They will just be deleted. Then banned.

And I will have a good long laugh on that day..

I'm sorry, did you just equate posting to Facebook and Twitter to being productive?

Find out the name and email address of someone in Stern that actually has influence. Post that here so we can all submit a request

Yeah, I guess if enough people all post at once it will take a while to get them all deleted. Specify an exact time (via PM to those who want to participate) then spring on Stern's website like locusts on a Pharaoh.

The more of you that gets yourselves banned the less competition I have for the free giveaways. I vote that this plan is a great one.

how about call and email.

If you want to FB and twitter then that may help also, but I think we should all vow to write a letter, write an email, call, and actually reach out to BOTH stern and your distributor and tell them what you think.

Are you doing this because Jan 31 is my birthday? You guys are awesome!

-M

Stern may delete these but it takes more then that to get banned. You have to be persistent to get banned. Or of course you could post something offensive to get banned quickly. Stern will not ban you for asking one question about code.

Email and call are way more credible than social media posts.

Flash, find out the contact we need to write....heck...write up a friendly form letter that folks can cut and paste. I think that will go a long way.

I think a better idea is just don't buy any new pins in 2015 - UNLESS the code is done enough for your liking.

No sense bitching, crying and menstruating about unfinished code; it happens with EVERY game from both JJP and Stern.

You have plenty of other games to play - play them.

After a year or two, if a game has final code, and you like the final code, then buy it.

Otherwise, no bitching allowed - you knew the code would not be done for 2 years when you bought the game.

My salesman failed to mention that to me :/ Oh well.

My BMW would never stay synced with my Ipod. Latter I found out that it was a common problem.

Salesman failed to mention that...lol.

Sounds like typical sales... sorry to those that are salemen\women

To be fair JJP released updates, substantial updates, for WOZ once and even twice a month for nearly 6 months and were open about the updates. Myself and many other ACDC owners have been waiting nearly two years for an update to the game that will add it's advertised cannon modes. That's ridiculous. It's also ridiculous that months go by without a word from Stern regarding updates for their other games. They are happy to plaster images and articles about their games on their Facebook page but rarely post anything about code updates.

Stern has made it clear that their focus is on getting three new games out a year and selling as many as they can to distributors early on while code takes a back seat. Releasing 3 games a year doesn't mean squat when owners are left with an incomplete game for years and being left in the dark regarding future updates. People are fed up and its reached a boiling point.

To be fair, Jack also stated several times "We will NOT release a game with unfinished code".

Excellent.

So quit buying any more games, UNTIL the code is finished.

At least JJP finished the games code in a reasonable amount of time and were open about the entire process. That sounds way better then the way Stern has been handling code updates. Stern is producing some great looking games but its a shame that it takes years (sometimes never) for them to reach their potential due to the way code updates are handled.

Just quit buying them until the code is complete to your satisfaction.

That's probably the best strategy at this point.

I think Stern knows you guys want code. The problem is you buy the games anyway. Simple as that.

The Video Game buying public on reddit have been having similar problems with incomplete games being released, and they have started a NO PRE-ORDERS IN 2015 campaign. That might be more useful. Games that are already out we have no influence over. But if you refuse to pre-order games until you can check out the code, you can incentivize the developer to turn out more complete work.

YES THEY WILL. I was banned twice for posting asking about code.

my exact post the first time I was banned for was just this.

"I just picked up a X-men magneto LE, it's a fantastic game.
Any chance of another code update?"

I was banned and sent an email to Stern asking why.
I was then unbanned.

The last xmen code update came out a week later.

Then before the last ST update I asked about a code update for Star trek. I was banned again.
I didn't bother to email Stern to try to get unbanned as they can now go [email protected]#% themselves.

Wrong. JJP took three years to get woz code to where it is. That means stern still has plenty of time to do better than JJP.

Just use a friends facebook account

Meh.

Pinball is way too fragile to be organizing social media protests. I am thankful stern even exists at all. Thank God pinball machines are even made at all to begin with.

At least Stern announces a machine and mass produces it and has it in stock 30 days later. No crowdfunding, no years of delays, no electrical redesigns, no license disputes, no "pinball is hard" seminar at expo, no 2 week cryptic update emails, no shipping delays...

Just a game... Consistently new games. The only one. The only one. The only one.

Stern is the lifeblood of progress in our entire hobby. Attacking them is not the best possible route to solving this problem.

This is just my opinion. I won't participate.

Wrong. In those three years JJP had to design a complete system from scratch for their games to run on before coding for WOZ even began. There was also the need to design and build parts, setup the factory, establish vendor relationships and probably a thousand other things before WOZ coding could even begin. Doesn't sound bad at all for 3 years!

Gary has some great programmers on his staff and should give them more dedicated time to complete code for existing games before pushing out the next title. Imagine if Ford took Sterns approach to code updates with their cars. Oh your transmission needs a code update as it's having shifting problems? Interior lighting isn't working correctly as code to control it doesn't exist in the computer? Too bad, we have next years car model to work on and will develop an update for the issue and non functioning features 6+ months down the road. That would never fly.

What I find funny is the fact that neither of your games are waiting for code updates.
You've suggested previously that everyone picket Sterns factory and made comments about a lawsuit.
So I find it weird that you posted "I don't hold a particular hatred for Stern..."

From various other posts, you seem like a good guy, but honestly, what are you up to?
Bored?

Patience; code will come when it's ready.

Did Stern ever finish coding WOF?

Yes, Vanna actually finished the release candidate.

Still sucks.

I'm not a big Stern fan, I want to dig their machines, I'm planning on playing them a lot more this week (spidey, ac/dc, and Metallica) but if I was looking to pick up a machine I would either a) resign myself to the fact that the machine I wanted would take years to be completed or b) find an equally fun machine that's finished now and pick that up. personally I'd go with option b, but again I'm not that into Sterns yet.

I'm agreeing with allot that is being said here even when the is disagreements!

flashinstinct has a good idea here, making the code issue impossible to ignore on Jan 31st, but only for those at Stern who know what is going on with their social media.

vid1900 has a great idea in encouraging everyone not to buy new this year. This above all with get everyone's attention at Stern. They will find it hard to believe that sales are off because of unfinished code since not unfinishing code has been their mode of operandi since the beginning, SO, WE MUST LET THEIR DISTRIBUTORS KNOW WHY WE AREN'T BUYING.

We all have been pretty patient and delivering a pin that is, say, 75% done or so, and then 100% within the year would be totally acceptable. ...and if we see them announcing this and actually delivering on this, well, its time to buy NIB again!!

All it would take is a DEDICATE group of quality control coders (The QCC) to work on the project.

SO, let's keep the pressure on since they don't really have allot of competition!!!

Perhaps another avenue would be to make the first few questions when buying / ordering a pinball through a distributor, about the code. something like:

"I'm interested in Sterns XYZ pinball, but I keep hearing they have issues finishing their code, is that going to be an issue here?"

"this looks amazing, but will all those features be available when it arrives NIB? I hear people are still waiting for features from (insert game here)"

"What games do you have from stern right now that have code that is finished and complete?"

If enough distributors keep getting these type of questions through 2015 you can bet it will be brought up.

Is there not enough threads belly aching about code? I'm pretty sure Stern has got the message. You do have a choice on what pin you buy. Stern does do updates so accept that's how things work. If Stern simplified the rules, modes, and depth then the code would be easier to get solid out of the box. If that was the case, everyone would be belly aching that there is not enough code. The other solution would be to increase the production time for each pin. That would mean higher costs, fewer sales, and then the same belly aching that it takes too long to get a pin out. It doesn't matter who it is - Stern, JJP, DP, or whoever - people are complaining about one thing or another.

You've got to remember Gary Stern has said in the past that the home customer is not as important
as the operator. We are only a small portion of his business. Therefore not important.