Quoted from iceman44:Let's hope the rumors are true that Zombie Yeti is working on the next Stern artwork, Ghostbusters or whatever it is.
Zombie Yeti's first pin we can buy is gonna sell like hot cakes.
Quoted from iceman44:Let's hope the rumors are true that Zombie Yeti is working on the next Stern artwork, Ghostbusters or whatever it is.
Zombie Yeti's first pin we can buy is gonna sell like hot cakes.
Quoted from kaneda:Zombie Yeti's first pin we can buy is gonna sell like hot cakes.
That's what they said about GOT.
Quoted from kaneda:What I can't get over is how no characters are on the playfield. HBO must have prohibited that.
Nah, the collector community is to blame for that. We've complained about "Photoshopped Actors" on the playfields forever...so - they listened. I don't mind characters on playfields as long as they do something dynamic and interesting with them.
Quoted from Rarehero:Nah, the collector community is to blame for that. We've complained about "Photoshopped Actors" on the playfields forever...so - they listened. I don't mind characters on playfields as long as they do something dynamic and interesting with them.
Well then we shot ourselves in the foot because with fantasy theme's, seeing the characters on the playfield helps pull you into that universe. Now we got nothing but shields and gears. Ugh.
this must have really been tough for them to add anything of value to a game given how they have removed just about everything they could to save a buck. But given these plastic throne chairs are probably $5 cost to produce, I suppose it's worth a shot to generate some hype somewhere or to someone. Not sure it's working for us true pinball enthusiasts, though.
Quoted from Hazoff:Jesus, thats the first time I've really seen Magic Girl. What a shame.
JerrySeinfeldShame.jpg
Glad you said it first. It looks like somebody had a gallon of Welch's grape juice and puked all over the game.
Quoted from Rarehero:Nah, the collector community is to blame for that. We've complained about "Photoshopped Actors" on the playfields forever...so - they listened. I don't mind characters on playfields as long as they do something dynamic and interesting with them.
Quite right, nothing wrong with characters on the PF but not mug shots, I really wish they would return to artwork, even bad artwork is better for me than pictures. Stern really has no excuse for that PF but gameplay will decide GOT's fate.
Quoted from beelzeboob:Glad you said it first. It looks like somebody had a gallon of Welch's grape juice and puked all over the game.
I meant it looks good, sorry about that. I agree thats its too purple but man its a real looker otherwise, and what a shame that it won't be made.
Nope...I meant what a shame about how it looks. There's such a thing as too little (GOT) as well as too much (MG).
i've been looking at the 2 shadow fighters on the mini playfield, is that the best they could do? don't tell me HBO said ''ok, let's go with that''
i'm glad they listen (seems like it) the throne is back on the pro PF, maybe not the best place but it's back.
Quoted from beelzeboob:Nope...I meant what a shame about how it looks. There's such a thing as too little (GOT) as well as too much (MG).
Good point. Not my style but I think I would take too much over too little.
With each successive release, not just from Stern but also from everyone else, the market becomes just a little bit more saturated. My guess is the growth of new "collectors"/potential buyers has plateaued compared to how quickly it has grown in the past couple of years. It means that at some point everyone reaches capacity (financially or room wise) and each new release is judged with more skepticism than the previous release.
Im really happy with my collection at the moment. I cant really justify any more games. For me to buy GOT, it would have to be better than the other games in my collection. Otherwise Im happy to pass and wait for something else. Add to this the price increases (both from Stern an also due to the strong USD), and Stern needs to do more to convince buyers.
The problem with GOT, is they've given a lot of people a reason to pass. I dont think they can afford to do that any more.
Quoted from cooked71:Im really happy with my collection at the moment. I cant really justify any more games. For me to buy GOT, it would have to be better than the other games in my collection. Otherwise Im happy to pass and wait for something else.
Well said, I am there for the first time since I started collecting. I will always have a couple games that I know will be gone in a matter of months and be replaced to keep things fresh but most of my pins now are keepers, it will take something special to make me part with them.
Quoted from cooked71:With each successive release, not just from Stern but also from everyone else, the market becomes just a little bit more saturated. My guess is the growth of new "collectors"/potential buyers has plateaued compared to how quickly it has grown in the past couple of years. It means that at some point everyone reaches capacity (financially or room wise) and each new release is judged with more skepticism than the previous release.
Im really happy with my collection at the moment. I cant really justify any more games. For me to buy GOT, it would have to be better than the other games in my collection. Otherwise Im happy to pass and wait for something else. Add to this the price increases (both from Stern an also due to the strong USD), and Stern needs to do more to convince buyers.
The problem with GOT, is they've given a lot of people a reason to pass. I dont think they can afford to do that any more.
Exactly right
Quoted from kaneda:Now we got nothing but shields and gears. Ugh.
I think Shields are a great idea....if they look like this: http://store.hbo.com/imgcache/product/resized/000/488/373/catl/game-of-thrones-magnet-set-house-shields_700.png?k=35e5f0f5&pid=488373&s=catl&sn=hbo
Gritty, worn in feeling to them. This playfield makes them look like they came off of a skittles wrapper.
Quoted from Goronic:For all you Game of Thrones fans - I'll go ahead and say it "I'm sorry"
Oh well, if the gameplay ends up being superb Im sure we will all get over the artwork fiasco in 8 years......
Quoted from e4mafia:I think Shields are a great idea....if they look like this: http://store.hbo.com/imgcache/product/resized/000/488/373/catl/game-of-thrones-magnet-set-house-shields_700.png?k=35e5f0f5&pid=488373&s=catl&sn=hbo
Gritty, worn in feeling to them. This playfield makes them look like they came off of a skittles wrapper.
They are lighted inserts so I'm not sure how gritty you can make them. I'm interested to see how the lighting is with the game.
Quoted from sturner:It seems like artwork is the most important aspect of a pinball machine these days.
Not the most important but with the high prices Stern is charging people have high expectations for all aspects of the machine.
I guess I just don't get it. People watch a TV show and then feel let down that the pinball machine does not meet their expectations. But nobody is holding gun to their heads to make them buy it. Who cares! They used to make crappy looking pinball machines about crappy movies and now people collect them.
Some make it sound like pinball has become some sort of a high class ritual or something.
Quoted from e4mafia:I think Shields are a great idea....if they look like this: http://store.hbo.com/imgcache/product/resized/000/488/373/catl/game-of-thrones-magnet-set-house-shields_700.png?k=35e5f0f5&pid=488373&s=catl&sn=hbo
Gritty, worn in feeling to them.
Maybe if Steve includes one of the Kiss Genes head spinning discs somewhere, the PF can get black crap all over it and will look more gritty.
Quoted from Hazoff:Good point. Not my style but I think I would take too much over too little.
Too much and too little are equally bad.
So what does everybody do? Sit in front of a stupid TV set and for months say "I can't wait for the pinball version, it will be epic" and then start crying when it's not? LOL!!!
The reason HBO wanted (insisted) on a "desert look" to the play field is because it more closely represents a lot of Season 6 filming locations.
Quoted from BoJo:Not the most important but with the high prices Stern is charging people have high expectations for all aspects of the machine.
I don't know. JPop got a million dollars in preorders with just some artwork. People were diving over each other to get their hands on Metallica when a few images were released. There was a revolt with Hobbit over the artwork.
I'm not judging as everyone has their reasons for buying a table. Just saying that I think the smartest approach to selling a machine these days is to just make the machine really pretty and worry about the rest of the stuff later. There are a lot more people claiming they won't buy a game over the artwork than over the gameplay, incomplete code, or durability of parts.
In regards to the high prices, I just think it's really expensive to make pinball machines these days and to get all the bells and whistles people want it'll cost over $10k a machine.
Quoted from o-din:So what does everybody do? Sit in front of a stupid TV set and for months say "I can't wait for the pinball version, it will be epic" and then start crying when it's not? LOL!!!
Pretty much, but now that that's over I'm watching ghostbusters every night til November or so.
Quoted from o-din:So what does everybody do? Sit in front of a stupid TV set and for months say "I can't wait for the pinball version, it will be epic" and then start crying when it's not? LOL!!!
Yes. You don't? Some people.....
I actually was busy trying to get this speakeasy back from the dead today, new boards! Thanks Alltek!
Quoted from centerflank:Yes. You don't?
Nope. When I watch TV which isn't much, the last thing I want is to spend $6000-$8000 on a theme that is soon to be canceled and be stuck with it. But that's just me..
Quoted from o-din:Nope. When I watch TV which isn't much, the last thing I want is to spend $6000-$8000 on a theme that is soon to be canceled and be stuck with it. But that's just me..
Got burnt on that Deadwood pre-order eh?
Quoted from Iceman5000:The reason HBO wanted (insisted) on a "desert look" to the play field is because it more closely represents a lot of Season 6 filming locations.
Was that right before or after they insisted on more bevel and emboss?
The art package is a swing and miss. People will care or they won't. No one will care about trying to pin it on HBO, that's for sure.
I feel bad for Steve Ritchie and Dwight Sullivan, they deserved better. So it goes. I suggest that Stern stop vomiting out art packages that look like Photoshop 101, but also maybe next time skip all the wasted time on 3D renders and don't show anything until you have a machine. It's just gotten worse having all the radio silence broken up by sad little 10 second videos because they don't have a machine to even show the gameplay on, which I'm sure is far superior to the art package.
Quoted from centerflank:Got burnt on that Deadwood pre-order eh?
Worse, he got in on the John From Cincinnati LE.
Quoted from Aurich:Worse, he got in on the John From Cincinnati LE.
I nearly drove my vehicle into a brick wall after watching that garbage.
Quoted from centerflank:Got burnt on that Deadwood pre-order eh?
I really wouldn't want a pinball machine based on any TV show I've seen. Not even the Beverly fu#@ing hillbillies.
Quoted from kaneda:Even with an License to support, so much was possible.
What I can't get over is how no characters are on the playfield. HBO must have prohibited that.
I disagree... keeping actor mugs off the playfield is the best thing that Stern does. Who wants to see a timeless property plastered with actors from a single version of a show and watch it become dated the very next reboot? The Shadow gets no end of criticism for it's actor-based translite. Spider Man has actors from a single rendition that is already out of date (fortunately Stern kept the actors to the plastics and only a little on the translite). How many different Batman pins do we have with different actors plastered on each? Had they all kept to the comic source material they would have remained timeless, but instead they are all dated.
GoT has no animated source material, and the license is largely for the HBO show, so actor mugs is all we have. However I have to give Stern credit for keeping actor mugs to the cabinet and translite art... it's more than plenty, and will give longevity to the title.
I really think that Stern dropped the ball on this one with not putting an LCD in it.. It seems like everyone I talked to that was connected to Stern was saying this one was going to be THE ONE to finally bring Stern past the DMD era and into the LCD (or even Color DMD?) era. I also heard that the dragon was going to swat the ball with it's tail or something.
But the game seems rushed and almost like Stern thinks we'll buy anything as long as it's pinball. To me, this is a sign of a company just wanting to make a wad of cash, not one that cares about Pinball and innovation. Look at the toys in the recent releases... all are just basic magnets, bash toys, or something that moves back and forth on a spring (star trek) or swivel point (Paul Stanley) with a simple coil activating it back and forth (also the AC/DC band, lol). Not to mention bringing back an extremely boring version of the tron disc (Kiss), copying the AC/DC canon with the bow (TWD), and a pathetic ball lock that just spits the ball down the drain (Kiss). The creative part of making a game seems gone, for the most part, and it appears we are just getting a "lets mix this up and do something a little different" games and try to make up for it with code. Even playfield layouts seem copied to some extent.
And yep, I own some of the recent Sterns, so it's partially my fault for supporting games I bitch about, but I buy mine used. I had high hopes for this title, but I think I'm going to pass until I can find that used LE for nice chunk of $ less than it was originally paid for.
So true, Pinball-Wiz....maybe the color display was going to be the centrepiece and they kept the playfield generic for that purpose....doubtful, but another theory.
As Rarerehero said, the pinball community said they didn't want photoshopped character images on playfields and Stern listened. I noticed this with The Walking Dead. It was also close to that unlicensed theme that everyone apparently wanted. No characters from the show on the translite or playfield, just the cabinet and apron. Where it works for the Walking Dead is that you at least have human zombies to break up the artwork.
Quoted from Iceman5000:The reason HBO wanted (insisted) on a "desert look" to the play field is because it more closely represents a lot of Season 6 filming locations.
Makes sense to me. However, it is possible to stay true to the 'desert look' without the playfield art looking this corny. Just seems like the main PF lacked creativity or any inspiration. Kinda mailed in. People are saying this pin layout/design has been 2 years in the making. I'm thinking that the layout combined with a unique well thought out ruleset will make for a pretty fun pin to play. You'd think Stern would make sure the physical PF design has PF art that at the very least wouldnt hurt its overall sales. I think the art on the cab/trans of the LE looks good and is not the problem. The real problem was the poorly thought out/executed PF art.
I'm not saying this is the end of the world or that this pin will not be liked in the end. Only a potential buyer & fan of the theme expressing some disappointment. I went from hmm I'm excited about this release and may need to find a way to add it. To well I'm going to wait and see how I feel about it down the road. I don't think art is the most inportant aspect of a pin but do think it is very important especially in the expanding home collector market.
I understand the desire for a LCD but wouldn't that add to the cost that everyone is already up in arms about? I think the color DMD looks good and would like a move to that. Not sure I really need the giant LCD adding $500 to the cost.
Quoted from sturner:I understand the desire for a LCD but wouldn't that add to the cost that everyone is already up in arms about? I think the color DMD looks good and would like a move to that. Not sure I really need the giant LCD adding $500 to the cost.
I don't see how an LCD can add to the cost other than Stern just using it as an excuse to raise prices again. As technology goes, DMD/plasma display is more expensive than an LCD.
Maybe the day will come when HBO will theme a TV series after a pinball machine and then the home collector will really have something to whine about.
There's got to be a story behind the playfield artwork. Greg Freres has proven himself to be a master time and again. I can't believe tools account for the design choices we're seeing. Was he mad at Stern? Did he actually do it? Did he have a different version that wasn't approved by HBO and had to put something out with no time?
Quoted from o-din:So what does everybody do? Sit in front of a stupid TV set and for months say "I can't wait for the pinball version, it will be epic" and then start crying when it's not? LOL!!!
But it has reached a point where everything related to this pinball machine ist "sh@§", "the worst ... ever", etc etc.
Reminds me of my 6 year old nephew: When he is upset about a small aspect of something the whole thing is worthless and suddenly everything is wrong, regardless of all other aspects of the object in question being spot on.
Now even the LE backglass is regarded as "the worst ever" even though i can literally name dozens that are FAR worse.
I watched a few episodes GoT after the release of the pin, never really seen more than the opening credits up to then. Now i have less clue than ever what the problem is. Yes, a lot of "dark" things happen in the show but the visuals are colorful, bright and clear. There is not much dark or mysterious vibe in the visuals.
Quoted from kaneda:I know it's not real, but all you have to do is compare GOT art to this (which only cost JPOP $10,000) and it makes you want to cry about what could have been possible. Even with an License to support, so much was possible.
What I can't get over is how no characters are on the playfield. HBO must have prohibited that.
IMG_0871.jpg
IMG_0895.jpg
I'm not here to bang my own drum, but this is inaccurate, John did not pay Zombie, in total, what he owed him.
Quoted from Baiter:I disagree... keeping actor mugs off the playfield is the best thing that Stern does. Who wants to see a timeless property plastered with actors from a single version of a show and watch it become dated the very next reboot? The Shadow gets no end of criticism for it's actor-based translite. Spider Man has actors from a single rendition that is already out of date (fortunately Stern kept the actors to the plastics and only a little on the translite). How many different Batman pins do we have with different actors plastered on each? Had they all kept to the comic source material they would have remained timeless, but instead they are all dated.
GoT has no animated source material, and the license is largely for the HBO show, so actor mugs is all we have. However I have to give Stern credit for keeping actor mugs to the cabinet and translite art... it's more than plenty, and will give longevity to the title.
You're looking at this from a home based collectors prospective, something that was pretty uncommon until 10 years ago or so.
When all the games you cite were designed, they were trying to grab peoples attention out in public using art from movies that were current. These machines were designed make back their money in a short time then fade into oblivion. There was zero consideration given to winding up in some nerds spare bedroom 20 years down the road.
Quoted from o-din:I guess I just don't get it. People watch a TV show and then feel let down that the pinball machine does not meet their expectations. But nobody is holding gun to their heads to make them buy it. Who cares! They used to make crappy looking pinball machines about crappy movies and now people collect them.
Some make it sound like pinball has become some sort of a high class ritual or something.
Are you dogging my JM?
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-game-of-thrones/page/65 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.