Love the updates Rick!

My dog is named "Tiki" and I'm seriously considering a name change... don't want him mistaken for a troll.

Yes, and I'm hoping you're enjoying the entertainment between updates....

Always.

I wouldn't keep coming back if it wasn't fun.

wow you still get The Comedy Channel? Higgins Boys and Gruber, The Sweet Life, Night after Night with Allen Havey ... coool ... (nobody has any idea what i'm talking about., do they...)

So you are saying Josh Sharpe was anxious to test play your game to make sure the *artwork* was up to snuff? That seems like a waste of talent, I always though he was more interested in the game play aspect of a pinball machine.

And actually I agree with you, all computer programs running on any hardware contain glitches or "bugs". The issue is that nobody has mentioned any in the original game and it's been being played for the past 16 years.

Networking would be sweet! Opens up a whole new world to pinball. You could put a camera on the back glass to stream game play and run world wide tournaments and leagues. Games could be recorded and validated to make sure no tampering with the score took place.

Keep the name, but shave its butt and make him walk backwards.

Hell yes!

This may have been brought up before, but MM should have always been a widebody machine. Why not consider doing a truly limited widebody version with a slightly redesigned playfield, maybe extra targets or just more openess?

That'd be one hell of an upgrade. You'd pretty much be replacing a good chunk of the game and it wouldn't be cheap.

not to be a debbie downer, but ehhh, every machine plays a little bit differently no matter how much verification or tweaking you do. just one of the features inherent to pinball's analog nature....

that said, i am excited by the potential! imagine going to the basement after the wife has gone to bed, turning on your machine and seeing "oh hey dave up in Ontario is playing right now too .. hey dave, how about a rematch??"

Where may I send my money now?

Open the cab coin door HAL.

What difference does the compressed audio files make? Not sure I understand the impact....

the compression used on the original game is not a lossless compression like a zip file -- it's a lossy compression like mp3 or jpeg. it reduces the file size by reducing the fidelity / detail / resolution of the original file. going back to the original sources would allow MMR to have higher-quality versions of the various audio clips than the original game had.

And I've got a feeling that with this particular game the sound improvement will be pretty significant. I love the sounds themselves in the game, but they have always sounded pretty low quality. I'd bet most, or all, of that is the compression and not the original sampling. Will be interesting to find out how much it really does improve it, but it could be really good...

I don't know how many games Rick has uncompressed audio for, but if it's "a lot" of them, well, it's stuff like this that could make a complete CPU/Audio upgrade worthwhile for a lot of home users. Add much higher quality sound to colorization and direct LCD support and networking and long high score names and a big pile of other small enhancements and you've really got something. That's a LOT higher potential for sales, especially as more and more repair components for the existing boards disappear, than remaking titles further down the line.

--Donnie

Biggest issue with DCS is that it kills just about everything above 8khz. It's great for its time (1993) but definitely low-fidelity nowadays. If you play WOZ you'll hear how much more range the audio has.

Rick is not allowed to do this. The design and gameplay has to match the original almost exactly for Williams to sign off on his project. Not a bad idea though!

There was a guy in Europe that converted his MM to a widebody format.

His site is down but I'll try and find the siterip when I'm at home.

http://www.planetarypinball.com/category/mmr/

Looks awesome! So happy to see this. Knowing that they're on time is impressive to say the least. If they were to add some web based software, then this would be the greatest pin ever! I'm not looking for a exact reproduction anyway. A supped up version would do many of us just fine. It's not a repo! It's a better updated version! Keep up the great work you guys at PP are doing!!!

I think the same guy did TAF too. It's awesome what he did to the backbox on those games.

What are the reasons you are not in favor of the remake? I may have missed them, but the only thing I have seen from you doesn't have any, just instagatory remarks.

Let's not start this again....

Not starting anything. Just curious of people's opinion.

Excellent update rick, I see there are a couple teasers...getting excited!

This should put everyone's mind at ease...

A Note about Deposits: for those who have MMR deposits – don’t stress about the timing, we have every $ in our PPS MMR Account, and we are also not going to make the deposits non-refundable until two conditions a) that we have the WMS ‘approval’ signaling that we are ok to move ahead with full production (which we expect), as well as b) that you have enough information about the game – videos, pictures, FAQ, player reports, etc. Additionally, we will give you a week or so notice AFTER we feel the above has happened to insure that you are confident about your purchase. In any event none of this has any effect on the schedule or the work, just that you have time to review and see the progress, and move forward with us being fully in view of the product. So, don’t worry!!

surprises... wonder what they will be..

Thank god. That does put me at ease.

donnnnnnt encourage him, margaret!

Thanks for the update.

Great update. Sounds like everything is on schedule. Looking forwad to getting mine!

Agreed. If that discussion needs to happen again, it should be in another thread. This one has been derailed enough with that topic.

Nobody wants this. Even the people who think they do haven't thought it out. MM is one of the greatest games ever made, not reason to screw it up just for the sake of making it a wide body for no reason.

Not that I think you are considering this, but this is one of the worst Ideas i've ever heard.

Mmmm.... Black Knight 3000! Bring it! But lets make this one for the lefties.

For comparison, here is an uncompressed sound call that is used in the original MM:

http://home.comcast.net/~pinsarefun/this-is-like.wav

Terry

EDIT: Realized my question was off-topic as it related to original MM:s and to the uncompressed sounds, so I removed it.

You can really tell the difference with the uncompressed sound! I'm really looking forward to this new machine. Thanks Rick!

I'm more excited about getting my MMr than I am about getting my WOZLE

So, you are able to do color changing LEDs? This makes a huge impact, I have STLE, and AcDc Premium and to me, this is the greatest advancement to pinball in a while.

I mean, you could have a toggle on/off for owners who prefer the original look, same with color DMD/LCD.

I am sure this was already asked so forgive me if it was... will the LED warm color lights be bulbs (44 and 555) or will they be LED boards like on the new pins? I am hoping for regular LED Bulbs so that each owner can change out the lights from warm white to colors if they choose.

The insert leds are on a board and gi will be 44.

You sure ? The pictures look like LED boards for the GI.

LTG : )