Of course, I was relating it in NZ terms against a $26,000 landed price through the distributor.

But in USA terms ... $15,000 (presuming that's a delivered price ...)
Mint Star Trek Pro $4600 all day
Mint Family Guy $5000
Mint BMTDK $4500
Mint Avatar $3900
= 18,000
Less half the Avatar = say $16,000.

So, 3.5 pins to one SLE, as opposed to 4.5 for us on the other side of the planet. You get to keep your Spider-Man.

It'd want to be a faaaaaarking sweet pin for that deal.

rd

50 cents? You'll be LUCKY to find one on route for $1/play.

You're insane- no offense.

The layout is much closer to BDK than not at this point, despite them insisting it was a completely new game before the playfield reveal (which showed it's clearly not an all-new layout). We'll have to see if they started with all-new rules or just appropriated the BDK rules, too. The fact that they haven't even shown a partially working game yet, despite shipping supposedly in mere weeks, makes me think BM'66 will have a clear base of BDK code.

Non taken. I looked over the playfield though, it's true that they changed the left side and all of the art, but if you have a GIANT crane on the right side, with pretty much the same gimmick as BDK plus a new screen, Do you think that $10,000 extra for a half a playfield with different art is a good deal? I hope you have some video to prove me wrong. I really hope you are right, I would love for this game to be really great and I am sure it will be fun, but the fact that they would even unveil the most expensive pinball ever sold almost 2 months ago that didn't even play, and now is coming up to the shipping date that people are locked into, is crazy. I'm just a nobody with extra money to burn, and with Sterns track record of not completing code, sending out ghosting playfields, not responding to people's problems with NIB games, at this point I would be very worried if I had put money down on one. Maybe I'm wrong and someone will be ready to pay $30,000 for a "Limited" SLE, hahahha... They really are screwing themselves out of people like me that have the money to buy NIB on waiting to see what the game actually does. I don't think I am crazy at all. (I know this is exactly what a crazy person would say). Time will tell.....

I don't get it. Why are you typing these things? Facts exist that dictate otherwise. All LEs and SLEs are sold. How are they screwed? I'm trying to give you a chance here but you're sounding like a bored troll, no? I'm out of food to give you...

The pf issues are a separate thing altogether. You think bm or any other new release they ever produce in the future is going to have ghosting? then feel free to pass.

I should have waited longer to check this thread again... *bangs head against wall*

It's funny how so many are focusing on production costs only and don't take R&D into account. Building new things is expensive. Remember how it looked like JJP would go under while developing TH? Eventually they secured a loan/investment to continue operations. If the market allows Stern to make more money, they would be crazy not to! It's not going to make them rich though, regardless how much they ask for these machines.

This thread

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Which ships first?

ColorDMD ships a color DMD for Batman (The Dark Knight)

-OR-

Stern ships Batman 66 with color LED?

BDK has already been colored:

http://shop.colordmd.com/colordmd-replacement-display-for-batman-the-dark-knight-pinball-machine/

I could buy this if BM'66 wasn't a significantly repurposed BDK playfield with (probably) repurposed code, too. It was not a ground-up effort. Also, The Hobbit is not a somewhat reskinned WoZ. The R&D comparison cannot be made.

Chances are code is going to be completely new ( new OS) as that was conveyed. I've seen / played BTDK, and while playfiled is laid out the same and crane still there, I can say the machines look nothing alike from an art standpoint, definitely not even close to a reskin...this is a redo, and looks great. Makes a BIG difference.
LOTS of opportunities for Stern to make this a great machine...we will see.

Hoping you're right, fearing you're wrong.

If Lyman wasn't on the code I would share your fears, but the crane toy is one of the best toys Stern has put out and even in BTDK the code for the crane itself was pretty cool and varied its behaviour as you progressed through Scarecrow MB. If Lyman is given some time to sit down with the code I feel pretty confident he will make the crane even better second time round. The crane itself is one of the main reasons I keep struggling to talk myself out of a BM66, it was the one reason I kept my BTDK for so long and BM66 has removed the two things (teeter totter ramp & upper playfield) I was not all that keen on but that crane is like pinball crack!

Time will tell (and that's pretty much all we have right now, anyway).

Have Stern mentioned or has anyone in the "know" heard if Stern plan on sorting out the placement of the ramp flaps over Catwoman's face?

Given Stern's general attention to detail, I'm sure they're sharing a huge laugh over this request.

I had the advantage ( or disadvantage) of touring the Stern factory for the first time @ expo. The enthusiasm for this title was unbelievable...BM stuff everywhere, employees wearing the shirts, Gomez seemed genuine in his passion, Adam West signing, 30th anniversary, etc.

Asking an honest question ( as I've never bought nib Stern before): Has Stern ever shown this type of unilateral fanfare for another pin in recent memory? I know everyone wanted GB, but did they go to this extent? AC/DC? I've just never experienced it firsthand, so genuinely curious....

Believe me I don't plan on holding my breathe but it would be nice if something a simple as this was addressed, I am sure I remember reading that it was noted by Stern when asked at the reveal maybe and it was put down to that being purely because its a pre production build, but then again those supposed spelling mistakes on GB where going to be sorted for production games and we know how that werked owt

I think the game is too expensive for what you get, but the code won't be one of the reasons. Lyman is doing all new rules, not a BDK rehash.

Source: talked to the man himself in person about it at Expo. Doubt he'd mind me sharing that.

This is great news, and what I had understood was happening, as well.

Come on Aurich, people don't believe what Gomez and Lyman say, they like to make up their own facts.

Damn you post-truth era!

I'd trust what those dudes say, but George did say that there would only ever be 30 SLEs, and that sure changed. Who knows who ultimately made that decision to more than double the SLE run, but claims coming out of Stern are always a bit shaky these days.

All that said, I would expect solid code for this game. Lyman doesn't swing and miss.

Wasn't it that the applications and videos just kept flying in?

Too bad some of those probably still got shunned so they could allocate games to wealthy people that are above begging.

chicks are finally going to dig me when i get my batman 66 pin

batman-girls-girls-1 (resized).png

Gomez got the new car bonus for going up to 80 SLE's. Still would believe what those guys say about the game and its play. We will see so enough.

Whatever they pay Lyman its probably not enough.

50 more at $15,000 should land George quite a sweet ride ...

rd

This is certainly something everyone in this thread can agree on! If anyone deserves a new car bonus it's Lyman!

Lyman deserves a new house. He pretty much built one for everybody else at Stern with all the great work he's done. The way he turned AC/DC into an all-time great fueled so many sales.

Has anyone heard if Stern plan to sort out the Catwoman art issue with the ramp flaps over the top half of her head? Tried posting on Facebook and via private Facebook message and clearly just being ignored, even went so far as to mention I was asking purely for some confirmation so I could pay up for an LE

Wow you had the nerve to ask that several times and didn't get banned from their FB page? What's your secret?

I got banned for asking if the extra LEs on the Kickstarter book would make the original LE buyers upset. That's all it took. Also, Jody is a moron that has no idea how modern marketing works, so it's not like I was surprised.

I have no idea, maybe it was because a lovely lady friend asked (as I don't have facebook) on my behalf and shes easy on the eyes - that was half my plan

Sometimes you just got to ask and it seemed like a very reasonable question considering I am lined up for an LE and its a lot of cash for what it is. I even made sure it was worded as politely as possible and as pro stern as it could be to avoid upsetting any sensitive souls in Sterns marketing/social media team.

I hope its fixed. But since they were signing playfields 2 weeks after expo (pic was posted on 10-27) it might be in the final game. Unfortunately you cant see enough of the playfield in yhe pic to know if its been revised or not.

So unless they knew about the issue before Expo i'm not sure they could have had altered art and printed all the playfields in 2 weeks. If the problem was known and fixed prior to Expo you'd think they would have mentioned that when people saw the issue on the 3 prototypes at Expo.

This assumes they would need to move the art on the playfield down to fix it. Maybe its possible to shorten the flap and still have it work?

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I am sure I read somewhere or heard it on a video a guy ask about it directly to George and his response was yeah that wont be rolling into production games we will have that corrected. I just cant seem to find the page or video I thought I remembered seeing/hearing it, maybe it was one of the initial reveal/tour videos, I will watch through them later.

Then again, Steve said they were fixing the Game of Thrones orbit. After a long time, they just disabled it in software. Mis-spelled insert also made it into early production units on Ghostbusters, even though that was supposed to be fixed.

Stern is a "believe it when you see it" company these days.

My guess is they'll somehow adjust the ramp flaps - not sure how and not sure if I believe it will happen

This thread is almost 3 months old and we still have never seen the game play at all, let alone any deliveries. Highly unusual for Stern. I wonder how much the 30th anniversary party drove the announcement of this title, and if it wasn't for that would they have announced the game much later when it was closer to actually being produced.

Screen Shot 2016-11-23 at 8.04.16 AM (resized).png

Any distributors hear something new on possible ship dates?

Did anyone skip the Nov 4th $2000 deposit deadline and get a pay in full by Dec 1st to confirm your SLE email from Stern today??? I just got one, looks like I still have the honor and privilege to drop 15k if I want haha..

Without seeing even a second of gameplay? That's effing ridiculous. Man, we're just a dumb wallet now to these companies, open up.

Edit: Whoops replied to the wrong post and didn't realize what I wanted to reply to was 3-4 pages back. I'll edit this later when I come up with something relevant to the current page I guess.

Well since I can't delete this post. I think it's interesting they haven't shown any gameplay yet. If these are supposed to ship within a month, that's pretty wild that they're asking for full payment without so much as a hint to how it plays or what the modes besides the crane are.

I received the (second) request for payment email today. The funny part is I submitted the form/payment by the original deadline. Hmmmm....not sure what to think at this point.

It's really bizarre, maybe a lot of the candidates skipped the deposit deadline and they are trying to regroup or something. They can fix this real quick with a game play video..

I can see that being true, its a lot of cash to drop on something no one has seen flip.

But what you said is also Sterns biggest marketing problem, they fail to do the smallest and most simple of things that would help and boost customer relations massively. If they are finding people are not paying up and dropping out, then a little video of even the most basic gameplay with a little preview of the lcd in action would win over a lot of people and clear some of the doubts or concerns people have, but Stern instead do their usual and go silent and expect everything to be okay and for everyone to throw money at them.

I asked a simple question on their Facebook 3 days ago, if the ramp flaps covering half the art of Catwoman's head will be addressed and fixed for production games as I wanted to pay up for an LE, for 9k all I wanted was a simple "yes" or "no" instead its total silence

Rumor mill says there was a Batman66 set up in Gary's room at IAAPA but no further info has leaked out...

What the hell are they waiting for? even unfinished code gameplay would be welcomed. I could understand if they weren't asking for more money but this is stupid.

Along with completed "attract mode" code.