What happened to the two (?) units that were on their way to Cointaker? Was that just Chinese whispers?

Covid. Weather. Take yer pick.

No we don't

They need to hire someone to do marketing.

No, they do not. Realize that PB are not interested in taking on a top heavy US marketeer to cater your needs. In German, a pinball bat is sometimes referred to as a "flipper paddel".

OK. The rest of the non-English speaking world calls pinball "flipper."

Hey whatever. Enjoy your paddle game.

Since no one else will make a 45 second phone call I did.

Melissa said their Alien pins were held up for whatever reason.

She said they will stream video next week.

I was told they are receiving 4 or 5 more pins air freight next week and those will go out to customers. Then the week after a few more via air freight to go out to customers. Then from there it will be containers.

I didn't call to waste her time and discuss third world problems. I felt bad enough bothering her with such trivialities. She is such a sweetheart.

You're welcome.

I agree with you. They don't need to be bothered, PB should be the ones stating this stuff.

LOL - I didn't know their number

It’s good to question. FB admin provided answers, so no voice speculation. Waiting on first CT pin release video, then hopefully forward momentum. ( I’m in on an LV model).

I do. Prometheus was a great film and Covenant wasn't very good but still a good pin theme. Better than most of the ones we get. Anything is better than Band and Superhero crap.

I'd like to believe this and I hope I'm very wrong but not gonna happen. Why wouldn't PB have posted we have begun shipping? Who got a call that their Alien should be here this month? I'm sure Melissa is a fine person but like Nitro up here in the GWNorth they jump on anything they can to sell, and why not. Just saying the biggest seller of games in Canada will not get anywhere near this yet and they never did with og Alien either. When then say they are getting PB Alien I'm in. For now I'll wait in the wings.

Goodbye then ...

This is what I was told as well. I sure as heck hope its true. This would mean several people should have one by the end of March!!

This thread is the wings, Jackass.

Why yes it will... if it were being remade to the specifications of the original version which it is not.

Stern is probably the only one who gets games out the door quickly and then you read that they're incomplete, mainly with code and people complain they are barely playable sometimes. GNR is backordered too and they even raised the price, you won't be getting your game any time soon from JJP either. The distributor is holding the deposit money for Alien, not the designer so its in escrow; no game you get your money back without having to deal the the designer. Interesting post, enjoy your Stern machines because that's the only manufacture who is going to ship you a game the month after you order it. Really surprised by the negativity for having to wait for something unique. Stern certainly will not have all good titles. Go ahead and limit your options...your money and your choice. What isn't healthy for the industry is shoddy games and promising something you will NEVER deliver.

That's kinda ancient history now sir. I can't remember the last Stern that was "barely playable" due to code. JJP has always been slow out of the gate. Its a good thing that this time around the deposits are with the distributors and no game means no loss of money but whats interesting to me is someone would even want 1 of possibly only a handful of games like the OG Alien then it dies. Hey I'm glad they are out there cause its the only way this thing is gonna happen.

I'm just saying pinball is an imperfect industry and there is a reason for it. Nobody, and I mean nobody is going to build a warehouse full of games ready to ship and then the game is not popular and they are stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in inventory. They get built to fill orders and that takes time and yes, some of these designers/manufactures run into production problems with quirks or parts suppliers that delay delivery even further. Delays don't phase me, BS does and by now people should be able to know when something is really wrong and keep their wallets closed.

This is everyone's excuse for everything now. I'm not saying there aren't legitimate impacts from both but FedEx recently temporarily lost a package I had paid a LOT to have delivered overnight, Saturday delivery. When I called them after it didn't show up the first excuse was weather, when I pointed out the weather in the parts of the country it was shipped from all the way through to where it was going was perfect those days they blamed it on COVID. It was lost (no tracking updates) for three more days and then miraculously got delivered with still no tracking updates. They still refused to refund the cost as they changed that policy back in March and blame it on COVID. They lost it, they know it and I know it but they can get away with it so they do. It will be like the fuel surcharges everyone slapped on when gas was $4+ a gallon that they never removed even when it dropped to $2 a gallon.

Hopefully Cointaker or PB show a working game soon. Once we see that and Melissa has games and asks you for the balance of payment are you in? Just so weird how they say they are air shipping some before showing us the product.

I’m in as soon as I can get one.

It's not ready...think about it. They've not shown any actual full on gameplay of it other than small close up snippits....and then when they do a longer video, it is with the glass off, dubbing sound and music over the top (with people pointing out issues with the xeno). No...this isn't ready.

Yet, most other manufacturers (not just pinball) ship a product not ready. Its shipped and updated. The last time Computing, Engineering and Technology felt confident was middleware based. Software instead of hardware with decent middleware (Atari 80s, N64, Vectrex game console) will only lead to human error with the next update covering the details. Whens the last time, across any platform, a product came finished and absent of attack (change)?

Yes this much is pretty obvious which is why I said my expectations shifted to 2022. Once you have a fully working product ready to send out the door it is generally another good 6 mos before you actually ramp up production.

What I find perplexing is that if it’s not done yet - as seems self evident from the videos - then what is on a boat/plane/submarine to Cointaker? Surely they would be unfinished units?

I got the vibe they were demo units, possibly even customer ones, but that didn’t square with the “work in progress” footage we’re seeing on FB?

Mechanically complete, but software could be the the challenge. My hopes where that they where still producing physical pins whilst working on software issues before shipping. Porting from the original game to their new hardware platform would probably a bit if a hurdle, and more so if if the programmer hasnt done a pin before.

I would imagine Brian would have been contacted by PB to make the software changes for the mech and other things they changed.

I was excited to see a video was released.

I was happy to see it flowing pretty well.

I was disappointed in nearly everything else. No sounds or music from the game? No screen to show imagery? Some mechanics not working properly?

I came away with more questions and concerns than positivity. That's concerning.

Demo units or not, I am not sure if the first couple of machines will be worth getting. If there are problems, will the first customers be taken care of to be fixed? There is no track record that PB will take care of us other than the past shenanigans and that does not bode well.

But the games here in the US are coming from Cointaker, a distributor, so you would not be dealing with warranty issues through PB.

Ok so issues would be handled by Cointaker then. Still need parts or whatever from PB.

The game is being done by the same guy who built the original platform software... and has done multiple games. They are changing small amounts... this isn’t really a big concern.

Their biggest challenges are the opposite... getting things built with parts... not concerns about software

Which is what the distributor will help with as well, if needed.

Hopefully the first 10 games have minor issues. After all, it has been in redesign mode for at least 2 years.

Anyone hear from any other distros (in other countries?)

If PB is planning on being a viable company they will need to take care of the first customers. Hopefully they've found and fixed all the major issues, if any, before putting them in customer's hands. Cointaker ran into this problem the first time around as the distributor. Much harder to take care of issues away from the factory.

Really? You haven’t mentioned it......

I remembered that you were first and I thought it was absolutely pertinent to the current topic. Enjoy yourself TBD and rock out with that tiny black rocket out!

Have I mentioned that I'm #7. I haven't heard anything new either.

How do you find out where you are on the list?

LV under 10. lol

There was 1 left when I ordered from the 'first batch'..so I assume I am #34.

I have a place holder on an LV...just in case.

Remember the date?

Well, even better, thanks for the clarification. I think they will deliver a good product and happy to be first up. Maybe we should just be patient. Hanging for this pin

Is this the week we get to see a real game?

That's mighty white of the non English speaking world to use an English word. Even if it's the wrong one, it shows they are trying.

Hey, not for nothing, but we DID invent pinball and share it with the rest of the world. The least they could do is learn the correct nomenclature.