Quoted from zombieyeti:

John is the ONLY problem here. I resisted this for a long time because I wanted to see these machines and the work I put into them. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I liked him. It's not like it was a pleasure working with him all the time, bear in mind. Whether I was being delusional or selfish, I'm getting a pretty clear picture now thanks to the last few weeks.
One question keeps coming back to me: If John could lie for years purporting to be doing the art himself, why would I think he would be honest about ANYTHING? Or capable to DO anything himself? It saddens me to even think some of what i now do about him - but the evidence is pretty overwhelming.
So I probably shouldn't share this - but I think it's important because Bill will catch hell from some here regardless of the showing at NW - BUT here goes... The prototype - John's LAST ditch effort to prove himself and possibly earn an ounce of goodwill back to his toxic reputation - was all based on pure horse excrement...
John said it would be ready by last weekend. It wasn't. Monday? Not even close. Tuesday? Nope.... Bill was taken for a ride in this, albeit an extended one by comparison to most - based on the info John presented and trusting it. BUT he pushed through - a team of local owners came in to dig John out and get something out of nothing over the past days. That team got it functioning at 2am this morning. Right now the machine is leaving Chicago for NW.
Unfortunately in all of this, and personal circumstances beyond my control, I won't be riding or attending NW afterall. It saddens me because I wanted to see MG just once in a working form and buy Bill & anyone involved a few rounds of drinks.
Argue that it was futile all you want - but at least someone tried. It definitely wasn't John.

Quoted from BackFlipper:

John will go back to tinkering in the laboratory "for the love of pinball." He will continue to defend his actions and will blame the community for how they have hurt him. It's really a sad situation.

Quoted from benheck:

Back when John parted ways ways with me the project didn't seem so dire. Though I do recall a couple MGC's / expos in a row him saying "Oh yeah I might have something at the this show..." and I wondered why he never had anything to show even after two years!
Yeti's story sounds legit. Before anyone brings up the 3 MG in cabinets from the Abode video, heard from many a person those were just mockups to look impressive on camera.

Quoted from zombieyeti:

John is the ONLY problem here. I resisted this for a long time because I wanted to see these machines and the work I put into them. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I liked him. It's not like it was a pleasure working with him all the time, bear in mind. Whether I was being delusional or selfish, I'm getting a pretty clear picture now thanks to the last few weeks.
One question keeps coming back to me: If John could lie for years purporting to be doing the art himself, why would I think he would be honest about ANYTHING? Or capable to DO anything himself? It saddens me to even think some of what i now do about him - but the evidence is pretty overwhelming.
So I probably shouldn't share this - but I think it's important because Bill will catch hell from some here regardless of the showing at NW - BUT here goes... The prototype - John's LAST ditch effort to prove himself and possibly earn an ounce of goodwill back to his toxic reputation - was all based on pure horse excrement...
John said it would be ready by last weekend. It wasn't. Monday? Not even close. Tuesday? Nope.... Bill was taken for a ride in this, albeit an extended one by comparison to most - based on the info John presented and trusting it. BUT he pushed through - a team of local owners came in to dig John out and get something out of nothing over the past days. That team got it functioning at 2am this morning. Right now the machine is leaving Chicago for NW.
Unfortunately in all of this, and personal circumstances beyond my control, I won't be riding or attending NW afterall. It saddens me because I wanted to see MG just once in a working form and buy Bill & anyone involved a few rounds of drinks.
Argue that it was futile all you want - but at least someone tried. It definitely wasn't John.

Quoted from Crazybanana:

» YouTube video
It always sounded like BS

Quoted from benheck:

Ironic that John says I left because of drinking, stories go old Williams was a booze and coke soaked affair.

Quoted from benheck:

Ironic that John says I left because of drinking, stories go old Williams was a booze and coke soaked affair. ?

Quoted from BloodyCactus:

so.. how did pintasia get all the assets and ip? is there a bill of sale? transfer? do they now own zidware debt? is this even legal?
before, the debtor pyramid was companies owed, and people who paid money in up front.
with people doing the pintasia credit thing, do pintasia now become the largested creditor owed? and being largested creditor would get first pick over the assets?
by pintasia getting all the parts/ip/designs ownership does this just wipe whats owed to other creditors of zidware, seems shaky to grab all ip/assets as one company goes bankrupt before court divies it up to the creditors.
I cant get my head around the legalities of whats gone on between pintasia<>zidware<>creditors.

Quoted from pinballrockstar:

we are really
caretakers of pinball

Quoted from zombieyeti:

John is the ONLY problem here. I resisted this for a long time because I wanted to see these machines and the work I put into them. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I liked him. It's not like it was a pleasure working with him all the time, bear in mind. Whether I was being delusional or selfish, I'm getting a pretty clear picture now thanks to the last few weeks.
One question keeps coming back to me: If John could lie for years purporting to be doing the art himself, why would I think he would be honest about ANYTHING? Or capable to DO anything himself? It saddens me to even think some of what i now do about him - but the evidence is pretty overwhelming.
So I probably shouldn't share this - but I think it's important because Bill will catch hell from some here regardless of the showing at NW - BUT here goes... The prototype - John's LAST ditch effort to prove himself and possibly earn an ounce of goodwill back to his toxic reputation - was all based on pure horse excrement...
John said it would be ready by last weekend. It wasn't. Monday? Not even close. Tuesday? Nope.... Bill was taken for a ride in this, albeit an extended one by comparison to most - based on the info John presented and trusting it. BUT he pushed through - a team of local owners came in to dig John out and get something out of nothing over the past days. That team got it functioning at 2am this morning. Right now the machine is leaving Chicago for NW.
Unfortunately in all of this, and personal circumstances beyond my control, I won't be riding or attending NW afterall. It saddens me because I wanted to see MG just once in a working form and buy Bill & anyone involved a few rounds of drinks.
Argue that it was futile all you want - but at least someone tried. It definitely wasn't John.

Quoted from jrivelli:

It's a shame the game is on the fence of being produced. Looks so nice visually!

download_20150603_074711.jpeg

Quoted from benheck:

Back when John parted ways ways with me the project didn't seem so dire. Though I do recall a couple MGC's / expos in a row him saying "Oh yeah I might have something at the this show..." and I wondered why he never had anything to show even after two years!
Yeti's story sounds legit. Before anyone brings up the 3 MG in cabinets from the Abode video, heard from many a person those were just mockups to look impressive on camera.

Quoted from marlboroman:

He should have warned the pinball community at that point...it might have saved some people of few bucks.

Quoted from jrivelli:

It's a shame the game is on the fence of being produced. Looks so nice visually!

download_20150603_074711.jpeg

Quoted from benheck:

They haven't slid it into the cabinet in that photo because it would reveal the "oh shit!" mistake of the ramps blocking the patented screen.

Quoted from dgarrett:

I was one of the local collectors that helped. John was not watching, he was doing. I got home at 230 am last night/this morning, after taking vacation from my real job for M and Tu. I think Bill knew it was a stretch to get it to Tacoma by this weekend - he sent someone from his area, to help assemble and transport the came - he's not part of Pintasia. So yeah, a couple of us tried (and completed) the assembly. It was all there, but not all assembled, now it is. You all will see for yourself this weekend - I'm sure it will be the most quickly photographed, uploaded, posted game in 2015 - with reactions all over the place with opinions good and bad.

Quoted from pin-pimp:

well my ramps look good in there. game looks appealing. im going to the show tomorrow. will be interesting weekend.
Ben you going? met you there last year.

Quoted from zombieyeti:

The issue was john said HE could have it ready long before you got involved. Unless he planned on your help all along. I applaud what you guys have done - but john had outright misled all along - I can see it for what it is now.

Quoted from LyonsRonnie1:

Except John forgot the color Green. "green" it's a pretty cool color, he forgot to use it.

Quoted from benheck:

They haven't slid it into the cabinet in that photo because it would reveal the "oh shit!" mistake of the ramps blocking the patented screen.

Quoted from dgarrett:

Pin-pimp. Your ramps do look great in the game! If you don't like the metal connection underneath the two half circles, blame me. I don't have a game on order, I'm just a local collector in the loop with Chicago area pinheads, coders, suppliers and designers. I decided to help these last two days to give everyone a change to judge and decide what to do if I had a preorder. I would hope someone would step up if the game was being made in Seattle and I had $ in here in Chicago with a reveal at Expo. You guys deserve to see it.
Things we did were assembly, testing and tweaking final part fitting, a lot of little adjustments to connector placements or such - minor stuff - with a lot of small step testing.
I'm not looking for any atta boy - but you deserve a game to see and judge, and to know the game is done, and hopefully with no bugs created in transport, be able to play the game (or see someone playing) and let the chips fall where they may.
Dan

Quoted from frolic:

Well, I look forward to this "reveal". Glad it's not BS this time, and we're going to see something, good or bad.

Quoted from Whysnow:

I hope you took some photos of the shop and general contents. It could be valuable for placing a time marker on the assets contained int eh shop when this goes to further litigation.

Quoted from MXV:

I consider myself very lucky that the timing worked out that he flaked out on me and started blowing me off after he paid me for my work up to that point so I walked away not being owed any money. I feel horrible for everyone of you who got ripped off by him but I can't say the outcome surprised me.

Quoted from MXV:

One thing is for sure, I won't be wearing the Zidware shirt John gave me when I was working for him a couple of years ago anymore. That might get me killed, especially if I wore it to Expo. I can just imagine the heel heat I'd generate walking into a room full of pinheads, some of which were JPop's victims. I consider myself very lucky that the timing worked out that he flaked out on me and started blowing me off after he paid me for my work up to that point so I walked away not being owed any money. I feel horrible for everyone of you who got ripped off by him but I can't say the outcome surprised me. My one big takeaway from my time there was I had no idea how he was ever going to finish a game based on how scatterbrained he was and how one week he'd be working on something totally different and unrelated to what he was doing the previous week.

Quoted from benheck:

Gonna call it now, 15k posts by Sunday.

Quoted from MXV:

One thing is for sure, I won't be wearing the Zidware shirt John gave me when I was working for him a couple of years ago anymore. That might get me killed, especially if I wore it to Expo. I can just imagine the heel heat I'd generate walking into a room full of pinheads, some of which were JPop's victims. I consider myself very lucky that the timing worked out that he flaked out on me and started blowing me off after he paid me for my work up to that point so I walked away not being owed any money. I feel horrible for everyone of you who got ripped off by him but I can't say the outcome surprised me. My one big takeaway from my time there was I had no idea how he was ever going to finish a game based on how scatterbrained he was and how one week he'd be working on something totally different and unrelated to what he was doing the previous week.

Quoted from benheck:

Gonna call it now, 15k posts by Sunday.