Quoted from TigerLaw:Kids like things that are edgy. Teenage kids do anyway. 8 year olds are unlikely to care much what they are playing. I could never get my 14 year old son excited about playing Hot Wheels. He would think it was absurd and for little kids. BBB on the other hand he would think was awesome, theme wise.
I would say it depends on the kid and their age. The teenage years stretches a LONG way. What a 13 year old is into is often WAY different than what a 16 year old is into even moreso than what a 19 year old is into.
No theme is universally appealing to any focus group. If Stern has finally figured out that these LE version games are predominantly going to home collectors, they have to be thinking that a family friendly game in the PG to PG-13 range is the key. That covers a wide spectrum of ideas and even PG-13 themes can be edgy.
Mom may not be a dedicated pinball player, and probably will not want a pinball machine solely based around scantily clad, buxom girls staring at her, but a game like TRON appealing to Dad and junior may have pretty girls on the backbox and that is OK.
It is quite possible that a modern family today has parents that grew up listening to AC/DC, and the kids may also have been exposed to AC/DC via Rock Band/Guitar Hero platforms. The comic book/Super Hero movie themes are also pretty safe as families probably saw those flicks.
However a cartoon theme like Family Guy could be pushing it (I think it is a great game BTW). It seems like a cartoon, but it is obviously for adults, not kids. But a game like X-Men based off comic book art could hit a wider spectrum. So if Dad the collector is buying the pins at home and junior/missy are playing and Mom has to look at it, it needs to appeal to a broader base. Dad gets to have a machine at home, but maybe not the exact theme he wants.
In short, it is tricky. I think that recently, Stern is on a roll thematically (but I think TRS was a mistake). The LE games are not going to bars anymore, so the previous argument (by Pat Lawlor I think it was), that people are looking to drop some coins into a game while they have a beer after work (or something like that) is not relevant today. Stern is aiming toward the probable demographic that has the money to buy these increasingly expensive pins-the family/home collector.
