youre taking. (edit)

I get that it’s about cost. I’m just proposing that animations versus the real deal from Marvel Studios isn’t even a fair contest.

LOLWUT? Imagine being so asinine as to not acknowledge that Marvel comics existed LONG before “marvel studios” and that all the stories being told in the MCU are sourced from the comics from YEARS before. This is some flat-earth level bonkers.

Sure, the MCU brought more popularity to the characters and stories, but this is not a “Movie Game”. And it’s a HUGE BENEFIT to pinball that it is not. Licensing actual movie assets and the actors within is a damn mine-field of massive expenses with what you need for a game with an LCD screen — and then on top of that you’re horribly hamstrung by what resources you have to work with.

That's really a matter of taste. I don't watch Marvel films very much and actually prefer this style. OG animations with hopefully at least decent voice work. SW thus far for me has been the only real great recent Stern with clips from the film and that's cause it used the actual audio that goes with it. I wouldn't own the game if it was clips from the film with voice overs. In my opinion if u not going to use the OG audio with real movie clips then keep it comic style. Even that usually fails for me. Its all taste my friend. Do realize some pinsiders actually like how GOTG turned out. Or worse SM vault. I don't feel well now.

Not just years but decades.

I just started watching the DC show Doom Patrol on HBO Max and its is bat shit crazy (in a great way). I knew it was based on a comic and after some reseach learned that a lot of the weirder stuff in the show was pulled directly from the comic in the 60's.

Avengers movies? Ok.
Grew up on the comics and watching reruns.
Pure gold.
I like what I see so far.
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