Nice. Thanks Chocky.

Kim

Thanks for the link, I stopped reading that thread so I never saw it.

I really enjoyed this video, thanks to the person who took it.

WOZ is coming along nicely. The RGB lighting is brilliant and imagine how flexible this will be with not just this game, but games to come from JJP. A redesigned boardset with an off the shelf operating system - well done. New diagnostic tools will help ops and the home user. There are quite a few features packed in this game. It looks well made and very sturdy.

I especially liked his comment about updates to games. If we want to add a rules update 4 years from now we will do it, or something to the effect. Imagine a game thats never done ... now thats exciting.

We will see how the public perceives the LCD. I think its too large, but if the LCD is a big draw for ongoers that will drop coin (or paper) in the game, bring it on. I imagine a day when arcades are full of pinball again, and that is a wonderful thought.

Now lets hope JJP sets another change and returns back to the single model. This LE, special edition stuff has gotten old real fast. The modders will add whatever they like. Build one great game.

Thank you for posting the link, dang gotta leave after 5 minutes, can't wait to watch more!

Umm.....

+1

I was distracted for a bit when I saw Tim Arnold standing all alone close to the stage area. That guy intrigues me.

Kim

I like Gary in the back taking notes. Hope he heard Clay's comments.

Well, Clay's comments were a bit Stern...

Kim

CONTEXT: He was referring to Keith's passion for what he does and how if he wanted to add to the code well after the game was finished he was not restricted from doing so.

I hear ya. Its just funny to read it as a positive when half the time its big negative. Everyone is always screaming how they better present a finished game. We all like the idea of updates. The thin line from between adding to a game and finishing agame is the hard question.

I don't think their intention is to present a completely finished game when it starts shipping. I think it has been made very clear that they do want all the major functions to be working and scoring when it ships.

I believe Jack back in the day visioned where owners could add rules of their own at some point but then once realizing there could be some issues with the license owner, he decided to do away with that feature. Sounds like he might allow that for future non licensed games though if that's what he is referring to around the 56:30 mark of the video.

I did notice that too but then I thought it's hard to roll a ball with the crossing wire forms in the middle getting in the way of your through. I have had the same problem testing the left ramp on MM with the wireform going across and in my way.

I cant tell if you are being serious or being sarcastic. I thought it would be finished with opportunities to add. Maybe wizard modes etc.

Yes, something like that. I am sure there will be some functions that Keith will perfect how they react in gameplay after the game is shipped. He has even said that user comments will be taken into consideration, and if he likes someone's idea he will incorporate it if possible (not his exact words but something along those lines in another thread).

I was very surprised at about the 19 minute mark when he talked about people wanting to invest "Billion..." then he caught himself and said "millions of dollars in my company", but he said that he didn't want their money. In this economy and with an unproven company, and pinball not being mainstream, it surprises me that there would be people/investors willing to invest that kind of money.

Informative, thanks for posting. I especially liked the guy who asked a question while he was still chewing his food. Nice! Swallow man, then ask!

Nice video and to her Jack talk about the game. It has been interesting to follow this process along the way especially coming from the president of the company. I still don't agree with the very low score setting on this game or like most of the Stern’s game lately. I am excited for anyone or company to make a new pinball game as it is good for the industry. Yes anything new made with new advanced technology today (ex: LCD screen) and lighting looks extremely great with all the new bells and whistles but all in you have to enjoy the entire game. I just don’t understand how anyone can buy something without playing it first, especially when it’s a company’s first release. If anything this will only help and make Stern do more with their new games to follow. I am curious like everyone as to what the second game will be and just not interested in the WOZ besides seeing all of the new things that can be done on a pinball machine. The game still appears to be very slow and not a fast paced game which worries me. In regards to what I mentioned above it’s like a certain car that I still enjoy. There will never be a Nissan 300ZX like the look form 90-96 (yes I own a black 1995 2 door). Sure they finally came out with the new 350ZX and 370ZX after years of not having a sports car and it had all the new technology and was priced accordingly (but too small inside to be a sports car especially after making it even smaller with the 370ZX version) but the look will never be the same of the classic year version. In the end I will wait for the exact type of new game to come out which I like to a tee to buy NIB and still say with the true classics of their time. As far as Jack thinking the outside industry (like movies theatres, arcades, bars) will make money by setting up a pinball game I just don’t see it happening except in the beginning when all the hype of a new style pinball game is out there. Face it the places make money on the 3rd person same shooting type games which waste you money in a matter of minutes (hate Dave N Buster’s, never a pinball on site) and not pinball machines. Usually the places that do have a pinball game onsite have them in bad condition with elements of the game that do not work. Yes, I enjoy playing games at local bars and try to find them as I have people look at me like I am crazy. I hope pinball still catches on with all of its competition. Please continue to update your places you play to make it live on. I have found a site called http://www.pinballrebel.com/locator/index.php which I think is the best. Cheers!

Finally got to watch the video. Say what you want, but you can tell Jack's passion is pinball and he believes very much in what he is doing.

Holy crap man.

May want to just use the pinside pinball locator. It is much better and tends to be more user friendly and up to date >>>

http://pinside.com/pinball/map/where-to-play

I like what he had to say. I won't buy WOZ, but if it "feels" good - I"ll probably buy his next one. Hope his business makes it.

I have tried but it's the only part of the site that runs slow and backs up for some reason. Also, there are only 2 posting of games in my area.

I watched 40 mins of video then had to go out, come back and video now says unavailable
le, refresh no help. Is it taken down.

That is odd. Always works well for me. Also, games/locations can be added/update pretty easily.

I figure pinside is getting more popular by the day so it seems like a no brainer to put my efforts into populating and updating the pinside pinball map more than anything else.

Good to see he mentioned the scoring issue. Given that its a game based on an old movie he wants to keep the scoring low and I respect his decision.. No one asked when the game was due to be released??

I try to update both

No doubt, Jack's a great salesman. I thought it was like a time share seminar. Jack's got an answer for everything. Good salesmen though. Clay's first questions seemed to take it down the dark road. Valid question, but Jack didn't like em one bit. It caught him off guard, and he seemed angry and defensive. Seems like the Brooklyn kid came out. I thought that was interesting. Side of him you normally don't see on video. Real shady imo.

Goes to show, you can take a guy out of Brooklyn, but you can't take the Brooklyn out of the guy.

I'm sure it will be another good game, when it's 100%, and all dialed in. I just don't trust the money factory at all. At this point, it's getting shady imo. Hate to see this fold. Things aren't adding up. Personally, I'd be nervous if I was paid up on the game. In stock, ready for delivery status, would change a lot of ill feelings.

Curious to see how this unfolds.

Wish somebody would have asked if Dennis would be coming back in the future, or who is going to make pin #2 with Dennis gone.

Most questions were very good, except for, "How many balls can it be set to when it is on location or at home?". (Paraphrase) That answer really just deserved, "as many as you or the operator wants"..."next".

Looks like Jack was a little bewildered by Clay's questions, and personally, I didn't understand either. Was Clay insinuating Jack couldn't make money unless he cheapened his BOM or raised his prices? or... Was it veiled shot at Stern for charging the same as Jack but not having the same BOM? Really couldn't tell what the questions/comments were going on that part.

I was under the impression from the beginning that WoZ was the all-out flagship first game for JJP and following games will balance out to a more modest configuration? There is no way profit will be made on WoZ. In my mind JJP will have to lighten up on the BOM or significantly increase the prices if they want to stay in business.

I would not be nervous if I had money down for WOZ. The game will show up and be a good game. No way it will live up to the hype, but it will make the buyers happy. After this fiasco though, I would never buy a JJP game until it is close to delivery status. Hopefully JJP will not keep asking for payment up front before the game is even developed.

That was my impression. Clear costs X, Lights cost X etc, etc. Seems like a lot of learning curve and the question I heard is will it really be feasible to produce. Valid question as clearly each steps has its hurdles.
At the same time Jack sounds like he is on a mission from god and determination can overcome many roadblocks. Hopefully volume will lower costs and make it all work.

It's a valid question, but the answer obviously isn't as cut and dry as people, maybe even Jack, wants it to be.

He obviously doesn't want to lose money on the first machine, and obviously doesn't want the numbers to reflect that, but the R&D cost of getting set up and developing the first platform have to be spread across something.

That is the way I heard it.

I thought Clay seemed to be pointing out that WOZ has everything but the sink, so how could they possibly be making a profit while the sad part is the mere existence of JJP has actually allowed Stern to do nothing so far as improving the game but yet they have increased the price point.

Seems that Jack understands the only real answer to any of this is to get WOZ out the door and then let the consumer actually compare bang for buck between the 2 manufacturers.

It was nice to see Jack seems to be much more realistic on timelines and understands now that many things are beyond his control. I keep being amazed at how far the company has come and am really happy to see the infrastructure being laid for many future games. I also really like that Jack seems to have selected #2 and #3 and at least one will be an unliscensed theme for sure.

He specifically said "I worry about you" when discussing being able to make money. Lots of different inferences can be made from that, including whether JJP will be around to make pin number 2 depending on how much money is lost on WoZ (assuming that Clay is right thinking that JJP will be losing money on them).

The main issue i see for newer players is the minifield ( house ) shot looks very tight . And once its hit the newer player has little chance of getting the house to spin for any length of time . Its one cool toy , but from my perspective looks way to hard for younger players .

Maybe when the game first starts they could have it spin with wind sound effects , twister on screen ect ( for 5 seconds or so to use it to its full effect ) .

From all the footage ive seen it looks like quite a lot of skill is needed to maintain a good spin of the house ( great for us pinheads )

Show this toy off , it's way to cool to waste . Would also be fantastic to grab the attention of people while its in attract mode .

Just my thoughts

It's ironic that in all likelihood Jjp has made it possible for stern to generate a lot more profit. It's probably the best thing to happen ever to sterns business.

It really frustrates me to hear people talk about game #2 or 3 when the first isn't out. The pinball market has not really grown. Stern could barely stay in business as it was. The pressure is on new manufacturers to expand the market, expand pinball technology, or die. If theme is that important there's no need have any company in the market other than stern. Stern's specialty is themes. They will win that race because they're uniquely equipped to bring more products to market faster.

I'm looking at Jjp not to come up with a theme I like as much as I feel they need to bring pinball into the 21st century. If they don't, I don't expect them to be around that long. The question is, is jack just trying to resurrect b/w? Is there room in the market for two companies doing the same thing?

Maybe, yes. I liked the comment Jack made about WOZ being an easy pin. It needs to be easy given his company's objectives. I do think Jack is trying to push this back into commercial operation, and with today's kids, and their need to be awarded at every turn, you have to make the game easier than say, LOTR. If you don't, they won't play. Their not going to sit there and keep sticking $1 bills in for a 10 second ball time or for a game where they feel like they're not winning. When I have kids over at my house to play the pins, I always find it interesting which games they go to. Most tend to gravitate toward the one's with easier shots...the same games that collectors tend to say are "too" easy (i.e. TOTAN). The wonderful art package and toys help as well, but the ball times have to be longer to grab a non-pin person - which, most everyone is nowadays.

This might be true,But JJP is building infrastructure in vendors and factory set up that He will not have to do on #2,#3 etc.

Exactly correct.

Jack is a salesman; he was there to sell his product and deflect each question about the game into a positive statement.

Clay's question was philosophical. You could not just spin it around and say "Hey, I'm just a goofy guy who loves pinball". The question required real thought and that made Jack defensive .

It would break his rhythm to actually answer, and that's the worst thing that can happen to a salesman.

===
=
=

I was once at a giant Microsoft seminar about 12 years ago. The speaker came out with his hands above his head triumphantly and yelled to the crowd "What is Microsoft best known for??!!"

A guy from the audience yelled back "The 640K barrier!!!!" **

5000 geeks exploded with laughter. Knee pounding, coffee spraying, tear streaming, rolling on the floor laughter.

The speaker was shell shocked. No amount of waving down could get the audience back at attention. Every gesture just made it all the more funny.

The speaker finally got some footing and started his presentation, it was maybe 15 minutes in and somebody started laughing about it again - instantly the whole auditorium re-erupted into chaos.

The speaker was hopeless. He put his palms up and yelled "Really???" "You've got to be kidding me!" . He had no skills to go with it, wing a joke out of it, or laugh about it himself. He was a one trick pony salesman.

=

**Microsoft had once said that the 640k memory barrier was not really a problem, as no desktop machine would ever need more memory than that (I'm typing this on a desktop with 24 Gigs of ram).

Same here, and that makes me really excited.

Interesting presentation indeed. If I heard right Jack said one game takes 21,5 hours to make and they will have 28 people making those. That means about 10 games per day when things are rolling and it will take about five months to make those 1000 LE's (Calculated: 8 hours per day/person, 5 working days per week, 4 weeks/month).

I have a feeling they will work 6 or 7 days a week and at least 10 hour days once they get going. Jack knows that this thing needs to have some urgency once they are in a position to start shipping games. That is a pretty typical work schedule in the Capitalist States of America (USA) when there is a deadline or urgent situation.

Some things that I found very interesting in the video:
Jack said that the boards (probably he meant the lighting and computer boards) would be ready around the end of October; they can assemble many games without those components and add those later; the clearcoat on the betas were not of quality they wanted so they got a special clear from Dupont and now they have something like 150 cabinets and playfields (don't remember exactly the quantity).

1. I don't think Jack is going to want to pay all that overtime.
2. Unskilled workers doing a crappy job like assembly line work, are not going to be loving a 70 hour work week.

I think 60 hours is more like it per person during the crunch. I personally know quite a few government workers that do that.

Also, I doubt that he hires these people as permanent full-time employees so overtime costs would not be that big if a financial strain.

I'd hope those government workers are making more than $7.25 a hour, because that's what unskilled assembly line workers get.

Jack already has everyone's money. He's not going to be real keen about paying $11 a hour (plus all the additional taxes and SS matching businesses have to pay), just to get the game out faster.

In addition, tired laborers work slower, make more mistakes and have more accidents, so he really would be getting a poor ROI.

He could hire a second and third shift if he really wanted to get the game out at maximum speed.

We will see next year how he handles the hiring of the workers.