This game cannot get to my house quick enough. Great video Kevin!

I like how Stern has some people so conditioned to be satisfied with only having partial code that when they get a game in which they can enjoy it as intended, from the beginning they're not sure what to make of it.

Concerning the UV. Kevin has already stated multiple times that UV shows up in complete darkness. The only gameplay part of the video that was in complete darkness was Showdown. It was also stated that a different camera was used for the cut scenes as the overhead cam did not pick up the UV. Depending on your height you might be looking at the play field at about 2 ft higher than the camera on the cut scenes. Demanding to see the UV from 2-3ft higher up is a bit picky.

The normal colors used on the playfield each have their own levels of UV reaction so if anyone is wanting the effect to appear as UV paint on a black background, you will be sorely disappointed.

If at this point if anyone is having severe doubts about the game whether it's the UV or the game play then this game is probably not for you.

Well unless you were at one of the expos that Predator was at you will pretty much have to "swallow the Kool-Aid before tasting it". Kevin has shown all of the gameplay, given a written set of rules, shown the UV working with the lights that are on the machine, in the dark as intended, lowered the intensity of lights, and is re-doing the plastics at a higher resolution.

Your issue wasn't a "hard question" it was a gripe plain and simple. Kevin didn't give you what you wanted exactly the way you wanted it. Too many people in the Predator threads believe that since Skit-B decided to allow some community involvement (which is a mistake they appear to not be making on their second pin) that Skit-B should bow to every single demand made of them. The video was everything that Skit-B was planning on giving us. Kevin wouldn't spend as long as he did making it if that was not the case. This is not a year ago when the prototype was still being built. The game is done, the video is done and now we move on to production.

My comment was that if you still have serious concerns or doubts at this point, when the machine is done and production is going to start, then you may not want to put your money into this machine. That isn't a fanboy response it is simply the reality of any such purchase like this. We almost put money down on a WOZ a couple years ago, but we had too many concerns about it so we didn't.

And you might want to get your analogies right. What lemmings do is migratory behavior that is instinctual and built into their DNA. They also do not commit suicide it is just that sometimes a body of water may be to wide for their small bodies to make it across. Lemmings also do not drink Kool-Aid.

Showdown was in pitch black but the overhead camera wouldn't pick up the UV. Kevin had to use a different one for the cut scenes in between the gameplay segments.

The ramps were slightly glowing, but nothing else indicated that they were on.

I didn't need Wikipedia to know that lemmings don't drink Kool-Aid. I mean, everyone knows they all prefer Hawaiian Punch.

Kevin answered his exact question before he even asked it and it has been quoted several times by different people, but Badbilly just apparently wants to ignore that part of Kevin's response.

Btw, here's the UV. From the video. In darkness, and only using the lights from the game as per Kevin.

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And again, due to the reactive nature of the colors under the UV paint, it is not going to pop out as if it was on a black background.

In my comment that was first quoted by Badbilly I was simply pointing out, in general, that Kevin had already addressed the UV question. I then stated, and not due to a criticism, that since the game was complete and Kevin had shown everything he has planned to show if you still had serious doubts then maybe you want to back out. This is simple common sense for a purchase like this. Badbilly is the one who jumped me, not vice versa.

UV paint should degrade the same as regular paint since the "fading" is actually chemical bonds being broken apart by the UV radiation. Black light tubes are typically UV-A which is the least damaging of the three variations. The amount of overall damage done by the UV lights would just depend on how long the machine is left on. I know most private collectors typically only have their machines on when they are being played, but if one happens to be routed, the UV would likely cause some play field/plastics fade.

The way I understood the email is that they will be making them in one large group and then sending them out. The original plan was half when they begin making your machine. Well, since they are beginning production on all of them, they are asking for the money from everyone. One thing they did not guarantee was that if you were at the end of production, you would time to see others's opinions of the game. The $250 deposit was also not part of the original "deal" but it was something they needed to put into place. I know $3000 is a lot more than $250, but I don't think they've gone against what was originally said. The only thing different is that they are doing them in one big chunk instead of smaller ones, but nothing was concrete as far as how long production would take or how many would be made at the same time. A lot on the list have had 2-3 years to save up the money and we have aware that production would likely start soon.

No, this the realities of running a business that requires manufacturing. The $3,000 is $500 more than half, however the $250 deposit was $250 more than originally required and you didn't seem to have problem with that. Everyone on the pre-order list should have the full amount together at this point (baring unforeseen emergancies or financial issues).

One of the costs of buying a limited run product is that you don't get to have owner reviews before the product is delivered and sometimes even made. Sometimes you have an existing portfolio to help with the decision, sometimes you don't. We all knew going in that this was their first machine and while they wanted to build in small batches, this was not etched in stone. Kevin told us what they were hoping to do, but it just didn't pan out.

Kevin wouldn't be doing it this way unless it was more cost effective. You can rant and rage all you want to, but that isn't going to change the requirement of $3,000 by June 28, which, by the way, is still two weeks away.

Ditto!

Are you still trying to keep your spot? I would imagine that might complicate a return based on the new deadline.

You instructed him to do something that Skit-B is not allowing in regards to pre-orders. Sure, he could sell his spot, but then whoever buys it will get screwed since Skit-B wouldn't honor the transfer.

Any money that has been paid into Predator at this point has likely gone towards supplies and parts. This why Kevin said that if you want to back out, your refund would be processed as soon as the next wait lister paid their deposit. It could be something as simple as Skit-B just not having the cash on hand to process a refund. This can tend to be the case for lots of startups. I just don't see Kevin intentionally screwing him over. But you Rai, you automatically jump to the worst possible scenario, and are incapable of seeing things from someone else's point of view.

I will join Whysnow in asking you nicely to just leave the Predator threads now that you have an IM re-release to fawn over and compare non-production pins to. There was a LOTR / Hobbit comparison thread started a while back. I think you might like that one.

EDIT: cmproductions - I really hope everything gets ironed out for you in time. I honestly do not think Kevin is doing this on purpose. He may have processed the refund but something messed up and he just isn't aware of it.

I don't remember seeing anyone attacking you. Unfortunaty communication is not one of Skit-B's strong points and hasn't been for awhile. I really don't think your lack of a refund is due to any maliciousness on Kevin's part.

I completely agree with you. My point was just that I don't think it is on purpose. Hopefully they get it all straightened out after Predator is taken care of. From everything I've seen I think Kevin is a stand up guy and I would hope that a non-malicious mistake wouldn't sour you on the company as a whole.

And before any of you scream "Fanboy!", I simply believe that in this hobby we should support the good companies like Skit-B, Ben Heck, Planetary, Dutch and the like. Yes, they will all make mistakes and some people will be hurt by them more than others but that doesn't make them bad companies.

Actually, we were wanting you to leave the Predator since by your own words ("Hasta la vista, Predator") you were out. You've been wushu washy from the start. First it was Predator vs ST and then MET and now IM. You very rarely have anything positive to say either about the game or about Skit-B. You attack them not because they change something but over stuff that you think they should do after they have already said they were not going to do it (Allentown). You also ignore facts when they do not suit you such as saying no one has seen the UV working besides Kevin when we do have accounts of others seeing it.

Skit-B did want to originally produce the game in small batches but nothing was set in stone. Now that the production schedule is out and we finally have a hard deadline, you act like Skit-B has purposefully deceived you because you assumed that you would get reviews of finished products before yours was built. You know what happens when you assume right?

And? We are already 3 months past the previous production of the first part of April and people have been able to pay on their Predator for months now. Even without that the project has been ongoing for 2 years +. There was going to be a hard deadline set eventually.

I would place odds that all or most of the money they have been paid in deposits so far are tied up in materials/other costs. The fact that Kevin said that the $250 deposit would be refunded when the waitlister moving up pays their $250 deposit would back this theory up. As far as anyone who paid more than the $250 they probably assumed that the person would be less likely to drop out, used the money and are needing an influx of capital to be able to refund the larger deposits. I don't remember seeing anywhere where Kevin laid out a timeline for refunds (especially the larger deposits). This is unfortunately one of the risks of buying from a start-up manufacturer. Typically a very large majority of money recieved is put towards overhead/materials/labor. JJP already had Jack's distributorship to pull money from and they still required all of the money up front. This is just my theory though.

It is functional as a light source. We have one in the hall as well. It has two pull cords on it, one closes it, like in the photo above, and one opens it. It will take max a 60 watt LED (the bulb can only draw 11 watts of power)

You cannot see it in the photos below, but the inner frame work comes in different colors. The hall one is teal and the pinball room one is orange.

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image-536.jpg

I may be completely wrong, but as far as I understood the email, today was a "pay half-ish or you're out" deadline and not a "you can no longer back out" deadline. I believe you can still back out even after paying the $3,000 up until around when your machine is being built.