It hurts that some Pros and LEs are essentially the same and others are vastly different. GOT is scary different. Metallica, WWE, and really all of the rest of the games are very similar in terms of gameplay. I'm hoping they make an awesome Pro like Metallica was, where the playfield is unchanged from the LE and the LE has extras that only diehard fans will want.

No. GB3 would have involved the Ghostbusters going to hell.

The videogame script was written first by those making the game, and then Aykroyd and Ramis went over it to make it sound more like Ghostbusters by adding in their jargon.

Yeah you are correct technically! Dan is the executive producer so I am sure he didn't have any input at all and people understand GB3, simple people like me
I am really looking forward to the pin AND the movie.

Will the LCD be color or traditional dots that is the big question...like MMR....color dots later at an up charge. Seems very stern like to me.

Sounds good but did she say what size....like WOZ size or dmd size or in between size?

Sigourney Weaver... getting her hat trick of pinball machines! Woohoo!!

That's very true in a lot of cases. EP credits are thrown around in many ways.

Pretty soon we will all be wearing these!

ebay.com link: itm

Exec producer could be anything. It's an ego tag half the time. Watch the credits at the beginning of a Family Guy episode..about 22 producers of some kind listed.

Yes. Dan Aykroyd has essentially come out and stated that Ghostbusters The Video Game is Ghostbusters 3.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters:_The_Video_Game#cite_note-14

Interesting Wiki read. I've played the game through and while it's not a perfect game, it's a perfect Ghostbusters game. The entire cast returned to do voice work for it including characters from GB2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters:_The_Video_Game

They're the writers...on sitcoms, writers get producer credit after a certain amount of seasons.

Because it's Stern and because: http://sternpinball.com/games/spider-man-vault/spider-man-vault

While we can hope the price won't go up, I think most of us know the reality and are bracing for the sticker-shock.

Chris

SM Vault is priced in line with other Stern Premium products & has "beyond Pro" stuff like blinged armor, shaker and metal apron/rails.

A display is just a display. If anything Stern has to do it as every single rival has. It just makes their product look better - they don't have to "punish" the customer over it. Again, an LCDs cost less than DMD and artists are paid the same either way. It shouldn't affect the price points of the 3 tiers.

The amount of actors from the original films that did voice work for Ghostbusters The Video Game, including Bill Murray, makes be believe that Stern had to of at least gotten Dan Aykroyd to do custom call outs for the game.

Maybe a bottle of Crystal Skull Vodka will come with every LE? haha

9695477-large_(resized).jpg

Dang....those things look pretty good.

Depends on the actors' willingness to do it and be good sports. If they (Weaver / Ackroyd / Murray) ask for their market fee, or even a quarter of it, there's no way any pinball maker is going to pay that.

Maybe one or some will do it gratis, for a nominal fee, or quid pro quo for a machine. Maybe not.

From what I've heard over the years Dan Aykroyd loves Ghostbusters, heck he helped create it, and has often done anything to promote the franchise over the years. I think he would jump (with some cash of course) to do custom callouts on a Ghostbusters pinball machine that will be around for decades to come. I'm sure hiring Dan Aykroyd still isn't cheap but having one or more of the original actors in the game do custom callouts will only result in more sales for the game.

I can absolutely see Aykroyd doing custom callouts, and that would be f-ing amaze-balls. I really enjoyed the video game because everyone came back. It really was Ghostbusters 3.

I like what they did with the SMvE, but I guess I have a hard time seeing where the extra cost of the machine is justified (even with what you listed). With that being said, I only know what I see and read here, so... I don't know much.

I agree with you on the LCD thing. LCD's are EVERYWHERE and they come in ANY size someone needs. So here's to hoping Stern executes it well and the consumers don't get hosed over it.

Chris

I purchased my SM NIB for $4500 including shaker and shipping and tax.:. Now $7500?? $3000 price increase for new art, sculpted toys and sound FX... Seems a bit greedy, no? I can't imagine thir cost has gone up more than $1000 when using old code and playfield. I would think their cost has actually gone down. Why not just offer new code and a translite for $1000? Bad move IMO. Bring on GB and let this one die.

Oh I don't think it's justified - but I can see the rationale behind it and how it fits in with their current product line

You are comparing the price you paid to a price no one is paying.( in the USA anyway)
Please stop using the $7500 as an example people.
The price increase is $2000 not $3000.
Not that that will make you feel any better.

The only thing worse than the Ghostbusters reboot, is when they tried to reboot the Honeymooners a few years ago.

510A96XMH0L_(resized).jpg

Jody Dankberg had confirmed the first game after Spider-Man would have an LCD in the Polygon.com article.
Stern then later retracts his statement and says No LCD on next title.
Can't imagine Jody would make that large of a mistake as he knows what game will be first.
Back to a Stay Tuned status

GB the video game for PS3 was awesome. Both story wise and gameplay but it was very buggy. Still good either way. I love this franchise, grew up with it as many others did.

A Ghostbusters pin is my ultimate dream pin but I'm afraid It will start in the €6k range here. I might afford a Pro option if I really wanted to but to be honest, NIB pins isn't a reality for me. Especially considering I had to get a limited when it's GB.

Sigh...wish it hade come out in 90/91 as an early DMD pin.

For me I am not that bothered as a LCD would be nice but if it keeps the price down on GB then I am happy for a DMD - sort of suits the old movie - which I think some one else said a few pages back.

Actually I was told by Stern's Dave Peterson when TWD debuted in Amsterdam that if they would be doing an LCD on games, they would also have to take an extra license for the video rights and likeness rights of actors pictured and such. Those fees may still be less than what the difference in costs is between a dmd and an LCD, but I wouldn't be surprised if you'll see a markup anyway. apparently there's also more labor involved in video than dots...

Am i the only one who likes "old" stuff like this?

MedievalMadnessDMD_(resized).png

CircusVoltaireDMD_(resized).png

I think most of the people that don't mind of stern keep pumping out DmD machines haven't properly played woz. There is way too much info they need to show on the screen in that game. Can you imagine GoT with a big LCD. You can see each house progress..
Games are too complicated today to have a tiny DmD. Plus they are ugly

don't get me wrong I would love it to have a dmd as it is going to be a sweet game but if it isn't ready for a lcd so be it, it is one of my dream themes and plus I would rather pay around the low $8k instead of in the $12 for a Woz. There isn't $4k value in the screen as you play the playfield. In saying that Woz is very impressive with the use of the screen. In the end it is just a speculation thread with some small facts thrown in here and there.

I'd prefer a smaller LCD (Woz looks like those advert screens installed in any airport toilet in the world) over high voltage crap anyday. But I'd still prefer a retro pixel graphics look over 32-bit video stripped right out the movie. That would be lazy.

Anyone that played Shovel Knight knows what I'm talking about.

When the LCDs come out, you just know someone will be selling red DMD conversion kits

And what about the time necessary to do the better graphics and animation? Or what about the sound production that is going to have to go with that video? Are we really trying to say full production video integration is just the same as animated sequence integration?

Or like we've seen JJP have to tackle.. trying to integrated/repurpose original video content into pinball-related content.

None of this is as simple or cheap as DMD dots. We have multiple examples of this.. from Pin2k's designers.. to JJP now. We know this takes more time, more people, more resources.

It takes a lot more of.. the most expensive resource... skilled artists/creators. That is increased development costs and time... sunk into each title that is hard to repurpose or reuse.

I think most people are stuck in the mindset that we are going to see a JJP like LCD.

This new tilted display cabinet is designed around the viewing angle of an lcd. It's going to be very similar to color dmd with occastional fmv clips.

Correction: A Stern Pinball representative contacted Polygon to say that the LCD display would be announced later in 2016, but that it won't be in the first machine after Spider-Man, contrary to Dankberg's comment.

Red dots for GB. I'm not surprised.

For me, a supplemental playfield LCD would be much appreciated even if the main display was not LCD

It would be great but I'm a bit skeptical.

Who cares if it has a LCD display or not. Everyone will have a million other things to bitch about when/if it's released.

No such thing as really trying...that's a decision that has to be made before coding starts, I would think. Either they're planning on an LCD for GB or not. They can't "try" to get it done, then decide to switch back. Makes no sense. If it's an LCD and it's taking longer than expected, I would expect a delay on GB instead of scrapping the idea entirely.

That said, the leaked translite (if it's the real deal) is the same shape as a normal translite, which would lead me to believe that it's either a DMD display again, or a really small LCD. And what's the point of an LCD screen if it's the same size as a DMD? Not a whole lot you can do visually with a small area like that. I would hope it's a little bigger, like TBL is, at the very least.

Don't tell that to ColorDMD!

Com on man, I would expect you to understand this more than most. Hi res animations are a whole other beast and a lot more difficult than dots. This will most certainly add cost to the game. You're not just slapping video clips up there, you are now developing hi res animations for everything else. Much more time consuming.

Don't worry Boobie, its NOT the same size.

Unless something goes wrong again in "testing", GB will have an LCD, a significant change in size and placement and we can put the era of the DMD in the rear view mirror with Stern.

Ask Keith and JJP how difficult the integration is.

Depends what the approach is. My expectation for Stern is to approach the display like they always have, but in color. Show the score - then a clip when you hit something. Intro clips for multiball. Back to score. Look at Iron Man, for example. It's mostly score and movie clips. There are a few custom dots of IM shooting the letters or flying thru he scene as a transition - but if all that was done in the same style but HD, it would be similar amount of labor. They could just use a style guide still of IM to shoot or fly, maybe some After FX for shots and explosions. I don't think they're gonna go WOZ or Hobbit on their display.

I'd settle for a Hi Rez dmd, that seems to me to be the next jump for Stern cuz that's what they are putting into the new MMR so they have experience with these, right.

Hopefully its not a JJP sized LCD. I am hoping its closer to the larger Sega DMD size. Then again, I am partial to LCD displays that size on pins.

Is anyone hearing the number on how many limited editions there will be?

Yeah...but they're working with stuff that already exists. Why would you make it the same small size if you have the freedom to make it bigger? (Is what I tell my wife every night...)