I want the machine to call me when im in the other room watching football.....i want it to have the exact same voice as the computer in "War Games"

Would.you.like. to.play.a.game?

"Jill, this is sergeant Sacker. Listen to me. We've traced the calls... their coming from inside that game!"

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Perhaps a tie in with Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 22 Long Distance Call with Billy Mumy.

Yep. It would have been a much better idea to announce the actual game 4 years prior to the first one being delivered. That way nobody would have lost interest.

How is it possible the lose interest in something that isn't announced?

That's like me saying I've lost interest in the next games Lyman is working on. It's been 2 years waiting for something after TWD and I've totally lost interest in whatever he is working on! Not sure what it is, but I'm bored of it already!

Easy. Initial excitement at the "Big" announcement. However, company has a history of dragging their feet getting games out. Nothing happens for months on end after the news. Used to but now don't have room for another game. Lost interest.

Its the 30 years anniversary of the greatest movie of all time.

PLEASE JJP MAKE A PINBALL OF BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA!

The best oneliners ever in a movie and would work so so good and think of the great artwork.

See trailer here:

30 anniversary video:

YES SIR! The check is in the mail.

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I'm very glad Jack didn't take preorder money this time. He can focus on anything else rather than the money coming and going based on an individual's circumstances. I can imagine that being very consuming in its own right!

I honestly cannot believe that jjp will not take in dialled in money before it is shipping.

Well I'm sure he will once it's revealed...it may not be ship-ready upon reveal, kind of like GB. Not really a pre-order, but I'm sure there will be some wait. It's pinball, yo!

Relax, it's still early.

Did we have confirmation that it would be a disaster theme?

He did say that there would be a short preorder window for the untitled-yet-dialed-in Pat Lawlor project once it was ready. Also said they've started work on their next (licensed) game. And gave everyone pizza. At Pintastic.

IMO most of the recent pinball themes are a disaster.

I sorta like the idea of a pin contacting your phone but I'm not sure what exactly it would do during gameplay. The last thing I want to do is pull my phone out in the middle of a game to look at it. Maybe it'd be like Pokemon Go, where you point your camera at the playfield and an augmented reality overlay shows you what you have to hit. Or maybe there'd be a little phone holder like for your car, and it turns your phone into a secondary screen.

Haha.

The reveal was scheduled for 2 years from now, but in light of this thread they have fast-tracked it for next week.

Thanks!!!

I get it - very subtle guys. The theme must be a train wreck!

I hope it's not true about interaction with phones. If true it will instantly date the game, possibly even before release due to the fast pace of change in phone technology and popular features. Going forward you'd end up with a machine nobody has a phone old enough to use with anymore. It needs to be really basic stuff that nobody would miss in 2 years time. Of course some people don't even own one.

Exactly.

Frankly, I LOVE the fact that they've said nothing about this game. I know many here LOVED having previous JJP info dribbled out one obscure screen shot at a time (then pieced together in photoshop to try to guess layout), but I found it excruciating. I was so over the Smaug reveal once it happened (which was totally anti-climactic) that I had zero interest.... only now, that I can go drop quarters in the game on location, am I starting to build any interest in the title again.

Re JJp #3, if REAL production is still over a year out, I hope they continue to say nothing about it.

A reveal, followed by a call for DEPOSITS, followed by production starting SHORTLY after (a -la Stern) would be fantastic.

Well, the language in the leak never stated that the cell phone located on the machine called your cell phone, just that it "calls you". It could be entirely integrated and offer some sort of additional heads-up display along with touchscreen and audio capabilities. Tells you what shots to make, or perhaps also you tell it what shots you'll make.

Jack told me personally that it could be [announced] at expo or shortly thereafter. And then he said, when it's ready really.
Pretty sure he learned his lesson with putting dates on things. We have filled almost all our Hobbit preorders and will soon be receiving stock.

I can't imagine a phone game being worthwhile. Most people like to play pinball to get away from their every day lives. Heck everyone is tied to their phones at the hip. So the game texts you insults or high scores or something, just sounds like more junk that someone would have to clear or look at on their phone that is not needed. So how would you play, you would be having some great exciting fast paced game and then have to stop in the middle of it, pull your phone out and do something then go back to the game. Just seems like a flop to me. The only disaster theme that could maybe get away with using your phone somehow, is rescue 911 or something similar. You play as a 911 operator. Your phone rings and you listen to the emergency, then have to shoot certain objectives in the game to help the caller out. Even that doesn't sound like it would be that much fun and I love rescue 911. The best implementation of a phone for the game would be if you could somehow play the pinball game from your phone kinda like virtual pin but you would literally be playing your machine on your phone from hundreds of miles away. That would be pretty cool but I am sure that would command a heft price tag. Not to mention I am sure most peoples productivity at work would go down real quick.

Just a guess, but perhaps game 3 could be about technology/robots/computers taking over the world.

Or.....

Thank you for calling Dominoes, may I take your order?

Large deep dish pepperoni and sausage please.

Then hit the deep dish saucer 3 times, the pepperoni ramp, and the sausage loop.

Perhaps it has an phone app that can be downloaded - optionally - that will enhance the game in some way? Unlocks, progression, checkpoints, scores, etc?

Not every one.

No wonder you never pick up when I call.

Don't bother to text either. I've never owned a cell phone.

As other have said above, it isn't uncommon for companies to trade mark feature names and Vid's link above shows JJP has done just that in the past. So I wouldn't be surprised if "Dialed in" is a feature which gets its name from the commonly used term here and by pinheads to mean the game is adjusted correctly. So what would that mean as a feature?

Perhaps the game has a number of physical adjustments which can be controlled by the game's software to "dial in" the game for the player. Playfield auto-level / pitch setting? Automatic shot geometry adjustments that move a post a few centimeters one way or another to make shots easier or harder? Adjustable ramp slopes? Lots of possibilities...

A little research can yield a lot more info than guessing sometimes..

http://www.trademarkia.com/dialed-in-86507109.html

Ah, but why then are people still taking about the theme of the game being phones when the trademark clearly says it is a feature? I guess that is a rhetoric question; either they aren't paying attention either or I missed the joke.

Sometimes a feature has a lot to do with the theme.

Man for being so proud of not owning a cell phone you sure are on your computer a lot.

I think that when you start you enter your cell phone number. Then if you get a tilt warning the phone in your pocket vibrates. If you tilt it you get a mild shock. If you slam tilt it you get a big shock.

I'll enter my friends cell phone number and have some fun.

LTG : )

I'm at work. It's what I'm paid to do.

His computer is his only acknowledgement of this century.

LTG : )

And it's quite amazing I ever figured out how to use one...

Cell phones are just tiny versions of that same computer you know. You can even make phone calls with that computer you are on. Some would argue you are using a phone RIGHT NOW.

No sir! The phone is at the other end of the shop.

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What better way to keep track of scores, achievements etc.. than to have an application on your phone that automatically communicates with the pinball machine (if that's what it does). And, it would only impact people who are interested enough to download the app.

I wonder if I can get that app for my phone.

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I'm really excited to see what this ends up being. We all know bits and pieces of it, but Lawlor has been VERY secretive with the project, including towards other JJP employees. No matter how much we know about it, there's still going to be plenty about it that's going to surprise us.

TZ is my favorite game of all time. It just has a bit of everything in it. I really hope that this game feels like classic Lawlor. The shackles are off, and he's free to design with few limitations.

My only real worry is that the big innovation or the big gimmick will be just that, a gimmick. I feel like it will be well-integrated, but I'll have to see it.

What's the least effective of Lawlor's gimmicks? I'm not totally sold on the rotating flipper in Monopoly, though I think it has a fun visual impact. He's always been good at integrating theme and gimmick in a way that feels organic.

Certainly not the shaker motor in Earthshaker.

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It might be the rotating flipper, yeah. That one is just weird.

For sure rotating flipper for me.

Lawlor is inventive / creative. He's not going to have 3 years, unlimited time, money, and talent at his disposal and swing and miss... whatever 'Dialed In' is I'm sure it's cool and NEW.

To my knowledge he's created Powerball, Shaker Motor (ES), Vertical Playfield (BR), Pinball 2000 (RFM), talking heads interacting with the player (FH and RS), fan blowing in your face topper (WW), use of magnets (many), magnetized slings (TZ mini PF), board game on bg (SC), ball jump ramp shot (NGG), small sized game (SC), spinning flipper (Monopoly), Thing flips (TAF), mini pinball machine within a pinball machine (FG / Shrek).... When his ingenuity was probably stagnated by bean counters at Stern, he quit. Name one other designer that's done a fraction of the above things... cue crickets chirping...

I can tell you as a distributor, everything has been tight lipped... I knew a lot about WOZ, less about Hobbit and jack squat about Pat's game... I only know what was 'supposedly' leaked... The one positive thing I can tell you is Pat was surely excited at Expo 2015 and that's not something you always got from him despite his obvious love of pinball. That excitement translates to meaning he's got some really cool shit up his sleeve...

Ted Zale.

Some of Lawlor's interviews at the end of his career at Stern were interesting, he seemed to be bristling against the top-down management/creative control there.

I think the word you're looking for is "Pinside".