Giving support to Jpop is a reason to stay home and NOT support Chicago Expo.

He clearly scam-talked this new investor into believing pinball is a cash cow. Clearly they'll have no route to production.

I'm not sure a business can delete reviews. Comments sure, but not reviews.

This is an opportunity to give Jpop a new nickname: Screwdini!!!

Who cares, it will never be manufactured.

Ok, great. How about the 125 RAZAs? And Alice?

It's amazing that you're even giving them the benefit of the doubt that they're even capable of building anything. It's all smoke and mirrors until proven otherwise.

"Legit" in the sense that it's a "company". Zero evidence they have pinball manufacturing ability. They've already made one huge mistake aligning themselves with Jpoop...everyone should be extremely skeptical unless proven otherwise. And remember: PROOF. SOMETHING John brushed off for years. Don't let American Pinball ever get away with that. They must offer tangible proof of everything they claim, or it must be assumed to be bullshit.

Sounds like the foam Kiss mock up

You can tell a few of the hype-monsters have raging boners for this game already. Look, it's OK to think it looks cool...but REMEMBER REALITY. Remember the Jpop ponzi scheme. Even if you weren't ripped off by Jpop or don't care about those who did, do not PRE-ORDER or give AP a cent unless there is tangible evidence this game PLAYS, plays WELL, can be manufactured well, manufactured soon, and shipped. If anything shitty happens, no one will have any sympathy for those who just jump on this considering the facts.

Someone brought up the theory that John's "paycheck" for Houdini is getting the games built that he owes people. That would be an interesting arrangement that would benefit both of them....but - is that truly the case? Everything is speculation.

Ben's been in the trenches w/ Jpop...he of all people can absolutely talk shit about Jpop!!! First hand experience!!!

It's a post 2012 phenomenon. Once project classic games started drying up and restored or nice-condition classic games started shooting up in price, lots of people, including new hobbyists turned to NiB games - why spend $5k+ on an old game when you can get a brand new one? When I started collecting, pin collectors hated Stern games or owned them begrudgingly...even if they loved the gameplay of LOTR, they'd always have to throw in complaints about the art, sound, feel, quality, etc compared to B/W games. Today we have collectors and hobbyists who ONLY know buying and owning Stern games.

I've always liked B/W and Stern games...but don't you remember how it was about 10 years ago? If you liked a Stern game, even one designed and programmed by B/W alums, all you would hear from the long-time collectors was what pieces of shit they were. Then, they'd eventually buy a Stern, and enjoy it...but still have to rip on it to retain street cred

Looks like he's jacking off and pooping simultaneously.

Perfect summary of American Pinball so far, actually.

Seriously, the fucking pros at Stern and JJP can barely get a finished working product out the door in a timely manner....does ANYONE think THESE guys are going to have a smooth ride in pinball manufacturing!?!?!

Poodini (resized).jpg

So, it looks like Jpop made his usual rookie mistake with AP, and they fell for it- all the art and pretty stuff before a functioning and playable whitewood. If there had been a whitewood, they could have shown this thing flipping.

I'm calling time of death.

RIP, American Pinball.

It's clear to me that they have NO idea what they got themselves into. They're not pinball people, but John likely spun stories of magic and money to be made...and they fell for it.

Just look how hard it's been for ACTUAL pinball people to get things manufactured and shipped. If American Pinball is truly committed to being a pinball company, I don't think we'll see Houdini shipping for 2 or 3 years. My prediction they have a "what the fuck did we do" meeting, and this whole thing dissolves.

So, they're either dumb, shady, or both.

Bye AP.

They're done. Back to the Jpop lawsuit if anyone wants their shit back...

Into the bin with Vonnie D.

I wonder why Terry would include their flier with orders. That would kind of piss me off if I saw that in the box.

Until they clarify what their f-ing deal is with Jpop ...they should only be known as IDIOTS and/or fellow scammers.

Sure it is. A flyer for a pinball show is for an event that will in fact happen. It's advertising a "product" that exists. Houdini and American Pinball is a pipedream/scam until proven otherwise.

They're taking Invisiglass to the next level! The whole game will be invisible!

..and RAZA & AIW.

What company would take on the burden of 3 pinball machines just to gain a designer?

None.

That's what American Pinball is. Nothing. Houdini will never ship, no one who is paid up on a Zidware game will ever see it get made from AP.

Whatever they do - please, no one give them a fucking dime until they have a finished, playable, fully coded game with proven quality manufacturing ability. I don't care if they offer a Super Duper Magic Powered Limited Edition. Our community has been taken by too many dreamers/tinkerers/con men.

I know the "old guy stuff" argument comes up a lot...but lets face it, pinball IS old. Pinball is retro. Retro is in. So combining a retro game with nostalgic retro licenses is a marriage that just works...it makes sense.

Sure, I'd like to see something more contemporary to mix it up...but whenever someone tries a "new" idea like Lexi Lightspeed or Dialed in - it comes off as dated and out of touch. Customers can smell "dated and lame" vs. "dated in a cool way".

What do you disagree with? That's exactly what i said.

It's a great modern concept, but the art direction and animation make it look like it's from the mid 90's.

No, it looks dated because it looks dated. It's 90's Playstation 1 level polygons and animation without the art direction those games had. It gets tough love because of the art direction. I love the new concept, but the concept is irrelevant if the games don't look contemporary and appealing.

Don't need to be retro to look good. Just needs good art direction. I know this is a video game and that's a different world...but look at this new Shantae game that came out. They're using good artwork, with lots of separation of assets, animated in a "Flash" like manner, but VERY well. IMO this is what they need. Character art that looks appealing. Simple 2D art that's art directed and animated well. This doesn't require massive horsepower or a lot of money...just the right crew.

Imagine this type of art direction, lighting, and appealing characters popping up on the P3 screen:

Shit, now I'm thinking Shantae would make a great P3 pinball lol....Here's a sweet mermaid boss battle from Shantae. Imagine this mermaid on the playfield, and you have to shoot her locks to release her. How much more appealing would this nice 2D art be to look at vs. crates and swamps and downshots of bad polygon characters. I'd like to see P3 think in those terms vs. the literal top-down perspective because you're looking top-down at a playfield.

When I buy a game, I'm buying it as a customer. I don't like buying a game and then having to make my own game. I got Mario Maker, and it's like a full time job....lol. Nah. If someone makes a sweet game, I'm a paying customer.

Well, Houdini will never get made and neither will the Jpop games...might as well talk about something that might make it to market!

Bad 2D graphics. This thing won't fly until a game has a true top level art director/animation professional. Too bad P3 couldn't attract the great artists that Jpop was able to con into working on his games.

I think some of it is his, some of it is Stern's team. You're right, it's similarly amateurish - that said - it's just the score display...the machine itself looks great, and the game is what's under the glass. That's always P3's challenge - the monitor IS the playfield, and if it doesn't look good, all that great tech is meaningless.

Very interesting. Well - I like Josh and have enjoyed playing his custom games. He's smart enough not to get involved with a bunch of maniacs...still, they need to be transparent about the Jpop/MG situation before I can start giving them the benefit of the doubt.

I vote to keep it the way it is until AP proves otherwise.

First thing I thought was 90's Sega Photoshop. I looked up Jeff Busch....he did a bunch of 90's Sega games! Why didn't they stick with the previous artist? He wasn't John...so, should be no "bad blood" there.

Well now that Stern has gone full hand-drawn, maybe some potential buyers are feeling nostalgic for Sega lol ...X-Files: $10k by Xmas!!!!

It wasn't bad...but it wasn't great...but it's also a game you could buy for $1200 all day long before pinflation, so no one really had much to complain about. I've said it before, but at current NIB prices - standards are high. We're now in the era of Dirty Donnie & Zombie Yeti ....or, if you're going to go the Photoshop route, it's gotta look as nice as Hobbit.

Invisible display is a feature of Houdini!