I agree. The whole issue is moot because it will be included at some point.
But still fun to talk about.

I'd rather have less active slings on the Prem/LE, then the slings on the Pro that end up in an outlane drain every.single.time. You would be hard pressed to find a gameplay video of a Pro in action that doesn't end up losing the ball out those ginormous outlanes once the ball even kisses those slings. You might as well just step off the machine when the ball touches the slings on a Pro, because you know what comes next.

I thought the sling strength is adjustable on the PRO? No?

In theory I agree, but I've never liked the idea of the version that costs more monies being easier...that just doesn't sit right with me.

+100 Just turn down the slings...

I personally think anyone saying the slings not activating a good thing is just justifying the $$$ they are spending on this thing. If you hit a sling shot with any force it should activate magnetic or not. Sorry guys

That said I don't think it a show stopper, but lets not try and say its a good thing.

Its not that it is easier, it just looks and plays much cooler. Some of those effects and sounds when the ball hits the slings are pretty awesome. This is coming from a guy who was very hesitant about the slings in the first place. Its not easier, it just balances the game and is clearly how the machine was intended to play.

Hey well I think anyone saying the slings are a bad thing are just justifying the $$ they are saving on a Pro

I don't think all of us will unanimously agree on them, since they are such a polarizing feature. Sounds like there will be those who like the Pro, and those who like the Prem/LE's.

Right...the way it was intended to play...the slings not ending in an "outlane drain every.single.time."

I'm just speculating, but if I'm right, I suspect there would still be some room for tweaking the sensitivity somewhat, there is probably a zone on the sling that will allow the ball to behave as you'd expect. Let's assume the responsiveness currently means that 50% of bounces to the sling activate the magnet.

If you adjust the sensitivity to enlarge the activation zone by quarter/half an inch either way and it would significantly boost the responsiveness (maybe to 80-90%), enlarge the zone, and probably not make it that much sporatic. Having 2 switches would make it much, much more responsive (100% of expected hits) but very sporadic.

I think all will be fine, and there will still be room for adjustment.

Hey I am still in on a premium, just calling a spade a spade..if the magnet slings are cool(and I think they are) then why not have them fire more often! If they aren't firing because they don't work well then thats another issue. I overall think I like the magnet slings, but I will have to play it and see. Really hard to tell watching the stream.

Only time will tell, but anyone care to speculate on which model competition will embrace?

That may actually be the deciding factor for me. I've been leaning towards getting a Prem, but I'd hate to be so used to it that I get smoked on the Pro.

I always assume Pro, less stuff to break and go wrong; but it's just a guess.

Kinda my guess too, though I've never played an AC/DC pro in competition.

I think likely the pro as well, mainly because of the slings they may been seen as too "random" for a tournament.

Or too "Not Worky."

Off topic segue on bad language:

We often hear people say, "what's the big deal if a pinball machine has bad or offensive language, children hear far worse and that's just part of everyday life".

First, I agree children hear (and say) far worse language, I would say comparable to most R rated films, at a pretty young age. I think this is fairly normal. They just don't do it in front of their parents. My recollection is it started at around 8 years old for me (back in 1971 in a middle class suburb in CA).

They don't do it in front of their parents because they are usually taught that it is inappropriate. So, children learn where and when it's okay to use "bad" language. I tend to agree that indiscriminately using bad language is socially frowned upon in many circles and often reflects poorly on the person doing it.

In a similar way, a pinball machine using bad language is indiscriminate in who it affects, other than it's location. So, I can understand parents who are trying to teach their children where and when bad language is appropriate being concerned with such language in a game that they choose to put on display in their home, as it tacitly condones that behavior.

I've watched parts of the stream but haven't watched the whole thing yet. For those that have, did you show the factory floor at all or talk about the LE being on the line? I would assume it's on the line right now and maybe we'll be getting them in the next week or two. I know when they filmed the pro they walked around the factory floor and posted pictures of the pro on the line and was hoping we'd see the same for the LE.

Just called my distributor.
They said Stern just contacted them today to say that the Premiums have been pushed back an addition month.
And they still had no ETA on my Pro model.
We are getting one of each.

Someone mentioned magnet burn. Is this something to consider? and if so, how can
you prevent or lessen the wear?

Thanks

Undetermined if worth considering until it's a reality. Plenty of people know one way or the other around here of course.
Putting mylar on the area would protect the playfield....if the game doesn't already come with it installed in that area.

We're talking about a game...not a person...and frankly, bad language is the last thing I'd be concerned about when it comes to what games expose the general public to. Have you seen the last 20 years of video games? Have you seen the DMD animations on TWD? Violence and guns...and those machines are everywhere. They are largely seen as entertainment and not condoning that kind of behavior.

I'm sure Stern will stick a family mode on the game...and, as a long-time parent, I totally understand wanting to have control over what a child is exposed to. Each to their own... but if Stern chooses to let the accepted PG nature of the film stick with the Pinball, then that's their right and choice and folks can vote with their wallets and patronage of locations.

Right but that's not as bad as swearing...Gaithersburg is in 'Merica right?

So is that July for premiums ?

Yes.

[familymode]
Aww shucks.
[/familymode]

This is one of those times where I wish Pinball Browser still had an export feature. I completely understand and support Oga83's reasoning for removing it, but it would have been so convenient to take the offending callout, export it, edit it and reimport.

No LE/premium buyers trying to justify their purchases here.

Yes. I'll take the pro slings for now and upgrade when they look better. They looked flat to me, with the occasional clean push. I'm sure they'll be awesome one day

SR also said that a family mode would be put in ST, but that never happened.

Rob

Sounds like based on this discussion I'm one of the only guys who actually like the magnaslings in this thread, or everyone else who does is staying quiet. Could also be the haters of the slings are also more vocal with their opinions. oh well, can't please everyone

My ST LE has a family mode/adult content option..

Stern's reputation for code support is not great. I wouldn't trust a "maybe later" from Stern to actually happen.

This is Pinside.
But I like them as well. And the overwhelming response during the video feed chat was positive as well.
Most of the talk was positive discounting the crazy's the were impersonating you and some others. lol

I'm waiting until I actually play an LE (hopefully with tightly-gapped sling switches) to voice an opinion either way. Yesterday's stream was inconclusive, but promising.

Um.... ST does have family mode guys.

I like the mag slings alot not worried at all about sensitivity they looked fine last night but I am sure adjustments will be possible. I feel some people are grasping at straws with what's wrong with the prem/le model I think we're starting to run our of things to worry about

2 pics from the launch party at MBrew in Ferndale, MI last night.

image_(resized).jpeg

image_(resized).jpeg

I think it's much easier for kids to separate the make believe violence in video games and movies from real life. Modes of conduct are pretty clear cut and most children don't see the people around them going around shooting people or robbing banks, etc...

Language is a lot more subtle and I would argue its use (or misuse) will have a bigger impact on their lives.

I'm actually less concerned with trying to control what my child is exposed to as I am with being consistent in whatever it is I am trying to teach them.

I also like what I saw, and heard, from the Magnaslings last night. I think they will enhance the gameplay. Jack said he thought they were cool. Of course there is no substitute for seeing them in real life, but my concerns have been allayed after watching the live stream.

Grasping at straws? I was really interested in what they would do with the magna-slings, and after the video it was just "meh". I saw them do some cool things, but most of the time they didn't even activate at all. It's not like they do anything bad, they just don't really do much at all.
If there's any other game that had slingshots that only activated 5-10% of the time people would say it's broken, but for this somehow people say it's great. I don't get it.

Most of us understand that a tweak to the switch gap will make them far more active than what we saw yesterday. That's why people think it's great.

WOW... We really are a bunch of geeks!

Yup, everyone knows you can tweak conventional kickers to have more power or be dead if you want there is no reason to think the mag slings will always act like what we saw last night.

If only he had a parent to teach him not to repeat things he heard in a movie or on a pinball machine at school... Should Stern write a letter to his principal too? Maybe chip in some lunch money from their profits?

Your original was probably downvoted because it sounds pretty lame and like your kid is completely helpless unless Stern removes "shit" and "dick" from some movie lines.

But when never seeing a magna-sling with a tighter switch gap to make them more active, how do you know what they will be like?
It's not like any of us have ever seen them before to know, so how can we judge on anything other than what we saw in the video?

If we can adjust them to be more active they may be super cool, or they may shoot the ball right down between the flippers, we have no way to tell so I can't judge them on anything other that what I've seen in the video.

I only watched the video for a bit. Was there much action to the crossover ramp? That's one of the major differences between the Pro and the Premium/LE.

What lines are you afraid he'll say at school?

His post kind of doesn't make sense to me. The magnets are enormous and can pulse all over the place. There is no requirement that the ball get pulled by the magnet perpendicularly away from the sling, is there? Pretty sure you can see plenty of angled sling shots in the dead flip video?

Either way, I concede they look great and definitely seem to make the game easier than the Pro (assuming they were playing on default magna-sling settings.) Although, I might be so rattled from hearing the word "dick" that I am playing really really badly on the Pro.

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