The 60th probably needed very little approval since there are no movie assets so cabinet/playfield art and music then they were off to the races with logo/animation approvals along the way.

Hey Lonnie is hard at work give him a break!

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When was this originally revealed , last September/October?

Definitely not progressing very fast.

5-6 months is nothing. Batman66 first run buyers waited almost 2 years for complete code.

100% agree with this point of view. 350plays for me in two month, but really needs major updates.. all must be improved because at this point, it looks likes someone put all that stuff in, put a timer here and that's it.

And in all that time, the jet pack still does essentially nothing.

Neither does the action button. I'm enjoying the game, to be honest, but just like everyone else, can't wait for updated code! (but patient)

BTW, does anyone else hear a distinct increase in VOLUME when the "High Stakes" event lights up/starts up? Seems pretty obvious on my end.

Deadpool had turned the corner WAY before now with the mode stacking and Mechsuit Multiball in 0.96. That was only 3 months after release.

Bond is nowhere close yet.

I'm lucky enough to have other games to play, so I usually fire up 007 and play a couple games just focusing on making the left orbit, right orbit, and villain shots. I think you can see where this game will be fun in the future, but it isn't fun now. I figure that by the time the game is fun to play I will have the timing down on the tough shots and will be able to rack up some points. I don't see any reason for Stern to make any more of these with Godzilla and FF though. Seems like they could just make GZ, FF, JP, and DP and sell through everything until the next game is announced.

The slow code rollout also strikes me as how things were done in the old days of pinball. A game would be release very incomplete to operators, then code updates would be made based on feedback. It seems to me that Gomez likely falls into that more old school approach vs maybe a newer approach where the designers are hardcore pinball players who know what works and what doesn't. So the later ends up release a more complete code. Either way I see Bond getting to greatness when the code gets there. If you aren't enjoying it, hopefully you can find something else to flip until that happens.

Foo Fighters stream showed they have game testers,maybe they need to play more and listen to them

I was there with you Doc on BM66 but the big difference there was Lyman, yeah he took his time but he always made a masterpiece in the end, without knocking Lonnie and it being more of a testament to Lymans desire for perfect code Lonnie doesn’t come close and that’s the worrying factor here.

Congratulations and welcome!

Uh, no. Stern Whitestar all the way back to B/W/SEGA/Capcom, then to the dawn of solid state, games were WAY more complete at launch, because they required operators to burn roms to update them. And they knew that operators often never bothered to get/burn new ROMs, so launch with a pretty bulletproof game was the strategy. In olden times a bunch of the updating and feedback happened with location tests pre-release. That doesn't happen now, so we are all the location test, post release.

Well, I’ve had enough. Just ordered a Foo LE and dumping Bond.

My prediction...there will be a lot of regret down the line for people dumping Bond out of impatience. I don't think anyone will regret swapping it for FF, as FF looks great as well. I'm pumped for that release and bought one.

I sincerely hope your right. I was along for the ride on BM66 and Stranger Things. They were so much further along by this point. Additionally, it was obvious what the big picture was and you could see the unique rules developing. Bond shows none of this. It reminds of the “wood chopping to see a bit more of a clip” that Lonnie shat all over IJ4.

Bond pisses me off so much at this point that I don’t even turn it on. It has no cohesiveness or big picture to it, at least that I can see.

Relax, people. The software updates are coming. Gomez is not going to abandon his baby.

Should this game have shipped with more mature code? Of course, but it is what it is right now.

I was getting a little depressed about the game with code at 0.80 because it just wasn't fun. The updates since then and some tweaks to the game difficulty have made it much better. I actually enjoy it now. When the code is finished, it's going to be even better. It's unfair to completely judge the game right now. I don't know how it is rated #17 on the Pinside 100 in its current state. I certainly hope it is worthy of a top 20 rating when the code is finished.

I agree with you that this game, in its current state, has no place in the top 20.

B66 took 2 years to develop...how is that even comparable to Bond at this point?

In current form, it's not in the Top 100... at least for me. It probably isn't in the top 150

Not another pitchfork post. So I noticed a technician alert for switch 55 which is rocket opto 1. So I pull the glass and go into switch test. As I move the rocket around switch 55 never triggers. Switch 56 rocket opto 2 does. If I physically block the switch 55 optos then I can get switch 55 to trigger. No matter where the rocket is positioned into never triggers switch 55. Curious what other people are seeing. When I play the game hits to the rocket register but I guess I'm only getting credit for half the hits?

Moving the rocket backwards will trigger switch 56. Moving the rocket forward should trigger 55.

Batman had Lyman, you can’t compare Lyman to any other coder especially Lonnie, Lyman just had a way of making rules intuitive and his work on Batman 66 was phenomenal he set a new benchmark for theme integration on that one.

I am in the same boat as well and couldn’t agree and said it any better! Complaining is not going to do us or this pin any good! Just to to be clear I have just shy of 500 games on my bond premium.

It was announced in Sept. Released in Nov. First code is 11/14/22. So it's been 109 days since release. Nowhere close to even Lonnie's fastest recent work (GotG) at 175 days to 1.00. His Stranger Things code was 307 days. So if it's gonna happen, I don't expect Bond code to start showing up at all in any cohesive way until May-ish, and completion by Fall looks more and more likely. Long road ahead.

Adjust the opto so the rocket can reach it. Probably mis-installed.

I love to shoot Bond the shots are fun I agree the code stinks right now but it should get there and I’m using the time to learn how to shoot this pin so when the code is finished I know how to play this one. The shots are definitely unique and I’m not used to making those right ramp shots and I need work on this one!

I walk into my basement tonight, pour a beer, I have a BM66 and only other game is a Bond what am I playing? (Big 1960s vibe) BM66 because just so fun? Or Bond to practise for when the code gets there.

This code situation is completely normal for Stern. Been there numerous times. Good thing is you’ve got Gomez behind this one.

It’s so ridiculous when licensors micromanage asset use in products they have absolutely no idea about. Even people with no pinball experience can see Stern know what they’re doing. They’re not going to ruin your precious IP. Stern’s bread and butter is big A licenses - there’s no way they’d risk relationships by using assets in a way that harms the licensor.

What these licensors forget is letting Stern make a great game with full control and use of assets will only bring value to their property. Being overly restrictive will have the opposite effect. Arguably it’s already happened with the art. Here’s hoping it doesn’t happen with the code.

We are long ways off from being legitimately worried about the code on Bond. With Sterns current coding resources no way code development stops anytime soon.

The one thing that takes the sting away a bit, at least for me, when it comes to games on location is give me 3 credits for $2.

Usually if you play 3 games you'll have at least one good one and will keep them coming back.

Exercise a little patience FFS

The crybaby factor is off the charts.

Greatness takes time. TWD, BM66, EHOH etc etc.

Pitiful

Buy something else. Plenty of options.

If YOU bought one early then that is on YOU

It’s gonna be a great game.

Now I understand that pinball “BE” (Before Elwin) is shit. But come on.

Just got my Pinballjah 007 Translite today.
All I can is "WOW"
Outstanding job, its beautiful!
Buy with confidence.
Its very colorful in person, hard to capture that on these pictures.
I posted on the 007 Mod thread, but wanted every 007 pinball lover to know this translite is legit...

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I blame no one but myself.... and my experience with Bond has 100% kept me from ordering a Foo Fighters.

Lots of fomo going on from FF.

I’d say we know 2 things for sure. 1) no one knows if Bond or FF will be classics. 2) Bonds code will get it’s due.

If you are this impatient you were probably betting on it anyway so take your loss and get the FF out.

Patience? In 2023? Come on Ice

Concensus is...code is holding this game back. Spent a fair bit of time dialing this game in today. Pitch, level, flipper angle, flipper power. Got it going pretty smooth. Clunky center shot, but at least it makes it around the bend now.

Here is my 'code' update...
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Lifting that frustrating controlled gate permanently makes the game really flow, feed the upper flipper. Soft shots still make it the lanes/pops, but feeding that upper flipper is far far far more important! Try it out post your thoughts!

I’m pretty used to waiting a year + for code to get well developed on pretty much every Stern I’ve bought, except one I bought that was done when I got it. So when I buy a new release I expect this. The only thing that bothered me about the Bond release is I thought the jet pack should have been fully operational. And it seems obvious the licensor is holding it up. I have faith Gomez will make sure they finish his pet project.

The only thing I'm annoyed with so far are the Q gadgets as well. The gameplay on all of them is more then likely going to be identical... so wtf? why aren't they just all done by now. Get Q, shot glowing ramps/etc, success.... rinse repeat.

--chris

1 is for sure
2 is an opinion

It's probably asset approval since each involves movie clips. Same reason we seem to not have Bond Women implemented

The rarely seen weapons are the cool part of the code to me right now. Unfortunately there is little to direct a player of how to start them. I just played a couple games after dinner and didn’t start one. Definitely need some mystery awards that spot a spectre letter and maybe even combos spot a letter or something. Just doesn’t seem to be enough action off the don’t to hit the switches. Thinking I’ll swap out the rubbers again and put the ultra bouncy polys on there. Maybe it would drive some more action.

What history of late has proven 2 wrong. Serious question.

Based on these images in the code right now, it seems like the other 4 Q gadgets are going to be different and more complex than the existing ones.

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Munsters. Definitely Munsters. Narrow and shallow code, and that's all there is. GotG is also pretty repetitive. It's all there, but what's there could be implemented a LOT better. Mando ain't so hot, either. Also very repetitive and despite window dressing, not very deep.

And a Gomez design isn't a guarantee of success. Batman TDK is the only pin Lyman couldn't make a masterpiece. He got a second go to make it great with a tweaked version of Gomez's TDK design on Batman'66, but if LYMAN failed with a Gomez design, EVERYONE AND ANYONE ELSE certainly can.

I think Bond shoots cool and different and the potential is there, but the software will be the key, and it's by no means guaranteed. At all.

People keep saying this but is there any evidence that approvals are actually delaying development? Or are people just repeating this assumption so much that it becomes an accepted truth?

It might just be taking a while because it's just a complicated task to integrate video and audio clips from 6 feature length films into a fun cohesive gameplay experience.

I think Steve Ritchie leave Stern in fall of 2021? After that George tried picking up Steve' Bond design but soon decided to scrap his design entirely and start over from scratch. So when Bond premiered at Expo in fall of 2022 it only had approx a year of development time.

Compare that to Foo Fighters which Stern says took a full 2 years to develop.

Tried James Bond for the first time today, hard to say how much I liked it since it was just two games, but it did kind of feel like they originally intended to make this a flat game, with no ramps, then tacked a bunch of ramps on the side, or at least there's a weird old school vibe that isn't just the age of the movies being shown.

^^^ This, plus, in all likelihood, they also had a hard release date in order to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the James Bond film franchise. This might also explain why Elwin's 60th pin seems further along in code development, too.

Me and my fam really loving our pro. Put pinwoofers on so obviously can’t wait for updates code like everyone else. I’ve owned GOTG, avengers infinity quest and currently own bond and Jurassic home pin. The bond has gotten the most plays of anything i’ve owned- wife and teenagers and myself all having a blast. Yes it sucks waiting on code but my expectations on that were set from the time I got GOTG with even less code and waiting for that to come up to speed. For the pitchforkers waiting on code….you think this is bad go check out the scooby do owners club forum. Yikes.

Sweet where to buy?