Saying LCD is bad for pinball is like saying 3D visuals, HD visuals, and motion controls were bad for video games. While that last one might be debatable with hard core gamers, there's no doubt that the motion control movement put more video games in the hands of people than ever before with the Wii. 3D and HD have increased the development costs and time it takes to develop games, but some of the best games ever to be made in the history of video games have been born from those technological advancement. Perhaps part of the reason that new games with LCD displays have fallen flat is because they really don't do much more for gameplay than a DMD does.

I think it's up to the manufacturers now to do something creative with the displays in pinball now. Instead of rushing out games, they should take their time to experiment, deepen the code, and really put more time into development. William's experimented with an interactive display back with Pinball 2000, and I thought despite it's shortcomings, their presentation still holds up well today.

Really, I think LCD displays are here to stay, and they're the next logical evolutionary step for pinball. Designers just need to spend a little more time with them to use them in a way that wasn't possible with DMDs.

I didn't really think that there'd be this much animosity for LCD displays--considering the fact how well ColorDMD is doing, you'd think that everyone would've been clamoring for LCD displays much sooner.

I agree with this, and I agree with everyone else who has expressed their disdain for LCDs and used this as their reason; but maybe that's just because manufacturers really haven't spent enough time experimenting with what they can do with better display technology. Multimorphic seems to be really pushing boundaries. William's tried some cool things with Pinball 2000. It would've been neat to see them really dig into the platform a little more.

Has anyone seen those transparent LCD panels? Imagine if pinball manufacturers used that in place of playfield glass. The glass itself could highlight shots (to help the player understand the ever deepening rules), aid in attract mode, augment artwork, etc. Expensive as hell? Yup. But in a community where people are willing to drop $300 on a regular sheet of glare free glass, I don't see it being an impossibility in the future. Wishful thinking, obviously, but a man can dream.

Idk. Seems like I'm in the minority here. I like score reels, Alphanumeric, and DMD as much as anyone else does, but that's because they all have a copacetic relationship with the games they were used on. LCDs are still pretty new for pinball. I still maintain that give the software developers more time, they could come up with some pretty cool and creative ideas as to how to use them without losing the mechanical feel of the game.