This happens ALL. THE. TIME. When companies go bankrupt (in the US, not sure in Aus), they can go to court and the court decides who gets the remaining cash or assets they have. Not saying it’s right but this idea is -on purpose- that the business is sold to another entity (frequently someone who was involved with the first company will be involved with the second), and that new entity tried to make up a successful business out of it. Otherwise nobody ever gets anything at all. As much as I think this whole Alien fiasco is now a joke, and I feel terrible for those who got screwed - the light at the end of the tunnel
Is that new games have a chance at getting produced.

You want to really get pissed off at how business operates? Look up Leveraged Buyout. It’s legal, but only available to the super rich.

They likely sold the IP to themselves at a likely discounted rate before declaring closing “Heighway” with nothing.

This wasn’t determined by a court. It was determined by people who had a direct benefit of receiving IP. They are now claiming they are a distinct entity while offering a voucher to customers that aren’t “theirs”. They made this distinction for any legal ramifications I’m sure.

Pretty slimy but as long as the games are made people won’t care. The world spins on

This is pretty much the same across all history in the hobby. "Rip off another product? - No problem..." "Unlicensed repos? - No problem...". People just want their stuff.

They're "guilt vouchers" as PB was certainly a big part of Heigheway. See also deeproot, who had to pay penance for hiring John (not worth it at all)

NewAlien will doubtless be 12.5k, the TBL model where you use the overages to help your prior customers.

Oh and should add. Their original node board system was needlessly complex and overpowered. They used a $10 32 bit micro with 512k flash and 128k RAM just to read the flippers for instance. So there's a LOT of room for cost reduction improvement there, thus their talk of new electronics.

Stern 1977. No one gets bent out of shape they bootlegged bally. Then they did it again in the 80s as data east. Rampant in the vid industry too.

Well... WMS did get bent out of shape ... but yes, customers today don't care

Everyone talks a big talk... but then will chase the cheapest product that does what they want at the end of the day.

one day we'll have a lineup at Galloping Ghost Pinball of the Predator pin, Big Lebowski, and Alien, and we'll be able to regale our disinterested grandchildren with stories about our glory days

if that's what it takes to get it done, then fine. It can be another TBL. There's not a huge market at that price, but there's a market enough to keep the lines moving.

Not a bad idea, what’s the best way you could follow up on Alien as a licence, Predator!

Get a Predator game out the door to follow up Alien (tonne of people wanted and probably still want a “good” predator game) and you would gain some kudos for that one.

After that might as well make a new Terminator pin with T1 & T2 together like Alien/s for the holy 80s/90s trinity!

It’s in PBs interest to not support this, so people move on to the new game.
I recall they were already difficult on the 1.4 release for Alien. If there would be support, they would’ve let this know during the last 2 years.

Saying they are not heighway does not make that much sense with PINBALL BROTHERS written on every PCB and they have software ownership of this game!!

In any case it’s nice the game is remade, but communication could’ve been better from them.

My opinion on value of Alien:
with no support and an unfinished game, the prices will drop to about 80% of the remake price if that is a good game.
But bottom line we have not seen anything working yet.....

Being difficult can be explained if they are planning on using it on the new version. Common code, using optionals (old/new rendition settings), could be a good outcome for All.

It may well be The Same Game, nothing about moving on to a new game. It is in their interest to support it, the coulpe of hundred that exist. They are not "competition". For what reason would they not want to support the OG version all of a sudden now?

They still signed up for support of existing games, responsibility. Cuts a crapton of work in developing to keep the OS and code as well (just fix USB, rest is okay), and also fulfils obligation of support they apparently signed up to for the original games.

Still been finding bugs in 1.4, I wouldn't call it finished.

Keep it!

No PF Screen!

1.4 is not perfect, but neither is it bad.
I mean all modes are in and they work, so generally the game is fine with some small tweaks to be made here and there.

For me my hobby is mostly modding and tweaking, so that's why Alien was such an interesting specimen. Everyone told me to stay away from it, but I love it, and will not sell my game anytime soon.

Pretty sure this is a new bug I encountered just tonight, Jaw looping "Scream" at game end...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-pinball-official-game-thread/page/561#post-5999969

There is a fair list been brewing though ... Tounge halt, and Start button doesn't light are two others I know of offhand.

This happens all the time in the business world. What's rare is for them to offer a discount or product to the customers of the company they liquidated, that only seems to happen in pinball. I think I fall in the camp of, if they hadn't done this, all money would have been lost and no more Aliens would be made. This move might put the game back into production and payback in part some of the people that lost their deposits. I certainly want to buy the game if they pull it off, but there's no way I'm paying in advance. I want to see the finished product rolling out of a factory and working well.

If it were the same exact game, I'd agree. The differences of the LCD playfield screen, large backbox screen, and cabinet, which I think are incredibly cool in person, are hard to ignore. I'm hoping any software improvements will be made available to the original owners.

And if only they'd actually created a dedicated support division for the original (given PB own everything ) then they could have refined and released anything they wanted (wait, weren't there rebranded boards and these claims made the last time?). Maybe even a schematic or 2. Imagine - a "WCM edition" (Williams Cabinet Edition), electronics rev "2.1" to non serialize the lights, etc. could have emerged. Then refined Aliens could have been had by anyone who wanted one. ALL pinball machines have problems upon release. Alien was left to die, pure and simple. No factory to give a shit, except harvest and build from the parts. Some amazing, outside individuals identified the flaws, and selflessly helped to get the games solid. Mike had sorted the overbuilt sensors and I/O boards years ago.

Removed mechs, enhanced electronics? Sounds very familiar....one company stayed the course, refusing to give up, and proved the investment valid to some group, creating a true cornerstone pin. The other - bastardized the game, while amazingly, "LE's" were "readily available" in Europe after the factory had closed. Tags mismatched, missing, etc. how odd (?). Containers of stuff have obviously run out and time for cash. Can't make this shit up.

The "amazing VE" remake has been around 2 years..nothing new. And as far as preorder $$$? I politely declined 2 years ago, as well. This, however, has yet to materialize to anything. The only support ever offered to existing owners was, uh, zero. It magically changes how? When they show the few that have been built, definitely $12k, a new saga unfolds. Maybe a T-shirt for my voucher (I've got all the receipts).

My machine plays as reliable as any other I have and never leaving. They all could have (except the early trash dumped in the US early which still floats around).

More Alien machines in more hands is good for pinball. A company of merit will have to build them however...I hope that can happen someday.

My rant, my opinion, and hopefully keeps me from reading this craziness for awhile.....

How many industries / hobbies take the kind of pre-order money that pinball does though? I can't think of any unless you count kick-starter ventures.

Just so we're clear, I was referring to how the only working Predator prototype is at Galloping Ghost Pinball, and I wasn't actually proposing PinballBrothers take on Predator next.
(If they are actually making Alien, their next game is then at least 4+ years away)

I love how the early games get shit on. Yep, they have issues.

Wrong drop target opto board.
Needs updated alien head and boards.
Needs the tower leds changed out.
Updated computer is debatable. I am told the original computer could have run the game. Note, it is a different computer than ft which is an entirely different architecture and could never run alien.

Power supply was woefully inadequate throughout production.
USB cables were bad throughout the run.

I have been told the transformer for the 70v blows a fuse, mine never has. I also do not suffer from the flippers lacking power.

My gripes with the game's reliability at this point have to do with io boards, led design, and the induction switches. The induction switches themselves are dead nuts reliable. Their detection range requires them to be up next to the playfield, but their socket design does not keep them there. Full throttle suffers from this as well. A 3d printed spacer is on my list of things to try and should fix this on both games.

Thing is, after doing the work I'd put mine up against a later run. I'd expect they would both have the same issues. We still have plenty of chat in the alien thread about dealing with heat, making the usb as reliable as possible. These games are by no means as reliable as an AP, JJP, Spooky, or Stern. I doubt they ever will be.

Let's say PB are not full of it.
Ditch USB.
Upgrade the power suppply for 5v/12v.
Add capacitors for 70v or go back to a transformer.
Do not serialize the leds.
Do not use induction switches.
Break up the overly large pcb boards. FT uses much smaller boards which are much much easier to deal with. Maintance on alien vs ft is night and day.
PETG plastics.
Active cooling in the cabinet.
The beacons should be belt driven not gear driven. The beacons are obnoxiously loud.
Less fragile face huggers.
More reliably scoop. Balls hang up on both the early and later versions which has prompted a few different fixes.

As for removing the playfield lcd. I am against. It is one of the things that makes alien unique. The game ties into the playfield. If I was going to ditch a screen it would be the airlock. It is mostly worthless and under utilized. It could be made to be more useful, but you could just as easily ditch it for a couple indicator leds.

The additional magnet doesn't do much for me. The cabinet change is an improvement. I like the uniqueness of Heighway cabs, but they are heavy. They have very little artwork. I dislike removing the head for transport.

As for the mentions of sharing a codebase using optionals, doable, but a headache. Testing release candidates requires doing so on two different machines. It ads a load of work that nets the company nothing since they wont sell the original design.

Still waiting on a real whitewood, or a plan, or really any proof.

I love hearing from the experts on this game, like you, who have dealt with every issue. You guys are invaluable. But...this kind of post scared me from buying one for a long time, until I learned that the late run games were dialed in. My LE has had fewer issues than two JJPOTCs, two BM66s, Lebowski, IMDN, etc. The only issue has been reconnecting usb cables to other locations on the motherboard as one I/O board wasn't consistently registering. Perfect now. The induction switches are actually pretty amazing, zero problems so far. I'd prefer them over slot switches if they continue to be this consistent. The cabinet was my question mark, and I actually really love it. No decals to scratch and cool backlighting on the side panels. It feels like it was made by the aerospace industry, super heavy and solid. But a Williams wide body cabinet will be more practical.

I don't say that to degrade your efforts (I admire them quite a bit), just merely a point as to why the game was never received well over here.

Only had experience w one early machine, and after intensely keeping up w the "keeping 3 species alive" thread ( 3 different early builds, one of which they abandoned). Crazy work went into some of those. I think there were 2 batches of those (?) that continue to haunt some new owners.

The game I have is remarkably stable AFTER doing several key things to it, which a manufacturer would have done if they would have stuck with it....that's the only point I was making.

You've always gotten props from me (that and a dollar gets you a burger I guess)...

Sounds cursed. Probably best to just keep it and bury it with you

Good opportunity to peddle the pinotaur?

Do the new PB node boards have the protection circuit disabled still?

The research from the initial people was invaluable. The community and those have stood up to build parts that we couldn't get (timbandit's leds). All I have had to do is dig through threads and the only thing to hold me up is my own laziness. I have too many projects and all I cared about on alien is that I had the parts on hand in case they go out of stock. Right now I still need to mount the new psu permanently and relocate the mobo since the new psu is massive compared to the old.

Converting an alien for the most part is about money. Someone had a game with no backbox screen on here recently. For less than 750 you could change that. Parts are readily available. I have debated picking up a second alien several times that needed converting because once you know what to do it is straight forward.

That said, even if the game had none of the early vs later issues, its still electronically a flaming dumpster fire of shit. I saw this as someone who collects weird low production games. They all have their quirks. First time manufacturers especially. What is interesting to see what they do get right.

FT, electronically is mildly better than alien due to the smaller pcbs under the playfield. After that, alien is by far the worst game I have had to deal with from an electronics perspective. On the top side of the playfield, alien is a fairly straight forward design that is well built. Suncoast was the opposite. Cosmic Carnival was a fine game, electronically. Topside was a mess. Ramps that were paper thin. Wireforms that were needlessly small with piss poor welds. A game where the rails prevented the coinbox being removed when the playfield was down.

Pictures like the one above remind me so much of the shots we used to get from Australia of all the Medieval Madness parts ready to be made into games, we all know what happened there!! Not saying this might not happen, but don't let some pics of parts and playfields get you too excited, it's a long road ahead!!

Probably correct.
I do think now is the time for europeans to start producing, if they are to.
The current taxation, makes us-built games unavailable to europeans, so if them and dp can get going there's a customerbase, where they are the only option.

I hope this happens but it has to be an unlimited run where they are shipped to the US and Canada and available to play first with tested machines out in the wild. Who the hell is gonna pay for this in advance after all the other failures? If they make it and keep in Europe then ok fine but man I just don't see it over here. Its a dream theme and I want one, even with all the cuts to the OG sill want one, it just doesn't seem plausible. I hope I'm wrong.

I was on that bus for 6 years but was able to get off with a full refund of my $2500 deposit. I even bought and sent the ramp diverters because Wayne said he could not produce them. I didn't get those back. After that, I was out of pre-orders...I wanted to put a deposit on Alice in Wonderland but couldn't bring myself to do it and now I'm glad I didn't.

I am all in. I just got on the list to get on the list. My plan is to park the remake right next to my late build cointaker distributed alien se and see which one grabs my tang. The original is soooooooo much fun. Not only can I not stop playing it but I dream about it when I sleep. Just fucking fabulous imo. Cant wait to play the remake if it all comes together but damn it's looking good right? Am I the only one who's starting to believe this crazy shit?

We all know who will distribute in the US and I heard from them that they may soon be stocking parts for the original also, she specifically mentioned the possibility of boards. All speculative. But I am thrilled to hear it!

Alien, Terminator and Predator are my dream themes - they're just killer themes

T2 was my first pin and was locking in an Alien deal when it all went pear shaped. I'm not going to be rushing in but I'm am following with interest, same goes if someone announced they were doing a Predator pin

Add Robocop and Road Warrior for me but yeah. I just wish it was Stern or JJP or American, even Spooky. I would love a Terminator '84 dedicated pin. Its just such a shame we get such crap with these kinds of great themes around and then who ends up getting them, start ups. Why? WTF Stern, I mean TMNT? JJP and Wonka? American and Hot Wheels? where's Predator, U fuckfaces U.

Big Lebowski may not fit there theme.

Viper Night Drivin is only there as mancow is in it

I have a couple of European (built) games now. The quality is through the roof on both. I’d bet Pinball Brothers will do a great job.
37DC55DA-1924-48C0-A563-C8C6AB453553 (resized).jpeg

Great looking pin - let's hope Alien 2.0 is just as cool

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Plenty of changes under the apron, probably a good thing...

Spooky?

That has the playfield LCD cut out?

Yes old vs new. That is an OG Heighway playfield. New is pictured in the quote.

Point is I'm looking at beneath the apron area. We know the screen is gone already as pictured up the page a bit.

Thanks man, got it, thought this was a recent pic.

It is very recent I just snapped it

Spare playfield

Yeah but look at the coindoor and trough area too... this looks alot more like traditional cutouts for wms style coindoors and bill validators.

I think that's what I meant by "beneath the apron area".... and yes!

The actual point of my post way back there got distracted by an old screen hole

Also big trough cutout, so probably not such a deep trough. All good things. Hopefully a decent Apron setup too, it needed that.

If it was close to the original price when I put my deposit down with Andy(was lucky to get that back) I'd be in. But the new pricing structure of toys over $10,000 just makes me cry. No way I can justify that. I have a hard time justifying half that. LOL.