It wasn't pitch black when I played, but it was pretty close. No lights were on in the back half of the hall, although the Predator was close enough to the front there was a little ambient light. Nothing like the pictures earlier in the thread. For comparison, it was noticeably darker than the Expo hall during the wee hours.

Just to summarize where I stand for now:

- UV: More a gadget than a Go/No Go for me. Would love to see it and impress friends when they discover it. Might have to change the UV source for a stronger illumination. No one wondered if these UV could actually harm the colors on PF and plastics? I am wondering if some would fade to grey after a while - especially if one use a custom-made super-ultra-mega bright UV source! - At least under the glass, which should protect the player from the nasty short wavelength UV component of the source. I assume one should use UV-A centered at 365 nm sources.
- Interactive Toys (of lack of): I don't really mind. At least neither the skull or hanging bodies will be prone to mechanical failure.
- Shots: From the beginning, people have noticed that there are not that many shots on the PF. Are all of them easy? I wonder.
- Rules: some reported that the pin was too easy with long ball times. That should be easy to correct, both from a hardware (wide outlanes, sensitive slingshots, high slope) and software point of view. Assuming one can reach a final wizard mode, too easily, that can be fixed too, especially if we have open access to the software.
- Weak flippers: should be an easy fix. The real issue with weak flippers was that people could not really judge flow if you can't even climb a ramp.
- Random reset/Freeze: that's annoying...
- Stuck balls: annoying but fixable...
- Artwork package, animations, theme: Love it!
- Communication: more feedback from Skit-B would be welcome.

I've been paid in full for a long while now. I'm not concerned at all. Looks kickass. Should be fun and unique.

SkitB crew have been great with updates. Nearing the end now, so they are on schedule for long periods of no communication. Closer to the finish line the longer the race.

UV stuff is just bonus fluff as far as I'm concerned. Not a game changer even if they said screw it and deleted it out.

I originally got in due to software, theme, and unique-ness of title. R-rated, very attractive and quite cool. Other shite encountered so far is all fixable.

I am not sure if Kevin will chime in about the machine that was at the Louisville Show, but my understanding is that it was their "show" machine as opposed to a new production machine. If this was the case, it could explain the UV layer on the playfield if the machine has an earlier example. I am not looking to speak for anyone or such, just thinking out loud.

Brad

I was wondering this all along as every comment about this machine sounded identical to the comments from expo in Chicago. That game was down a lot and the UV layer was a light coat test run.

-Jim

Why would they do that? Bring a machine to a show that's not the latest? Just doesn't make sense considering they are at the point where people have to start writing real checks now.

The production game may have needed some final work and therefore they decided to the bring the "show" machine. Here's hoping that this is the case.

I really hope so....

I doubt he has two built already. My guess is thats the game from the finished video. Im back on the fence about staying in on this game. I also already paid in full, I hope I can get a refund if I have to.

I hear ya...I don't think there's been a more "on the fence" game than this...It all has to do with the THEME. We all LOVE Predator so much that even if the pin is so-so, the theme just seems worth it. If this was a less desirable theme, everyone would have bailed by now. Cause let's face it, there's nothing new being brought to the table here in terms of innovation or uniqueness outside of the theme. The UV light was the one new thing, and now that's a maybe.

I just wish someone would have taken some video of gameplay during the last show...even the video's SkitB uploaded were all ark and off center. Just so hard to get some straight answers now when straight answers should be easy to come by, since it's mission complete time.

What does it take to get you banned form this site? Coming into a thread and constantly insulting SkitB when you are not in for the game, are not on the wait list, and have no intentions of even getting a game makes you look like a complete donkey. Your constant attacks on the team and calling them SkipB like a 2nd grader are pretty silly. You are not entitled to any answers and it seems pretty obvious you have some sort of side motive at this point.

What are you talking about? I'm all for SkitB knocking this out of the park. You need to lighten up and stop reading into things. I didn't mean to call them SKIP B like it was an insult, I just spelled their name wrong, so lighten up pal. Side motive? Again, what are you talking about? They are sold out. I'm not here to bury them. I'm just here to see how this game nets out. You know, can't a huge fan of Predator (me) follow the pin and want it to be great? Do I have to buy one to grant me permission to weigh in? As far as I'm concerned, when you license a property, you are inviting their fan base into the discussion. Why would anything I'm saying get me banned from this site? In fact, don't forums like these exist for debate to happen?

Should everyone who went to the show, played the game, and posted lukewarm reviews be banned too? I'm just a big fan of the theme who wants to see the game deliver. That's all.

Is it wrong for me to want he guys at SkitB to chime in and explain why nobody at the show saw UV? Am I not allowed to ask this if I don't have a game on order? What's the point of this forum if not for such inquiry and debate?

Were you even here for Star Trek? There was basically a revolt on this site. The more of your posts I read, the more it becomes obvious you have no idea what you are talking about.

Yes you at least should be involved to say the crap you say. There is no reason for you to be in this thread.
Social skills???
Who the hell are you to talk about what is going on and who is in etc. You just showed up . You may be alright but no one will get no the way keep trolling through threads taking dickish behavior to new levels.
Let the folks involved work through it. Ask question if you like but learn and work your way in.
Or don't ...

I am not going to rehash all the bullshit you have been spouting about Predator just a few pages back about the game, the team, and the people that are in for this ride.

In case anyone missed it, Kaneda is the donkey offering to buy a slot for a premium (against the wishes of the team) and then trying to hint he got a game some backdoor way. Since that plan failed he is hoping he will be able to bag on a game he has never even seen or played so others will drop off the list and he can get one. Keep in mind he also thinks those of us on the list are all rich guys that are treating this like a commodity, hence negating our support for some regular guys to get a dream game built.

There is not a whole lot to read into here, your words have been pretty clear how you feel and seems obvious what your motive is. Pretty sad. I think Aurich said it better when he asked you to go crawl back under the rock you came from (or something to that effect)...

Surely I was more polite than that!

What have I said about Predator that is bullshit? Please, explain. If I've offended anyone, the team building this game, or those waiting for it, I'm sorry. I really am just a huge fan of this pin and want it to succeed.

Don't feed the troll

Ok...we get it...now leave it be.

Kaneda you have stated your stance and point very clearly here. This thread is not about you it's about this project as a whole. Please allow this conversation to continue from this point forward without a constant repeating of your view on it.

The game at the show over the weekend had Hopper in his new position at the back of the cabinet. I'd say it's pretty clear this is the machine we saw in the "Mission Complete" video.

My guess has to be, since that's all we can do, that those mini lights aren't dropping enough UV on the field for the effect to pop. Does that hamper the cool achievement system? No. The sound? No? Does it effect the playfield in isolation? Not really. But does it effect game play? I'd say yes, of course it does. Obviously it's not a matter of rules or ramp position or physics, but gameplay to me encompasses the entire experience, which is why it's not much fun to play whiteboards, or games without any sound. It's part of the package, it's part of the draw, it's part of the fun.

I will be very disappointed if this effect just sort of gets lost in the shuffle.

Dillon: "Hopper. They did the same thing to Jim Hopper..." Ha!

When is the next show scheduled? Anyone?

I think it's march 28th at the Texas Pinball Festival. I'll be there, and I *WILL* shoot video and pics.

and after that is likely MGC in WI. I will be there to report/play.

TPF March 28-30th unless there is another one in between.

Thank you for committing to do that us pinball addicts salute you.

...and there IS a beverage involved...

TPF, MI Pinball Expo and then MGC..........

MI pinball Expo will be way too bright to see the UV. That place is lit up like Christmas, unfortunately .

There is an arcade that I go to, that is lit by 4 foot twin black light tubes. AFM only glows in the back corner, the AFM in the center of the room is too well lit by the ambient light to see the UV paint effects.

Got this for Pred topper image-192.jpg

I never post on this Predator topic, I like to watch the opinions and concerns though.

The only thing I see as a concern at this point is those two standup targets at dead center. It may sound like a dumb thing to note, but targets like to move out of place. Tron comes to mind, as well as many others. The gap looks too big and these are bound to spread over games, making it a ripe place for a ball to get wedged. Just saying, looks like a bracket for behind the targets will need to be placed.
Other than that, the game looks to have moved right along nicely. A few bugs here and there, but I'm sure they're working on them.

Myself I can't wait to pick mine up, I think in my opinion the project is going in the right direction, I just want them to get everything right, mambe Kevin shouldn't have stated mission complete, but whether its done next month or a year from now doesn't matter to me as I can wait, I love the theme and support skit b, I can't wait for the Michigan expo to see it there to judge for myself (last time I saw predator it was in white wood).

I will bring a good camera and take plenty of video and post it here.

I think in some ways, what he meant by this was that all of the major components were now finalized. Meaning the things that need to be fabricated by vendors (playfield, inserts, ramps, mechs, toys, etc.). It marked a milestone where the team could now start to focus more on production vs design, prototyping, etc.

Obviously as they continue to test they will find some of these things and address them (e.g. ball hang-ups, bugs in the code). Lets not forget that Stern, JJP and Williams/Bally find bugs, hang-ups, etc after games start to ship. My NGG still had the 'ball hangup kit' in a bag when I got it. The original operator had never bothered to install it (which I did find a little odd for a routed machine), pretty sure that was sent out after the machines had been shipped.

Hopefully I will get to play at Allentown...

I think your spot on.

I played it at LAX. Had a hunt mode, but saw no UV. In my opinion, the room was plenty dark and leads me to believe the UV light source was lacking. The machine was down at least two separate times for unknown reasons to me. Once I saw the team in the back box and there was a fuse blown as reported by Kevin. One guy from the team was by the game helping instruct people about modes and such which was cool.

Game was set for only 1 player to 'speed up line times'.
There were several guys wearing SkitB apparel at the show accompanying Kevin.
I did not meet them, so I don't know their backgrounds/duties associated with the project.
I spent most of the time in the tourney area, but often looked over and Predator was down and nobody was around when I would expect it to be manned all of the time to see how it held up and to see what caused issues.
I do understand the boredom of standing around, but the game has issues and so should be babysat.
The game also was being a brutal sob when the ball travelled down the right rail SDTM. Game appeared to be level though!

At the time I played, I did not have any problem making any shots. I did have one flipper power drop on me as reported by other people.
Hopper placement seemed fine and had decent movement during normal play.
Back box earrings did not seem to distract during gameplay. I might pick some up for my Halloween setup, but doubt I will put them on my game because of how far out they extend. My opinion is that if games are close to each other then someone that moves the machine a lot will end up making the earrings sway and hit the machines next to Pred. Very well executed on sculpt and finishing done by Matt!

Still looking forward to the game, but to say everything is fine at this point is being oblivious.

I tried to play Duck Hunt, but that had its own set of issues...

The room was more than dark enough; there are complaints about the darkness in the general Louisville show thread as well. From the perspective of this game, the difference between LAX lighting and pitch-black is negligible. I really don't think you will get more UV effect by lowering the ambient light from what it was there.

At least one of the downtime events was due to a very simple cause - the retaining washer for left flipper cabinet button wasn't tight enough and the button worked loose and came out in my hand. It took me a while to find a team member and return the button, and more time for them to reinstall it. Nothing Predator specific, just not enough turns of the wrench

Regarding UV, not that we should have to mod the game to make it work, but if the UV effect does indeed turn out to be underwhelming, it doesn't seem like it would be too big of a deal to add some shorter wavelength leds to make the UV layer really pop. At least the control and paint layer is there.

In my opinion, not something worth cancelling an order for if that is the biggest problem.

I always thought you had to play the game in an almost completely dark room to see the UV

As Metallik mentioned, the Louisville show is VERY dark. Dark to the point where people complain about how dark it is. Sometimes people complain that my own gameroom is too dark and the Louisville show was 10x darker than that. It was basically the equivalent of having a night light plugged into a far off wall. The UV in it's current setup is simply not working.

For those who think the critiques from Louisville can be taken with a grain of salt, I HIGHLY recommend that you play the game yourself at an upcoming show. I'm really glad I did.

Brian

You can see the UV on a Tron Arcade in a room that's not even close to pitch black. I know it's apples to oranges as TRON has the all black around it's decals which helps the UV pop.

I just don't think you can ship a game and make consumers work to "fix" an issue. Especially when the issue is so widely known and out there.

What they need to do is just say, "we need to make some tweaks and the game will ship when it's 100% ready". This isn't a WOZ situation, people aren't out thousands...just a $250 deposit that's refundable. People will wait, or bail, but there won't be any anger if it has to shift. April is in 2 weeks...my guess is they need to shift the date back.

The only time you say something is done is the day it ships. That should just be a rule of thumb in this industry. Heck, because even then we know it's not done (MET code). But you know what I mean. I feel bad for these guys. They probably are scrambling to meet an arbitrary date.

Is everybody getting these little green arrow thingys that link to ads?? Did Robin sell ad space?

No not that I know of and I have no idea what green arrows your talking about??

Go up 5 to Jvspin comment. The word Indeed has a green thing on it and links to an ad....at least on my computer!

No such link here. Time for you to do a malware scan.

No green thing for me.

I don't see it

A simple screw driven in right next to the retainer nut fixes the backout as well.

You have ad-ware that is injecting ads into your webpages. Get it cleaned up.

Ted, you have garbage sofware installed that is adding ads to every page you surf. Look for unusual programs installed and get rid of them, then run a virus scan.

Got it! Thanks!! [the free Video Pad Editor]