Hope the games will still function if you choose to disconnect it.

The moment this happens, I never buy another new game. Out.

Also it conceptually doesn’t make any sense. Two people looking at two entirely different machines with entirely different physical things happening. This isn’t Fortnite or Mario Kart where you are live interacting with players in the same world & can see each other & interact. Pinball is “you vs. machine”. What someone else is doing on another machine somewhere else isn’t going to add any element of viable gameplay or fun for anyone. At best it’ll just seem like nothing is happening, at worst it’ll be confusing and annoying to have “a ghost” affecting your game somehow.

Not to mention how a limited user base would even make a matchup almost impossible. Online games only work if there are multi-millions of players….won’t work with hundreds.

Stern has this right by doing a stats & achievement approach. You can’t turn multiple physical machines into an online video game. …and yes, I know Gerry’s done it with Cosmic Cart. How’s that working out for the 6 people who have it? Not a needle-mover. Not a compelling gaming experience.

How would seeing someone else’s LCD add any fun to what you’re doing? It’s hard enough to pay attention to all the stuff on the LCD for your own game…that would just be confusing and difficult to try to pay attention to someone else’s & try to figure out how that relates to what you’re up to.

How would that be fun? My time is precious...if I'm playing pinball and there's no one else in the room, the last thing I want to do is sit there and stare at my machine, showing me on the LCD what someone else somewhere else is doing. If the goal of this theoretical head-to-head is reaching milestones or high scores...it would be more logical to just be on some leaderboard or friend group through this connectivity...and then just look on the app to compare your goals/scores occasionally vs. "playing live".

The very nature of pinball makes it infinitely repayable...that's why most of us fell in love with it as a game we wanted in our homes. Great pinball can be replayed forever and always be fun. If people need extra gimmicks to attain replayability, I mean...congrats? ...but if pinball was already lacking replayability for you, then you'll probably get bored of these gimmicks as well.

I hope new games come with a traditional plastic for the right window of the apron for those who don’t care about this & want to remove it.

At least on iPhones, you fire up camera and aim. Some restaurants have QR codes now instead of giving you menus.

ROTFL. P3 is not competition. They’re a spec on Stern’s buttcheek. P3 probably hasn’t sold 100 games since it launched, while Stern has probably sold 100k in that timespan. P3 is proof that this stuff doesn't move the needle or sell more games. Stern isn’t doing this because they need to. They’re doing it because they can.

Modern games don’t have DMD.

Oh hai Stern!

(I guess I live in NJ now lol)

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P3 has zero social media game. Stern does, and that's what this new product leverages. They have games on location, location players will use this to have fun. No one knows P3 games exist. Other than "internet", this isn't even remotely like anything P3 is up to, really.

I mean, if a game came with it, why not leverage it? You could put out a message that would go out to all the people signed up (or at least the local ones, I'd guess) telling them you have the newest game....or that game is running a tournament, or by playing that game, they can win prizes from Stern. Seems like a winner for ops...free advertising for your location.

I feel like that was true of older ops who’d just toss stuff at a bowling alley & collect the cash box. I think modern ops, especially barcade owners are totally about keeping games current, clean & working.

You’ll abobaleebobo and you’ll like it!!!!

Innovation can mean different things. I want to see creative innovation: something cool and mechanical and interesting that affects gameplay in a new way that wows us like the first time we saw the BSD Mist Ball, Dr. Who’s Time Expander, MM’s castle, etc.

For me, Stern JP is fairly innovative. You’ve got an animating “living creature” with lots of animation like you’d see at a theme park, and it can eat the ball, drop it on a ramp, and throw it. In addition, the layout & shots & other playfield features like the captive ball car are totally unique - there’s innovation there.

That’s the innovation I like - things that are viscerally satisfying for the player.

Even the old farts have a cell phone….this is more about people who live that social media life vs. those who don’t. This will be fun for those who are social media users…and it will result in a cycle of free advertising for Stern to a younger demographic. There’s no downside to this thing, really….and this is coming from someone who probably wouldn’t use it.

I get it, people like achievements and badges...even though I love video games, I have never given a F about these things. To me, playing the game is the reward. If I want to feel an "achievement" for bashing Sparky, I'd start the Battery mode, where bashing him is actually the purpose.

I got Burnout Paradise for PS4 one Black Friday for $10 - was pretty excited cuz I loved Revenge. I started a race & got lost in the city - figured the race would end since I clearly wasn’t on the path. But it wouldn’t end. I couldn’t figure out how to end it and start over or do something else. I couldn’t believe how unintuitive a racing game could be….I haven’t touched it since.

The point is that it’s a quick zap to “log you in” and track your accomplishments without having to do a long convoluted sign in process every time you play pinball. One zap, it knows what game you’re on & your previous history with that game. The idea is that when you step up to that game, you’re already signed up. It’s a simple & elegant solution to this trophy/social concept, IMO.

Connect as used for a promo tool (trophies, prizes etc) & a way for owners/operators to interact with their machines is cool. The second they treat these $10k machines like free apps & try to make paid DLC a norm, I’m 100% out. I’ll look forward to someone with the hacking skills to jailbreak Spike 2, and will only buy jailbroken games with all features available.

LOL, it’s a bit weird…but it’s not like it’s a Pepsi ad or something totally unrelated.

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I wasn’t really huge on them, but Rush is Rush…I had no choice.
Deadpool came with it, so there it is!

lol wait did people think these ads were DURING gameplay?!?! Of course it’s only in attract mode! That’s why the outrage is so goofy.