The designs are original, the concepts are not. . Actually the shooter rod looks like one of the play field heads.

Anyway I never said the mods weren't cool looking. They're especially great if you like the AMC logo on your mods.

But like others have said, mod makers that make a better product for a cheaper price have nothing to worry about.

Agreed. Topper is bad ass - need video of that ASAP.

I went to sterns website. I can only find text info on mods. Where are these located?

Agreed, so why post this?:

Not to say your mods aren't cool. Just saying that anyone riding Stern's coat tails and making money off of their machines shouldn't be bashing Stern for trying to cash in on the market that THEIR hard work and creativity created in the first place.

Competition is good. Keep making good products and they will continue to sell. At least they didn't send you a C&D...

It was a knee-jerk reaction, we all have them. I doubt I'm the only mod maker who's disappointed but there's no time for that now, I have shooter rods to paint.

There is still all the older Sterns not to mention B/W and data east Sega, I think the modders will be fine.

I can't believe this a first. It makes perfect sense to me for the manufacturer to sell the extras. Too bad the topper isn't just a standard piece like other games that came with a topper though.

I can see it now where is my code update....where are my mods.......

hehehehe...
it's on OS upgrade

The topper looks awesome but the price sucks. The armor looks cool too and people on here are saying its pricey but it's not. It is nearly the same price as other after market armor like the ones at the pinball refinery are the same price without the lockdown bar. So the armor when compared to other after market armor isn't that bad but the topper is.

Were there ever any doubts?? I've already emailed JJ.

Agreed on the topper. It's awesome.

I still like mirror blades better than any side panels I have ever seen. Not sure why people prefer side panels to mirrors?

Nice mods, but the price is a little stiff on a couple of those items.

If these were added to the LE Stern would've charged 10k for the LE model! Almost wonder if Stern originally had these on the LE and decided they were already maxed out at charging 8500 for a machine so these "mods" were eliminated and sold separately.

If one were to buy all these "mods" (you know there are people out there that will buy all of them) Stern is making just over 9650$ per LE model!

bravo stern!

yep... i think mirror blades are better, but maybe with a little (very small amount of) overlay artwork. not dominated by artwork.

but, i do have all artwork side panels on SMB and TSPP. think it works well on the cartoon-like themes.

Christmas present determined.

What do you do with the existing armor?
Sell it I guess??

As an operator, I would prefer mod money go to Stern.

You may want to consider switching over to operating games yourself. You won't make mod money, but you will get a steady income. And you'll be contributing a lot more to the hobby than you will by selling mods to home buyers.

Believe it or not, I'm trying to do both.

Couldn't agree more!

next thang you'll know... Stern will be selling used pins on their site.

oy-vey

Money was being left on the table. This is no surprise that they entered the mod market.
So the LE will not have all toys available from the start? hmm. Whole new meaning to the word "Limited" Edition.

Cool looking stuff though. Many different tastes so the more versions the better for the consumer IMO.

Will these be direct or via distros?

I don't want to get too far off topic, but if you have games out now, thank you.

people buy LE coz they expect the whole deal, now it seems like they got only half for what they paid for... I bought Pro model myself, I hope the fish tank topper will work together with the fish tank mode.
I do think their add is misleading. They show a pro model with the backglas of an LE...

twd pro mods.jpg

I like the topper. Seems a little high price wise but what do I know.

Also agree with others who have stated that the LE should have the best armor stock. Then again maybe they didn't think everyone would like it and it would dissuade people from buying.

I think this would be great as long as the mods don't alter the PF much. If it's something like "we have 3 different colored snakes you can choose from", that'd be fine. But if it's "you have to pay extra for the snake", I wouldn't be down.

Being able to choose what color armor, which translite, which cabinet artwork, headphone jack, and so on would be interesting. There's been tables that I've liked the artwork on one model but the translite on the other.

I don't see Stern offering custom machines assembled at the factory, maybe the distributors but not the Stern factory- it would slow up production and become a nightmare. 95% of car manufacturers will pump out a few models in set colours and then the distributors get the extras and prep them for the customer. But don't believe distributors will over stock in these as well as then alot of money sitting on the shelf as they want the machines out the door.

As for the Stern mods they do look cool but they are not original in concept - basically copying ideas of what is being done on Pinside by some of the originator creative modders (if that is a phase lol).

I also agree with custom_pinball they should call on some of the modder artists to join Stern on some creations.

STERN - This is a BIG disgrace for Us LE buyers!
These should have been on the LE machines from day dot. (Topper and Mirror blades)
P.s wheres the LE shaker?
Starting to loose me now.

I love the idea but man it does sting a bit when you have an le on order....
And squizz is right put the gd shaker in the le.

Pretty much the nail in the coffin for me...

Seems Stern has plenty of time to design mods..yet doesn't have the 'time' to ship the game with any kind of respectable code.

I got some time on a pro last night..after 6-8 games I found my self playing Gillian's Island, RTC and Golden Eye more. TWD is really nothing but a bash feast. I was contemplating canceling my LE on the drive home...I've bought Borg's last few LE and REALLY wanted a Zombie pin

The LE is really just a Premium now...you have to build your own LE with another grand or so.

Check please...I'm out! Probably for good...

So you think Stern programmers are designing mods instead of writing code?
There is no way they have the programmers designing these mods and not codding.
It takes time to write and test code but it is not the same person doing the mods.

may not be a bad thing. Think about it, maybe you could trade in a previous Stern pin when you buy a new one. Kind of like the car market. Trade in your old car for a new one. Could always get more selling outright but sometimes it's not worth the hassle. Plus we know that market is out there as most of the main dist take trade ins for new pins.

They do it with cars cell phones why not pinball machines.
They could do factory refurbished.

Those that think all of this should have been on the LE.

When is the last time you bought a high end/limited edition car that came with custom wheels? I just don't get it. I know ya'll want to get all this for free but this is not out of the norm and should not be a surprise.

I don't agree that LE = every possible feature.

The special part of a LE is in it's limited run and features unique to that run.

My buddy that bought a supercar was given the option of tacking on a lot of extras to the already over $200k price.

I'd say his car is way more of a LE than any Stern LE pinball machine is.

EDIT: vette beat me to the same thing by 50 seconds.

Obviously they put resource towards designing these mods. They could have easily added another guy to the coding team instead and gave us something more than...bash the prison...bash Wellervine. Ohhh look..a blinking light at the ramp..let hit that

Blah...blah...blah

That's not my quote there that you quoted Not sure how that happened.

Do you really believe that?

"Hey, what can we do to keep our artists busy between games?"

"I dunno, let's have them code."

If you have to 'keep an artist busy'...you clearly have too many artist on staff

If you can't put a game out that barely keeps score...you clearly don't have enough coders on staff.

It's really not that difficult

Except neither you or I are running Stern, so we both are just guessing.

It's lame to imply that I don't understand a simple concept, when you are also talking out of your ass and making a guess.

Huh? You're the one that said 'they had to keep the artist busy'. You started the theory on why they are making the mods..AKA 'the talking out your ass'

I merely commented....if your theory was correct..there's a pretty big problem.

I'll just agree to disagree.

Like me, you may have a career in software development. My opinion is based on my experience. I think the fix to Stern's code problem is to bring in someone who understands modern SDLC and can lead the coders there. That's opposed to piling on more coders.

To summarize, I do agree that they could use another person or two in the coding department, just not coders. I also don't agree in cannibalizing an artist head to make room for a new coder head. Let an artist go if the work isn't there, but don't let them go to enact a poor fix.

Since when do you buy an LE and get all the after market mods included?
Since when has anyone produced a topper this cool, or likely expensive?
Since when does a pin from Stern include mirror blades/side art panels?
Since when does a Stern pin include a custom shooter rod?
Since never, that's when.

So now you have the option on buying these from Stern. Did you notice that the zombie heads in the topper are sculpted by the Walking Dead artist himself?

Stating that Stern should be including everything on an LE is just plain ignorant. Wouldn't you like to see various leg colours and even other options available? The more, the better I say.

BUT: Mess with the playfield options (ie: charge me more for something that actually impacts the way the game plays), and I may have an issue with that.

That's fair..
I don't pretend to know Stern's business model...the only thing I do know is the results of their business model

I gave them a pass on my XmenLE ..and the 2 years it took to fix the code
I begrudgingly gave them a pass on my MetLE ..and the year it took to fix the hammer and completely missing modes

Now I see 'ohh look..here's some shinny mods for your TWD Premium to turn it into a LE' the day after playing the borefeast that is TWD.

Some people don't have a problem with that...which is fine. I was gonna give them yet another shot as I'm a sucker for horror type stuff and a huge fan of Borg's games (yes...completely my fault). Well..they just made my decision for me..which was kinda nice

I agree, but part of what we paid for with an LE was cool armor. We get rust and for $500 more we could get this armor that I think everyone agrees looks better?

The armor is the only item I feel like I got jipped with.

**edit - post was argumentative and pointless at this point...

Time to drain this thread as it's going nowhere...

Overpriced fail.

Pingraffix Pinblades = 75.00
Stern Blades = 79.99

PBC Shooter Rods = 69.99
Stern Shooter Rod = 79.99

Pinball Refinery Custom Armor Kit = 480.00
Stern Custom Armor Kit = 499.99

As far as the topper goes, thats a tough one to find a comparison to. There isn't much out there thats new and like it. While I dig Laseriffic's toppers, I don't think its fair to compare them price-wise to the Fishtank topper.

I wouldn't exactly call these overpriced failures. In fact, pricing may be lower, as we don't yet know if these are retail only, or via distributors. With that said, I don't mean this as a knock against anyone. i love that there are people out there doing awesome and creative things. I hope that they are able to keep on doing them, as well. I also don't think that Stern's entry into the Mod marketplace will put too much of a damper on things. Too much creativity out there to stop the signal. At least I hope that's the case.