Hadn't noticed. Interesting.

Artwork not strong suit on this one. But lots of things happening here.

Fascinating:

Hobbit dragon animated, but no ball action. GoT dragon not animated(?) but ball action.

Hobbit WB real estate, but not a lot of different choices, symmetric layout. GoT nonWB real estate, but many choices and levels.

Between the two, the WB has three flippers, the standard body has four.

Hobbit has MM style trolls. GoT has MM type layout and castle bash.

Hobbit has an LCD. GoT has a DMD video game (?).

Both have lockdown bar buttons.

Software based features are easy for competition to emulate.

Reading the rule cards, seeing the layout, and knowing SR rep, I think this game is going to be a blast to play.

And it is plain in appearance. But not THAT ugly. Depending on how the light shows are orchestrated with RGB LEDs throughout, it could be downright fantastic. And the upper right playfield looks downright sharp.

If STID could overcome its plainess with its gameplay, GoT certainly will. I can't wait to play this one.

That said, I do agree that Stern missed an opportunity to put together a real killer. Too pinball-purist for a color LCD, but at the same time having a sword video mode? (I for one like BOTH LCDs and video modes, but that's just me. Seems their position is contradictory however).

I would have broken up the LEs into the houses: 100 Lannisters, 100 Baratheons, 100 Targaryans, etc. But who cares? Gameplay and code determines longevity. Not what Photoshop effects were used.

This will be a great game, and modded to no end.

The man's got a point.

But that doesn't mean the game won't be fun. In fact, it suggests that it will be. It'll have some Star Trek in it, but slower with the upper playfield being the only route to the left wireform. That one detail alone changes the feel immensely.

Also note that there are MANY games that have similar footprints. Geometry is geometry, after all.

That said, you do have a point. But it cuts both ways is all I'm saying.

If your point is, "Hey, this is just Star Trek, but with more bling, and a higher budget to deliver what SR really intended to deliver," well, a lot of people are going to be AOkay with that. They'll like that just fine.

Man, i thought i was the only one who was meh on the Kiss art! Didn't write on it because not a big Kiss fan anyway, but I saw the backglass and thought it looked like really good high school spiral notebook fan art. Colors are great, but the anatomy was bizarre. And (I think) Gene Simmons' stance was just weird... his legs and feet weren't positioned right to make it look like he was standing at an angle corresponding to the floor. I probably am not making sense, but once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it.

But even there, the Kiss backglass had great color and artistic flourish. It didn't look like a photo, but the cover of a graphic novel. Unlike GoT (LOVE the sketch images for GoT, btw... Would rather have some kick ass inking of those sketches...).

Anyway, read the comment. Had to respond.

I think it will play great, and look great once "alive" with lights. Just that the 2D art isn't as epic as people were expecting, even though clearly art had the budget and effort. Just some questions about the choices.

I think it will be a lot of fun to play. But for the money, I need it to hit on ALL cylinders. NIB, probably not. Gently used, probably yes. On location? Definitely.

Agreed, but it's a little Catch-22ish, isn't it?
Who wants to plonk that kind of coin down without seeing the Premium first, especially when the LE and Premium feature lists are so darned comparable?

I thought they only came one-at-a-time, in the middle.

More power to you, whatever floats your boat. I think you will love it, and I think it looks like fun.

Oh, and Evil Dead!

Well, the Hobbit also has four "trolls" that interact with the ball directly. And as I recall, Hobbit also has a captive ball, which for all intents and purposes, is just like the door bashing toy. And yes, among main toys are the drops. But there are a LOT of individually controlled drops, FWIW. Each of them, arguably, a shot. Also player controlled diverter on the ramps, which also interacts with ball directly.

Doesn't mean it won't be more or less fun. Just sayin' Hobbit has plenty of ball interactivity, too. It just has one flipper less than GoT, and the third flipper is a bit of a mystery (? Smaug kill shot?)...

That is good news.

Of course, if Stern's architecture continues to be accessible via the Pin Browser, heck, WE could put whatever audio we want.

Even genuine Hobbit audio

Yeah, I haven't been able to play it yet. But that seems to be a consistent question mark: the purpose of the third flipper.

And Go Blue.

That's IT! Tampon fight is ON, man!

...Spartan or Buckeye?

We love UM at our house. Both my wife and I attended UM at some point...
... and even we get sick of the fans, admittedly. So I can see where you are coming from. Visiting Ann Arbor and dealing with fans is one thing. Living in Ann Arbor and dealing with them I'm sure is quite another.

Think MSU can take OSU this year (since UM is on year eleven of a five-year rebuild...)?

But how about TWDLEs?

I don't know. I'm just hoping it doesn't come with a shaker motor.

For most of the time of the duration of my pinball hobby, I think I would probably consider focusing on such details of the artwork as has been the case in this thread as a little excessive.

But the current state of high prices for NIB pins, and the diminishing lack of SPACE in my home, mean that every additional pin I purchase NIB really has to have high marks across the board.

That means they have to score solidly in no particular order for ALL the following:

SQUALOR:

-Sound (music AND voice);
-Quality of build;
-Unknown/intangibles (historic interest?);
-Artwork;
-License/theme interest;
-Originality;
-Rules set;

GoT scores for me, from what LITTLE we've seen thus far:
-S=B+ (has real actor call outs, and platform seems compatible with unofficial customization)
-Q=? (who knows: Stern quality on cabinet stickers and Gene's head have been a little shaky, but Stern knows how to build)
-U=B (probably last Stern DMD. Bad because dated, but historically interesting because GoT represents final pin of an era)
-A=C (Not distractingly BAD, but certainly not attractive)
-L=A (GoT is a very, very, recognizable license that has a lot of appeal)
-O=B- (three level ball elevator sounds neat, but this pin just seems like what we've seen before. I'm just not sure we've seen this MANY conventional pin mechtoys on one pin, so that helps)
-R=A- (just reading the rules cards look great and gets me excited to play, but half-grade ding because of software delays means probably won't get to TRY those rules out for a little while...).

So it doesn't seem a BAD pin, but not firing on all cylinders. Certainly one I'd be eager to play on location. But wouldn't be willing to give up the dollars nor space for it since it does not appear to be the complete package.

It'll be fun. Just not NIB fun for me.

I certainly could see the Pro, missing the miniplayfield, being a surprising little speed demon, which, ironically, might make it more SRish than the Premium, with lots of flow.

But his masterpiece? Hmmm.... Well, until it is played, who knows?

I think we mean "magnum opus" when we're writing "masterpiece" here. But your point is taken.

Yes.

Entirely possible.

Can I agree with this statement AND genuinely feel that Stern art might not be keeping up with the Jones'?

I'm asking because I'm a sheep.

My money is on essentially a Vengeance copy.

Stern dupes toys again and again. That's neither entirely good nor entirely bad. It's not too creative, but it is cost effective AND probably results in greater reliability/availability of repair parts.

It is what it is.

That said, having done my share of whining about GoT, I personally really do like the Premium Black ice playfield as a significant improvement over the Targaryan desert playfield. I wish they'd improve the look of the miniplayfield, but it isn't a deal breaker.

I think there is a real possibility that, for the first time, the PRO model will be the best playing version.

I also think that this really needs to be the last DMD pin for Stern, and that absence of a color LCD is nearly considered a waste-of-a-license in GoT. It will be much more so with the next licensed pin should the DMD remain.

I think the rules set will be great, and is the next logical step of choosing-the-song from ACDC. What SR's layouts are losing in creativity between Spider-Man, AC/DC, STID, and GoT, they're making up for in creative rules, especially GoT. I wouldn't own more than two of those four due to redundancy, and I think based on rules, GoT might be the best of the four. But not based on aesthetics.

Finally, if I were Stern, I think the biggest challenges are actually NOT involving art:

-Need to upgrade to LCD, with expertise in manipulating HD images/sound into pin platform, lest licensing-driven sales collapse due to lack of multimedia experience.
-Perception among hobbyists of premium pricing but bargain-level quality (decal peeling, backbox chipping).
-Pricing Stern pins appropriately along the innovation-versus-proven-design axis. To this add: marketing effectively proven-design philosophy's reliability/on-site servicing advantages.

Despite the art, I actually think Stern has the key ingredient of "Fun" down pat. But there are some definite challenges in the road ahead.