Quoted from anathematize:

i've put in hundreds of games on both and Iron Maiden is far and away a better game that Pirates in my opinion. Definitely not a better world under glass though.
Maiden is just so much more of a complete package than Pirates (not even including the myriad tech issues that pirates owners should NOT have to be dealing with for $9,000+).

Quoted from anathematize:

for me i don't even notice the lack of toys in Maiden - thats how good of a layout and design it is. plus the code and rules are just SO refined and deep.
Pirates has the toys for sure but I feel like the modes/chapters are a HUGE swing-and-a-miss for them. literally no variation whatsoever. there is some 'multiball fatigue' in the game too but that might just be a personal issue with how i enjoy games.

Quoted from Neal_W:

Should music pins be included in the best music category is a good question. Remember there was IM, ACNC and Primus all competing with original music pins. If Maiden included a bunch of newer and less popular songs for the purpose of marketing or licensing, the pin would have been much less enjoyable, so recognition should be given for including the music that pinball fans want (and voted for).

Quoted from Flynnyfalcon:

Kaneda!! Really?? He’s such a massive dick! Sadly the legion of fan bois were happy to throw their support behind him... I did like his speech though. I’ve tried listening to him a few times but but it’s just unbearable.
Slam Tilt, Pinball Profile and Head to Head in no particular order are miles ahead of Kaneda.

Quoted from Aurich:

It's wild how serious you guys are taking this. I really don't think Stern needs to care about a podcast award show. They could just not show up at all, not send a rep, utterly ignore it, and maybe make one guy so mad he doesn't buy a new game for the next month before caving and getting it anyway. That would be about the extent of any repercussions.
It's great that people get recognition, Robin deserves props for the work he puts into Pinside, but I think this forum can forget how far up our own butts we crawl on things. All this pointless arguing about which game is better, and if there are enough toys, blah blah blah. And then a new game comes out and we line up to buy it without playing it. We're killing time BSing with each other. I've done plenty myself, don't think I'm casting judgement, but I've never pretended it meant anything. Maybe we got a couple art packages improved, that's something.
Some guy booing for 2 minutes straight sounds pretty classless, but I'm not gonna pretend I don't think it's hilarious. Find out who he is, I'll buy him a beer.

Pretty sure we've all heard of Stern.