I think that is just a clear plastic with black (and the number 41) on the bottom art layer of it. I believe the speck on top are dust and what you are seeing as being "chipped up" is just the way clear plastic looks on it's edges sometimes. It may be roughed up, but it would seem to me the block and pieces below that would be showing signs of abuse also if that were the case (which they aren't).

It seems they could have made that area a bit more appealing. I can understand it needing a cover and I'm guessing the plastic cover can't be directly on it (which is why it needs the bottom nuts for spacers), but it seems the bolts coming out the top are way longer than they need to be and it looks like something could have been done to make it look a bit more finished. Maybe they decided plain black was "plain" and that is what they were looking for.

plastic_(resized).jpg

Add X-Men LE to that list. Down $1000+ from NIB price and it had no premium model.

I'm guessing it will be one of the Translite / Backglass mutants that Stern has put on the past few LE's. From the descriptions I have read, they sounds like a translite glued to glass and not a screened backglass as they were classically done.

My Speaker Light Kits work in 70+ games from Date East, Sega and Stern, including the new Stern SPIKE System games.

Everything you will need for the Speaker Light Kits to work in these games are included with the light kits and if there are any limitations, information or additional parts that may be needed, it is explained and available on the website.

If anyone would have any additional questions, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

It should be taken care of now.

Before playing the game I was afraid of a lot of tight shots. Particularly the left orbit. I was pleasantly surprised to see it wasn't a tough shot at all. I also didn't struggle with the right ramp, though I wasn't trying to hit it a lot.

The flipper gap didn't bother me either. The right outlane was my biggest frustration if I'm remembering correctly.

I really need to play this again. I'm almost afraid it will be the way I was with Avengers. I loved it the first time playing and didn't have any great frustrations with any of the shots. Every game I have played since then is post, post, post, post, post...

My thoughts after seeing the mag slings:

They were better than I was expecting. It is defiantly true that they did not register a great deal of the time, but when they did, they behaved much more like standard slings than I expected.

I don't think the issue with the slings not registering a lot will be as easy as just adjusting the single switch so it is more sensitive. I honestly think these slings are designed to NOT register much of the time. That is why it only has one switch in the middle and it wasn't adjusted so tight that high and low hits to the sling rubber would trigger them. I think the slings in the video were adjust just as they wanted them.

With the way these are designed...if a high sling hit was registered it would pulse the magnet, dragging the ball that is high and above the magnet, downward toward the flippers (and the flipper gap). That would be a bad thing.

I am very conscious as to what effect this would have on low hitting balls to the sling. It would likely pull the ball upward, but I'm really curious as to what extent.

So my theory is that if the center switch is adjusted to be too sensitive or the rubber is changed to something different to make it register more, you will get a lot of strange up and down throws from the magnets that make them seem very much unlike traditional slings.

In summery, as I said, they behave better (and more like traditional slings) than I expected. Them not registering with many of the hits is a bummer, but I think it is just a side effect of the design. I think a design with multiple magnets with multiple switches to trigger them could fix this issue, but that's a completely different and more complex design and I don't see that happening (now or in future pins). The added magna sling effect modes being available at different times seems like it will be a pretty cool things and may just make up for the "regular" sling mode only registering and acting "regular" on part of the hits.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

I saw enough of the ecto goggles to see how it looks. I just hope they put some nice detail work in the ghost animations. Small things should be fairly easy. Like having the ghost clap or laugh at you when you drain. Maybe some playful taunting in their standard animation or even a bored look if you go too long without shooting the ball, a lack of switch hits or cradling the ball. Others might be a bit more difficult, but would be really cool. Have them jump / look left and right fearfully if you hit the shots to the immediate left (captive ball) or right (right ramp) of them.

This sounds easy enough, yet I bet if it wasn't implemented from the get go, they may have a hard time getting the cycling animations to transition to reactions animations smoothly. It's one of those cool ideas that I would have thought they would have thought of early, but if they didn't, I doubt they implement it now.

I try not to put too much thought into things like this, because when I did that with X-Men before it was released and during it's updates, it was nothing but a long road of disappointments. Sad knowing I ( and others) had great and simple ideas that were never implemented.

I didn't really expect the ecto goggle to be anything more than eye candy, but the more expressive and interactive the better.

I didn't really mind up and down Slimer on the Pro. My first thought on the LE / Premium was that he was side to side and up and down, but I guess not. Since side to side makes him cover more shots I believe it is the better choice, but as you said....him dragging in and out of action might be trouble.

Link? I don't see any.

That looks incredible! As others have said, the chrome really looks great! My suggestion.....get something in that tourney button hole.

I know at the Ohio Show I was beginning to wonder if the game even had a multiball. My friends and I played game after game with no one getting multiball. Then someone explained it to us and we were all getting multiball just about every game. I think it is just a case of GB not having a multiball that people dumbly start by accident. I mean what is it...hit the left captive ball area 2 or 3 time and then lock them up on the left ramp? That's pretty simple.

The tourney features are pretty nice. It's a feature that used to cost $300+ in earlier Whitestar games. Now most people don't use it because it costs an extra $5 (in the US). It also boggles my mind when I see someone have a game completely modded out and no tourney button installed. Just an empty square hole with a plug in it. It's an extra blinking light for only $5....how can someone pass that up???

From what I have seen, adding the button has got simpler over time. The games used to just have wires to hook up the buttons. Now I believe the wires already have quick connects on them so it is just a matter of attaching them to the button connections. I may be wrong about that, but either way....it's a simple hookup. It's a shame Stern doesn't include the button in all games, but I guess they are saving a buck by not doing that.

The one feature the tourney system doesn't have that it really needs is a way to have a standard game set on free play, but the tourney games set so money is required to play. As it is now, you can have a different price set between a normal game and a tourney game, but there is no way to have one free and the other pay. That is really all it needs to be perfect.

When I used to have more people stopping by my place I had a month long tourney set up every month on my Spider-Man. People would just pay me the $1 to play their tourney games and I would hold on to it. At the end of the month, I would hand out the cash prizes.

The tourney system is a very fun and overlooked feature.