I haven't seen DAF yet, but I agree I don't think slot machines and Bond go together.

It should be a short clip of playing baccarat. The sort of gambling Bond actually partakes in...

Agreed, it'd be nice to see more of the "Bond" casino games. Hopefully the slot machine is just the most obvious implementation -- would be very cool if High Stakes was Casino Run-esque with a few different games or modes.

The slot machine animations were tied to the Q gadget that was just awarded which was Q's ring from Diamonds are Forever. When activated the ring makes the reels on the slot machine line up to award the jackpot.

Slot_machine_ring (resized).png

Pffff... Electromagnetic RPM controller* Clearly!

You had no plans to buy one.

Thread status report after getting caught up on the past couple hours of comments.

1. Pinside proceeding as normal, Typical reveal behavior.

2. Noticed that "Super Exclusive Ads" in-between comments are now missing.

3. I will initiate a troll post about missing Super ads to revive the subject and drama. - EOR.

Hey, where's that stupid Super Ad for that lame ass LE Flipper??? Did he sell it to a rich line crasher for big bucks?

Video was what it was....poor lighting and hard to see alot of things.......wouldn't base a buying decision either way off of that.....

BM66 wasn't even playable at Expo when shown, btw ( as in, we weren't even allowed to touch it).

Not justifying anything, but man, wind up level is high here....

4. Troll post came in a tad early. Ongoing reveal drama not ready to give up just yet.

Was thinking the same thing, lol...a break in meetings today..wanted to jump in and see where the latest fire was at......

I get that, but if it were the only reason, then there would be lower quality across the board from all the coders, and there's not. Lonnie is usually at or near the bottom of the heap, imo.

It doesn't change the fact that I've already committed to buy a Premium for temp testing/mod work but it has definitely deflated my expectations a bit since I was hoping for another stellar Gomez/Tanio teamup after their great work on Deadpool.

1 - his pattern of results speaks for itself
2 - Everyone and their mother has known that the timeframe for the game's launch was august... so don't you think internally they knew that date a long time ago? The pressure of a deadline isn't something unique here and the reveal is even later than initially planned, not early.

Sure the problem could have been assets coming in late or other late changes to the game - but the track record isn't great.

Eh, I feel like Lonnie gets way too much hate here. Last 5-6 games were great IMO. Would like something deeper than Deadpool.

So now you are blaming the release delay on Lonnie...lol, and you wonder why most pinball employees stay away from Pinside.

You can't upload video to pinside. The best you can do is embed a video uploaded to youtube.

Are you high?

I said the release is even later.. meaning they had more time than originally planned.

Annotation 2022-09-27 125737 (resized).png

A. Lighting is terrible.
B. Sound was terrible.
C. Way too early code.
D. Some great shots demo'ed
E. Not every shot combo demo'ed

I'm still stoked for this theme and the GG design. I have faith in Mike to make the rules awesome. Can't wait till mid-December.

If you like one, you like them all. GOTG, AS, Kiss - Start by choosing a Song/Mode. Random number of shots with a random color light up that have no tie-in to the objective. Then there's a 2 ball MB and a 3 Ball MB. Rinse. Repeat. Bare bones. Uninspired.

In a Lonnie game, you could change the modes around and there's no difference. You could take Deuce and Shout It Out Loud, swap the colors and lit shots, and it's would play exactly the same as nothing is tied to the theme. So if you like this code, you're going to like them all because they're all built the same. But it all comes across to many of us as copy/paste without any consideration to the theme or objective of the game.

No. Is this your default question when someone misunderstands you? You realize you were making two points and it's pretty easy to make the jump. You start with "his pattern of results speaks for itself" and you end with "but the track record isn't great."

After reading 96 pages of comments, some misc thoughts:
Bond theme could be absolutely awesome, if Stern does it right. Hard to tell from the limited views now where the code will end up. I sure hope they get the licenses for all of the audio clips. Not like Walking Dead where the original actor voices were not used.

I'm not a big fan of the trend to release several versions of the same game - Pro, Prem, LE, etc. I prefer when a pinball came out and it was what it was. I didn't have to go down a list of features to see what I was getting on various models and then decide if the cost was worth it or if I could live without some aspect of game play. I guess I'm old fashioned that way.

There's a saying in the antiques business - anything made to be collectible will never be. That doesn't mean the LE's or SLE's will not go up in value, but I suspect increases will be more a function of inflation and devaluation of the dollar than due to any perceived "collectability" of a particular model. Also, Stern can at any time release new versions of the Bond theme, similar to what JJP did with WOZ. That could affect future value of certain models downward.

Having seen both good and bad releases over the years, I generally hold off on NIB purchases until I get a chance to see what I'm buying in person. That means I miss out on lots of games, but I'd rather miss out on a good one and maybe try to pick it up later on the secondary market than get stuck with a $8-12k lemon. Either way, to each his own.

Yeah I'm sure Stern planned this release into their schedule years ago. And then during the project, the lead designer/project-manager quit Stern...

So then Gomez had to come in and make a new design, which delayed the software team from having a whitewood to prototype code ideas on.

Anyhow, Mike Vinikour is doing rule design too. He's shown some good ideas in other games and he worked well with Lonnie on Stranger Things.

People just getting antsy for no reason. If you're worried about the code, just wait a year and try out the game then. Stern will make this game for 3-5 years like normal...

Stranger things code does some good things but has huge holes/missed opportunities that caused me to sell the game. If they deliver the same level of effort for bond it would be a huge disappointment IMO

This is particularly possible for Bond. The LE they announced is "Thunderball LE" and Gomez suggested that they could do a Goldfinger version in the future. I would be both happy and annoyed if this happens since I would prefer a cabinet/trim with Goldfinger art/colors but I already ordered the Thunderball LE...

People here are pissed it's a $13,000 LE if it was $ 9,000.00 it wouldn't be as bad as the bashing is now.
You can blame the price increase on inflation and those wonderful flippers.......why leave money on the table........

Is it your default position to attack people when responding to the examples they gave?

Srsly? You need the crayola version? Yes, his track record of projects speak for themselves (the conversation was replying to someone trying to counter criticism of his games). You really should try reading the stuff in the quote box ALONG with the post. You might follow along better.

Man, shots look super fun and flowy, but that code is just too early to tell. Only saw the Jetpack Bond move once during that multiball - that's gotta be a big area for improvement.

I'm sure there was some impact, but remember Richie left Stern over a year ago. The usual design cycle is about a year. The impact to the schedule was... over a year ago. And well AFTER that Stern still confirmed an August time frame for the cornerstone game (earlier this year). So I'd question that being much towards why the software is so late.

Don't start what you can't finish.

You come at people, they aren't obligated to kiss your butt.

You should warn him about your "last word" policy or we could be here all day.

Maybe I am wrong, it was hard to hear, but it looked as though the opening title sequence plays when you start a mode? That would be really awesome if true, and makes my decision to get the game more easier. Need to see more of the code to decide.

Wait for Jack to show some gameplay. I'm sure the game is all good.

Ritchie left a year ago, but it was also several months after LZ shipped. So a lot of work, beyond a layout, was likely scrapped.

Ritchie was on a longer cycle than others. Possibly because he was often tied to notoriously difficult license holders with slow approvals processes? And if this game is going to go to town slicing and dicing footage, I can see the approvals taking a lot of extra time in the software development process which was already behind schedule from the change in leads. (and this is without getting into how Stern's resources were also trying to roll out updates to all the IC games this past year)

Like I'm not saying it's good that Stern does this. I think Stern does a disservice to themselves and I think it really hurt the sales of a game like Stranger Things. But I'm pass the point of caring too much about it because Stern has been overall pretty great about long term code support in the Spike era.

Just curious, does anyone know what the MSRP was on JB Limited Edition? $15k?

TIA

It's on the website. US$12,999.

https://sternpinball.com/game/james-bond-007/

The Thunderball LE is $12,999
The 60th LE is unpriced as of yet, but speculation is dealers will set the price.

Even if all that goes as you postulated... All of that would have been known over a year ago. Meaning you have plenty of time to adapt your plan to make your target. No one is springing last minute deadlines on the project... and in fact most of the stuff you outline would been known long ago meaning MORE time to adapt and overcome.

Maybe their last minute code update is night and day different... but I'm not holding my breath. This project is months behind schedule and the software seems immature still.

Both deadpool and stranger things were pretty forgetable to me due to their code. It's really taken a lot of time to get them to redemption.

We already have a Pro and Premium on the way... so it better earn its keep.

For sure. I hated Deadpool until Tanio added stacking and mechsuit at like .95 or something. Made a huge difference and really upped the funfactor of the game.

Stranger Things is okay in the end, but it's still a tale of lost opportunity. I'm still pissed Lonnie removed awards rather than coding them all as expected.

It’s like 50/50 with Lonnie.
Might be good might be bad. We will soon know.

If I put a deposit down on a Premium today, I wouldn't have it until April, so there's no incentive to put the deposit down.

I'll sit back and see how things develop.

Was that video one ball without ever draining? I thought the guy playing was bad?

Anyway - shots look very satisfying. Check out 4:56 and tell me all of those strung together isn’t awesome. Code looks early for sure but it’s very good to see the clips being used seem to be extensive. Assets doesn’t appear to be an issue. This game is going to deliver. Gomez is too much of a boss to let that sweet design go to waste. I like where they’re going with the casino vibe as well. So much in this theme lends itself to pinball. Stern has a hit for sure.

Yeah guys. They’ll make this game for years. No need to rush unless you’re a LE type

Ok the video got taken down... I want to see the flow of the game and don't need the updated code to get the feel... does anyone have a link to where I can still watch the video?

EDIT: Found it.

IRONIC that Stern used to ship games with almost zero code and didn't give a crap lol. I remember unboxing X-men and thinking "that's it"? And we played it anyways.

Check the topic index at the top of any page in this thread.

It looks pretty good!

Goldfinger LE may come with a jade egg.

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^^^ I’m waiting on the YBR version now

They'll remove Bond on a Wand in the YBR edition and increase the price.