Then why didn't they show this? What they did show is nothing like what is described here.

Rob

My take is it can come fairly close and listening to it, it sounded like they do, but I am just going off of listening to the interviews. Was it BS? Time will tell.

Ya know, when I wrote this facebook post on a personal friends private facebook profile I of all people should have remembered that if you put it on the Internet: it can be copy pasted. lol. Not that I don't stand by anything that I said, I just didn't want people to interpret it as some sort of official statement.

Super exciting times in pinball, not just because of Ghostbusters, (which will be my first NIB premium game! Yay!) but because of everything we have in the fire for this year. Huge year. A year that will be remembered. You'll see why soon enough.

Anyways, I'm around so shoot me a PM if you have a question, but don't expect me to jump in and interact much here. Better to let you guys have your own space.

If you say it: I read it. Remember that.

I started my journey in pinball right here on this forum 4 years ago, so I've been there. Speculating, wondering, guessing. It's part of the fun. Takes up time while you wait for official releases or your machine to arrive.

You will absolutly see HD LIVE gameplay video, with multiple angles, and multiple players, soon.

Love you guys. The team at Stern Pinball, everyone, is committed to making the best pinball product. Some of the guys... It's been their lives work making these things... This what they do. It's easy to think that someone goofed on something... And I know I used to... But that was only because I was ignorant. I didn't know. These guys have drawings and schematics and 3D printed test parts for stuff you won't see until 2017 and beyond. It's a colossal operation... and it's growing...

See you at an event or anytime on facebook. -Jared

Got me. what they did do is the one part of the interview where it mentions the ghost dribbling the ball. IMO

Can you guys just stop playing games? What is the deal with Stern avoiding all of the questions? I saw the same question posted many, many times over on the video today on Stern's Facebook: Can it work like regular slingshots? Instead of answering the question that people care the most about, Stern just cherry picks easy posts to respond to and ignores the rest.

I've been saving up and holding off on buying a machine until I saw what ghostbusters had to offer, but I'm seriously so turned off by the unnecessary mystery involved in ordering a $7000 product. I'm probably just going to buy a $2000 Williams from the early 90s and call it a day.

Or you could just hold off and wait and see how it plays in person and decide for yourself? Some of you people act like it's a critical emergency that we know everything about everything exactly when you want. The dang game isn't even released yet. Plenty of time to try before you buy if you're that concerned. These machines are going to be made for a long time, I'm guessing, besides the LE which only a handful of people can buy anyway.

Sitting on a GB till you know if the game is right for you and buying a ~2K Williams isn't a bad idea though. I don't think I would ever buy a NIB Pinball machine without playing it extensively. Only now am I ready to buy a Met Pro now that it's been tried and true.

I don't get it. I think the point of a pinball machine is that it tries to make you drain the ball and not make it easy for us to keep it in play. Now Stern does something (which I think is GREAT innovation) and people whine about losing core functionality.

There IS NO core functionality in a pinball machine except for the flippers! The rest is up to the designer. My opinion is that people that don't like change should buy on old machine and not look at the newer ones. Let the rest of us enjoy the new stuff the designers come up with.

Stern games take about 2 years to fully mature. By that time, you will still be able to get a premium. If anyone is worried about the magna slings, I would just wait until you get a chance to play. I know there is going to be a dead flip video of the le at some point like what they did for the pro. The collective furor is just amusing.

Anything less than a 24h-livestream from the Stern factory with a webcam in every single office and above every single desk seems not acceptable these days...

Exactly and a bathroom cam to assure we are covering if all employees are washing their hands after using the restroom as it could influence my decision to purchase the next Stern game and don't even get me started if they use paper towels or air dryers.....mind blowing stuff that will affect all my decisions in life!!!

Some posters forget what social media was like before stern put dedicated resources on it. Thinking post wrestlemania. Talk about spoiled. Sheesh!

Whilst the video of the magna slings really doesn't show anything - there's no interaction between the 2 magnets, there's no special tricks we've been hearing about, it's just randomized magnet stuff like most magnet games - it's done a great job of generating hype and adding another 10 pages of Pinside talk during an otherwise quiet time. Got us distracted from production delays and certainly took a lot of heat away from the KISS code delay.

Exactly what Jared has been employed for.....hype management.

Wow, 300+ posts in half a day. Clearly, the video hit some nerves. Personally, I'm unsure about it too, but I think it's premature to argue one way or the other. This premium is one to wait and play, or at least watch some good gameplay video before deciding. Fortunately, there's so much interest that it will be made for a long time, so no need to stress, just be from Missouri about it for the time being.

Stern said that the video doesn't represent all of the effects...Even John T. said that the balls can be passed from one magnet to the other.

What you saw in the video was a test of some of the movements of the magnetic slings, not all. Just wait until they are actually used in gameplay with certain patterns being triggered based on the mode you are in with unique sound affects. I also heard the slings movement, such as passing the ball from one magnet to the next, could trigger a cool unique DMD animation of ghosts messing with the ball.

For this title I'm glad the old traditional slingshot that produces the same ball movement has been replaced with a unique, innovative and gameplay enhancing feature. Overall the magnetic slings sounds like fun!

I think you misunderstood my post. I'm saying the video doesn't show anything of magnets' capabilities. I know Stern will use the capabilities to their full extent and it will be great. I meant we should not read too much into the video as a representation of how the magnets will be implemented. The video was just a small teaser/filler.

Good catch- I hope the scoop protector makes it into the production version

I wonder what those two inserts at each slingshot will be used to indicate? They're not there at all on the pro.

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Quite right.

Also if Stern is reading this, then surely they know people are looking at the ramp (both ramps actually on the LE) and want to see them being made from the flippers. How they work etc...

We are curious how those two ramps will work. Can we please get a video?

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I thought the video was pretty cool, but was immediately concerned that if this is how the slings work all the time, it might ruin the gameplay.
I took a deep breath, remembered that one or two people at Stern know a little more about pinball than even I do, and went back to my normal life.
Looking forward to gameplay video when it's ready.

This is so true. Let's all just put the pitch forks away until we see actual game play video and THEN we can laud it as the greatest thing ever or bring out the pitch forks as appropriate...

I've given up theorizing about how the magna slings on the Premium will play until I actually get to play it. Since ive never played a game that uses them, there is no way to know what they'll be like. There's nothing to compare them to.

Stern doesn't have to answer any questions and we don't have to buy their product. Wait until their is actual premium gameplay video or even better an opportunity to play one. That way you will know exactly what you are getting with code and features. If you don't like a feature or how Stern does business then you just saved yourself thousand of dollars.

Jared thanks for taking the time to swing in and post here, I wish you would post more often!

PS. I promise if you start posting more often I won't pull a Shatner on you

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I'm fine with the magnaslings.. I'm sure they will be cool. I just really hope they do not do weird things like put the ball down the middle. Slingshots always kick the ball into play, and never put the ball down the middle. 95% of the time the slings put the ball in play well enough some nudging or skill can save the ball if they get put into a dangerous place, or at least make you feel like you *could have* saved the ball.. That's what makes pinball so fun.

You know what's not fun? When a magnet trick throws the ball SDTM and you had absolutely NO chance to save it.. Anyone who has TWD knows the prison SDTM sucks, and everyone who plays the machine absolutely hates that. The Well Walker can do it also, but very rarely.

There's something about a magnet causing a drain that really irritates me. As long as the magnaslings don't pull some BS un-savable "trick" like that - or at least don't give you the feeling you could have saved it - I'm going to be really bummed out.

Since the guys at Stern know more then me at pinball, then I'm sure they'll make it work now. Then again, my prison on TWD still throws the ball SDTM and they never addressed that in the code after all that time

You mean like every other game with magnets? Iron Man, Spider Man, Tron, TAF...

Not Shadow!

Yup, I mean, everyone just hates the added randomness of The Power during multiball on TAF. We all hated having three magnets that totally fuck with the ball trajectory so much that it was a total failure............

I kid, but with all honesty maybe play it first before you judge if it's too random for pinball.

EXACTLY what I did....exactly.

I'll be enjoying my JM for at least 2 months while waiting for GB Prem to come out, and if the general consensus is "boo, hiss!" then I pull th eject handle while playing a game I know I love and looking for another game with the cash I saved from not buying GB Prem (if it works out that way).

I wonder if there is no control with slings at all (just random), or if they'll be somewhat controllable like mini playfield in TZ

While this is certainly true for probably most people here, and while I'm new to all of this, I've found that stern had a pretty spotty track record. Someone on reddit said they are known for releasing "half-baked" stuff, and everything I've read seems to validate that, at least to some degree. And yes... it's a good point that we should play the game before judging it, but playing a premium or le is just not feasible for some people in some areas. Furthermore, Stern is advertising/marketing/hyping their games trying to get people excited to buy them... so they're inviting all of this speculation by teasing information but leaving the most important questions unanswered.

Believe me. I want to be excited and I want to buy this, but I haven't reached the point where I can just commit such a large sum of money on the principle that they know more about it than I do, especially with some of their recent issues.

Over 10,000 post of pure BS. This game is the best since the creation of pinball to the magnetic slings suck. What a joke.

Jared was quoted earlier that he's seen the slings do more than we saw in that video, and here he is saying he's buying a Premium. So, I'm not going to get my titties in a twist over that facebook test video.

I thought I knew you from somewhere ! Loved you in Fight Club

I don't know if I agree with the spotty track record, nobody can make everyone happy. I think Stern does a good job in doing what it does, manufacture pinball games that are fun. I agree some people can't play the game before judging it but they can wait till others do and listen to the feedback. Most can go play it though I would say before buying. If you are going to spend $4-7K on a game depending on model chosen you can afford to drive far and find one to play. Heck look at the Pinside map and you might have someone close to you that has the very game you wish to play. Yes Stern is advertising/marketing/hyping their games...smart business practice. Yes they are inviting speculation like every other company when they make an announcement...people are going to talk about it..its wanted and the nature of the beast. Could they do better with their communications...I would say yes they need to improve on this but from what I have seen they have improved a lot from where they used to be in this area. I don't think Stern expects anyone to be at the point where they feel they should have to commit to a purchase at this point, I think they want you to be at the point that you are interested and when they are available for purchase if you like what you see you will pull the trigger. They will be manufacturing these for a good bit of time for you to decide.

Soo..... any other reports of distributors *other* then Automated wanting the rest of the money for LE pre-orders and saying they'll ship in two weeks?

I can say that one of the top recommended distributors here on Pinside is not asking for the remaining balance or saying the LE's will ship anytime soon, if that matters.

You mean like every other game with magnets? Iron Man, Spider Man, Tron, TAF...

When did they add magnets to Tron??

My distributor -- not automated -- asked for LE payment. Now paid up.

I like the slings. I like different and unique stuff.

If want to play cookie cutter fan layouts I'll play my Ac/dc, SM and Lotr, all great pins.

So wtf is all the whining about?

Don't like the slings get a pro

When are they shipping! All I care about is the unboxing thread

Did they provide a shipping ETA?

I said a few pages back that my distributor (who is reputable) confirmed 2-3 weeks for LE.

If you don't have a chance to play it yourself, just wait a few months until most of Pinside has played it and shared their opinions in this thread. One thing guaranteed, there will be no shortage of opinions and videos.

I'm in on an LE through Automated. They have not mentioned anything about shipping dates and have not asked me to pay my balance.

The other benefit of waiting a few months or even longer (apart from making a completely informed decision, having bugs ironed out and more complete code) is there will be a whole production line full of new Stern titles that haven't been released yet. And you'll still be able to buy GB.

Late April to start LE shipments.

I agree with Cooked on waiting if you have doubts, however, I thought TWDLE would be great the day I unboxed it, and it was

The experience of playing through all the code updates was really kind of fun.

You knew Lyman was going to crush it, plus theme, integration etc

If it's a unique and different game to flip then I'm ok with unfinished code as long as it gets finished within a reasonable amount of time

I'm still excited to see them in action. Doesn't deter me from getting a premium at all. I think it's a cool innovation.

Wow this is nice to hear was prepared for June now it looks like the LE should be out before mid may, wonder if this means we will see le video this week