It's not a matter of pulling quotes from the movie.. I'm sure there are music scores behind many of the quotes you'd want to pull. Yes, the studio probably has the audio separated, but now pay someone to dig up specific audio is more cost. Eric also talked about him wanting specific speech like "JACKPOT" which is obviously never said in the movie, so now you have to hire the actor (who gets paid millions of dollars for a movie) to specifically record audio. Yes, you could JUST record those specific callouts, but then the audio wouldn't be consistent. Go play back to the future on Zed pinball fx 3, all the callouts were re-recorded even though there's only maybe a dozen new things they say that aren't in the movie, and they probably mostly did that not because of licensing but so that the audio sounds consistent.

Heck, just look at wizard of oz.. obviously they couldn't hire the witch to say "I got your ball", that actress is dead. But you have to admit, playing that for first time, the person they got to do the speech was spot on.

Good lord WOZ and TH are gems compared to most of the turds in your collection

So here we have a POTC pinball based on 5 movies, missing the main character Jack Sparrow & all the classic clips and sounds with the music from the 5 movies?

Oh great, now chitownpinball will have to start another stupid thread...

Licensing is a cluster**** and it’s definitely unfortunate they couldn’t get the full package for POTC.

People may not be aware but most modern games can be modified to play different sound and music clips. Either through updating the software or with a hardware package like PinSound.

If a buyer of JJPOTC is so inclined I’m sure they’ll figure out how to add Hans Zimmer scores and Jack Sparrow call outs to the game. I’d like to hear the rides Yo-ho song during attract mode or after you finish a game.

PinballSTAR is working hard all weekend taking orders and answering questions... We are one of the largest JJP distributors and tend to take care of all our pre-order customers early due to the volume we buy... Every single one of our DI customers (close to 100) will have their pre-orders fulfilled by this week already ! We welcome new customers to take care of and we don't disappear after the sale - we have the reputation we have for a reason... We also support the hobby - do shows, charity work, have parties, sponsor tournaments and are very active in supporting the hobby.

Have questions or interested in ordering POTC ? Email us - we'll get right back to you day, nights, weekends...

Joe Newhart
PinballSTAR Amusements
570-357-0042

[email protected]

Thanks Eric - we'll take awesome care of you as we always do - thanks for being a loyal PinballSTAR customer...

You know we'll have a few parties for everyone... Stay tuned...

Joe

Easier yes probably, cheaper is a lot tougher to guess. It depends on what Disney values each license at. I would assume they would be about equal in cost.

I mean, you'd still basically be missing the same things - voices and music. The video clips would probably be about the same to license, and it would boil down to that being a choice if they wanted to do it or not.

Pirates, based on the character selection screen, did get character license, which is what would theoretically be easier on Toy Story since Disney has full say on, say, Buzz Lightyear.

I can attest to Joe working hard all weekend, I think he responded to my CE request around 3 am after the reveal!

Looking forward to it

I slept like 3 hours Wed / 3 hours Thurs / got home at 1am Sat AM to say I crashed and burned yesterday was an understatement... Work is work when you love what you do ! Hooray for pinball - lol : )

Completely disagree.

He least expensive car in the US is the Versa. It’s 12,855 (plus all the bull crap they add). So pinball is still cheaper. I’m not including BM66SLE or magic girl because those are no longer available new.

My biggest complaint about the new PoTC is the side art. Not big on the four fat heads of the actors. Would have much rather had a cool picture of The Black Pearl or maybe some skeleton art. I am wondering if yet again they were held back by licensing?

Speaking of that, why can they have a picture of a character, but not use their voice. This licensing stuff is over the top silly. I am really, really, tired of lawyers.

The sad thing is it's even dumber than people realize when you see it all from the inside, I learned that first hand. You can use this, but not that, and you can do it this way, but not that way, and you're told one thing from one person, but then you're dealing with approval with someone else and the rules have utterly changed on you.

Or you think "I have the movie rights, so I get all this stuff", but then the music is actually from a different sub company than the film, and was licensed to the movie, probably in some scheme to make profits look lower and avoid paying out percentages, and you need another $50k for this, and another person to approve that, and it's just a web of BS.

You can use this actor, but not this one, because the second actor is British, and has a totally different contract.

I suspect though that the things I learned with Alien are even crazier with modern films like POTC, because on the these old movies the contracts weren't written with all the modern digital media and licensing in mind. No way something like a huge budget Disney franchise isn't loaded with all kinds of detailed legal language for this that and the third. You can use this specific likeness, but not the person in motion, or whatever.

Personally I think NOT having a ton of film clips and re-used movie lines is great. I'm sure the JJP team chafed at restrictions, who wouldn't, but it means they got creative and did their own thing, instead of just playing back pre-canned stuff.

It's time these LCD games figure out their own footing, beyond being glorified DVD players. DI was a huge step in that direction, I imagine lessons learned there were a big help with POTC. JJP definitely has the edge on this stuff now in my mind.

I'll take 1200 custom callouts over a bunch of movie lines I've heard before any day. I'm not a POTC buyer, too expensive for me, but I feel like we should be defending custom work over recycled work wherever we can. Watch the movies if you want to hear the lines, let the game be original and new.

JJP DEFINITELY has the upper hand on LCD screen layout and use compared to Stern. There's absolutely no comparison.

Same here

Thanks for the background, as messed up as it is! I am torn on the pros and cons of using actual movie callouts. Loved them on IJ. Always chuckled when I would watch the movies later. But I get your point. Doing original callouts are cool too.

Pinball News Magazine - Pirates

At 11:00 (Eric Meunier):

"What I really wanted to do in the design... There are a couple of different fields of thought on how to design a game - what's the most important thing - and I believe that THE TOYS THAT AFFECT THE BALL ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT - those should come first - they should take up all the space they need and then your shots fit around them - you make the shots work around the toys"

Thanks Eric - some in the industry apparently need reminding that stripping the absolute $&@% out of a machine and filling in the rest with video and music just won't cut it especially when the theme was is so beloved by its fans - SW was a slap to the face for many of us (yes, some of you love it and it's the best pin ever made etc - good for you - I acknowledge that you enjoy it - I'm talking about the rest of us).

Eric, you are a credit to this industry - thanks for being a part of reminding others on how to design a pin.

Oh, and at 43:08 he says "I've been working on this game for a year". One year. How long was SW in development and not even a single magnet? - seriously, give that some thought. A theme about using the force.

I totally agree that the side cabinet artwork is the weakest part. Perhaps someone can come up with a cabinet protector that looks like deck wood from an old ship to look better and a block UV fade.

Where does the left orbit shot lead? To a subway or something? Every shot I saw went up there and came right back down.

There’s spinner there and it goes up and through the spinner then comes back down when you hit it. That’s how it’s designed.

So its a horseshoe design more less?

Oh, and at 43:08 he says "I've been working on this game for a year". One year. How long was SW in development and not even a single magnet? - seriously, give that some thought. A theme about using the force.

Would you consider the following scenario to be good or bad? A year from now with data showing disappointing SW sales, Stern decides to release a special SW version that is a prem but with new art everywhere. Oh and they install interactive magnets in front of the force targets and it is priced as an LE. Would this be a good thing or something totally rotten?

Sw actually uses 3 magnets for the hyper thing.... i perfer them on the playfield tho...

I just dont understand this license crap. I see the worst and most cheap games using all sounds and shit a license has. And on a 10k pinballmachine i cannot have a song which i can buy for 2 euro +- everywhere.

For 100 euro i can buy all songs + all blue ray movies with extra content easely.

Why not on a pin?

The standard edition costs 8500, why cant it be 8600 with complete use of the license? I dont understand it from both ends. The license holders damaging their own goods by not selling the whole package. But JJP i also dont understand, why pay for an incomplete license? Pay more or go look for an other theme with better deals. The Hobbit showed us it is possible.

The Hobbit showed us that licensing can get so bad that they start telling you what shots you can and can't make!

Haha true that. But i was talking about the use of videoclips and audio. But you are right, hobbit also had a mayor license flaw, i agree.

My guess is it's harder/more expensive here as pinball machines can earn money so that's gonna make license holders want a cut so to speak.

It's a matter of volume. JJP isn't going to make 500,000 copies of some $3 trinket that says quotes from the movie. That trinket company can afford the $100,000 or whatever license fee to get the quotes because they'll make it back. JJP doesn't move enough units to offset it enough.

Plus, Disney is notoriously insane about its licenses. See Aurich's post, that sums it up.

most of the shit in my collection, you have never seen or played. But I deal in unique/rare euro stuff. But I wouldnt' trade any game in my collection for WOZ or Hobbit. Think either of those are better than AC/DC? Indy500? Shadow? LOTR? GB? Not a chance.

But I can see by your collection you only buy what's popular and don't make decisions for yourself, so you really don't know what's good and what isn't anyway. Keep only buying popular NIB titles, heaven forbid you explore out and experience something different than what the lemmings rate high on the top boards.

You can do that, but you have no rights to copy, distribute, change or publicly display that content. A pinball machine, which does all of that, is a different beast.

You can buy a song on iTunes for a buck, but if you want to play that song publicly it will cost you significantly more.

That's how licenses work.

I know, but still, the price is already massive, i really wonder what a fully licensed potc would cost if the standard is now 8500. Is it 8600? Or is it 10k ? Or even more?

I have no idea.

And if they are not allowed to cause they are making money, or in public places, why was that not a problem for The Hobbit? Also a huge license.

Maybe it is cause of Disney, they are hard to deal with, but still,,, if you pay, you can buy anything.

your crazy...both WOZ and TH are both incredible games....

I purchase what I like....money is no object....and ALL of my decisions I own....I've experience several of your games and most (except LOTR, ACDC) are incredible boring...

plung's point was that the end consumer pay $100 to have the material in home so that should add a similar price to the pin to let the consumer have access to it.

While a good point, the amount of dvd/bluray/music is massive compared to the amount of pins sold.

In an old Gary Stern interview it was stated the license adds 5-7% to the cost.

So did anyone make that cannon shot during expo? What does that shot do exactly?

7% extra Vdrums? Ai.... haha! Man... that is ridiculous. I think i might hate the world of licenses lads.

.

I believe it starts a multiball

Anyone ever remove a head from a JJP? I put in an order today but thought about how I have to remove the head of every single pin to get it into my basement. Is this process fairly easy?

It probably has to do with how the agreements were made with Disney. Remember, POTC wasn't expected to be a crazy hit when then first made it, and so no one was signed on for long. Hobbit was fully signed by everyone before it started, for all the movies.

When you have rights spread throughput multiple parties, the difference in cost can be extreme, since you'd have to pay lawyers to talk with multiple parties and to make it worth their while to talk. If Orlando Bloom for instance wants $10,000 for his assets, buy its going to take a $500 / hour lawyer twenty hours to write up the contract for him, it now needs to be $20,000. On top of that, you need your own people to talk to theirs, so now maybe we're at $30,000 and a week of negotiations. For one character.

I don't know if Bloom is tough to work with, but this is how this sort of thing works. When the rights are all divided up, you could be talking about absolutely tons of money to bring them all together, and that's only if they all say yes. Certain actors (Bill Murray comes to mind) generally don't do anything, no matter what. I'm still impressed Stern got him on Ghostbusters.

you buy what's new and popular. Typical boring ass cookie cutter collection. No variety. No imagination or thought put into it. I've seen it a million times. New to the hobby. throws money around like it's nothing. buys the same shit. Buys all new stuff, because they don't want to learn to fix anything. Fly by night collector. Yawn...........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I guarantee you havn't played or even seen, at least 30% if not 50% of the games I have. The only ones you have bothered to even take a look at, are the popular DMD titles. If it's not a JJP, DMD stern, or popular B/W title, you wouldn't give it a second look.

I did yes.
You load the cannon in the upper left trap door of the mini Playfield and once the Playfield levels out you hit the action button and it shoots the ships hull toy on the left upper corner. It is quite fun to achieve.

Can't wait to get POTC. Thanks JJP for a great game. It looks fantastic. My DILE and RRWOZ will hold me over til 1st q of 2018.

Absolutely, custom callouts would make the game feel like a new experience within a familiar theme. But, IMO those callouts MUST be done by the original actors, or as close as possible.

I know in the Toy Story world, Tom Hanks' brother does the voice work for some of their merchandise.

Jim Hanks gotta eat

Surreal watching him in this video. It's like this weird pod person clone of Tom Hanks. Sounds like he might make a good solution for the game though.

This video was also interesting, Tom talking about his brother Jim that gets hired to do all the video games and merch.

On the bright side, I guess Woody may do all the custom call outs which can be cool.

Or do what every other pinball company did.. give them a pinball as payment