We could make them illuminate with different colors like we did with TWD.
image.jpg

Please don't. It'll look like somebody vomited Skittles. (I love that analogy!)

Not those colors...dwarf colors

Remember to self tilt those vulgar posts! Or the mods will have you removed!!

What's vulgar about some guy firing Skittles into a girl's...

...oh...I see it now.

No offense, but please see my other responses to idiotic responses like this one.

Skittles...makes mouths happy.... that's their catch phrase right?

Mezel, each bank one color... That is all lol... I'm sure u will come up with something great... We all will have busted knuckles trying to fit the LEDs in under all that mess lol

Anybody know when/if we can expect more updates/changes on TH?

The Hobbit 3: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
Blu-ray / DVD release date estimated April 2015

Perhaps on DVD/Blu Ray release time frame. Was truly hoping TH shipping wouldn't drag out like WoZ but so far......

I've sadly learned to check these "update threads" about once every 500 posts for an actual update

However, now it seems I have skipped too many!

As such, I guess I missed some key points:
What exactly happened to the whole "contractually obligated to ship before movie release" thing?
But now it's about dvd release dates?

Is such thing confirmed?

Huh? They were never contractually obligated, that was just assumed by pinsiders. They made late changes to the game, that obliviously changed the release date. They're not holding off on shipping until the Blu-ray release.

Keith has stated in the past that they'll ship with code & modes covering the 1st two movies, then update later on with 3rd movie material once the Blu-ray is released & they are able to work with the assets. That will take extra time itself. No way they holding off on starting production til April/May to time with 3rd movie code. They've got to start getting TH out the door soon if they're going to release Lawlor's pin in Q3/Q4 2015.

That's not true... I have heard Jack mentioning the contract thing several times!

Moot point. Release dates obviously revised when they made all the design changes after Expo.

May just be 'bad' marketing. A lot of things have been said, but most things are not supported by any kind of evidence.

Been real quiet lately...

Hopefully something new will surface soon, some new video would be very cool.
Wasn't there some sort of pro photo shoot done recently?

Probably not much more until DVD release then all will finally be revealed.

My distributor said the jjp payment plan lists may 1, 2015 as the final payment so I guess may would be a good assumption on production starting

Sometime this year most probably...

Btw paid mine in full already

Huh?

I find it nearly impossible to believe this was a complete fabrication from pinside with no input from JJP?

I guess its possible though.... moot point now since that date has long since past and it would tend to follow the pattern of EVERY boutique pinball company completely blowing their delivery promises over and over and over

Ok, so this was actually pretty easy to find.... search term "contractually" and it popped right up!

Let it go. Pretty much everyone in on this game want them to have a bit more time for polish. Everyone will benefit

Better grab your torches & pitchforks. Jack posted something on an internet forum that turned out not to be true.

As stated above, the delay is worth it and the game will be even better because of it.

I certainly would like to see a better game... um, who disagrees with that?

However, I find this whole "Well, we want a better game so its worth the wait" argument to be a false choice....

Since when was being "ontime" equated to "unpolished and/or poor quality."

And that wasn't my question in the first place:

I was simply inquiring about the statement Jack himself made that he was under contract to deliver the game at movie opening? This is quite different than the typical-run-of-the-mill-pibball-misssed-deadline issues.

So either they changed the contract, they breached the contract or there wasn't really a contract at all. Is there any other option?

OR, I suppose there could have been a clause written in:
"In the event that pinside thinks the PF artwork and Smaug look like ass, JJP is granted however much time it needs to release a quality game'"

*** Note that was sarcasm for those that miss such things or havent had coffee yet today ***

This whole string is getting stale.

I want more talk on the features and what people think about them.

I may as well start...

Ramp diverter: I like it. It gives options. Not sure if it will be player controlled or not. It could have been better if it was controlled by Smaug himself (seemed like a good idea).

Pop up monsters: Potential to be awesome if programmed properly! At worst, an annoyance that just keeps getting in the way of flow.

Playfield LCD: Nice to have but not a must. I guess it depends on how it is used. Right now it's taking away from the waterfall/barrel scene may have been better placed in the apron, imho.

Drops targets:I like them, and being individually controlled is even better...but is it too much when you add in the pop up monsters?

Spinners: Always cool

Ramps: I think they are very good (love metal/wireform!) even if they are a bit symmetrical to each other. Would be better if you could hit one of them smoothly with the upper flipper...

Ball lock area: Would have been nice to see Smaugs claw hold back a few balls waiting to get released (even better would have been to see Smaug fire them out...but we have all bashed that idea enough). Instead looks like we'll have to settle for the indiana jones ball tumble theme...

Jet Bumpers/ barrel area: Was looking pretty good until the mini LCD squashed it. Still needs some wall dressing to make it look more like the waterfalls battle area. (The "modders" shouldn't have to take care of it)

Artwork: Overall no complaints, LE or SE both great.

Right Outlane: Not your regular plain drain-out. It has a Ball save feature, so that is good.

Left outlane: Kickback save and windlance feature... still a bit of a mystery what is going on here..may be interesting if you have to use the third flipper as a "one timer" to shoot Smaug... (but I thought JJP wasn't allowed to shoot Smaug...hmmm )

Backglass LCD: Way cool and a nice feature. Seems to be getting better too.

Third flipper: ........ I've beat that dead horse enough...

Shot variety: Depends how you look at it...lots if you count every single drop and pop up target, or average if you just count the symmetrical shots to the ramps, loops and holes. Downside, many of the shots seem identical i.e left/right ramp, left/right loop, left/right scoop, left/right pop ups...so I do like the added shot to the jet bumpers for that reason, however, i don't know if that shot looks very interesting...hard to say.

Smaug..... it's ok but still underwhelming...that has been beat to death...

Bagend area... not sure if it qualifies as an area just yet...hoping something to look at there...

Programming/code: Not there yet but I'm sure will be excellent!

I believe a persons overall impression on the game can be swayed in one direction or the other simply if the individual has been following this project from the beginning or not. If you were following from the beginning (and you were like me) I let myself get swept away with all the dialogue and the hints (real or not) of a truly impressive and interactive dragon (so the individual looks at it more critically). If you started following later you got a good looking machine that has some nice features (expectations were not over hyped).

Anyways, that's just a quick dump of ideas didn't hit everything. (ummm...now that I look at it, not such a quick dump...sorry)

Feel free to blast away as only pinside can.

For the record, I'm fully paid on the Hobbit but ... keeping my options open.

I think it could have been in the 'contract' but was pushed back due to the licensing push back that caused redesigns. Also, the licensor may have not been able to produce feedback, or materials, in a timely manner so both sides agreed to push the deadline to provide a better product. Whatever the reason, I am sure it the best for JJP / WB / and likely most of the hobbit pinball buyers.

They certainly aren't the same, but I would not say it is unusual to push a deadline to improve quality. Happens all the time in many industries. Blizzard, the company that makes World of Warcraft and other top selling titles have the motto "It will be done when it's done..."

What Jack said is that they would have games 'done' by Dec, which they did, at least proto's and sample games at shows, in several countries.
The feedback there was more on art packages and decal material, there was a significant playfield art change (or it was probably in the works for a while) at Expo Oct 2014, and there was also a slight modification to the entry into the pops, with the "book" becoming an Lcd in the back right corner.
Have you ordered one? Are you on the JJP group or just a pinsider content guy - we hear a lot more as owners over there or I hear it from talking to Jack directly at a show or by phone

See the 500 other posts on the score thingy.

Spooky did

More time the better! I am in no rush and would much rather have a better game. Give JJP the time to make it the great game it should be.

These are funny comments on the scoring - Lyman made MM a 60 million good score, people wants more - so Monster bash had 600 mil as a good score. More, more - so Attack has 6000 mill (6 billion).
It was his coding joke, that if you want another zero to feel better about getting a lot of points - fine, here's your 10x or 100x. I've talked to Lyman about this - and it was purposeful to show how silly the concept.
KEF and Jack wanted a simple to understand 1000,000 as a good score. You know when Glinda is giving you 2000 while pops and slings give 10 or 100, that shots are worth different points - get a multiball or mode going, theres lots of points. Easy

Sadly. that's pretty much been the case in the world of pc gaming ever since end users have been able to perform updates/patches themselves.

I did already 4 days ago.

See the other thread created by me after the post your responding to, but 4 days before your response.

In any case, I am done advocating this. Clearly your (the royal your) in one camp or there other. No way to change anyone's mind.

Good insights in your post, Sammy. Thoughtful inquiries abound! Unlike you, I think I'm much more excited about the Smaug toy. I like the idea that he taunts you, and I expect the dialogue will increase with additional updates to the code. Plus, Smaug will look appreciably better with teeth and LED eyes. Bag End has me perplexed though as that area looks unfinished. I'll be disappointed if it's not addressed in the final version of the pin. And does anyone have an idea of what the button does on the lock bar?

Diverter at top of ramps, or for the wind lance, or both?

Keith choose the score levels purposefully. Jack likes the concept too. The decision was made years ago.

I assume the button is for the windlance/kickback fire option...it could also be for the diverter but I don't think so (it would be awkward for that use, imagine playing Shadow with the diverter buttons on the lockdown bar).

At one point there was talk about having multiple buttons on the sides of the cabinet (I think that was from JJP people but I could be wrong)...guess that was flushed along with a few other things.

The button has been discussed by Keith. Cannot find the info right now, but I can tell this.

Shadow is an ultra fast game and to keep up with the pace all buttons should be directly at your disposal. The Hobbit will be another game and it might just give you the opportunity to take more time to decide and more time to move you hand to a button. So it might very well be possible that the lockbar button controls the diverter.

Ok

yup me too.
any idea what the two magnets under the ramps would be used for? up at the top of the pf under the ramps seems an unusual place to put magnets.

How about stop a loop run and drop the ball in the bumper area or subway....

I believe they control in what lane the bal will drop. Either in the pop bumper area, or to the hole that goes to the subway and than guides the ball either to the left or the right VUK.

All above might as well be controlled by the player?

Hobbit mangnets.jpg

20140814 Playfield 2.jpg

20141213_331884.jpg

I was hoping that if Smaug couldn't physically touch the pinball that maybe he would have at least thrown them around with some magnets placed in front of him....oh well...

Maybe Smaug will have the capacity to steal pinballs during multiball via the magnet and subway?

That's possible, though not very exciting in a visual sense...