I say to seperate it. I know when I rate a game I rate it by category. So when I am rating a Em game I might give it a 9 based on other Em games. there is no way EM and SS games have the same music and code as the new Stern DMD games. For example I rated surf champ Em game in the 9's based on it compared to other EMs. Comparing it with lets say Metallica is impossible. For the era of the game such as HIGH Speed vs lets say AC/DC..Just my thoughts but I am a pin guy and love all of them and have em,ss, and DMD in my collection. Gota love pinball!!!

Just my opinion, the IPDB isn't rated as much in the recent times. Some of the machines I have been interested in the ratings were old like no one is rating on it like they do on Pinside... just a thought