I gotta say I'm just as interested in this as in Whoa Nellie. Nobody is checking out Whoa Nellie because they feel titilated by the art. For me it's the comedy, the puns, and juvenile humor.

I won't ever own one because of the theme but I would love to play it and check out all the jokes in the art. If someone is offended by it they shouldn't make others feel guilty for enjoying it.

I love the 8 bit GOT theme that starts the episode.

In reponse to Nate's observations about Expo:
I've only been to two shows, Louisville Arcade Expo and Pinball Expo. I had decided earlier in the year that I wanted to go to Chicago this year and planned accordingly. Expo though kind of let me down. The website was still about 2014 Expo till about June or July and is incredibly hard to navigate and find simple info like how much a ticket costs or what time they open. The space seemed a little cramped as well with the tournament being in the hallway and not a lot of really good games in the free play area. There were a lot of parts and interesting things in the vendors area though.
After seeing what ReplayFX was like this year through pics and vids, I am going to be sure to go. I agree with Nate that Expo is supposed to be the crown jewel but it seemed only slightly better than LAX. LAX had a better game selection though. I don't know if anyone involved with running Expo cares about growing the show, they seemed happy with the way it is. They have an opportunity to do something special with the brand that is Expo. Hopefully they take advantage of it because I'm sure other people like me can't go to every show.

TV is outdated and is going the way of the Dodo. The cool kids watch stuff on the internet.

I thumbs down the episode because it's back. Loved the episode.

Another note on the episode. It was stated how there are figures in pinball that don't realize they are kind of famous, at least within the community. It was so true. When I went to Expo for the first time, I saw many people I had read about or watched on Twitch and Youtube. I was a little starstruck. Jon Replogle, Josh Sharpe, Steve Bowden, Ben Heck. Maybe next time I can say hi.

Also I loved the Jack Danger, Twitch discussion. Pinball and Twitch really are two different worlds but it's exciting to see the possibilities of getting young people involved in pinball.

I guess you could check out Spooky's podcast.

I have watched all of the PAPA championships available but this year was the first Pinburgh I watched. I liked the idea of banks of games with one DMD, one EM, one early SS, and I forgot what the last one was. It provided a nice cross section of pinball skills that one should know. I think they did highest seed picks the bank but they couldn't pick the same bank twice. I liked this idea as well.

Yeah I remember that. I like that bit of strategy in competition. PAPA has some strategy too even though they are picking single games. That one year Bowen picked the evil JM because he needed a random outcome to have any chance at coming back. It ended up backfiring but was still an interesting strategy.

BTW Nate I'm glad you still talk competition on the show. The last couple of shows you've stated how people have complained about your coverage of competitions but I enjoy the stories. Now you're discussion on whether Keith Elwin is no longer the number 1 pinball player in pinball didn't make a lot of sense but I still found it interesting.

I thought I remembered the commentators stating that you picked it but it's been awhile since I listened to it. Since you've been around the competitive scene for long time, do you remember any interesting strategies that people used in picking games?

I think you hit the nail on the head.

I don't know if I remember exactly what was said about B/W having heart. To me if you're talking B/W DMDs they seemed more solid in connecting modes with the animations and theme than some of the Sterns. The art package was also better on those older games because it's not photo art. But Mustang is an exception. The art isn't as critical on Mustang because it's about a car. Drawing it wouldn't necessarily look better and the animations and theme are tied pretty well together. I think Mustang is a good game, it's just a theme like Corvette and Viper that doesn't interest me.

Yeah I remember that now. He said something like you shoot this ramp four times then shoot this orbit twice and it feels empty and I would agree but not every game is the Addams Family, even among B/W games. There are few games that reach that level.

I've never competed in a tournament but I agree with this statement. I would like to play in a tournament but not for the prizes but the experience. If I get in the position where I routinely go to tournaments or shows, I would love to volunteer and help out for free because I know the organizers are the ones under a lot stress to pull off everything involved.

I was disappointed to hear Nate express that the opinions of people who weren't in to buy a Rob Zombie shouldn't matter when it comes to the art. We are all consumers even if we don't own every pin.

Sorry Nate if I misinterpreted what you said.

28:50 "I saw a pretty healthy dose of people who were not in on the game doing most of the criticizing."

It's an opinion that a lot of people on pinside seem to have that if you don't own the game in question or any game at all your opinion doesn't matter and shouldn't be heard. I don't believe that to be true because if a person is interested in the hobby and are on this website, they are a potential customer whether it be dropping quarters into a game on location or buying a NIB. I don't own any NIB games mainly because I'm fairly new to the hobby compared to a lot of people on here and partially because I'm not ready yet. But I'm always looking for the reason to buy a NIB. I thought GOT was going to be it but after the art reveal I thought I would just wait and see what comes out next. Ghostbusters and Heighways pins look pretty cool and they may be what I go after next year.

AMH is a game that when I first saw and heard about looked pretty cool. When I first heard of it, they had already sold out of all of them so I'm not too keen on chasing one down right now because they seem to have taken a steep rise in resale value. Rob Zombie is something I wasn't interested in and I don't think I posted my opinion on the playfield art but I understand the criticism. My first impression was the same as most everyone else's that the playfield looked a little bare. The toys looked awesome though and after seeing the gameplay video it looks fun. I'm watching what Spooky does because they seem to take risks and I like that.

You're short response seemed to indicate you were annoyed with me and I hope that wasn't the case. I've been a fan of your show this past year and try to catch every episode. If I ever met you in person, I'd probably be a little starstruck and be too shy to say hi. Thanks for all the hard work you do with the podcast.

What? You want me to transcribe the whole podcast for you while I'm at it?

I just figured you would go to that point and listen till you were satisfied that I was wrong. lol

"I saw a pretty healthy dose of people who were not in on the game doing most of the criticizing. Which always makes me wonder a little bit like are you just mad bro, like that you didn't, like that you're not in on the game? I can't help but wonder that. I did see a few people who were able to purchase the game who were in that first 300 who were also criticizing so it wasn't all that sour grapes thing. There were some of those people and I saw a couple of people who were criticized it pretty heavily and still sent their deposit in because I think the gameplay ideas, the theme idea, the known music, we know what the music of this game is gonna be like already, the color display, I think all of those things add up to a confirmed purchase for a lot of people."

Before this quote, Nate was talking about his impressions of the art and the changes Charlie said were to come.

Your Welcome, Aurich

Thanks, Nate. Don't worry (if you were at all), still a fan.

No wonder you don't post much on here. You just save it all for the podcast. D'OH!

That kind of sounds more like the Domino's pin. A lot of people were saying "I can't believe this is Spooky's next pin". "I was going to collect all of Spooky's pins, now I'm out." I haven't listened to Spooky's podcasts but surely people knew they would do non-horror style pins at some point. I mean Ben's talking about doing a Bible adventures pin in another thread and Charlie basically confirmed it was happening.

Why not sell those as mods? That's what they've been doing with shaker motors and LEs. They added those things to make it seem worth it at the higher price point. They probably should have priced it lower and kept those as aftermarket purchases. Everyone would have been happy then.

Edit: Sorry thought I was in the other Spidey thread. I haven't listened to the show yet but I can't imagine Stern's sponsorship affecting Nate's views. His criticism of the GOT art was coming as a fan, I imagine his acceptance of the price of Spidey is a reflection of being in a similar industry.

They heard that we didn't want photoshop art but they didn't listen when they used photoshop to use existing images.

Look, I'm glad people like it. That's great. But don't tell me that this art style is what we asked for. Nobody saw Spider-man party supplies in the store and thought, "that would make a great pin."

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When I heard comic style art, I was excited. I have been reading comics since the mid-90s and am a big fan of art, animation and the skill of drawing or painting something by hand. I didn't realize this was going to be what this looked like till right before it was revealed and Aurich posted an image of Ultimate Spider-Man and said this was going to be what it was modeled after. Then I knew for sure this wasn't going to be a McFarlane or Romita masterpiece.

It looks alright and kids won't care, it will still be Spider-Man, but they wouldn't care about movie Spidey either. The pricing puts me out of it as well and I imagine I won't see many, if any, on location. Not all of us can flash our money around like Kaneda does. He really tries hard to get people to dislike him.

I had to quit listening when Nate got to the Frisbee argument. He sounded really condescending toward people complaining about price. Don't take it personally Nate but I'll just anxiously wait for the next episode. Thanks.

Eat a bunch of chicken soup.

I assume your wife is all better now so she can take of you while your sick.

I wouldn't expect you to understand fiscal responsibility. I can imagine you drive around NYC in your Hellcat throwing $100 bills out of the window. That's how you act most of the time with your constant baiting people with money.

For me $500 is the difference between buying or not. It's not like arguing to buy a frisbee at 6 dollars or 7. It's great that to some people $500 doesn't matter but don't demean the people who think it does.

Hearing Aurich talk about how because of licensing issues we might not see Ripley on the machine made me sad. She is a a great hero of cinema and means more to me when I think of Alien than anything else including the Xenomorphs. I think he said they can use clips from the movie so hopefully that will happen.

It was great listening to Aurich's reasoning behind his design choices on the playfield. It would have been great if Nate could have gotten the designers of the GOT art package when that was revealed.

Nate, now that you have inside connections with Stern, when they reveal their next machine you need to get them on the show for some free PR. The free PR will actually be a disguised "Hard Copy", where Nate can hit'em with the hard questions. lol

Come ON! No Spoilers!

I, for one, really enjoyed the competitive pinball talk. That's what drew me into this hobby even though I don't take part in competitive pinball so much. But a lot of times him and a guest would go over strategies on games and that even interests people outside of competitive pinball. The talks with Bowen and Josh Sharpe were some of the highlights. I wonder who Josh Sharpe is podcasting with now.

umm...

You didn't mention That Flippin' Pinball Podcast. They're seriously one of the best.

It was still kind of interesting to me. How to run tournaments. What games are good for tournaments and what games to avoid. History of tournaments and even the industry. That's info I love to hear.

I gotta say that I love that episode description.

Can someone tell me the song that starts episode 225? That song is rockin'.

Good interview.

I understand this was a promotional piece for Stern but I would have liked to hear their response to the playfield concerns. It's going to be a major factor for me and others purchasing a Stern in the future. Maybe next podcast?

Was that the episode three weeks ago? Were you the only one commenting?

I'm sure I'm not the only one that would have liked to hear someone from Stern speak about it and this was the perfect opportunity to ask that question.

I agree as well. I've always loved backglasses. I also like how two manufacturers are trying the full screen approach and others are trying the DMD size version. Great to have multiple ways and see which is best.

That response would have gone a long way in my opinion. It's a cookie cutter response but just saying that puts a lot minds at ease.

I knew you probably asked and was denied an on air response Nate. At least for this episode which was a commercial. Thanks for the hard work.

Yeah it was about the LCD. I think it was them trying to excuse why they are so late to the party with the LCD.

LCD is essentially doing the same function but it does make the game feel more modern and is a natural progression in tech. The stories of how casual players are drawn to WOZ and Hobbit because of their big, fancy screens show the importance of the LCD.

Maybe in today's arcade climate, location profits don't matter as much as home sales. If Stern can keep selling more games than JJP or other LCD based games despite not having a LCD screen it makes sense to continue with the dot matrix. In the past it was game sales and location profits that drove the progression of tech but people still seem to be buying the games despite the dot matrix and location profits matter less.

Are you asking if Hobbit would be as big of a deal if it didn't have the LCD? Yes I would agree with that. When I played it I was unimpressed with it's gameplay (I'd like to play it more though). So the main draw is the art and how cool that big screen is.

I'm not sure what besides info you think the screen is adding. Is it atmosphere? Setting the mood? There are many games without a big screen that are capable of that. BSD sets the mood stupendously through it's sound package and lighting.

Don't they do that with DMDs. Hold the flipper for a status report. The info isn't available all at once but I can't think of a scenario where you would need it and the DMD can't show it to you.

Right on. Metallica and TWD had those hooks for me. It was the sound and gameplay that hooked me in a handful of plays.

So let's say he did create a podcast in this fictional world and let's say it did become biggerer and betterer than C2C. Would he be able to criticize Nate then? You would probably accuse him of bullying. I agree with you. Porkchop you're a stinking bully picking on C2C when you're fictional podcast is so much bigger than Nate's. Leave the little guys alone.

I checked out Aristocrat's site, which is the company that made the Batman 66 slots. They have made a few other games with licenses. TWD and GOT have slot machines and I wonder if they could use the assets of the slots to make color displays for Stern's existing games.
The only other licenses they have are Big Bang Theory, Sons of Anarchy, and Britney Spears. I really have no interest in any of those licenses but Sons of Anarchy has some potential. It's been a long time since someone has done a good biker gang pin like Centaur. Maybe they could even reuse the old Harley Davidson layout, which wasn't too bad, and tweak it a little bit.