I did the same though, as time went on the cracks started to show and the direction they went with certain choices like audio etc just turned me off.

But the whole story about Wonka is it kicks ass and fun as hell.Fuck Kaneda

I have to say I can agree with Kaneda’s wonka turn. The game is gorgeous and has the play field, but the code was off. Seriously a lack of clips. Woz set a standard that we all expected wonka to imitate and it just didn’t. Worst was knowing they had full assets but decided against using them like they did in woz or hobbit. I can totally see how he first played it, got excited with expecting a woz like experience, and then it going a totally different direction.

Now that said, I can also agree with Derek that odds are if he would have stuck with his wonka purchase, he probably would have loved the game. You have to give these games a real chance to really make a decision.

Kinda like a grain of sand in a oyster, highly irritating but you're drawn in to see the final version of the pearl and you still want to slug him.

I get his disappointment in rules and theme integration, but the way he hyped mechanical innovation in the game turned out to be ridiculous.

He is all about theme integration/story telling and is consistent in his buys of LOTR, BM66 and now R&M, but doesn’t seem to get (or at least acknowledge) that others put more priority on playfield layout and depth.

Anybody able to explain to a non-technischen caveman like me exactly what WIFI connectivity in a pinball will provide? Dialed In's whole idea of flipping with your cell phone seemed extremely stupid to me. I can't imagine why anybody would want to do that. So what possibilities exist that wifi provide in a pinball?

I also can't imagine many people interested in on-line competitions in pinball either through internet capability. Golden Tee tried that in bars but it never really worked out in the home, and was a minor draw at best. Plus, there would probably be subscription cost associated with this as well, similar to the Pelaton bike app. I would rather see money spent on great games with cool playfield toys and gadgets that make playing fun and exciting. But I'm willing to keep an open mind until I see what this is all about.

What was the original name and theme?

Two things off the top of my head:

1. Ability to play against other players around the world.
2. High score sharing capabilities, world rankings, etc.

My understanding is that JJP has been beta testing wirelessly updating game code. As for other online connectivity, people seem to talk about online leaderboards or direct competition.

Updating code wirelessly is another big perk. Great point.

Pat called it Killer App!

Hmm, that doesn't sound like much of an improvement over Dialed In, haha. I always thought "Quantum City Chaos" would have been a great name for it. Plus it would take some focus away from the phone itself as the theme and instead it would just be a cool toy.

I have to think that 90% of people could care less about these things. I know I have no interest in online leaderboards or head to head play with someone I don't know. I play the machine. Now, with something like Cosmic Cart Racing, I can understand why you would want to play head to head. It would be like online racing or online shooter games. But Cosmic Cart was designed with this in mind and until recently was horrible to play alone. The only benefit I would get from online connectivity is wifi updating. But, honestly, I would not waste the money on buying a dongle for my 4 JJP games just for that. USB still works.

WiFi code updates, JJP game notices, and messaging would be a great perk....these features would benefit both JJP and the end user. All others would be worthless to me, but there might be others that would enjoy head to head, rankings, game high scores, etc?

I get online play with known friends, which could be cool. But public leader boards will be filled with the the glass off crew on day 1.

You and I wouldn't, but it might be worth it to cut down on the 10,000 threads explaining how to update a pinball machine

Also...for operators it would probably be nice to check audits, and get notifications of mechanical issues - or needs service.

For home use, having connectivity for code updates, scores, etc would be a nice improvement. Not sure what else WiFi could do - and maybe has nothing to do with their innovation announcement anyway. Also...maybe being able to turn on a news feed to get JJP news and pinball convention announcements/hype. You would be able to turn it off, but it may be cool to see the pin 'online' in that way.

The innovation is likely something really cool in GnR ...

Oh please NO! Imagine advertising spamming your game screen. Would be like an app that makes you wait 10--20 seconds watching an advert so you can get an extra ball or for a few more points.

Theres a lot of push messaging/marketing JJP could do with WiFi....its really a no brainer add on...frankly I'm surprised it took this long....

Not sure if they are going there or not, but I am confident that JJP will allow you to turn off things like that.

How about wifi connectivity with Alexa? Now that would be cool. "Alexa, let's play Pirates." Then the lights in my game room (smart lights) dim and the sound comes through my wifi speaker. THAT would be innovation!

Of course they will let you turn it off and on

JJ Who? Haven't heard anything about them since that masterpiece yellow WOZ.

A bunch of older dudes here, but the new age (and even more w Covid) is online competitive gaming.

People want to play in their own home and against others. People want ranking, leaderboards, etc...

A well implements, good user interface, plug and play solution, streamer friendly, and cost effective solution to online pinball could be a legit game changer.

Then a pinball machine built in conception and code to play head to head?
Xmen, you need to defeat villains...that can be your opponent, each one is progressing in his objective to defeat the other.
Maybe it is foolish!

I'm sure it will all be on startup....its actually a great feature...there could be tech updates, game fixes, code updates, parts availability, game notes, support ticket updates, etc.... why wouldn't someone want this information? I get your point, and would agree if it got obnoxious, but I'm sure u can turn it off like everything else in the game.

For sure.

I do exactly this right now. I suggest picking up a couple smart A/C relays for the lights and smart plugs for the games. This is a recap from yesterday:

Me: "Alexa turn on pinball lights" <indirect lights go on, direct overhead lights turn off>
Me: "Alexa turn on AC/DC" <AC/DC kicks on ready for play>
<Start a game, hit a target, eat a torpedo drain>
Me: "Alexa tell Steve Ritchie he's being an asshole"

Alexa: "Sorry I don't know that one...."

Maybe the real innovation is fixing that last missing link

We asked for innovation? I think we asked for toys, mechs, theme, sound, code and flow. But innovation is coming.

Online competiton won't be very popular, nor will leaderboards. Pinball will fit the online clan mode of social play very well. 49 other people around the world that own your game, that you chat and joke with over discord. Small easy maintenance tasks need to accomplished by the clan daily, (play a certain number of games, get a certain number of multiballs,) to unlock some very minor cosmetic screen feature, (like an extra star on the screen.) Many years from now goals and rewards could be more complex.

Sounds simple, and it is, but this sort of social thing ends up being fun. Easy to take it or leave it.

Um, I know zero operators who want pins online... Another hand in the pocket on an already slow revenue stream? no thanks! another batch of service calls because someone reset a router and the game isn’t connecting? no thanks!

I would assume that autoupdating could be turned off.

As a hobby operator, I agree. If JJP wants to force charge (i.e. the BBH model of BS) and require this, then I will never purchase another game.
I am pretty sure they are smarter than that and not interested in that model.

Just give me JJPOTC code update. You guys can have all your wifi stuff. Maybe I am getting older. But all these online leaderboards, game unlocks, etc all seem like garbage to me.

saying online play is innovative would be like saying a DMD display is innovative.

I've been playing Doom online since 1992.

Neil.

This argument is so weak, do you think it will be that hard to figure out. First comparing input vs a known good would be dead easy, sure its probably a lot for a pinball company but not difficult. Also when John Doe that no one has ever heard of is suddenly blowing up all the top players it's going to be super obvious. People have been trying to cheat at video games for decades and it's still incredible to play online. Online play in pinball would not be at all difficult you just have to spend some money and hire someone with modern experience.

I will never understand the importance some people put on this.

Do you want to watch the movie, or play pinball?
Most WOZ clips don't have synced audio either, yet nobody seems to bitch about that.

Wonka is just a turd, its so uninvolving. Borrowed one during lockdown and I can't wait for it to go!

Can we trust online leaderboards? We have fellow pinsider claiming to have scored into the hundreds of millions on jjp games (which we know is impossible). What stops these people from taking the glass off and racking up huge fake points just to see their name on the leader boards? Nothing.

And yet you own a transformers and stranger things....

As I just said this is not difficult to detect. It's real easy to record the data from a game. You take like a game from a top player you know is good and you compare. If it takes him 30 minutes to get that score and he hits these targets in this order and gets these jackpots and hits the flippers X number of times. Then John Doe comes in and beats him with a 5 minutes play time a completely different number of of flips with perfect target hits a computer can spit this out as bullshit in a matter of seconds. This stuff is not hard to figure out.

He's here having lunch with Hasoff they have nothing productive to do!

WiFi Connectivity Pros and Cons:

*WiFi refers to the ability to hook your pinball machine up to the internet to a centralized server wirelessly through your home/work WiFi router. I think what everyone really means by this is internet connectivity.

Pros:
1. Ability to have code updates applied automatically to your machine. You walk up to your machine on Monday and it says, "press test to install latest code update".
2. Ability to have online leaderboards.
3. Potential for online competition play, tournaments, and contests.
4. Potential for limited time contests, modes, and capabilities. Maybe your TNMT game animations have a winter theme for a few months around Christmas or maybe there is a limited time mode for a contest.

Essentially, internet connectivity gives pinball machines to have all of the functions of Golden Tee golf.

Cons:
1. With online connectivity and extra features, there is the possibility of implementing a "pay to play" model. Want to participate in contests or online play? That will be 19.99 per month, per machine, plus $.05 per play.
2. There is the possibility that Stern could implement a real subcription model, where initial base code is free and comes with the game, but if you want to unlock a 6 ball multiball instead of just 4, or you want to play all the modes, that has a monthly fee. They could potentially require online connectivity and a paid subscription or the machine bricks itself.
3. Your pinball machine becomes part of the "internet of things". It would be theoretically possible (although unlikely) for someone to remotely encrypt your game and require a virtual online payment online to play the game, (Stern or anyone).

I like the free to play, internet free model. I am afraid of Stern or any of these companies going the way of Golden Tee and wanting a piece of the location play pie. I would like continued code updates on these machines like anyone else, but until they have the capacity to really improve my game, I refuse to pay a monthly fee for any pinball service.

You are referencing an extreme example. Let's say I just play with the glass off and grab the ball before it drains to keep it in play every time. That would not be detected in your example.

I like to play competitive video games even though Hilton probably thinks I am old. Anti-cheat is a big part of the scene. I am not sure how you can detect it in a way that cannot be circumvented.

Everything can be circumvented, yet online video games are played by hundreds of millions of people and makes billions. Yes there will always be people that are trying to cheat. It's a cat and mouse game, but its not insurmountable. There is a millions ways to combat it, with hardware and software. All I hear is I don't like change. If you don't enjoy it don't play online. Trust me you will be the tiny majority.

If it’s WiFi connectivity, not bad. But what would be great is if they gave a software update for every game, you know, to give it a test run, make sure it’s all working and all.

Assuming you're not just trolling here...

I find this hard to believe. There is so much_ to do and strive to achieve.

- Have you gotten the ticket for collecting 5 gobstoppers?
- Or the one for finishing all three rounds of Wonkavator?
- Or the one for collecting kids and kid MB jackpots?
- How about the one for the 12 factory modes?

Jesus man. Who pissed in your Cherrios? I said I like to play competitive video games Reading comprehension is at an all time low on Pinside. All I am saying is if you are trusting JJP to do all the anti-cheat systems, I wouldn't hold your breath. And if all of this ends up increasing the prices of games, that would suck. Make it a service you pay into. Then you guys that think this is the next coming can put your money where your mouth is.

I've been considering buying a Wonka LE and didn't realize there are 12 factory modes. That's pretty aweaome. Are those 12 factory modes objective based with hitting specific shots and integrated with clips from the movie?

Just like email spam. I get plenty of that already.

I don't need advertisements on my game. No thanks.

Couldn’t agree more. Great game. Nothing huge missing from the movie.

Not really interested in leaderboards, but playing against friends online would be a blast. JJP's newer games are perfect for this, as they could easily capture video from all the screens, the person playing by using the selfie camera and all you would need is to hook up another webcam for the topdown view and audio. When you're not the active player, they could stream someone else's game right to the large screen in the backbox.