Quoted from pintechev:

I love it when 'Flank shows up.
Much respect brother.

Quoted from dung:

Man, if you guys got on about B/W games with major bugs I think your heads would explode. How dare B/W have major issues in their code after 20 years?!?!?!?!

Quoted from bigd1979:

Good code isnt all about deep rules ? Its nice to have a hard challenge but thats not all that makes pins fun . A Nice light show , balanced scoring for risk vs reward shots, no bugs , dmd images and status are some important things that come to mind for a good code . There are alot of sterns that have nice rules but lack some of the important things which make them not very fun to play . Many of the w/b pins have very well polished code which make them super fun and great for tournaments .

Quoted from flashinstinct:

DNO I know we don't see eye to eye when it comes to Stern and their code release. I get it from an operator standpoint if people keep putting coins in the machine code is a moot point. But from a home collector standpoint how can any home collector vouch for a company that doesn't finish their product and doesn't implement code for features that are on the playfield? The company keeps doing it because people (home collectors) don't have the balls to stop buying NIB games when they are released. It's just bad business. One of the only reasons I love Stern games is because they are the only game in town. I could buy older games if I wanted too but really like finished Stern games. If their competitors could produce 1 or 2 games per year and release code in a timely manner, Stern would be in serious trouble. Who knows if that day will ever come. I just know that from my end, I refuse to buy games that have just been released and I wait to see what happens with the code. If enough people start doing that then it will affect Stern's bottom line.
I don't wish them harm (even with my posts). I want them to wake up and at the same time I wish they could look at the bigger picture and realize the harm they are doing to themselves.
On a positive note, I think GOT code release seems to be happening more frequently and it might be a sign of a changing tide. I truly hope so.

Quoted from flashinstinct:

How about you can't reset the villains and end up into oblivion?

Quoted from erak:

Well when I had my xmen. And tested it with the glass off after the final most recent update after starting dark Phoenix and collecting the jackpots. Essentially beating it. You are unable to light any other characters, or start modes.
No character inserts will light to try a second time.
Yes things score, but any progression to danger room or dark Phoenix a second time is impossible.

Quoted from erak:

No its just a scoring mode where every shot is a jackpot. But kind of lije power down on JM. Hit all the lit shots unlimited until you finally drain. Awesome animations.
But once the mode ends you can never try to get there again in the same game.

Quoted from Caucasian2Step:

I got an X-men for X-mas. It's way sweet! I went through the game and both the Danger Room and Dark Phoenix played as they should. I didn't get to qualify it a second time on that game. I was able to play villain modes after I get through the DP Wiz-mode. I wonder if this is like Addams Family where you have to drain the ball to be able to qualify for the tour after you play it during a game?
More seriously, I would like to take a moment and say that Donavan is a super-solid operator who makes sure his decks play great. When I find one of his tables out in the wild and it isn't tip-top, I shoot him a message and the next time I see it. It plays as it should (with whatever software is installed in it). Now even if the industry has shifted towards the hobbyist, the driving force are STILL the ops. Not us individual pinball collectors. This has been true in the past and it will be in the future because people like him ARE BUYING NEW GAMES. These are the people who keep the production lines at Stern, JJP and other companies moving. If it wasn't for the operators, pinball would truly be a hobbyist's game and maybe not even around at all. Oh yeah... he aso runs monthly tourneys, leagues, travels to the big events (and wins), and he's also the best pinball player in this time zone. So, he pretty much lives it. Every day. While I'm a decent player and have a few games on location, he's a much better pinball player and operator. When we talk about stuff like this, I listen to him very carefully (esp. when talking about buying games). He takes these matters very seriously because his livelihood depends on it.
Now Pat Lawlor had a great interview with Shaggy on the This Old Pinball Podcast where he talked about TZ being the worst thing he could have done. He admitted that he got lost in his own hype and forgot to give ops a great game that would be reliable on site. That's the reason why ops want a TAF and drop TZ's all day long. Reliability. Now Stern games are simpler mechanically. Even the home brew designs are simpler (Look at the Archer Project and consider the creativity balanced with the mechanics on the game) than most of the PF designs of the 90's. Stern comes out with new designs and art packages many times a year, but the demands of the minority require deeper and more complex rulesets and stratgegies. When games first come out, they work. After a few years, they are tuned, refined and dialed. Many times this happens after players find an "exploit" in the rules of a deck. B/W rarely made changes in code after on site play testing was completed. Gottlieb/Premier/DE had faster turn around times and they hardly ever updated code. The next game's production was the focus of the team now. Stern is GOING BACK and spending time, money and resources to make their games better. In some cases, this comes purely at the expense of passionate programmers who put their own time into the games, to make them as perfect as they can. Is it ideal, no. Could it be better, sure. But I am not going to hold it against them. I'm going to trust them to do their jobs the best they can with the resources they have. Yeah. I have talked to Lyman and Keith. And the first thing I tell them is "Thank you. My life is better for the work you have done." And they smile. It's a beautiful thing.
In summary, people like DNO (and the global driving operators who are not on these forums) are the ones swinging the bat. People like you and me are coming up later and in much smaller influential amounts. When we start handing pinball companies checks with lots of zeroes behind them, we might have some weight to throw around. But we don't. So please, know your place in the chain of pinball importance. If you really think that you are making pinball better by posting on this forum in this manner, great. Keep telling yourself that. But I'm not here to be angry. I'm here to have fun and talk pinball.
Still, I wish that my 1980 Nine-Ball's code was updated though...
sigh...