U already have two of them, i'll house the third.

Would be cool, but Steve Ritchie is working for Stern, and I'm sure Stern does not want to license anything from Williams.

BUT it would be cool if Steve did a F-35 sequel to F-14.

Insanely fast, non traditional - non fan layout, nothing to license from Williams.

Don't necessarily need steve ritchie, JJP has plenty of talent. As far as the black knight license, williams seems pretty open to licensing stuff.

Sounds like an awesome opportunity for someone to write a Black Knight movie treatment and tie in a pin release. Maybe Samuel L. Jackson in an epic, edgy Sir Lancelot type film.

I can hear the machine taunting us now "the Black Knight just kicked yo ass MFer!"

I don't think they do at least not in the design category.

Sounds like an awesome opportunity for someone to write a Black Knight movie treatment

You got it.

220px-Black_knight_ver2.jpg

Damn! beat me to it!

Also +10000 on an F-35 pin.

I took this pic at the 2011 tour..

image.jpg

Hmmmmm maybe they do need him... The current talent has produced these games which are currently rating pretty hot on the Pinside Hot 100 ..... Cough cough ...

1995-10 Apollo 13 Sega
1995-02 Baywatch Sega
1998-08 Godzilla Sega
2001-01 High Roller Casino
???? Irons & Woods Sega
1994-07 Richie Rich Data East
1999-02 South Park Sega
1997-03 Star Wars Trilogy Sega
1997-12 Starship Troopers Sega
2000-01 Striker Xtreme Stern

Striker Xtreme. Now there's a winner.

Dave.

Striker Xtreme was Originally supposed to be Oktoberfest and the goalie was originally the bartender. It was just made a soccer theme by Stern management...

Baywatch and SST get love from me. South park sold well.... but I agree it sux. Apollo 13 is also fairly well liked. You just cherry picked the games people do not like, and threw in some underrated
games.

I don't think that's what he did. List the better games by some of the JJP design team other than TSPP?

"Past performance does not guarantee future results."

And if you're going to say "design team", you can add in LOTR and WPT at least for Keith... and since Dennis worked on it for a year and a half, maybe toss in POTC, WW, DM and SS as well. Pins are a group effort.

Elvira and the Party Monsters
DR. Dude
Party Zone
White Water
Demolition Man
Scared Stiff
Pirates of the Caribbean
Revenge from Mars
The Simpsons Pinball Party
Lord of the Rings
Family Guy
T2
The Addams Family
The Twilight Zone
Pinball Magic

I don't think so. I'm thinking designer not artist or sound guy. Here is how I credi these games. None of them have jjp designers:

Dr. Dude - Nordman (who does not work for jjp)
Party Zone - Nordman
White Water - Nordman
Demolition Man - Nordman
Scared Stiff - Nordman
Pirates of the Caribbean - Nordman
Revenge From Mars - Gomez who works for Stern
The Simpsons Pinball Party - I said except this title
Lord of the Rings - gomez
Family Guy - Pat lawlor who does not work for jjp
T2 - Steve Ritchie who works for Stern
The Addams Family - Pat Lawlor
The Twilight Zone - Pat Lawlor

I see Keith was significant on lotr and tspp but all the rest I attribute to the non-JJP names I listed above.

You did say list games by some of JJP design team...see above. All of the games I listed were games that JJP design team members had a part in. The good news is you do not have to buy the game if you are unhappy with the designer or the members of the design team. We all have likes and dislikes . Have a great weekend

Yea. I am worried about the staff at JJP being capable of putting out a fast and fun mechanical design. Software, art, music, they have that covered. But it's the core mechanics that's the heart of the fun in a pinball game. No offense to Joe. TSPP is a clever design and an acquired taste that I do not think I have yet even though I own it. WOZ still looks like TSPP v2.0 to me. Unfortunately for JJP, I like all the designers at Stern + Nordman (who seems to be doing something on his own) + Popadiuk + Trudeau (also designing for UK company) better. Any day, I will take a fast and fun game that's not made as well over a super built tank that's not so fun.

Nah! How about return to mars

Last i heard python was onboard, all they need is mark & pfutz for more magic to happen.

While playfield and mechanical design factor into the fun of the game it is code that brings it all together. LoTR is an excellent game despite the clunky playfield, the Gollum shot that consistently rips you off, the weak upper playfield, the DTR mode that hardly worked on location (as well as the trouble that many games had with the sword lock). Why? Because of the code. The rules, along with the use of quotes and music get the player to overlook the subpar flippers that can't handle a long game, the stern slings and pop bumpers, the Palantir target that doesn't always register, and the left ramp U-turn that takes it's time giving you the ball back on a missed shot (almost as bad as MB), etc.
So attributing the games only to the designer is shortsighted, I think.
I enjoy a great layout, but without good code the game comes up short (ie TOM, ToTAN, RS).
But with nice code, even a simple layout becomes very enjoyable (DW, JB, AFM).

So, for me, clever code easily trumps silky smooth ramps and loops and the feel of a satisfying shot.

TSPP has excellent code and ruleset but really isn't all that fun. The game layout is super unique also. So the best code can't make any game fun.

I disagree. TSPP is very fun. Keeping the timer going is way addictive. Victory laps on all shots for 5M each is extremely satisfying, as is completing AI. Also lots of fun: getting big double super JPs, getting the game to give you an EB from crazy EB, stacking I&S MB with couch MB, pretzel MB, stacking hurryups, and much, much more. So much to do, such creative and clever rules.
This game proved to me that Stern could make an enjoyable game, and the rules set a new standard in pin. Stern suffered a great loss when they let KJ go. Fortunately for them, they still have LFS there, so they still have the potential to make games with creative rules. But if Lyman is not on the game, look for mostly rehashed, uninspired rules from Stern.

No BK3000

Ritchie works for Stern

Stern does not have the BK rights

Was this a serious post?

"TSPP has excellent code and ruleset but really isn't all that fun. The game layout is super unique also. So the best code can't make any game fun."

This does not make sense. The purpose of pinball code and rule sets is to make the game fun - by setting up goals that players want to achieve, having appropriate scoring, keeping the players' interest, etc.
Provided that the rest of the game is functional, if a game has excellent code, then it will be fun to play. If the game is not fun, then it does not have excellent code.

Why do you think that TSPP is not fun? And why do you think that the code and rule set are excellent?

But this is done within the confinements of the physical layout.
By your logic, I could have a whole game playfield be say just the lower playfield of acdc and with great ruleset, the game will be fun?

The ruleset is deep and has massive stacking. I like having to keep the timer reset and preventing the modes from stopping. In the case of TSPP, its issues are all in the physical layout. I don't enjoy the mechanics of the game. The shots are not satisfying nor fun. There is a lot of stop action, ball times are way long, the upper playfield shots feel like a chore. I don't like the mini ramp in the garage where the ball often ends up in the pop bumpers. In short, I don't have any fun playing the game due to the layout and in spite of the decent code. So no, just having great code does not make a game fun.

"By your logic, I could have a whole game playfield be say just the lower playfield of acdc and with great ruleset, the game will be fun?"

If a programmer managed to take those few shots and make a ruleset that is "great", then yes, the game would be fun. For many players that I have talked to, code is more important than any other aspect of the game.

"The ruleset is deep and has massive stacking. I like having to keep the timer reset and preventing the modes from stopping. In the case of TSPP, its issues are all in the physical layout. I don't enjoy the mechanics of the game. The shots are not satisfying nor fun. There is a lot of stop action, ball times are way long, the upper playfield shots feel like a chore. I don't like the mini ramp in the garage where the ball often ends up in the pop bumpers. In short, I don't have any fun playing the game due to the layout and in spite of the decent code. So no, just having great code does not make a game fun."

The game does play long on factory outlane settings, but this can be adjusted so that the game plays much shorter. So you like to keep the timer going, but "don't have any fun playing the game"?
If I like the rules in a game, then the game is fun for me to play. Indeed the amount of fun that I have on a game is mostly proportional to how much that I enjoy the rules.

I enjoy playing PinBot, it has nice music and nostalgic value for me. But there is not too much to do, so I would not play it for hours a day.
Now JB, with the same playfield, does not get old quickly at all. It is a very fun game to play. LED did an outstanding job with this game (as usual) and the rules are fantastic. Casino run, super jackbots, mega visor, cheating - everything that is there works well.
So JB, with the exact same shots as PB, is a much more fun pin. JB doesn't have deep rules, but what is there is very well done, taking the classic playfield and adding fun goals.