You've willed another ancient license into pinball existence, Pinside. Way to go?
Now just keep typing Jaws! A theme I'd suspect would be a licensing nightmare, but if they are doing Beatles nothing is impossible!
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You've willed another ancient license into pinball existence, Pinside. Way to go?
Now just keep typing Jaws! A theme I'd suspect would be a licensing nightmare, but if they are doing Beatles nothing is impossible!
Quoted from Psw757:Actually Joe said on the podcast that the pricing isn’t going to be crazy like BM66.
The license may not have been as expensive as many believe, there is a ton of things that have the Beatles License. It was said they worked on getting this license for 10 years but that doesn’t necessarily have a correlation to big money.
It's the Beatles. It will cost a fortune and have more strings attached than a yarn factory.
Quoted from iceman44:It’s kind of like Thunderbirds. We over here across the pond are like WTF
I'm on your same side of the pond and Munsters make me think WTF
Collecting pin data through an online system is a great idea. It would allow Stern (or whoever) to create "heat maps" of what's being shot in a game and give them real-world data on how to best improve the code on future updates.
Just don't make the update process like consoles - where you plop down to play a game but NOPE the console needs to spend 20 minutes updating itself and then the game another 15... by time it's ready are you even in the mood anymore?
So many cool things a properly web enabled pin could do!
1) Inform when you coin box is full enough to warrant a visit = save time & gas.
2) If set to "public" could publish its location to an Stern app to help people find games on location.
3) Remote updating! Question, do you drive to your data center or just use PuTTY?
4) Earnings heat maps to determine best locations to route games (ok that's the kind of data Stern would want to sell not give away)
One concern might be "easier updates will allow Stern to release even less finished games!" That's irrelevant considering pins are already released (by all companies) less finished than any other industry would allow.
Quoted from Aurich:I they 100% have that mentality. Which is fine, but let's not kid ourselves here. They don't try and steal licenses out from other companies because it's fun, they're happy to bury everyone who's a threat. A sale to anyone else is a potential lost sale fort them. Pinball isn't a "we're all in this together" kind of industry.
I think other companies should explore terrible license ideas just to trick Stern into buying them.
Like Rush.
Stern is building inventory before announcing and people complain?
While every other company announces titles before their games are even finished?
Pinball = bizarro world.
Quoted from Ilushka85:It will penetrate all threads!
It will penetrate more thread than WD-40!
Quoted from Whysnow:yeah, the vast majority of Beatles sales are already done. You may get some trickling in, but with the available stock on hand unless they drop the price I dont expect a bunch more.
If they drop the price to 6500 then they would sell out in short order.
It's too expensive an item aimed at too old a demographic.
Remember the golden rule of marketing: Old people are broke so screw 'em.
Pinheads demand 50 year old license based off black and white TV show then worry the art might be black and white.
Sounds par for the course.
If anything just the cab will be black and white. I doubt the PF would be.
Calling it now - Herman Munster Sparky Bash Toy.
It'll probably be like you're "charging him up" for a multiball. Like he's enjoying it.
"Dumb dumb" shots work. Makes it perfectly obvious what player should shoot for.
Quoted from cletus:I wonder if there were television viewers that considered color TV the Pin Stadium of the time.
Weren't there Rainbow color wheels that attached to front of B&W televisions back in the day?
Edit: Yep. I found Pin Stadiums grandpa.
The color wheels were the proposed CBS system but it was ditched because it was huge and would have required a higher framerate.
The more people complain about a black and white version the more I hope Stern makes one
People on here have no vision. It could look AMAZING and would stand out in any arcade or basement.
Please stop saying grayscale. Do you call a black and white movie grayscale? No of course you don't.
Keep this in mind. CES is a celebration of new technology (though much of it is BS like 8k TVs) Pinball is comparably ancient, the Munsters theme is ancient, so black and white is very appropriate. It will "read" very well to the crowd.
Premium art is the best by a long shot.
Not just because it's black and white. But it has the best layout, use of space and readability of characters. Anything with the Dragula is too zoomed out to show the length of it making the characters small. Front on art of it... Oh wait then it's Rob Zombie LE.
Somebody above worries how it'd look in their lineup of Sterns... Totally unique and eye catching is the answer!
Also pro tip for art blind guys: black and white goes with any other color. Meaning your wife will allow this game into potentially more areas of the house.
A Duck Tales pin would be killer. Would be a great "crossover title" between Gen X current pinheads and the next gen.
Way Forward did a remake of the NES game a few years back with a shit load of new dialog from Alan Ladd Jr before he died. Wonder if that could be used?
A negative about Munsters - it continues the Stern tradition of "busy artwork for the sake of busy artwork".
Combine this with a gaping hole in the playfield and the color LE looks very cramped. The B&W alleviates this a bit.
On that note - who cares if it copies AC/DC? Stern has realized by this point ya'll are just buying it for the art and nostalgia anyway.
Quoted from Durzel:Agreed. Compare this to something like Tron and tell me that you can look at the table and tell me that you can see at a glance where all the inserts are and what shots are likely to involve them..
There's another thread with a guy asking advice how to fix Scared Stiff inserts. Lots of close up shots. Reminded me of how "cleaner" playfields used to be.
It's a visual trick Stern is using - busy up the artwork so you don't notice how empty the games have become.
I guess Stern underestimated how many fans of a black and white TV show wouldn't accept black and white art?
Quoted from 3pinballs:I thought you liked the B&W
Yeah I think it looks awesome!
But a lot of people whining about it = more demand for the color LE. Which is great for Stern because they can pocket an extra 2 grand just by slapping on a numbered plaque.
This license may have limited appeal beyond the nostalgia soaked middle aged man market (like Batman 66)
So wringing some extra dollars out of the LE suckers isn't a bad idea.
Real reason you all hate Shadow backglass is because Alec Baldwin is staring lovingly into your eyes...
Quoted from Zablon:Crazy that anyone would have strong opinions/concerns on a 5k-8k product. Ever been to a TV forum? Extremely more critical than here.
Or the videogame world, where people bitch and moan about how much content is in a $60 game while forgetting games have only increased in cost once in the last 28 years.
Stern's major markets are USA and EU.
Pinball machines are heavy and fragile. It makes sense them to build them as close to your customers as possible.
Now one could ask "why Illinois?" but I'd imagine Gary feels a sense of pride in keeping pinball manufacturing in its historical home.
Also if you want to attract and hire creative talent you need to be in a desirable / big city. Remember you're not just convincing a programmer to work there but their spouse as well! How many of your wives would want to move to China?
It's not in Chicago proper, so I dislike it less.
If I had to diagnose my bias against Chicago vs all other major American cities that I love, it's probably because living nearby causes me to have to DRIVE through Chicago. So that forms most of my memories.
Why make a game deep when Stern knows you'll barf out cash as long as it's pretty looking with a desirable old man theme?
I've said it before but this hobby needs to get over art. You are all drunk on it. Look how many people and companies JPOP tricked with just art.
I guess that's the point of art, to create an emotional response. But in pinball that emotion is being used to mask other things. Like a magicians trick, look at the shiny object in this hand while I remove features with the other...
Quoted from thirdedition:Not every game has to be a deep dive into code and moving multipliers on top of 17 modes.
Weren't you just trashing Oktoberfest for not having good enough art? I mean which is it? Oh wait the real answer is it call comes down to the individual. Not every machine is going to be for every person. I swear this thread is insane. Play the game, if you like it, cool. If not say why and move on.
Indeed I was trashing Oktoberfest art. AP should know by now that this hobby runs on art. Hell they were tricked into STARTING their company because of art. So they fact they didn't realize the importance (Oktoberfest) is worthy of scorn.
Quoted from mnpinball:America’s Most Haunted plays pretty decent I’ll give you that Ben, but the art on it looks like ass.
Retheme it as Scooby Doo and reskin it with Hanna-Barbera art and I’d buy one.
Thanks for proving my point
CrazyLevi makes an excellent point. I think parents want "kid compatible themes" so their kids will enjoy the same hobbies they do. I would suggest these parents have forgotten what it's like to be a kid - no matter what your parents aren't cool. A Fortnite pinball isn't going to un-glue them from their screen.
As Guinness Time suggests the target should be 20-30 somethings because they're the ones spending time in places pinball is found.
I can't imagine millenials give a f**k about Munsters. Heck even Gen X like of us only remember the re-runs from the 80s not the original run (nostalgia FOR nostalgia) Which I think is beyond lame, I'm not nostalgic for my mom taking us to 50s style diners in the 80s. It's also why I think BTTF is a super dated theme and why the movie should be remade.
Pinside rags on Dialed In and it's "stupid phone theme" (even though they use phones to type the complaints about phones) but at least Pat was attempting to make a connection with youth. Misguided, sure, because it's not their phones they love it's the connections and dopamine hits they get from it. But still, he tried.
A companies best bet is to find a theme that crosses generations. I'm still shocked Stern didn't make a new Jurassic World. But we also need to remember millenials aren't buying houses or even TVs so the idea of them hauling a 300lb thing into their tiny apartment in the trendy part of town is still a bit of a stretch.
I wish some company would just pop the zit of a 3 Stooges pin already so it could bomb and allow us to move on.
Quoted from mnpinball:Hmmm, what’s a Wisconsin guy doing over in New York ? Perhaps a visit to a Jersey pinball factory ? Let the rumors begin
Nope just hanging out in NY with friends.
Premium backglases looks miles better than the LE.
Large characters, all doing unique things that match the show instead of sitting on a car and waving.
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