While it's not shown in the pic, Jack was talking about the game at Allentown and said the design they were working on had subways, a ball-eating Smaug, and an under playfield. It definitely peaked my interest...

That's the joke.

At least somebody gets my jokes.

Yeahno. My Laser Cue has those, since on the right it has two flippers, no inlane, and a lower kicker than usual. The ball loves to go right kicker --> left kicker --> right outlane.

Just be patient. Maybe in a year you'll see pictures of a white-board playfeild.

<jalpert said:>Not this shit again. Tidbit by tidbit. Seriously, makes me not want to by a JJP ever. Wake me up when there is actually something to talk about.

Yes...go away...we'll wake you...

An under playfield? To me it doesn't seem like there'd be room for one... a "traditional" one anyway. They're usually fairly low on the playfield, and I'd think we'd see part of the cutout for it on the print. But... this is just crazy talk... what if the under playfield wasn't visible through the main playfield at all, and completely hidden? Until the ball went into play in the under playfield, at which point this playfield was displayed on the LCD backglass via live camera feed... I'll STFU now.

I dropped that a while back and it did not get much response. I think it would be different and the lower PF could be anywhere and even bigger than most, maybe even playable.

I love the idea.

I can't see the top of the playfield

Glad I'm not the only one.

I can't see the artwork...

wire ramps?

this is gonna be great.

Hmmm. It's kinda short.

Is it a Shortandwidebody?

For the fact that no NIB pin should cost over 6k anyway.

Will beat Woz out of spot#17 sometime next week. Yeah I know it is just the lower half of PF pic CAD drawing.

Going to be EPIC

For the record I am interested but come on guys really. We cannot even wait for a full pic now and we are praising it like it is the next big thing.

I did not take what some are saying as calling it the next big thing. It looked like people were just talking about what they liked in the picture. That is just being positive and talking about it with friends. That was what drew the people to Pinside in the first place. You were there when people could just talk about cool things.

I am wondering how those sling axe things are going to work. Interesting idea.

One thing it shows is that JJP is looking ahead and plans on being around a long time. (No need to tell us about that stats for startup business, heard it the first 271 times.)

Sounds like an ex of mine

That would be a very risky move to pull but potentially a fantastic idea.

Still relatively new around here, but I spoke to my distributor via email yesterday when he sent me this drawing (have on hold #138 LE version with him) and he told me that JJP has a timeline on the licensing which if he does not meet it will cost him more. I'm not sure of the accuracy of that or if true how much the penalty is. Hopefully that and the fact that JJP is not designing the entire software from scratch will help in the delay department. I guess we'll just have to see how this plays out.

I don't get it.

Did anyone know it has taken a longer to build a company from the ground up then expected.

That pic is fantastic in its nothingness.

Thanks for the laugh to start my morning. Almost spit out my coffee!

I don't care for the blind under playfield camera idea much at all. Taking 3D pinball into the 2D video realm seems gimmicky and fraught with peril. If it didn't shoot well, it would sink the game. Call me a traditionalist, but I'd much rather see an extensive subway system where the balls get staged underneath like STTNG, so they can appear instantly and unexpectedly across the playfield.

Nope, but don't think for a second they don't have the upper half of that drawing. If they want to release the design as it is today, release it. But don't mess around with just the flipper portion. They are holding back so that in a week they can release the upper left side, then the middle, then the upper right side to get rises out of people for an entire month when they could have just told us what they know today.

It's just a severely annoying marketing tactic. Show it, fine. Don't show it, fine, but I think they are treating us like idiots here.

Some information is better than no information, especially if you've dropped money on this already. But that's just me, call me crazy.

If I dropped money on something, all the information is better than some of the information. Call me crazy.

You're crazy. But yes, none < some < all.

Man this looks sweet hope it is

If it bothers you, just don't read any Hobbit threads for like a year. Then you will get most of the info all at once. And for the record, I'm not saying I like this marketing strategy, but it is what it is.

--Luke

As a preorder customer I appreciate any information how little it is as opposed to none. Yes all the information would be nice but releasing it a little bit at a time helps the hype and I understand that. Also the licensing may cause some issues, I was under the expectation that we wouldn't see any images until late this year so getting this now is just a nice bonus.

Now onto my thoughts. I am not a expert pinball player, I have only played a few machines and none of the a+ titles so I can't really compare some of the items in the game to what I have played because I just haven't played a lot, but from what I can see in the image it looks like a lot of fun and I am very excited to see more over the next year, and hopefully next summer/fall receive an amazing machine, which is what it is all about.

While everyone seems to be jumping on the praise bandwagon, I'm a bit concerned over those axes. If those are going to be linked to the slingshot mechs, that looks to me like they (JJP) haven't learned from other's mistakes.

Case in point, Scared Stiff. They added a metal "finger" on top of the sling armature to hold the Boogie Men. The weight of the finger and the Boogie Men was too much for the small base and three screws that hold the armature bracket on the playfield. Those screws end up getting pulled out over time. Every SS I've shopped has needed to have the holes rebuilt under the playfield and then those wear out over time too.

So I'm hopeful they're NOT just adding linkage to the axes from the sling kickers but I wouldn't bet on it.

You are completely missing my point, but that's okay.

Great games don't need this much hype, they speak for themselves.

Here's what it SHOULD have looked like. FIXED!

Hobbit_PF_fixed_by_Kingpin.jpg

I assumed that since images of Smaug (from the second movie) haven't been publically released yet that JJP is not allowed to publically reveal any images / toys that portray Smaug. Since from the text it sounds like Smaug is the main toy my guess is that it will be late this year before we can see the full playfield art and/or all the toys.

Good point.

Come on, man, that's not really fair.

Those slingshots are bad ass!

Yes.

You should put that in your signature.

smaug's wings will be ramps. I read it on the internet so it must be true

I like it

This could be remedied with a straight through bolt with a nut or they could add a threaded insert into the wood for bolt to tighten in to

Yeah, and I'm a French model. Now, are there any hot blondes around here?

Personally, I like it the way it the way the designers have drawn it just fine.

Even thought the left outlane looks deadly, it should be fun, as long as it's reasonable to requalify the kickback once it gets used. Reminds me a bit of STTNG, where relighting the kickback becomes priority one once you use it. On STTNG, as long as your aim is decent (and it isn't one of the lowest Klingon or Ferengi targets), you have a fighting chance, which is half the fun.

Nudging, which seems the point of your redesign might not be necessary if the kickback can be (re)qualified relatively easily. Then it becomes a testament to skill. Worst case, if you wanted it really lenient, there could be a software setting that requalifies the kickback after a brief timeout without even having to hit targets or what not.

-Jim

Not only is that a cool idea, but imagine what "extras" could be added to the playfield if you were playing it via cam on the LCD...you could do P2K type stuff. Animated characters running around on the playfield, Gollum running around, the dragon flying around...you could really do anything. It would still be a physical playfield with cool next-gen animated tricks.

You rang?

Snap! thumbs_up_britgif.gif

I find that the with two double inlanes it's not deadly enough and if anything it's just incredibly boring- way too symmetrical to be interesting from a visual or ball movement stand point. The only deadly aspect would come from a power drain off top of the right sling, but that happens regardless of the outlane setup and you still have a kickback with the original drawing.

I just think if it's going to be a widebody, make use of it like the homage to classic SS games (Fathom and Embryon) that I drew up. It seems that Joe just went the opposite direction and wants the bottom third to play more like a slim body--Stern already makes enough of those for everyone.

Aside from defeating the purpose of playing a physical game (and stepping closer to traditional video games) I think what sounds interesting in theory would be awful in execution. One of the best parts of virtual pinball is the point of viewing (the "camera" lens) can move up the playfield (or a different angle) as the ball moves around the playfield. With a camera in a fixed position as is being suggested here .. playfield via the LCD would be less than pleasing. Not to mention the technical complexity behind keeping the camera lens clean, at the perfect angle to view the full 'under' playfield, and in focus for every area of the playfield. Longer term lighting issues (keeping it well lit) and other heating issues seem inevitable as well. No thank you.

Maybe there will be a clear panel in the front of the cabinet and you will have to bend down to see Gollum's cave...errr, the lower playfield.

--Luke