Just when I think nothing in this hobby can surprise me anymore, people are actually lining up for a Jpop game in 2016? Are you out of your minds? Have some damn integrity. Thank goodness not everyone here has the memory span of a goldfish.

The pinball 'press' doesn't like to be negative. Maybe they just want to stay positive for the hobby. Maybe they're afraid of losing access. Maybe it's a small bubble of a community and no one wants to hurt feelings. But it's basically just how it works.

If this was just a new company, with an unknown track record, then fine, give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and new games are exciting, I get it. I'd have no issue.

But the way some people are pushing this after what Jpop did to the community, did to friends of mine? It's really crass. Expo is now supporting it too apparently, which is very disappointing.

I'm seeing a lot more interest on Facebook than Pinside, where the memory of Jpop isn't as clear I guess. And it's really triggering me, I can't believe after all the garbage we went through, and all of the nonsense, that we're still even having this discussion.

My friends were ripped off, so yeah, I'm angry. And if they have some plan then they're doing a piss poor job of announcing things in the right order.

I mean, honestly? I don't expect them to ever get paid back.

I'm trying to calm down here, this got me riled up, so I'll say this: if they really have a plan to make people whole, then put it out first. Not later, not after you show off a new Jpop game that looks like Magic Man instead of Magic Girl. In the same non-flipping state that Jpop showed things off for that matter. We've seen that before, it didn't end well.

And recognize that we've already been down this route. Bill already tried to white knight things. We all know how that worked out (not firing shots at Bill, props for trying, he couldn't pull it off because it's not easy or cheap to do it). Pics of a bunch of empty cabs? We've seen that s**t for years from Jpop, it's not reassuring anyone.

Can we talk about the real world for a moment? How exactly does this work? A new company that no one has ever heard of is going to do what? Just build a bunch of Magic Girls on their own dime and give them away to people? What about RAZA and AIW, are they making those too? Is this a giant charity project to give everyone free games all in the name of rescuing Jpop to design Magic Man? That doesn't pass the smell test, but if that's their plan then say so!

Am I really unreasonably spiteful when I say that I don't think Jpop deserves to have a new game made? At the very, very least not until everyone has either their money back, or a game, and he's personally apologized.

You're right, and I'm sorry if I came off too strong, it's just ... ugh, the deja vu. It's not even about "don't pre-order this" because no one is saying that (I've seen a few people ask, I couldn't tell if they were trolling or serious). But even the "wait and see" comments are rubbing me the wrong way. It doesn't even deserve that. It's a new Jpop game, that's a slap in the face, and if you have some plan to rub magic ointment all over people's chapped faces then don't mention it later, get it out now.

If you lost money on this, and you have an opinion that's different, then I defer to you. Not right for me to be outraged on your behalf.

Who said anything about pre-orders? Of course no one should pre-order it, pre-ordering a Jpop game is like giving yourself open heart surgery, anyone can tell you it's a bad idea.

The first kid born with DNA from 3 parents was just born. You can have three parents now, check it out: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2107219-exclusive-worlds-first-baby-born-with-new-3-parent-technique/

If this game had 3 parents it would be Magic Girl, Theater of Magic, and World Club Soccer.

Thanks, now I can't unsee it either.

Huh, I googled Houdini and Believe, since it seemed like a somewhat odd word for Houdini. He was an escape artist, and his illusions were targeted towards that end. This is a really fascinating article:

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_day_houdini_almost_came_back_from_the_dead

So basically the word is from after he died, as part of a hoax from a spiritualist.

I was curious about the cards, Houdini turned out to be famous for physical card tricks.

http://www.thegreatharryhoudini.com/cardscaling.html

Bingo. What are they going to do? Refund everyone? That's a lot of cash. Hey, if they've got some deep pocketed guy who says "It's just money, here's a million dollars, get me a new Jpop game and refund all the people he ripped off!" then wow, great.

That just feels far fetched, and I think it's reasonable for people to be skeptical. I asked a friend who lost money to Jpop yesterday if he's heard from American Pinball. Nope he said. If they have some kind of "payback everyone, we're rich and we don't care!" plan they haven't spread it out yet.

Let's say they aren't refunding the money, but are going to build the games instead. That's a huge endeavor. RAZA and AIW aren't remotely done, and we already know that MG wasn't nearly as done as Jpop claimed.

Finishing those games is a huge project (I speak from experience here, making pins is work, and it takes time, and people, and money), are we to believe a new company with no experience is going to suddenly build 4 games (Houdini plus the three scam games), and then what? Give the three Jpop original games away to everyone who was to be an owner? That's money right there.

Do they stop then or keep making them for everyone to try and recoup costs? MG was supposed to be super limited, but maybe if you get one you live with any random Joe being able to buy one too, since that's better than nothing?

I'm just struggling with the logic here. It's not a slam on a new company, this is purely about how big of a hole Jpop dug, and how hard it is to suddenly magically climb out of it.

To be fair though, if you ordered a Whopper, and got no burger, and were hungry, and someone then said "that sucks, lemme buy you lunch" and got you a Big Mac you wouldn't turn it down right?

I would love for the people who were ripped off to see something. But it's gotta at least be the Big Mac. They can't say "oh that sucks, here have one of my fries" and then go party with the chef.

I dunno, my brain doesn't work that way. That's some fuzzy ass math you have there. It's not 2/4, it's 0/3. Ain't a damn thing available.

My attitude is pretty simple. F*** Jpop, all day long. If every single Magic Girl was finished and delivered (big if) it would still be f*** Jpop. How does that erase anything? He's a still a liar, a scam artist, and a thief.

He should never work in this industry again, period. He deserves no props, no business, nothing. You want to talk Whoppers and Big Macs? He can get a damn job at Burger King or McDonalds.

WTF is Pinside guilty of? No one here scammed people out of money. The only thing anyone here is "guilty" of is funding Jpop's Pinball Patron Playland.

What is Pinside supposed to take responsibility for? It was a risky investment, and people lost money, and they have to live with that and own it, I guess that's taking responsibility. But it wasn't their fault Jpop lied, and took people's money in a pyramid scheme fashion. I don't get the victim blaming.

Startups fail all the time. It happens. Bad luck, or just not planning well enough, whatever. You don't have to crucify everyone who fails, some people deserve second chances. Not this time.

Jpop didn't just "oops, I failed!" He lied to people, he built a pyramid scheme of new games to keep the money flowing in, and burned through every relationship he had when people tried to help him. He lied to the people on the inside, like Zombie Yeti, he lied about progress, he went off doing bullshit like that Kiss game, do I really have to keep going? Surely we all know this story.

He didn't just fail, he's not a lovable absent minded professor, he f**ked people. And no, he doesn't deserve to be part of a new game, and no, it's not Pinside's fault.

No need to boycott American Pinball. But no one should buy a new Jpop game, in my personal opinion.

I'm posting my personal thoughts on an internet forum, let's not blow it out of proportion here, there's no 'cause'. I've had an opinion on the Jpop stuff for years, and I'm not suddenly going to pretend I've stopped. If anyone has a problem with that then well, learn to live with it I guess.

I'm with Rob, there's some revisionist history here, and people should be reminding everyone of the truth.

Get it back from where? It's gone, Jpop spent it all. This new company is just going to give away money to everyone? Not just MG, but all the RAZA and AIW buyers? All the people Jpop stiffed? They're going to make Cointaker whole again too? There's a long line.

Does that sound at all rational? We're talking at a minimum hundreds of thousands of dollars. They're just going to give that away?

Is this where we hear the pitch that starts with "Well, if you'll just buy the new Jpop game ..."?

I have Mr.68 on ignore because I don't care to receive any more abusive PMs from him (hi Kim, grow up), but I can tell from his downvotes on my posts and people talking about the Facebook group that he's around. If he's squeezing blood from a stone then good for him, but I don't see what that has to do with people talking about what a liar, crook, and con artist Jpop is.

"We were going to make a deal with you, but Aurich said a mean thing about John, so deal's off!"

Yeah, I don't see the point of a witch hunt against the company. No one has any beef with them as of yet, just the guilt by association. Maybe they're part of a super conspiracy, maybe they're naive, who knows.

Does it even matter? Jpop can be a contractor or the secret vice president, that will all come out in the wash eventually. Maybe they'll magically make everyone whole, and we can have a conversation about whether people are willing to forgive and forget then.

In the meantime ain't nothing like that happened, so it seems reasonable to me to say "a new Jpop game? wtf?" and leave it at that, without trying to play internet detective. Because that's all that's freaking me out. A weirdly muted reveal in a Vegas hotel room of a brand new Jpop game. I'm not crazy to think that's nuts am I?

He was talking about old Jpop stuff, no one has been asked for money for Houdini (that I know of).

Is there some kind of form I can fill out to get permission to post my opinion? Do I have to submit a video application?

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You joke, but after his cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

tumblr_n4ame8puM61qhndw9o1_500.gif

Sterns are hit or miss for me, but when they hit they're great. I own three (ACDC Prem, Metallica LE, Tron Pro) and of course smart Stern buyers know what the common thread is between those three games.

They haven't made anything after Metallica I've wanted (had a Star Trek Prem, sold it) but I know they're perfectly capable of it still. But have they really upped their game, or just returned to form? Because it's not like they didn't make games like TSPP and LOTR over a decade ago. The recession hit them hard, and when it was just Borg and Lonnie making games they had to scrape them out.

I feel like they've mostly just regained what they used to have. Has their quality gotten better? Clearly not (get it clear ... nevermind). Pegs instead of rails, power buttons in the head, LED DMDs that are prone to getting stuck vertical lines (happened to me twice). Maybe Batman 66 and Aerosmith will finally push into new territory with the LCD screen.

That's the shame of all of this. If American Pinball had just worked a little harder to put together a design team, and not given Jpop the time of day, it would be more pressure on Stern to step up their game, especially with the way their prices keep going up. I don't wish new pinball companies ill, in general, just don't hire someone that's the equivalent of a giant middle finger to your customer base.

Here's the problem with that idea: pinball designers aren't being paid half a million dollars+ a year to design games. That would be an amazingly bad deal for AP to make.

It's called the ignore button, every day is one of those days if you want it to be. Give it a try.

Not that it really matters, but just to correct the record nothing was pulled for technical problems, the Alien games were taken back to the private room because there was a media crew filming them and Andrew for a few hours. Gotta be careful with how rumors fly around at Expo.

Carry on with the pitchforks!

Is that where he pays you for the privilege of working with you?

Or is that paying him to stay away?

The latter might be useful!

Obligatory reminder that Jpop doesn't do any of the art for his machines.

What I don't like is all the people who whine about other people having an opinion. I didn't know you had to cut your balls off when you make a game. I haven't heard that podcast, but if Chuck or whoever from Spooky has an opinion on Alien then good for them. They're grown ass men, they can say things.

Why don't you get off your high horse? You talk shit about people having an opinion, and then your next post is trashing a Spooky game.

It's fucking impressive man, if you're not shocked then you don't know jack about building and designing pinball.