Ditto this. It's not necessarily the art I don't like, but lack of cool gadgets and toys. Was totally hoping for an echto version of force ghosts on playfield among a zillion other ideas. Trying really hard to reserve judgement until I see it play.

How long typically before dead flip shows this?

It's growing on me. I'm thinking premium, but do have an Le spot. Wish we knew street prices. What was AS street for premium and LE?

I wish. Premium is starting to grow on me. Can't wait to get details and video on it.

Any hi res updated pics yet?

You can see the other side of art for the LE in the picture featuring Steve and Dwight. I really can't tell what it is though. Hoping the premium is another really cool picture.

Why does everyone keep saying it's Photoshop or clip art? It clearly looks to be a photo realistic drawn artwork. I think the art is fine. My only concern is lack of toys. Hopefully some not so obvious features are in the game. On another note, I was at a family event tonight and was showing my brother in law pics of SW. He's a huge SW geek, but not a pinhead at all. His opinion was that he thought the game looked awesome and he would totally be into it if he seen it out somewhere. My point is that most people won't care about the art or layout. I'm actually really excited to see gameplay. I really just hope it's extremely emersive, and exciting. Is it as beautiful as AS or packed like GB? Of course not, but neither is any other stern. I have high hopes and excitement for this game, and it's sad to think a designer potentially reads these negative comments towards him at times. I'm pumped.

I agree, stern outdone themselves, and SW doesn't have the same initial WOW factor as the others. If you had to bet on gameplay though, and rules, how could you bet against SR? SW looks really aren't that bad, just not as pretty as the other two.

Also...dang those are beautiful machines.

I totally agree. Metallica changed everything, followed up eventually with GB and now AS. Seriously beautiful game. So nice that I've strongly considered getting AS over SW at this point. I never ever would have thought that a year ago, but I am now. SW is my dream theme, and first impression was disappointing compared to the first time I seen AS and GB. I do still like the looks of SW. This is honestly what I was sort of expecting as far as looks. I was nervous leading up release thinking what a good SW game would be like. I didn't expect AS style art, but had hoped for it. My only real concern at this point is fun factor and if fun makes up for the lack of toys.

Was it as fun as everyone says? Asking for a friend.

I wonder how soon dead flip knows a streaming date.

Where is the video?

I'm in on a SW LE, but I'll back up anybody that says ALL the jjp games are far superior quality and detailed compared to any stern. AS is the closest stern has come. That said, I'm pretty pumped for my SW. FYI, I also like GB.

The whole Hobbit comparison to EVERY new game is ridiculously stupid. Hobbit is it's own game. Leave it be. I get some people don't like the layout. Oh well. Tons do. Some people hate GB. Tons don't. Get over it. I can say from an unbiased opinion, as an OWNER of both jjp hobbit and woz pins, and 2 newer sterns in acdc premium, and Metallica pro, that side by side, jjp blows the other 2 out in all aspects except fun factor. Fun factor is completely subjective, and I truly have as much fun on all the same. I like the fast pace Stern's, but I also like a quest style jjp game. I love both companies, and so I can fairly say jjp has a superior product. Yeah, jjp takes longer to develop, and they do one game a year. I never hear the same level of whining about quality control, or incomplete code though compared to the 4 Stern's put out every year. Again, I'm in on a stern SW LE, but I can honestly say I believe most people would have loved to see jjps take on SW. I know I would have. Now, I'm going to go immerse myself into the variety of pinball each machine offers.

Where did you get your math diploma? DI announcement was what, around October/November. Jack promised 2nd quarter shipping. Jack made good. So now you're criticising a New start up company's volume compared to a company that's been full steam for 30 years. With your math major, can you calculate the time differential on how long it took jjp vs stern to get the playfield quality right? Woz had 1st run issues sure, but quickly fixed it. Stern again, 30 years and still having more issues than I have time to list. Again, can't be mad at me either, because I love both companies, support both companies, but facts are facts. Jjp games are a better build, more fully packed, and have excellent code. Stern has hit on some great games lately, but they've also struck out on a bunch to. Anyway, back to SW.

I heard a stern brand lighting mod will be available for the LE back glass to give hyperspace effect. Anybody else hear or know any more about it?

You're correct. Jjp is now the real deal. My point was simply stating that people were criticising jjp for taking too much time getting games out. The timeframe in which they are referencing is during the initial start up period. Kind of unfair to criticize any company at start-up. Now as a more seasoned company, it's been about a half year from announcement of di to shipping. Much better. Enough bringing up jjp posts now, just stick to star wars bud.

I don't personally have a problem with expo announcement. It honestly gives them time to then put out for testing, and then make adjustments before shipping. I think it really helps towards a better finished product. It sucks to have to wait though, but typically worth it.

As for SW shots, it does look to have a great deal of shots. I'm really excited to see dead flip streaming this.

Was gone camping all weekend. Still no announcement on a streaming date?

I'm one that prefers quest style code. I don't care about a high score outside of a tournament, so I need a bigger objective. I definitely prefer Keith's games. Woz, Hobbit, tspp and others give me objectives that an average player like myself can always aim for and will probably never fully see everything. Now that said, they are long games, and I like to mix it up with a good ass kicking sometimes from my acdc or Metallica. I'm really hoping SW is the best of both with a quest type code, but not overly long play time. I find myself playing the short acdc Metallica style the most, but prefer the mode based games in the long run.

I don't think I'm hoping for more than what it really is. I prefer the quest games long term, but still love acdc Metallica style. I'm hoping for a combination similar to where you are progressing through the 3 movies with the final wizard mode destroying the death star. My family is a SW house hold, so regardless of style, we're going to love this game. I do honestly like the di gameplay, but it's not star wars. So far, it sounds like a good amount of modes and multi balls with one final wizard mode, so I'm crossing my fingers that it is very immersive.

Any close up pics of translites? Mainly interested in premium one.

D'oh!!

Any close up pics if the premium back glass yet?

How is there still no video stream announcement date yet?

Crazy how people could potentially get games in hand before even seeing ANY gameplay footage. For crying out loud, where's the footage? I'm not buying anything before seeing it first.

I agree, but I'm in on an LE, smart or not, and distributors want commitments now. Hard to commit without seeing it. Pro buyers are in same boat if they are shipping now. How after 2 years they don't have something to show is beyond me. I'm still in, but I can't justify sending money for an LE until footage is revealed. Guess we'll see. I wouldn't buy a pro either without seeing it play first.

I agree with you totally. When I said pro guys are in same boat, it's not exactly the same of course. I was meaning that distributors will be calling their customers with pros in stock that some guys ordered. No footage, but your pro is in. Good luck. Yeah, they can hold off easily unlike Le buyers, but somebody has to jump in first without seeing it. I'm sure footage will be up soon, it's just frustrating to anxiously wait to see a game we've been waiting years already for. What's another week or two right? The whole announcement to me seems botched, but like you said, star wars will sell regardless and stern knows that.

Same here. Back and forth. I prefer Le looks wise, but know it's probably not worth the difference. It's too much money to gamble with imo. I'm confident it will be good, but prefer to see it first. I thought the same with going premium. Would be nice to sit back with no time frame to decide.

True. I can see that. It's going to be extremely successful regardless. It just doesn't seem to be good business practice towards customers is all.

For what possible reason though?

But if stern already has over 400 video clips in game, and it's all 30+ year old footage, then WTH? This whole release is just so strange. Stern wouldn't let anybody film ANY footage of that pro at the show a couple weeks ago, and they aren't showing anything. It's just so strange and frustrating.

It's just odd that dead flip said it would be soon, and he was looking for a han solo costume last minute. That was a couple weeks ago already, and still no scheduled streaming date. It sounded like he was going to be able to stream it, so what happened? If he doesn't stream this week, then I would imagine owners of pro's will have theirs next week. It's all just odd.

That's what I was told along with Le shipping end of July to early August. Pro's were scheduled to go out soon.

Curious if anyone can tell if the powder coating on the Le is a straight black, or if it has any type of flake or something for a star effect in it? I'm guessing straight black.

Edit.. I found it as gloss black on the description site. Just thought some star effect in paint could be cool.

Must have a broken hyper drive

It's been 26 days since images released and still not a single video. The padawans patiences are wearing thin.

Yep. That's exactly right

You serious?

All this debating on which company is better or offers more value reminds me of the old school yard argument as kids. Sega Genesis vs super Nintendo. Stern would be Sega. It was always faster, pumped out a ton of games, more violence but was never the highest quality. Jjp is Nintendo. Fewer games, system was slower play, family oriented, but the games were definitely better in overall quality. I was a Genesis guy arguing how we were faster, and more adult oriented games, and just better. Eventually I learned that I prefer the snes quality better. I look at this analogy and realize that some people will stay forever faithful to one company no matter what. I personally love both jjp and stern. They each provide a product that meets needs of different types of people. Enjoy both, but don't talk trash about the other. It's a great time to be in this hobby, just like the early 90's was for a video game kid. Flip on.

Lol. I said jjp was family oriented. Like I said, I love both. Nintendo has a strong formula using classic family friendly franchises like Zelda, Mario, donkey Kong, and most new versions of these are played mostly by adults in their 30-40's. I appreciate a good adult theme now and then to, but still enjoy the family friendly ones to. Keep in mind to, star wars was originally made as a children's fantasy story to.

That's really interesting. I'll have to look for that. I wonder what changes to the death star could possibly be.

There was a magnet originally? Is there a copy of these sketches anywhere? That would be cool with a magnet.

Very interesting. I've never seen these before. Thanks for posting.

I prefer jjps model better, but would like to see them get to two games a year while not sacrificing the quality. Stern I wouldn't mind if they backed off a game every year in order to put more into the games they release. I can't afford a new game every year anyway, so the selection after a year or two would be better and higher quality. I'm probably more concerned with saturation of the market when they put out so many.

I understand that. I disagree however that it wouldn't change the quality. If stern made one game a year, and didn't have the investment of design and production of two or three other games, then that is freed up money. Some of that can you into more features of the one game. Seriously, a few magnets, another bash toy or whatever in SW is a pretty minimal cost. They would be much better off trying to justify the cost increase, while still making the same profit per game. While not endorsing the already high costs, I would rather pay another $100-300 for a more feature packed game with shaker, toys, etc.

They definitely could just keep it as is like you say. I think the customer base would prefer more features, but as long as we keep buying, why would they change. I agree. This is why I prefer jjps model. They set out to build higher quality machines, and they are. Regardless of what some people think about jjp, they are trying to offer more and have succeeded. I like my Stern's, but his original question basically comes down to personal preference of quality vs quantity. I prefer quality. Now, still anxiously awaiting to see SW play.

Me too, and at pro price.

And... back to star wars. After thinking about a premium playfield in a pro body, I'm really struggling justifying how much more a premium or even Le costs. We gain what for $2-3k more over the pro. I'm definitely wanting the hyper loop, but man, is it really a $2000 option with a cracking death star. I'm not at all interested in the pro at this point, but it just got me thinking

Gotta wait to see them in action. Pro looks like we're strictly paying for a theme. Premium offers a little more with hyper loop, but is it worth$2k? Probably not, but I'm not sure theme alone sells me the pro. We shall see.

I'm looking at it too.

The looping actually interests me. Seems like another challenge of gameplay to stay focused on ball in play while looping balls constantly circle. I'm excited to see it. Again, without it, what else is there to really see happen on playfield.

The more accurate question is- how many games did stern make that were worth the money? Quantity doesn't equate to quality. Some great games came from stern, but plenty of duds that I wouldn't ever consider to.

Dang it. Just missed the video by a few seconds. How did it look?

So who has a pro on the way and when is expected delivery? Can't wait to see these play.

Anybody hear an estimated arrival date on your pros yet?

I think SR said we would all be pretty happy with how far along code will be at shipping to.

Seems like a year ago when GB images were released, everybody was pretty dang hyped over all the cool looking playfield toys, layout and artwork. Goes to show people like toys and good art. Then play footage and rules hit, and it lost a lot of steam. Hopefully SW, while I wish had more on playfield, will play better and be more exciting to play regardless of lack of as many toys.

Any confirmation yet if dead flip is streaming tonight or tomorrow?

I agree. I think GB is a game people see and want to play. It looks great. I personally love the game after all the quirks have been worked out. I considered owning one, but probably never will at this point. A couple friends already have it. The playfield is one of the coolest layouts imo, and even with some design flaws, it's enjoyable.

He didn't say as far as I'm aware. Hopefully the Le though

I'm on the fence. I just can't tell how the rules and objectives are set up. Call outs seem off to. Sounds like gandolf on Hobbit

Seems like it was a lot of chaos. I just couldn't tell what objectives were, but I did miss beginning of stream. Was there a quick tutorial?

I rewatched some of it again last night and it still just seems like chaos. Ball times were longer than I expected. The animations didn't look great. The call outs were lacking and sounded more like gandalf. It's definitely fast and flowing. I actually like the art. I'm just not fully getting that wow factor yet. I'm really on the fence about my dream theme and that's surprising to me. Maybe the premium will offer more. I need to keep watching and hopefully something will click for me. Believe me, I'm wanting to love it, but I'm not there yet. I may pass on my Le and wait for a premium if I decide to go with a SW.

Based off a similar layout to acdc, I was surprised to see it play easier. It has to though in order to have a decent chance of mode progression. Waiting for the LE footage to decide.

I wouldn't say worst game ever. You may be disappointed, and I understand that. I'm kinda disappointed myself and honestly considering to pass on this one. I need to see the Le in action first though. The pro video didn't wow me like I was hoping. Not sure how I feel yet, but it's definitely not the worst game ever.

Personally it never gets old frying sparky. Best toy ever.

What? That's the best time to get your beer going while sparky prepares to fry.

Never thought I would do this, but just cancelled my Le order. I'll wait through the fall to see if it turns out better and possibly get a premium. I just can't get past the price and lack of a WOW factor for me personally. This is my all time theme, and the "must have" just never resinated for me. At the Le price, there are a lot of other options out there. If I'm spending$8-9k on a machine, I want a great looking pin with lots of cool features, toys, and rules. I'm not seeing that yet on SW. Time will tell if it's great, and believe me, I'm hoping it turns out great. Now at least, I can patiently sit back and wait.

I agree. I like variety in my collection and a game like GB would provide that. It's also packed with toys and the magna slings are innovative whether you like them or not. GB definitely has it's faults, but it's nice to see a different style layout.

This is good to hear boob. I'm keeping an eye on this game still.

Still no word on le/premium footage or ship dates?

Was very underwhelmed last night sadly. Death star was very anti climatic, and hyper loop seems to be used sparingly. I would much prefer it used as a ball lock with up to 5 balls circling while trying to activate multi ball on playfield. Would be cool for one last loop during destroying death star to letting ball circle around and blowing it up. Glad the opinion of no stacking is implemented now though.
Overall, I'm really torn. I want to Love the game, but I don't think it's going to happen. While the pro somehow suddenly makes the most sense, I would still over pay and get a premium to at least have 2 gimmicks on playfield. At this point I doubt I'll ever own this game. If money wasn't an issue and I had a bigger collection, then yeah, I'd get a premium. Wife even said game is disappointing. At the price, it's simply too barren playfield, to complicated rules, and there seems to be no climatic events throughout the entire game like when multiball starts. Code may fix some of that, but now I know I have nothing but time to sit back and wait and see. Sadly underwhelmed.

So I'm curious on the hyper loop. How often is it utilized? Are casual players able to walk up and get it going to? Trying to figure out if it's worth it over the pro.

I'm having a difficult time deciding if it's worth$2k more. I think it seems to add at least something unique, but man, $2k is a lot for that one main difference.

Curious what owners of Le/premium think at this point? I'm still considering a premium but was hoping to see more code updates at this point. How's the fun factor and lastability feel at this early point of ownership?

Lol. Same game thoughts appreciated, but was curious on hyper loop issues as well. My bad.

Finally played SW pro today. Overall, wife and I liked it better than expected. It was fun, and looked decent. Fast, difficult, but fun. Build quality felt and looked cheaper than my previous Stern's though. I would love to try a premium still. Sounds and clips really seem to carry the game, so I wonder how long game play will stay interesting. Had the one more game feel though. Overall, better than expected, but still not the SW I was looking for. Potential owner still.

I actually like that star destroyer. Not sure about the glowing effect yet, but overall I like it. Nothing else is correct size on table like falcon size of death star, so I think it works well.