I look at it like they are going to stick with the original agreement with the initial customers/pre-orderers, but once you jump off the train the original deal is lost. That is just common sense to me. There would have to be price increases at some point as my guess is the company wouldn't be successful at the original price point, which iirc is at least a couple of years old now.

I wonder if something like asking pre orders to downgrade to a nominal $250 deposit. So they still are on the list as a buyer, but it's demonstrated that their money isn't needed until shipment.

pull all of your money out of this sinking ship. Do not believe the sales tactics.

Something like that would be nice, I think. I have thought about requesting that they refund me only my second payment, leaving me with my initially $1500 deposit because, while I do still want the game, I'd (understandably) rather "downgrade" my risk some if possible. I may do so when I speak with them although I haven't been contacted at all yet.

Another concern is that I may still want to downgrade my LE order to a standard, but I won't decide that until I actually see an LE produced. If I choose to do that are they going to want to charge me the "increased" price for a standard and/or bump me to the back of the line for standard orders even though I've had cash in since Oct '15? Either of those scenarios would be a no-go for me and downright offensive, so I sincerely hope they're reasonable about it.

Looks like GREAT news to me if it goes through

Option A Get your refund that was never coming prior to this possibility, put Heighway in the rear view mirror

Option B Get your refund and jump back in at a later date if its looking attractive to you

Option C Hang in there, chill out and don't worry about it

We have two more options now. Why is that a bad thing?

Everybody should do what's right for them, you don't need someone else to tell you what to do or how to spend your $$$

Even IF they didn't allow refunds, you now are going to get your pinball machine versus NOT getting it before.

Simple as that.

whats your beef man? Every post of yours is sour grapes and just plain shitty towards the company. AFAIK noone has lost any money yet with Heighway.

Also, not understanding the "price increase" strategy. I do believe that they probably do need to increase the price, but if they are taking on the business, they are talking to people who have lost confidence or need their money back.

I agree with the "offer free shipping" or similar approach.

The only thing that makes me believe in this are the people within Heighway supporting them.

The email is poorly conceived and composed (IMO) and makes me more wary than excited. People have been burned before by the "hey we are your pinball buddies" thing.

First step: Hire someone who knows how to design a professional document.

I'm accepting thumbs down for those that disagree. I have not received any communications, and i do want to be included in this stage of the process.

Interesting to skim the latest Alien threads with this perspective in mind. Everyone seems to have agendas from a hopeful optimism to just wanting to play in a shitbox.

Good lord, I've never been so entertained.

Hopefully they get their act together and everyone gets what they were promised. I'd have a real hard time sending any money to a fledgling and unproven company based solely on hopes and promises. I don't even trust Stern enough to be an early buyer of any of their games....that's for a different set of reasons mind you. Good luck to all involved.

So damage control comes first? I dont get it. Your supporters, your backers, clients, should always come FIRST. Gather your supporters, regroup, discuss the game plan, let them know what is going on, THEN go get the folks that bailed, THEN find new buyers. I dont care who these guys are, not impresses so far.

Hey gang, I've deleted 7 posts out of the last twenty that were just "...."; please do not make posts that are composed of only dots. Thank you.

Will do...

ditto

they answered most of your questions in the announcement

1. it's certainly part of the process
2. why are you automatically going with this as their first act?
3. supporters, backers and clients are on that list too.
4. if you are not impressed then dont buy the fuggin thing

seems pretty simple to me too but the whiners and cynics would rather go in the other direction. pathetic really...

you have no clue and your negative speculative bullshit is old and tired. get lost.

Two posts, zero worthwhile content. Take your own advice.

My understanding about the price increase is that it already happened so it is more a reminder of the value of your option.

Alien-Dot2Dot (resized).png

I have a thought... how about no one posts to give money, wait on it, or ask for a refund?

That way, unequivocally, everyone is 100% responsible for themselves......

Here you go http://www.indra.com/8ball/front.html

I feel like every 6 months or so history is repeated and I'm reading the same thread but only the name of the failing company is different.

Meanwhile behind the facade of this innocent looking pinball factory...

I had paid in full to my distributor, and although this looks like good news, it is still too much for me right now. I really do hope the company succeeds and that i will be able to buy an Alien pinball machine one day, (hell I have strobe lights on order from china; if anybody want to buy them from me). I am still concerned with the Quality of the build and the computers at this point. I wish them all the luck in the world and hope to be a customer in a year or two.

although... i couldn't go another year without some kind of alien in my life so i went for attack from mar remake..... i think once Alien proves itself it would look pretty fricken good beside AFMR

I didn't see it in this article or in this thread, but reading between the lines Andrew is still a part of the company, yeah? Just in a slightly different role?

Having been through some dot com boom startups, it makes me a bit sad to read about the downfall of Heighway Pinball. To put all that passion and time into something and have it not work out is pretty devastating. But, at least there are some investors picking things up, so that, hopefully, turns into a positive.

I don't know what the future holds, but I really want an Alien pinball machine. Hopefully, things get back on track and all of us who want one can get one in the near future!

Have people already forgotten again that there are incomplete design issues with Alien?

The problems have still not been fully corrected regarding the Xeno head, and unless something has changed the coding remains incomplete. This is barring any of the other potential onesy, twosy problems initial owners have reported.

It does not matter if the investors have an army of miracle working Keebler elves borrowed from Santa Claus at the North Pole, and the games will be delivered express personally by Santa himself via reindeer and his magical sleigh, if the company does not solve the board and assembly issues.

Also, understand the pinball industry when somebody says "they need to order parts". This is not a process that takes days, it takes WEEKS minimum. PCBs, cabinets, and playfields can take MONTHS if not on hand. If an order gets screwed up, you cannot build the games at all. Anyone that believes there are hundreds of cabinets standing by for finished wired playfields are smoking weed. People do not even know if there are sufficient ink screened playfield blanks to build games anyway.

In essence pre-order buyers get more examples of advanced prototype games, if HP could even start production any sooner than late July or early August, which is extremely aggressive. Owners are looking at shipping dates sometime late in the fall, if everything is rosey, which almost never happens in pinball construction.

This is an grandiose opportune moment to gain some serious pinball wisdom. I recommend people make the right choice and avoid an inevitable hot mess. If an owner wants a game, it will be available later.

Don't make more mistakes, and repeat the past yet again. Listen to people that understand and have watched it happen long, long before the days of Zidware, Skit-B, HP, P3, Retro LLC, JJP, or even IPB.

If not, good luck.

What problems?

The ball-eating xenomorph doesn't work correctly in the prototype games.

also heard reports about the LCD screen in the playfield not staying flush with the playfield surface & that needing some serious attention

This.

As an owner, I can tell you the code is the least of my worries. I'm on version 0.94, which is a few releases behind what what's in the most recent machine delivered to Canada. Even at .94, the code is very good - all modes, wizard modes and multi-balls are implimented - rules, sounds and video assets are GREAT IMHO.

As for the hardware, yes, I suspect there may still be some issues. We all know the xeno mech needed work - but again - I think the most recent machine delivered to Canada DID have the imprioved mech and board (he posted pictures). There is also an issue with the GI lighting - early machines like mine have 'tower GI' which will need to be completely replaced. In fact, until I get the new hardware (xeno and GI) I am not able to update code.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the build time for each machine. If they want to reduce this, I suspect they may alter/simplify some of the design. For example, when I picked up my machine at TPF, the facehuggers were not installed on the slings. No biggie right? Well, I know my way around a pinball machine, and it still took me over two hours to get those installed. It's a bit complicated, as you have to remove 'C' clips from the slingshot arm, pull it out, drill some holes, mount the facehuggers, (I also had to dremmel the screws used as the ones Andrew gave to me were too long), then from the top of the machine you have to guide the slignshot arm back into place and replace the 'C' clips. It's tiedious, and it's just a cosmetic part.

This is true - it's a pretty easy fix. But yes, it should be fixed at the factory before being delivered.

Good Lord people! Speculation, speculation, speculation.

I've decided I'm only going to pay attention to posts made by current investors and current employees of Heighway pinball.

EVERYTHING else is just speculation or shit that happened on the old watch.

Seems to me it doesn't really matter now what Andrew did or does. Andrew is out. All that matters now is what are the intentions and capabilities of the new owners? If they are willing to throw whatever funds are needed this could still work. Hell, we've all seen it work with JJP.

Alien is far enough along that MONEY can get it finished. Enough cash and this game will ship.

According to the last person to revive a game, he received a Production Game! Xeno fixed.

Yeah pretty unbelievable that no one on the design team or the assemblers thought to use nylock nuts on that. I'm guessing that they were used on FTH, so why not Alien? Poor staff training and the rush to get them built?

That's true, but should that money be yours? If their pockets are as deep as they say they are, refund those that want out, let them spend the time and money sorting out the niggles and relaunch with a fully working, ready to buy machine.

I asked for a refund of my deposit two days ago and made my request again this morning when I got the email everyone is getting who pre ordered. If I see games shipping in mass, working properly, and being supported, I might get back in.

Been paid in full... I'm not getting any damned emails... wtf...

Is cointaker in USA back on board and taking orders? I will buy this pin...eventully. But it needs to be in a box, in front of me, at a Ca distributor. Cointaker and those that run it are a great company, but they are not on west coast. Cointaker, please find a partner distributor in Ca. Plenty of trains, c-containers and trucks to bring loads of these to distribution center here on our coast.
Betson would be a good option.
I look forward to the deveolpment and growth at Highway pinball and purchase my machine in mid to late 2018, figure thats about right.

It would be nice if someone with a fully working Xeno would toss up a gameplay video of it working.. I'm sure folks would love to see that and would help build confidence in the game.

Got the same email this morning. It was nice to see them reaching out without me having to request a refund (yet), but that timetable makes me fairly nervous. As much as I'd like to receive a game, I'd much rather receive a working game that is delayed a bit more.

For example, while they did improve the xeno mech, but I haven't heard much about the new one at all, so I'm hopeful but its still a bit of a wildcard in my mind. Likewise, I hope that the issues with the pre-production GI boards is gone, but I'm not sure we'll know until more games get out. Finally, it'd be nice if various other, more minor fixes/tweaks suggested by some of the "prototype" owners could be implemented (like the playfield screen staying flush), but given the proposed timetable, it seems doubtful. I understand that I'm an early adopter in this case and I don't mind having to fix a few things, but its when some of those "things" might require replacement parts (proprietary switches?) that I get (understandably) worried given the current situation.

Anyhow, going abroad for a vacation for a week starting tomorrow, so I'll have to think about what I want to do and deal with this **** when I get back.

Looks good, and appears to be another Xeno video that YT will queue after this one..

Never said or implied it should be with "our" money. Of course they should refund everyone who wants one. But...refunds are not going to happen today...or yesterday. Andrew is gone so he can't refund money. The paperwork on taking this whole thing over has not been signed yet so the new investors can't issue refunds yet. I's need to be dotted and T's crossed...then (and only then) can real shit start happening.

People demanding a refund NOW...well I think they're yelling into the wind. YES...request your refunds if you want out...but don't expect a response until the buyout is finalized.

And yes I realize the investors are making inquiries with those who have asked for refunds...I would do likewise if I was them.

BTW...the part about a price increase...that's going out to everyone, not just people asking for a refund. I think a price increase was inevitable given what the competition is doing; the timeframe involved with Alien's development and that these guys are trying to get this train back on the tracks.

Will they succeed? I have no effing clue and neither do you (by you I mean everyone).

fairly sage advice aside from your assumption that the parts are not ready to ship to heighway. I understand what you are saying about ordering parts and agree with it but there's also a chance that their vendors produced the stuff and got temporarily stiffed by heighway due to lack of funds. your snarky attack with santa and elf references on a thread by a group that has come to deliver a positive message is a classic example of why pinside in general is known to host a bunch of whiners. you are a smart guy that likely influences others opinions and actions. Look at the big picture of whats going on here and try to take a less cynical approach on this one. This situation could have been much much worse for those that preordered.