The musicals I think would make great games are Little Shop of Horrors (the AudreyII toys basically create themselves), Rocky Horror Picture Show, or Nightmare Before Christmas.

So code, QC, prices, gameplay mean nothing to you? I get being interested but 100% in?

This is why shit is the way it is ...

First impression, looks really good! Definitely a Borg mash-up, but most are.

-Jacky is Sparky 2, and I think that's good. I like continuing the Metallica concept of new characters influenced by the band. This makes it feel original even though licensed.

-Art is killer.

-Upper playfield looks good in that the divertor allows the shot to still be a flowing ramp and not a lame ramp blocker like TFLE or GOTLE

-Love that he brought back the NBA flying ball trick. A great feature that no one saw since NBA didn't sell.

-Pro looks solid, per usual for Borg. Basically looks like the same game, minus the upper playfield.

Not an Aerosmith fan, not buying NIB anymore...but looks like a game I'd want to play for sure! I'd perhaps consider it in the future depending on gameplay impressions and if code is finished.

Location players love that shit ! IJ is the highest grossing game at my local barcade.

I don't like Stern IJ at all...but I think cool physical Multiball locks and releases are cool. I like when a cool feature from a shit game makes it into a (potentially) good game.

Hobbit had movie footage to work from. Aerosmith had nothing. It was either this or live action band footage. Even though the animation is like 1998 Internet Flash, the art style is completely cohesive with the rest of the game...I'd rather see good character 2D art with bad animation than bad 3D character art/animation (Lexi Lightspeed, Dialed In). I think for their first game with original 2D color content, it looks really good. Good enough for a pinball display, IMO.

Maybe that's their "stock music game sound FX" now. Stern's been recycling sound FX since the DE days....remember the "mode is ending telephone ring" sound effect that's in pretty much every DE game?

Hahah...look, I give props where props are due. The overall package for this game is awesome...and I'm saying that as someone who's on Stern's shitlist for my GB criticisms, a non-Aero fan and someone who won't buy NIB games anymore. I don't see one thing to complain about, seriously. It looks extremely appealing with a nice layout and toys that look cool.

Totally...all the legit good stuff is on the Pro, including some color changing inserts.

I'm trying to figure out if I'd like the upper playfield or not.
-I like that the left ramp shot is still a legit ramp shot....and it looks like the divertor would allow you to do some loops up there in certain instances.
-I like that the elevator is actually an elevator on the Prem/LE. The elevator shot takes the ball up, and I like the little doors on it.
-Not sure I like the actual shots from the flipper once you're up there though...they're all backhand shots, which seems kinda odd for an upper playfield...guess it depends on the mode/code context - could be fun, who knows.

At the end of the day, it's a vast improvement from the GOT upper playfield...that thing literally makes no sense on any level.

The LE pics definitely have multiple colored GI. Not sure if it's just the bulbs to look cool, or if they're actually going to be coded to have different effects.

Stern has been known to make mistakes in there. We'll see, I guess!

...but then you own & have to play a Spooky Dominos pin.

Since you like the Pro, and a Pro is unlimited - what's the point of pre-ordering? Why not wait for some more videos to see how the gameplay is, or play one first?

All pinball is pretty similar. You can't assume they're targeting people who already have one or two specific games. I can already tell this game will be different from those two in multiple ways. Rules might be kinda like Kiss, though...but neither of those games has a ball flinging through the air into a physical lock box...which then gets dumped out later. The combination of the NBA fling trick with the IJ ark trick is going to be a great feature that will definitely differentiate the game from Met and Kiss.

I actually completed the "No Place Like Home" Ball Save...took me like 5 minutes - and then right after I did it, I drained the ball within 10 seconds lol

Space Jam didn't fling it like that...on Space Jam, the magnet just catches the ball as it flies off the ramp. It didn't have a saucer that launched it from the playfield. That was new for NBA.

Sorta. The ark is pre-loaded when you start the game, and just dumps them out after you hit it a bunch of times. On this game, the balls are flung into the box from the lock saucer. Much cooler. Borg took two cool ideas from two lesser games and turned it into one cooler feature.

Borg's been rehashing ideas for a while now...but when it works, it works. This game is a mashup of a bunch of his previous games. It doesn't matter. Pretty much no one buying new pinball machines cares if a game is sorta-kinda like another if it's appealing on its own merits. Look how far "Tron is Funhouse" criticisms went....nowhere, cuz Tron is awesome on its own merits. A billion games have two-ramp-flow layouts. Metallica is a lot like Monster Bash in some ways...but they both feel like totally different experiences. At the end of the day, it comes down to whether the layout & rules work together to make a fun game.

Stern's LE pricing has been whack for years now...but hey, people will pay it so why wouldn't they. What I like about this reveal today is that they're showing a Pro model that you can get for about $5k, that looks to offer a solid pinball experience with great art and cool features. None of the other guys can touch that. I get the feeling Aerosmith LE will sit for a while...they won't sell out 500 right away, as the enthusiasts who would pay that much are gonna hold off and make sure QC and code are up to par. I think Pros will sell pretty well on this one, as the value of what you get compared to other options & other companies is solid.

You miss the point of that "whining" ...if a company is GOING to charge higher end prices, customers expect higher end shit in the box. $15k for a Batman Super LE is dopey as fuck when you can own a Hobbit & a WOZ for that amount of money. When Stern games are priced similarly to JJP or Lebowski...or HIGHER - you're not getting the same value. But yes, in the lower price zone, no one else can offer the value you get with a Stern Pro.

I've been begging for years. Stern doesn't seem to wanna do it. Lyman loves Rush, so here's hoping!

A niche that would buy all 500 LE's within an hour of reveal. More passion = more $$$. Aerosmith may be "bigger" and more "mainstream"...but I really don't think they have a passionate fanbase like Rush.

Oh yeah...forgot there are operators here.

Isn't he the art director at Stern? I think he has input on everything, even games he doesn't do the art package for.

Very common...plenty of B/W games like that too. Centering with the apron doesn't mean anything for good playfield geometry.

It depends if lock is lit. If lock is lit, it goes in the box... if not, it dribbles back into play.

You know what innovation gets you? Jpop, P3, Heighway...AKA a game that never or barely makes it to market. You know what John Borg at Stern "not" innovating gets you? Iron Man, Metallica, Tron. I know which one I'd rather have.

People also have to remember at the end of the day, Stern needs to keep the line moving. They have to manufacture and have new product to sell. Borg is generally a very "practical" designer, and I respect that. He tends to get tighter deadlines than some other designers, and he does what he can in the time he's allotted...so, when he doesn't have the time to come up with some brilliant new mech - he digs into his bag of tricks and comes up with something that'll still be cool and fun. It's not Borg's JOB to impress some hardcore hobbyists with innovation. It's his JOB to make a fun game that can be built by "X Date". He accomplishes that. Does Metallica have any "innovation"? No, but it's a solid, fast, fun, awesome machine and is headed toward being an all time best seller for Stern.

Not saying it wouldn't make them better...I'm just saying it allows Stern to get games out the door when they need to get a game out the door.

Are there newer ones? Is that a thing with Aerosmith?

That's why KISS made those new recordings...THEY didn't wanna pay the old members. So, that seems more like Kiss's deal than Stern's. Aerosmith is still all together, right? I don't think they've done re-recordings.

Aero works. If we can do TSPP, TOTAN, LOTR...Aero is short enough to work and you know what it is when you see it.

Yeah, at the end of the day, Aerosmith is like Stones...a HUGE band with an impressive musical history...but perhaps on the type of fanbase who really wants to buy something like a pinball machine. ACDC and Metallica have that type of passionate fanbase who definitely would want a pinball machine of their favorite band. That's why I still contend that Rush would be a huge hit. You can argue that they're niche...but their fans are BEYOND passionate. 500 Rush LEs would sell out instantly.

Theme aside, pinball hardcore types are likely sitting on their wallets due to QC/code issues...we're probably moving closer to more people having a "PLAY IT FIRST" stance.

See? ...and the Canadians would stop complaining about prices if it was Rush!

Long term - sure...but could they move 500 LE's in one day? Absolutely. Any hardcore Rush fans who missed out would buy Prems or Pros. Then - if the game was good and had Lyman on code...it COULD become a long term seller like Metallica and ACDC. Lyman is a HUUUGE Rush fan, so you know he'd go to town.

Paul Rudd and Jason Segel would buy one...that's 2 LE's sold already!

I just watched the new-ish Rush documentary...and there were plenty of female fans. The founder of "Rush Con" is a woman. When you look at the crowds, though...it's definitely more dudes...maybe a 7 ratio. I have to imagine it's not too different at a Metallica concert.

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...and Black Knight 2000!

Yup. Most games have the same 15-20 second loops. Music themes games have more variety of music than any game out there.

Since our expectations are so low now from GB's design and QC issues & Batman's insane price and zero code... Aerosmith is getting more props than it probably normally would have. Aero is a pretty run of the mill game - the fact that it doesn't have any drama attached to it is making it look better than it actually is. The Pro price is right, the Color LCD looks cool, you can open the box & have a good time. What's to complain about on this one compared to last year!?