So, is it still possible for you to work at Stern?

From my point of view, yes. Being an independent contractor I am able to do it. My clients need to trust me. I am like a lawyer or doctor in that I would not tell client A, client B's business. As a freelancer I need to schedule my bookings so that all clients are satisfied and I do that.
However my current understanding is that Stern will not use my services.

Sounds like that matches what I heard. Seems silly to me.

Regardless, really enjoyed your presentation at the NW pinball show, I watched the archive of the stream. Your enthusiasm was very clear, you obviously love what you do, and that's the best kind of job to have.

Your presentation was great and so is your work. Stern's loss.

David, you did a great job with your presentation. I wasn't very excited about my Hobbit purchase until I heard your presentation. Your work is really "epic" and I'm looking forward to my pin, thanks to you.
Now, I'm really starting to get excited about Pats new game. You, Pat, Ted....Whow.

David,

I also really enjoyed your presentation. You gave great examples that showed quite quickly how massive the undertaking is, and how great and detailed a job you are doing on it.

As a Middle Earth and pinball fan, I couldn't be happier with your work thus far.

Thanks, and I cannot wait for my machine

Can't wait for my hobbit and very excited to see Pat's game! Audio in both games is going to be top notch

One of the few seminars that I've attended where I wasn't kind of waiting for it too end, and a big part of the reason was Dave Thiels presentation, very interesting and informative. I've always thought that sound was absolutely crucial to a games success, yet some companies have continuously downplayed it's importance

Agreed. Most exciting thing about The Hobbit to me is the current development team.

Great sound is a must IMO for great games. IM is a good game, Thiel's sound package elevates it to greatness. Tron would not be half as hyped as it is without Thiel's work on sound.

Even Star Trek's relentless yelling and bleeps, boops and bongs is great for what it is (immersive, fits the theme well, and changes appropriately as the game state changes).

I thought he was incredibly patient with the guy...

But I'm from NY.

We are friends and we were teasing each other - we had fun and that was obvious.

Awesome! Always nice to hear straight from "the guy".

Did anyone go to the VIP Hobbit release party in Denver? Or play it this weekend?

I played the game this weekend at the showdown. The game was amazing and way more fun than expected. Today ill take some photos and maybe some video.

Thanks eXidy - that would be awesome - great to hear you were so impressed!

I was in for the ride with WOZLE, and am in for Hobbit LE too. What Jack and the team continue to achieve is amazing

JJP is definitely the benchmark for pinball quality now.

I was pleasantly surprised played at RMPS, in person the game is definitely beautiful if the rules come together and modes become clear and objective could be a great game. I just hope it gets out soon, the wait is slowing sucking the life force out of the excitement

Guess we saw that part through drastically different lenses.

For me, it was one of my favorite parts of the show: a regular guy gets up to talk about his emotional connection to the game. I thought it was awesome Jack gave him that much airtime....

Got several games played on TH yesterday at the Denver show. I'm impressed by the game play, artwork, sounds and think as much as I love my WOZ, TH might be even better. The video clips are longer with more audio that WOZ and of course the games has tons of modes.

Jack obviously has a different thought process than Gary. He is my type of guy. I built a company for 35 years, always putting
the client first. We were a top 1% agency with that belief. Sold to a large institution , managed for 5 years, and retired at 61. Jack wants to make the best product , same as my firm, stern is a bottom line producer regardless of the product. That's why I retired, the client looses to bottom line only producers. Quality vs Quantity , that's the real question!

I'm not sure that JJP has demonstrated solvency yet. I hope they continue on as a going concern, but the pre-order model could be what breaks their back. It will be interesting when all the new Hobbit orders push the prepays back to the end of the line again. Will you still consider that "putting the client first"?

BTW a client loses to bottom line producers because business has to survive beyond its initial growth which is still questionable in case of JJP. Between lawsuits, cash flows due to prepayments, I wouldn't like to be in Jacks shoes until the Hobbit preorders are shipped and the whole prepay nonsense has disappeared.

TH is much improved since the version shown at TPF. Jack said the code is about 70% done.

Game is set on 2 ball play, but enough to get a good feel for the game. If you like the theme, you will like the game. Music and video are awesome. I'm not a good enough player to comment on game play, but there was a whole lot more to do and I could actually make the ramps shots.

The VIP event was just being able to play all the games with smaller crowds and really had nothing much to do with TH except the lines for it were shorter than earlier when anyone who didn't have VIP tickets could play it. My wife and I played TH many times and my wife struck up a conversation with JJP. Today Jersey Jack was giving a seminar at the show but I wasn't able to attend that. Hopefully someone
will update what of interest went on during that.

I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I'll be honest, at Expo it looked bad. Whole show floor thought so it seemed, everyone was down in it. Would love to see that take a 180°.

I think the 180 cost them 9 months - but I would much rather have what I am seeing now from what was at 'Expo'

I am as big a JJP fanboy and defender as anyone on this forum, but I honestly think there would have been delays anyway. Maybe it's money, maybe it's design issues, maybe it's vendor issues, I don't really know. I still think the games will be made though, or I would drop out. Preordering is not for the faint of heart nor for the impatient. It's definitely a roller coaster, best to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

You are probably right, I know the 'adjustments' certainly didn't help move things along.

There's no sugar coating what they had at Expo. If you were there then you know, the whole floor thought it was disappointing. Sorry, it's just the truth. I talked to a ton of people there, people I knew, and people I didn't (lots of people saw my nametag and just introduced themselves, which was awesome, loved meeting you all). Everyone felt the same way. Obviously JJP heard it and went back to the drawing board. Good for them! But they needed to do it, or the game was in trouble.

Agree. I was cancelling for sure if they didn't make enough positive changes. They just crossed the bar that I had set internally for me to keep the order.

Well it looks good now and plays great. I love it and can't wait to have it. Wonder when the first Kiss will be for sale?

I guess I was in the minority then, I thought the game at Expo was fine, not saying it isn't better now, it is, but I had no problem with it as it was, and was really surprised by all the negativity.

Regardless, the game as it sits now is looking very good, I think the word that Dave Thiel used in his presentation at the NW show best describes it, "EPIC"

That settles it then! The game is gonna be great. Crowd chants, "Bring on THLE and TH .....Bring on THLE and TH .....Bring on THLE and TH .....". Alright already, when are we going to start seeing these games?

well someone earlier said late summer (2015) shipping ? so wheres that grain of salt.
edit: or was that when production starts....

I don't have it on authority but hearing August production start over and over and rumblings of comments that do come from a source very close that news is pending soon.

Some of David's work I posted a while ago. This is hobbit audio playing on my woz... If your at your home computer turn it up!

https://ci-16159871255-6b6b38bb.http.atlas.cdn.yimg.com/flickr3/42317135@N02/16159871255/16159871255_288p.mp4?dt=flickr&x=1434901378&b=700&m=video%2Fmp4&a=flickr&fn=16159871255_766.mp4&d=cp_d%3Dwww.flickr.com%26cp_t%3Ds%26cp%3D792600246%26mid%3D16159871255%26ufn%3D16159871255_766.mp4&s=44ed2ac654404a03392ec748df627580

Haha. Love the scarecrow dancing to that epic hobbit orchestration.

Pix I took at the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown

hob8.jpg

hob7.jpg

hob6.jpg

hob5.jpg

hob4.jpg

hob3.jpg

hob2.jpg

hob1.jpg

Guys!! The music is done by Two Steps From Hell, not David Thiel. David is responsible for all the awesome SFX and speech.

Superb, really

What a difference with the first PF version!

I will be all over this game when a distro I trust has one ready to ship. Instant order for me then, whenever it is.

While waiting to play TH this weekend the first thing that struck me was the amazing LCD animations, making all Sterns look terribly antiquated. It's a vast improvement even over WOZ. I couldn't hear sounds, and based on other reviews it sounds like I missed out. The shots were solid, but not knowing the rules it's tough to judge game play at all. I did enjoy all the playfield pop-ups. This game will only get better from here.

PS: The artwork is really nice, glad the playfield was changed up a while back.

Thanks eXidy - I like everything I see.

Jack - I think everyone agrees that the game is far enough along now. Please proceed with production startup. I know that you have been waiting on my approval before you began...and now you have it.

Nice new pics...

Can't wait to play.

...... Wish I didn't hate the lizard head so much .....

Yep - now I'm super excited!!! Thanks for the good photos!

Yes - thank you! Do you happen to have any video you can share?

Hmm I never noticed the backboard decal. Is that new?
I like it!

Nice catch! Didn't notice it before.

On my phone I cannot get a clear overall view of it. What does the picture represent?

I knew that area was not finished.. would love to see a pic.. I am still betting we see more Smaug or molded plastic back there to "complete" it...

Would be grand slam if they revealed approved final design and production at the same time.. heres hoping.

I am still hoping JJP springs a topper on us. He said no many times but who would complain if that's been a little white lie? For the money, it should have one.

From the many topper mods there will be, I will choose the one I like the most. I don't need a cheap one that I will exchange in the future. It's better they have put the topper money in the rest of the game.