Hot Wheels
American Pinball, 2020You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider yelobird.
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Quoted from RonSS:I really think the topic stats (number of posts) says it all.
I'm hopeful this was just a misdirection. I'd like to see AP pull off something similar to what happened with Rick & Morty.
It’s real no need to speculate on a conspiracy here. Hoping they can take this license to deeper numbers as the audience is a bit broader then a drinking festival. They have the team and commitment just hope they can nail this one.
Quoted from LTG:Could be great.
LTG : )
Could only be Great if they added #LTG to the starting lineup! Would be a smart move in my book.
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:That Hotwheels setup and commercial are great.
TPF sounds pretty exciting, with rumors of 2 new machines by American Pinball, 1 or 2 from Deeproot and possibly 1 from JJP. If my math is correct, that’s 5 new pins. That’s not counting what we don’t know. Wish I had the time to go this year but haven’t made a TPF yet.
And add possibly one Stern, one CGC, Funny punny(lol), and some Rick and Morty Awesomeness from Spooky this is going to be a GREAT show and year for pinball!!!
Quoted from PinMonk:AP needs to figure out who their target market is, and what their priorities are as well. Houdini here was sent down the road after a bug was introduced early last year that caused the game to crash when you cleared audits for collections, so essentially collections were messed up from then on. After it went unfixed for like 4 months the operator I help was done with AP and we sold it. I'm not positive, but I think it was like 6-8 months before it was fixed. Unacceptable if they are targeting operators. After this, Oktoberfest was a hard pass by the operator I work with, and I wasn't really excited about changing his mind. AP also had a situation where the Houdini high score screen didn't time out, so if someone on location didn't complete the high score entry, the machine was stuck as far as most casuals were concerned. That's a BASIC, first checklist kind of thing that should have never made it to release as-is. Things like those two examples do not endear AP to operators that can give them and their games street visibility.
That said, Barry was EXCELLENT support, beginning to end, every single time there was a parts or tech issue to report. GREAT contact point man for the company.
Not so sure Barry is still there any longer.
Quoted from PinMonk:Well, that sucks for AP. I haven't had a need to call since Houdini was shown the door before last summer. If he's not, wherever he landed is very lucky. He's a great asset.
My understanding is he landed a similar job local soon that will fully appreciate his hard work and dedication. Good guy.
Quoted from wesman:Interesting.
Barry was always great to deal with on my end!
Josh has also always been stellar.
And even though I haven't had direct contact, Dan seems pretty cool too.
Not to be Debbie Downer but I believe Dan (sales) also left. Going to be an interesting lease just Hoping they finally pulled #LTG on board to buffer some new release issues.
Quoted from Ericpinballfan:American Pinball and JJP should just join forces at this point.
Bummed to hear Barry and and Dan moved to JJP, but good for them. They will be an asset to JJP.
Dan did not go to JJP only Barry. I am hoping for bigger things for Dan if I have my way....
Quoted from DanDanDAN:why not all three?
Well, technically Space X is my client so Indirectly yes. Lol
Quoted from RonSS:I'm thinking if this theme were going to make it big, there would be more positive hype on this forum.
Sorry but thats not really the Pinside way. lol Tear it down, speculate, condemn it before release Then play it and its all good again.
Quoted from Dr-pin:I disagree.
If a great theme is coming up, there is great hype on pinside.
The examples are many.
The only one here saying it's great argue it's because some old people collect them, but stamps wouldnt work, cause apperently no children collect them.
I've only been on pinside for two years, but i've never seen any title with less hype octoberfest included.
Guess you haven’t visited the Funny Puny pin thread then. Lol.
Quoted from vdojaq:You nailed it man! A pinball machine is just an overpriced toy for all of us grown men. Hot Wheels is kiddie shit, but Toy Story and Muppets are not? Give me a break.
All the whiners can only hope for a Barbie Machine.
Yeah not sure how any theme would be judged without actually seeing (or confirming) a game. To me its all about how they execute it. There have been Way better licenses that were horrible based on how they executed the assets. I believe AP could do some fun things with this and wish them the best. You don't have to be a specific toy collector or band groupie to enjoy a well done pinball machine. Guess we will see how they do on this.
Quoted from greenhornet:will people be more receptive if it has 360 degree looped wireforms, a banked turn for the orbit, and a ball accelerating supercharger?[quoted image]
At the very least a jump ramp would be a nice go to but from my understanding not happening. A jump ramp, hyper type loop, and some type of backbox car mech (like CV) would have been interesting and unique.
Quoted from Bublehead:Listen up people, there is a target Hot Wheels collector market that is ravenous for the original "Sweet 16" Hot Wheels cars. You build a machine full of imagery of those specific cars and you make it about "collect them all!" Coupled with video of the RedLine MAG wheel case that opens up an you fill each slot with your cars, you would have one Massive Hot Wheels collector must have pinball machine. Let the player select the time period (decade possibly? ) when they start collecting, brings in all fans of Hot Wheels over all time... sound interesting if they go that route.
When I was 6 years old, I got my first one and my brother and I spent every dime we had getting all of them over the next 2 years. We filled 5 of those mag wheel cases over the next few years after that, plus it seemed like we had about a 1/4 mile of that orange track. We could stretch it from the tree house, all the way down the block for 4 more 1/2 acre lots. Now you tell me how many of us are old and rich enough we just dropped 8.5k for a Monster Bash r LE, and so my demographic won't support 1000 machine sales? Think again.
Fair enough but to my understanding no game has ever survived focused exclusively on a niche collectors market. This is not an $8 bobble head for your desk. Many people collect watches and have money but they wouldn’t by a Rolex Pinball machine. It will all boil down to how AP executes this theme and gameplay. A fast car theme could sell as long as they have some fun shots, animations, layout design. Gluing collectibles to the Playfield will not get it done.
Quoted from benheck:SpongeBob would SLAY on location. Just outright MURDER. The kids who grew up on that are now in college and are the ones plunking down coin at barcades.
Agreed. That would be a home run title.
Quoted from mbeardsley:But it didn't fail because of the theme -.
Think that might be a bold speculation. Looking at the Pre-release posting of this theme Most were and would disagree with that assumption.
Quoted from jellikit:And Hot Wheels it is.
That 11 second spiff should garner another thousand posts of speculation. lol
Quoted from wesman:So umm...one day later, and STILL no official announcement, photos or video from API?!?!
Guys, get your shit together over there.... Ugh.
Hell, even Stern plugged away with their Stranger Things clip a day or so after a leak.
And its been a day or So, so what are you saying. lol
Quoted from Roostking:Im just hoping that its a place holder? Since it hasnt been officially announced, the employees arent talking about it, possibly something is still coming to replace it. I mean, that really cant be it, can it??
As noted in that old video, my money is on they don't have the parts or cabinets to build any of the production games for release so they are not rushing to hype it until they can answer the question of When. For the price I actually like it. Simple and a straight shooter. Might not have been a bad decision to try a game keeping things simple with most of the animation art already provided by Hot Wheels. Won't be for everyone but I think it would do well in the redemption type game areas they seemed to be interested in with that last pirate player. Look forward to playing it.
Quoted from wesman:Interesting to see a brief tour of the smaller older facility.
Definitely noted that as well, currently outsourced cabs and decals, so Kaneda's rumor makes sense.
This being possibly a reskin, and there supposedly being two games that were ready to show a tee TPF leads the mind to wonder if this is more a Pro style game, and the other game that might exist....more along the fuller produced prior 2 games.
Anything is possible but I wouldn’t bet on seeing a second (4th) title out of AP for some time. I think the Hot Wheels shown is the only new release.
Quoted from Bublehead:Agree with this observation... I felt like at any moment Todd was going to ask a question that would make them say “ OK, this concludes your tour, please exit to the left, up the stairs, you’ll find the way, whole day terribly wasted...”
I wouldn't read to much into this old video. They are a small company with a tight nit team that works well together. As they really had nothing New to unveil or talk about in the video there really wasn't much to talk about? They are an informal no frills company just making pinball machines the best they can with the resources they have. Touring a mini 8k sq foot area after hours is not exactly a Show Content thrill. Honestly you can tour that old facility in 2 minutes. They outgrew that space the day they moved in. Todd is awesome but with little exciting to introduce or have fun with your not going to get a very in depth undercover news break through. Don't think they were afraid of any question, they didn't have anything at that time to ask though.
Quoted from wesman:I wouldn't dismiss the weird vibe in that video so quickly.
Quite the opposite via my eyes. I think there's a lot that can be looked at there.
Dan...seemed really, uncomfortable in some of those situations. Just an observation. And since this was shot, he's left the company, as well as Barry, who is also in the video.
Their company President leaps out of frame and doesn't really talk to anyone. He did the same in the facebook stream that came up for Hot Wheels. If he's more from a traditional Indian family, that definitely guides some behavior.
Two games out, one ticket redemption being worked on, and I only saw one line worker there.
Pinball is all about nepotism, it's present in every company, and that makes sense. But I wonder why the guy doing graphic design work isn't an outside hire. It's obviously an assumption that he's related, but judging by his quality of work, he doesn't have much professional experience or pinball experience. Hence their GUI is poor, and as we've seen with Hot Wheels, will continue to be. Get that guy training, a partner, or give him a different non creative job.
Also, I always still wonder what facilitated Joe Balcer heading there. Did Lawlor push him out? Did API offer him complete freedom and more money?
There'd so much a weird hodgepodge that makes up API, and this video clearly demonstrates that in some ways.
Obviously we all have opinions, and they're just that, but this video had a distinct feel about it, and it wasn't for lack of work in that building.
Still think your trying to read WAY to much into a simple video.
Why did Joe end up there. He simply was offered a career opportunity he felt was right for him.
Why was the President out of the video. He unlike most pinball people has NO interest in some false celebrity motive. He's a really nice guy and simply a quiet individual that see's it as a business.
Dan uncomfortable. As an awesome guy and salesman (he dam well better be!!!! lol) he had nothing to Sell. As this was unscripted he didn't have much of anything to promote which is what he does.
Only one line worker. They Were Closed!!! After hours doing a private tour with pinball fans and Todds team. Most line workers do Not appreciate being videoed.
Graphic designer is related Just because he May be the same ethnicity? Ahhh, no.
Dan and Barry. Can't answer that but they are both great guys with a valuable talent. My Guess is they were offered a better opportunity for them and their family and I see nothing uncomfortable in that decision.
Just a Total wish/suggestion. IF they sat down and listed the 10 things people disliked about Houdini and Fixed them they already have their answer. That game was a Home Run they just need to do it right. They Have the ability to make that a Top 10 game and I believe the market would give it a second chance. 250 LE total over hauled (animations top to bottom) and watch the money pour in!
Quoted from MikeS:AP isn't going to shut down any distributors for selling below MSRP. They need every sale they can get during these turbulent times. A sale is a sale. It would be idiotic to prevent distributors from selling your game.
Lol agreed. They make the same amount even if you choose to use them as fire logs. They could care less.
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Wheaton, IL