wow, this art package is not good. i can't put my finger on it but they all appear cheap, and blah. the pro looks so sparse.

Whoever it was that said "at least make there be no bevel and emboss" is staring glumly into their coffee cup right now.

It's tough when there are big expectations. But Stern kind of set them up this time around by keeping The King out of the rotation for so long. Who didn't think this was going to be epic?

He's The King for a reason, so looking forward to actually playing it, and seeing it in action. But the art package is majorly disappointing. I'm really sympathetic to working with a license, it's tough. Maybe had a lot of things forced on them as far as decisions. But there's just too much here that you can't pin on that. It's not the license demanding 90s drop shadows on everything.

This feels like the same overly cheery generic CD ROM art that was on Mustang. Pity, real missed opportunity for a cool license.

I'm sure lots of people will come around, it's the normal cycle. But presentation wise this one is a swing and a miss.

Anybody have the features matrix yet? Linky no worky.

I actually think that they'll never do a LOTRVE now, which is a shame.

It will be very interesting to see how the rules for the upper playfield turn out. On AC/DC, I feel that the lower playfield is more like a gimmick.

I see that the extra ball and mystery is the dragon lane on the pro but the right orbit on the le. The more I study the two, it looks like pro and le are two completely different games.

Another stab at the art: I do not like how the inserts look on this game. Especially those big shields. The grey colors on the playfield is also out of place. The less said about the backbox side-art the better

AC/DC looked horrible but that game has become a huge success so there is clearly hope for this game if it plays good and the rules are well thought out. But I am still a bit shocked about the art decisions on this one.

If the rules and feel of the pro makes these games completely different from each other, maybe we will see people buy both the pro and the premium

I'm reminded of the very bad initial impressions Star Trek received after such a long rumored hype faze. And now its a top 10 pin. So... I make no conclusions about anything.

LOL! What! This pin looks like Mattel made it! This is a joke right? That playfield art looks cheap & down right awful! I sure hope it plays & sounds great, cause it looks like sh@t!
How did HBO & GOT approve that!?

Can anyone else hear the cheers coming from JJP & crew? They honestly had to be sweating this release. NOT ANYMORE! Not 1 Hobbit order got canceled to order this thing.

I must be the only one who is glad that there isn't an LED/LCD screen. I personally prefer the DMD style...

Who cares. LotR already exists, has it's regular place in most good collections and is being enjoyed since years. There is no need at all to go back there again. After a year or so a brand new LotR VE will look just as used & worn as the "old" one anyway, so what's the point? Make a handful of pinheads happy that insist on enjoying three days of "NIB"-feeling or have the strange notion that out of production collectors classics should be less expensive than readily available NIB ones with cheap china tech?

Bring on the new stuff, Stern!

As most new pins at first glance GoT looks underwhelming, but it seems to have an interesting layout and lots of variety.
Really curious to see how a pin plays on which SR has obviously left his personal "design-comfort-zone".

I have hopes that the Premium will have White Walkers on one side of the cab and The Wall with John Snow on the other side. If this is true I will prob swap my LE to a Premium...

ST got beat on for being so close to STTNG...
GOT is getting beat on for being close to a zizzle...

I think the initial reaction is a bit different

I think we really need more photos... Those overhead shots never do the game any favors.

I surprised HBO didn't get their designers involved. I've always like their promo spots, and intro videos for shows.

Why do I think of jiggling aliens from AFM when I read flying dragon?

It looks like the battering ram will move,
Where does the ball launch go?

Personally, I think those are boring as hell. Great for book covers, but not for a major piece of furniture in my house. I'd love to see that dark, moody style though with more content - like people actually engaging in a sword fight or battle, white-walkers turning someone, the Mountain crushing someones skull, etc. Keep the iconic shot but add some more excitement to it. People standing in place with no action is a snoozefest.

Yeah, Game of Thrones is a show that really prides itself on art direction. I can't believe that HBO insisted they take it out behind the shed and spend a few more hours beating it with the ugly stick every time they did a licenser review. That's all Stern.

Took me a while on that also.

I think it's the 'battering Ram' That will blast the ball back at ya

I'm kinda digging the features on the Premium. Not enough to buy one...but it looks like it might turn into a decent shooting machine.

Then again..the last game I thought that about was WWF. After playing that one a bunch I completely missed

GoT kinda falls into the ST release for me. 'They have 2 years dev on this and that's it?'

first impressions...
.

The Bad(all art-related)

• that huge bubble outline on all the myriad shield inserts is ridiculous. it looks like someone hit "bevel and emboss" in photoshop 6.0 and cranked the sliders all the way up.
• the banners above the House inserts should be hand-lettered, not a font, and the banners should make some effort to look like parchment instead of just being plain white with a black outline.
• the entire art package is all wrong on the playfield and the cabinet. Game of Thrones operates almost entirely in dull, muted colors. grey, black, muddy brown, and then splashes of red for color. there is too much lemon yellow, lime green, and baby blue on the playfield, and the background should be black or grey, not tan.
• the actors photoshopped into various collages is terrible, but i guess it's foolish to expect anything different at this point.

.

The Good:

• most importantly, the layout looks really cool - should play fast!
• upper playfield looks really exciting.
• the iron throne looks great.
• love all the difference "house" models. wife will push for Targaryan.
• sword mech is neat.
• dragon looks awesome.
• looks like a really big BOM for a Stern game.

thing is all the le will sell out, people will still line up.

Pinsiders.....bitch when there's not enough difference between Pro and Premium/Le, bitch when there is too much difference.

Lack of LCD is very disappointing considering the development time. Heighway is looking better and better all the time.

Devil is in the details....looking forward to a video soon.

Nope - Stern's Facebook page is their promotional tool, not an egalitarian democracy....and they can treat it however they like....frankly, if I were Stern I would be doing everything in my power to AVOID that page turning into the typical pinside bitch-a-thon. I know there is a microcosm of people here that think incessant bitching and whining = "discussion", but to most people its just a depressing morass of endless complaints. Hey, that exists here! No need for it in multiple places, right!

As for GoT....I am really trying to think of a time I wasn't underwhelmed by an initial release of Sterns.....good god, I laughed at Star Trek when the first pics were released. Dull art, visually tepid playfield.....etc. I wrote it off entirely. Then a co-worker questioned my opinion in a constructive way and had me come over for some hands on. It was insanely fun. The gameplay and and overall tone with audio & DMD mixed in made the game a must have. Its my favorite pin in my collection currently. Just ONE more game! My only point being, STERN and Ritchie have been around the block and chances are this game will be fun. Personally, the premium would be on my list of I had endless room and money - it reminds me of a modern Swords of Fury which is a nostalgic hot button for me.

Exactly the first thing that came to my mind when I was reading all these negative posts.

I don't care for the cabinet art at all, but the PF art is ok in terms of what I was expecting. It isn't spectacular by any means, but again, I am reminded of the overwhelming criticism that STLE received when it was unveiled as well.

So much hate over the artwork, yet there is virtually no talk about the layout of the pin (other than how "gimped" the pro is without the mini PF).

Other than cab art, my biggest surprise and criticism is the fact that the LE has black powder coat armor (like the pro)?! The laser cut dragon armor is a major disappointment.

Very much looking forward to seeing the Premium.

Damn... On just artwork alone, they missed the mark. Which is quite surprising considering all of the amazing artwork and images out there to work with. Cab art is terrible on the LE, playfield art is average, they should have given it more of a medieval feel and little to no desert.

I am just happy to see "the King" was able to make another table without a cannon and nothing blocking the in/out lane view.

Initial impressions are that the Pro is a completely different game and shuold not be a penny more than TWD actual pricing as it really does not offer anything extra from what I can see.

The prem/le appears like it will be fun to shoot but not super impressed. The art is REALLY ditracting from the overall immersion of the game.

I will need to play the game and HOPE there will be both a prem and pro at expo to check out.

I wonder if it's R rated? Will it be family friendly?

Generally not impressed. Certainly, as others have already said, a seriously missed opportunity.

Here's hoping gameplay makes up for looks...

I think everything would be OK.. if the Premium cabinet/backglass is better (appears to be winter/walker based)
AND make an option as rumored for different decals/backglass for the LE.... the rest is not perfect, but like STLE probably good enough and gameplay looks like fun.. I prefer more fan layout orientation anyway..

It is just NOT game of Thrones. The problem here is that the PF does not look at ALL like or make you feel like the show does. The mood is all wrong. It's more like this..

is this very Game of thrones?..
image.jpg

Are these the MM slingshot archers at the flippers?..
image.jpg

And where the hell IS this exactly? It doesn't remind me of anything anywhere in the GoT universe.
image.jpg

This misses more and more as you look longer at it.

Is Got Pro really stripped when compared to TWD Pro? It's only the comparison to the LE/Premium.

I care. Stern is going to be making VEs regardless. It is not going to affect their new game production line. Worn LOTR games are currently trading hands for more than a Stern Pro NIB.

For someone like me that doesn't have large amounts of disposable income, I may actually be able to own it someday. A superfan of LOTR gets a brand new one. Stern turns a profit. Seems like a win-win to me. I don't see the harm in it, other than affecting the value of current owner's games, but that is always a risk in the pin market. You own the game, so you fall into this defensive category. So far, only owners of it have really responded this way. I'm not personally attacking you here, just an observation.

You guys act like your opinion means one damn thing to stern. The art wont change so who cares. Dont like dont buy. They dont listen to us on things like this so you might as well just keep it to yourself. We all feel the same way so no reason to voice that you are apart of the hoard.

Couldn't disagree more. There is a reason these things are understated, it is more about the atmosphere and preparing you for something epic. Not jamming it down your eye sockets. Save that for the side art which is only seen if you want it to be.

Hopefully they take the right path with the premium and leave the actors off as the central art theme. Give us some white walkers (where the Hell are the white walkers!), some dragons, some knights in armor, some of the maps, castles, a color that compliments she show. I'm not bothered by the side armor at all, just give the premium the same with out the laser cutout (like ACDC) and if the game plays well, they will sell a ton.

Cabinet artwork looks AWFUL. Possibly the ugliest, worst photoshop job they've ever done. And why the heck is Rob Stark on there as opposed to the myriad of other characters that actually matter?

Another boring fan layout, which I guess all of you lemmings will love.

which is why I said these overhead shots do not reveal well..

When I see all that yellow.. this is what I think of
image-35.jpg

I would have wished a "cruel and grimm" outlook for the game, a bit like walking dead. Now this reminds me more of "alice's adventures in wonderland" -type of thing, i.e. happy happy joy joy, which is nothing like GOT the tv-show is...

Not much discussion about the interactivity with the dragon

This is why Stern has art-work like this, so that we forget to talk about other things

So basically, it sounds like the early consensus is that the artwork is the biggest issue. Not many complaints about layout/toys so far.

I think there's a chance that the Pro model might eventually be more fun than the LE. Or at least offer a much faster and different kind of gameplay.
But this is about what I expected I guess. Not a Hobbit killer, but not quite an Avatar either.

If every color on the playfield/cab were a shade or two darker it wouldn't look too bad. The images we have so far are very sharp/bright, almost look like computer rendered graphics. I am hoping in person things will be more muted.

i agree. nice playfield layout.

Agree - the playfield looks like generic Medieval game #283, not really anything to do with GoT.

we are looking at computer renderings/photoshop. These machines don't exist in real life yet.

Cool - TWD reference!

Put it on location for a few years and don't do any maintenance.

So disapointed!!!!!! Like many I am a big GOT fan, I was waiting for this pin for a long long time and like others I requested Stern to produce it as the show and contents are awesome and if they would do as good as for LOTR it would be a winner.

It's a shame Stern, you just wasted a huge theme and disapointed a lot a fan.

Should have just called it MMII

Leave the actors off as the central art theme? I didn't see a single actor anywhere on the PF, so just how central to the art can it be?

Art isn't ever the easy part when working with an IP holder. IP holders have a vision/design bible, etc in their head of how the property is portrayed and it won't change just because its going on a pinball machine. A pinball machine is not a piece of furniture - it is a piece of commercial equipment designed to make money. IF it turns into a work of art, that is a bonus.

Working with Cartoon Network integrating their beloved characters into videogames, I experienced this same problem firsthand. There are things that the character can and can't do - and just because its going into a videogame - the characters abilities will not be changed to make it fit into the videogame design. You have to be flexible and design around it. Stern makes the best with what they are allowed to create via the contract they sign with the IP holder. Obviously some IP holders "get it" and allow for some flexibility, but others don't and you can see it in the finished product.