I'm on record as not being a big Stern fan, in fact some might call me a hater, but I got to play a ST Pro straight out of the box last night and I was quite impressed. Certainly a big improvement over the last 3 games, this is a very fast, smooth flowing game that I kept wanting to give one more try, a feeling I haven't had with a new Stern since Family Guy. The game had some software bugs, and it was pretty obvious how young the code was, but lots of potential. There was too much background noise, so I can't comment on the game's sound package, but the dot's were definitely disappointing, way too cartoonish, and I have a feeling there is going to be a shortage of Blue DMD's and a glut of Red soon.
Pretty shocked that they abandoned the hurricane lock for the backbox, that's been a big plus since the DE days, the new system looks cheap, but I guess that's the point
Overall I think this is going to be a winner for Stern, time will tell how they follow thru with the code, and how the gameplay stands the test of time, but I can see myself possibly buying one of these down the road, something I haven't been able to say about a Stern for a very long time.