I agree, *that's* a game changer!

It could be a game changer in the fact that it could successfully combine pinball and arcade games in one platform. You could set the rules up so, you need to do certain shots, complete certain modes, that puts you to the display to do some arcade type of mode, which would need to be done, to get to wizard mode. That would be awesome. The possiblities are endless!

I think I would like the LCD if it was the size of the larger DMD like on LW3. That way it is still larger and saves the backglass art. Don't really know until we get to try one out though.

That is the one thing I am going to really be bummed out with on these new and future LCD games. If they could just keep the same dimensions of the standard DMD, or at least keep the BG/TL the same size then I would be cool with the change. I love having something art-wise to look at when the machine is off. Especially on the EM and SS games. Even though I am ready for the next step, I still would like to have my now "retro" pin-cake and eat it too.

I'm honestly too tired right now to type out a long response, but I envision the LCD screen as being way more than simply a larger version of what we already have. Yes, at the end of the day it's still pinball, but the LCD has the potential to offer a much more immersive experience than we are used to. As I mentioned before, I don't think we will necessarily see these changes right away. It will probably take a while before they learn to fully utilize the technology. If you just step back and try to think outside the box, though, there are so many cool things that can be accomplished by having a large hi-res screen attached to the game.

We are all forgetting the most important thing and I am surprised nobody has mentioned this. With the advent and further proliferation of the LCD that means all of the DMDs would become less popular and thus drop in price! I say Bring It On! Think about it.... MB soon goes down to 3,500! TZ drops to 3,000...MM sold everywhere for 5 grand... Wh20 drops to a incredibly affordable 2,000 ---- bring it on!

I agree totally with this comment.

I like them but they are going to be dated soon enough.

Yeah, cuz that's never been done before!

I will respond to this with a firm probably not.

Was mostly tounge in cheek, I am sure they will stay sky high.

I like well-executed DMD artwork, but you need a real dot artist for that. DMDs are terrible at showing movie clips, and once Stern started borrowing almost all their animations directly from the source films, they should have switched to LCD monitors instead. A good time to make the switch would have been when the Whitestar hardware platform was replaced.

Incidentally, this doesn't *need* to mean getting rid of the backglass/translite. The ColorDMD kit uses a standard laptop LCD panel, and still fits in the standard DMD form factor. However, whether Stern would keep the existing display form factor on upcoming machines is still unclear.

The problem with Pin2K was that it intruded directly into the gameplay. Switching the backglass display from a DMD to a full-color LCD does not do this; the player will still be focused on the actual playfield most of the time.

I hate video modes, so i hope the lcd doesn't lead to more video game playing while i'm trying to play pinball. When I'm playing a pin and a video mode starts, i typically flail through it as quickly as possible to get back to playing pinball. I know, that's not very conducive to getting a high score but whatever.

Well, your input device (flipper buttons) are still limiting you there.. can spruce up the visuals, but still less than a NES controller as far as interactivity unless they start putting joysticks on the lockbar (god I hope not).

No more video modes ever again please! I have an Xbox for that thank you!

I'm all for progress. Innovation should always be welcomed. Besides, it's not like the DMDs that already exist are going anywhere.

The immediate analogy I draw here is to the development of video games. Even with present realistic graphics, some of the better recent games have deliberately chosen a pixel-art visual design, maybe because of nostalgia, but there's also a certain amount of talent required to convey that a 16x16 sprite of colored blocks is an Italian plumber. It's one of the reasons I think the color DMD is really neat, because it keeps the pixel-art of pinball animations alive, but just gives it a small new iteration.

LCD animations will just be less interesting I think, even if they will look a lot better.

So long as you have the ability to skip through animations or whatever else they want to present and you can keep the play going, it could be a monkey updating the score with crayons for all I care.

DMD= old school. Thx for playing.
LCD= New school tech. Welcome to the new world of PINBALL!!!!

I would much rather look at an LCD screen then a DMD. The movie clips being shown in the LCD are ok, im more excited by the fact that they can really do some awesome custom animation. This new inovation is so good IMO. I wish my Tron had an LCD. This is a big game changer and I think it is going to make pinball even more popular.

I would pay extra for that LE/mod!

Although I like DMD for setting all of the options, I hate it for game play.

I like to see what other player's scores are at all times.

I like to see what ball I'm on at all times.

Any video game mode is worse than a Mattel handheld football game.

Clips from any movie are awful to watch again and again and again...
=

Give me a video port so I can use a monitor to set the options, then unplug it.

4 banks of player scores is real pinball.

I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I think that the best use of an LCD would be to push Pinball 2000 to the next level.

I really have a difficult time seeing the LCD screens in the backbox as adding to game play.

Video modes are interruptive enough to the game (& I think DMD's are fine for this type of short interruption); I can only speculate that an LCD would be worse...long delays of the game while I watch the same video once again Sort of like when they they thought putting digital speedometers in cars in the late 80's was a good idea, but by the mid 90's they were essentially gone...nobody actually liked them.

So, if someone was to make something like the pinball 2000 platform again using an LCD, make it wider and maybe longer to enhance game play (minimize up the middle shooting); that would be the next generation of pinball.

Robert

You can always hit both flippers and skip the animation if you dont like to watch it.

99% of the time, i'm not looking at the dmd, so it doesn't matter to me. A "new school" lcd pin with a horrible playfield arrangement isn't going to be ruled "superior" by me just because it has new technology for showing me my score. I also don't operate under the assumption that every dmd pin is automatically better than every alphanumeric pin. I think alot of you guys aren't giving any credit to the advancement of the improved playfield geometry and better toys when you give so much credit to the display. It's basically a general evolution of the entire machine, not just the display.

I'm out.

I find digital speedometers far easier to read than analog and was sorry to see this regression in automotive technology. I suspect it was because 1980s electronics were sometimes not reliable enough for automotive use (which requires a wide tolerance for temperature, humidity, etc.) This gave the digital dashboards a reputation for bad quality.

Honda Civics from about 2008 onward have had a digital speedometer. As far as I know there have been few complaints about this.

On some games on some DMD animations.

Not sure that will be the case with an LCD; that you can by-pass the video.

I also worry that someone will see a relative hi-def display and want to put advertising on it...during the attract mode.

Then during game play, there will be coke cans, cereal boxes, tooth paste, soap (etc)...and all sorts of product placements you have to watch.

Not all of this will come true, but some of it will.

Robert

If any of this is on my pin i will surley hack the software and get it out. Just like I took all the crap/pre loaded ad's out of my Droid phone. All that crap im not down with. So im not worried about that.

An LCD is not going to make up for a crap game. If you added an LCD to a garbage game well its still a garbage game.

Take MM, MB, or "insert your fav game here". If these games were remade with an LCD they would be better then the DMD version IMO. You can do much better animation with an LCD.

Im not a fan of video modes so I hope they stay away from that. If I want to play an arcade i would buy an arcade.

I think this jump will be more like the one from score reels to numeric than alphanumeric to DMD. I'm all for it because it's moving the game forward and that's a good thing. To my eyes DMD's have looked fairly archaic for a while.

As long as the screen is used for tastefully presented game information (all player scores and game status at the same time?) and the rare stop in play footage (multiball/mode animations), it will be fine.

YES!! New Technology,LCD,LED lighting,New PCB and hopefully a low maintenance Play field,Looking FORWARD to it!

I'm afraid it is time to stop living in 1991. It's actually a little embarrassing that LCD has taken this long to enter pinball. Arcade manufacturers in Asia have been utilizing them since 2008-ish and slot/pachinko machines before that. I like DMD animations and appreciate how creative you have to be to create them...but it is time to move forward.

Would be cool to play a video mode after the ball drains as a bonus,maybe even a virtual pin bonus round!
I'll be ducking now. :

Maybe a 19" and still have a decent sized back glass and lighting..

I'd be happy with a multicolor display like the new one for AFM in the back of the playfield ala Circus Voltaire and really think that would be sweet.

It would be much easier to see while playing than to have to look up to the middle of the backbox. Especially for video modes.

Did I say enough bad things to get shit thrown at me? Lots of video mode haters here for sure!

I'm happy with the 26" that WOZ will have.

As someone who raced cars for many years the analog speedometers are easier to gauge at a glance and peripheral vision. We are too busy too look at the speedometer when racing and we do not even care what it says. But taking that to the street I know in my car its at this position when going 60mph so I think its easier for people to not look at it but gather the speed from side vision, etc. Plus looks nicer.

Smae reason analog clocks are so popular even on computers, etc.

Great. Lets put a true video display ON THE BACK-BOX! I've always hated DMD's. They're distracting and take away from the play! And enough with the "Video Modes"! I'm there to play pinball, not watch videos or play low resolution video games on a pin.
I don't know about other enthusiasts, but when I'm playing a pin, I generally look at the play-field, not the back-box!

I'm predicting that very quickly an enterprising designer will find ways to use a cheap camera in concert with an LCD. You could see short clip/pic of your face right after that ball just drained or you hit the big shot, or there could be a mega close-up of a side flipper as the ball comes past it to help with timing, or even a mini-game in an obscured playfield location that would require you to watch the ball on LCD.

Personally, I've always been disappointed they didn't do more to make DMDs interactive. In specific, I'm thinking of DWs multiball, where it's easy to look up at the screen to keep track of which gate you've yet to hit. LCD could build on that in a number of ways.

Too much too clean.

Pinball needs to get with the times. DMDs are nice but LCD with some nice HD video is better.

Anyone still watch TV on an old B & W TV?

I'd bet that's what drove JJ to provide non-glare glass as standard in WOZ.

A good use would be an attract mode that could show what the different features are and what shots do what. It will make games more accessible to new players.

+1