i love how off topic posts get relegated to the basement yet the last 3 pages of this thread are........

This pin is gonna be great but it is at least a year before reveal and 2 years to homes.

Well, rufer said that the line was starting tomorrow. Either it will start tomorrow or we can all head to ace hardware and buy some pitchforks.

The Hobbit line? Hope so! About time!!!!

Of course I am talking about Trindad, I am 80 years old and I remember fondly the days when that Pin came out! That whippersnapper MiddleSteak has a whole thread dedicated to it!

Yessir.

I agree that the middle of the lower playfield was too dark in a dark room, but that was an easy fix with the aftemarket spotlight kit. My game is where I want it to be now and will be even better when I finally get around to installing the lighted tree mod.

I'm in!

This unfortunately is the state of Pinside. The cancer that the Mod Staff won't cure.

Excuse my ignorance but who is rufer?

mnpinball

rufer: (n) roo-fer - The person who drops the roofie

*Disclaimer: This is nothing to do with mnpinball, this is a joke.

bill-cosby-face.jpg

Pass the Jell-O Pudding, Please!

i'll take the

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ill have some also to go with the kool aid! looking forward to hobbit news........

Man I wish we'd get SOMETHING about this.....I really have high hopes. Any more speculation?? LOL

I saw Pat a couple weeks ago. He was more pumped up and excited than I've seen him in too many years.

I'm sure there will be lots of news coming out when the time is right and production is close.

LTG : )

Wow! Great to hear!

Did you see the leaked info months ago? Plenty of info to keep you imagination going

Probably a thread eject if we were to post that post!

Are you guys hoping to get near to maximum production at the facility with WOZ, Hobbit and #3 in production, or is that further down the road in the plans? If you can comment.

Stepping things up has been going on for some time. This is going to be an amazing year for JJP.

LTG : )

I.E. We're cautiously optimistic, but no comment

A team America pin with 5 heads!
Fuck ya!

I've got pinball money burning a hole in my pocket. Waiting to see what Pat and JJP can come up with before spending it. Hope it's announced soon

I don't think they'll say much. Actions speak louder than words. If JJP does the August ? open house this year. I'd hit it. Fireside chat at Expo in October will be good too.

LTG : )

Bit much for me to justify a transatlantic flight Just curious really what the expectations are for capacity / unit production this year, given that people (or JJP) are hoping for 3 games in production in '16, which should capture a lot more sales than just one game on the line.

I think it will be two a year.

LTG : )

You mean 2 in production per year, or 2 new games on the line each year? Kind of surprising if WOZ production is to be ended when game 3 ships ...

anything less than an announcement with games read to ship for JJP (at least the first 10 test games built) is a failure IMHO.

You dont get a 2 year pass on game #3 I hope.

I agree. They need to have a full production machine if not a fully featured demo ready to roll at announcement with a release date.

I overheard Jack talking to someone the other night who asked if TH had a camera in it. He sorta hinted that a future title might have a camera in it.

So would it film the player and his game in a bar and put it live on the internet ?

Filming the player is kind of creepy. Filming and possibly streaming the playfield would be great, though!

It'd be cool to recap best combos or most valuable/critical shots after your game.

There is a tmz slot machine with a camera that takes a pic of the player and makes the image part of the game.

With the new funding I expect Pat's game to be 'dialed in' and ready to go this year!

They need this game to be in people's homes this year and my guess is they will be.

Do you think they might consider dropping the unlicensed theme due to market conditions?

My feelings are that for the hobbit, there won't be an absolute ton of new purchases, so some but not a lot of new money. Last time, they had Hobbit preorders to round out the WOZ overruns. This time they aren't (so far) doing that, and the market won't tolerate it again in my opinion.

So.. Looking ahead at JJP#3 as unlicensed.. That now feels like a larger risk to the company than what it might have a year or two ago when they threw out #3 as unlicensed.

Unless they can really do more than one game a year starting 2017.. I.e., survive a game that doesn't sell well.

Anyways, been wondering about this as the attempts to do unlicensed by boutiques in the interim period has been either slow starts or never make it out of the gate. I.e., we say we want it but we really don't.. Seems like JJP needs a Ghostbusters to get into next phase of company vs a AMH - only using it as example since Ben has talked at length about the unlicensed thing being a mixed bag / not critiquing AMH at all.

1. Given JJPs development/manufacturing pace, it's WAY too late to make that change now.
2. If you believe the rumors, work has been going on for some time on #3 already

I agree unlicensed is risky. However, recent Stern history aside, Lawlor has created some of the best games in pinball history. So, it's a gamble, but I wouldn't bet against Lawlor.

I will admit 90% of my interest in following TH has been becuase I want to see what comes NEXT!

Given what was suggested as the theme earlier though, if that's true, the theme will be a drag on interest vs boost right?

Unless they are really are going after redemption market hard where it's just about something to capture kids interest and spit out tickets? In which case, the theme maybe matters less.

Developing stunning video assets is going to be a time consuming / costly process. Having a licensed theme with those video assets included in the licensing fee will save time and money. Access to Peter Jacksons 10+ hours of spectacular footage should make Hobbit pop on the LCD. Of course game play is subjective and stunning video does make make a great game but it is cool.

A couple of weeks ago, according to JJP, they had 1800 orders for The Hobbit ... I don't think they'll be struggling to keep the production line busy any time soon.

Despite the 'leaks' about #3, I doubt it will be anything too crazy theme wise. I'm sure it will sell. I'm certainly more interested in an unknown original theme than The Hobbit.

Re: their visual assets. I think it's no exaggeration to estimate that the number of man hours that have gone into The Hobbit's animations and on-screen visual representations are 10x more than an entire year's worth of Stern titles. The latter all use plain identikit dots for the general framework, with a few canned dot-ised film clips and / or short original dot-based animation segments.

Me too. I sorta want to know what the game is. If it's a good original theme from Pat Lawlor, it could win me over from buying Ghostbusters.

That's like saying "Steve Ritchie" is the license. No, doesn't work that way.

Well,, i just went back and read the "leaked/rumored" info on the game. Honesty, I hope that was WAY off

Then again, Lawlor has made some quirky themes work.

I suppose back in the day- if someone leaked info that he was designing a game about road construction, people would have been like "WTF?" thats gonna suck!

It did.

Funhouse 2 it aint!

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So, hypotheticals.. let's say it's JJP-ized Roadshow 2.0. How is that really going to go over in today's market? Especially 2016.. TBL, TH, GB, RZ, at least 1 other Stern, and maybe Alien all shipping this year.

On the other hand, I'm sure the investors, with fresh eyes, were convinced this title is going to do well or they wouldn't of stepped in.

RS doesn't suck. It's not perfect, but it doesn't suck. Now the theme song? That sucks....

i think the theme is going to have to ROCK.

Let's face it, people are buying games today based on themes, not gameplay (which drives me crazy- btw).

90% of TH buyers never even saw the PF, much less gameplay before buying. Probably the same for GB LE buyers....

If the theme is TOO quirky (even if it ultimately plays great), that is going to be a challenge in todays market- IMO, particularly if JJP moved away from the prepay model (as they've said).

I don't thing JJP can really afford for the majority of buyers to "wait and see" and decide they want to PLAY one before buying it. Thats WAY lower cash flow than they've been accustomed to.