Lots of discussion about this in other threads. Let's just quantify it...
(Topic ID: 104306)
Linked Games
The Walking Dead (Pro)
Stern, 2014
Topic Gallery
Buffalo, NY
................Joey
Definitely disappointed in the callouts. They have to be fixed. Some lines from the show are needed.
It is "AMC's The Walking Dead" after all.
75% of the speech hadn't even been added yet. There are 5+ characters in the game.
You never know Stern may pull a Karl Urban on this one and get a real iconic voice actor down the line 
Don't really care as long as the tone fits the theme. Not sure I like the Hillbilly call outs though
Beauharnois
i think it's big let down, a walking dead pinball with actors all over it but no voices from them, really?
saying they are working together to make the best walking dead pin is contradictory.
i'm sure those who pre ordered didn't saw that one coming and now they try to convince themself, ''it's ok it's a generic pinball theme... but it's not!
Quoted from mnpinball:75% of the speech hadn't even been added yet. There are 5+ characters in the game.
You never know Stern may pull a Karl Urban on this one and get a real iconic voice actor down the line........Or they could just let it fall to a horrible death, sort of like the zombie apocalypse.
Fixed it for you. 
I could even swallow non-TV show actors, but the ridiculous hillbilly voice has to go. It does not currently fit at all in the game. Its a dark and moody game. Great intense music. And then its like the guy from BBH hunter yells out "YEEEE HAWWWW!". It is grating and juvenile.
HATE it. (if you couldn't already tell).
Do generic voice work, but have it fit the theme and mood of the game.
I had a deposit down for an LE and my wife made me cancel it because of no dialogue from the show. I believe her exact words were, "F*ck that sh*t."
How hard would it be to replace the callouts with pinball browser?
For example - a big hillbilly YeeeeHaaaaawwww!!!!!! Changed to a blood curdling AAAAAAIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!
(please forgive my poor attempt at typing comic book exclamations) 
Insanity. Charge $50 more per unit and get a couple of the actors. Sounds like a bad GWB impression.
Quoted from T7:How hard would it be to replace the callouts with pinball browser?
For example - a big hillbilly YeeeeHaaaaawwww!!!!!! Changed to a blood curdling AAAAAAIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!
(please forgive my poor attempt at typing comic book exclamations)
The problem with that approach is that the callouts have to be the same length. What if you found the perfect quote for starting multiball, and it was 1/2 second too long?
Stern could really step up here and offer the user the ability to install custom speech easily, without having to redo it every time an update comes out. That would make this whole controversy go away.
In hindsight, I should have broken down the "meh" into two buckets:
- Still buying the game, but not happy about it
- Buying the game, and indifferent about it
Quoted from swampfire:The problem with that approach is that the callouts have to be the same length. What if you found the perfect quote for starting multiball, and it was 1/2 second too long?
Stern could really step up here and offer the user the ability to install custom speech easily, without having to redo it every time an update comes out. That would make this whole controversy go away.
Quotes can be time compressed or expanded easily within a 1 second margin without notice. I plan on replacing as much as I can with pinball browser.
I'm on the fence, hoping to see a better video with some more complete code and better call outs. My gut right now says if it is that same generic crap voice heard in the first videos, I'll be out for NIB.(Which I was in on this as one of my dream themes before finding out no clips/call outs from the show). It can be argued again and again but I'm sorry it is The Walking Dead pinball based off The Walking Dead TV show by AMC, it should have some of the voices, stupid not to.
Still think the pinball itself has promise if the code is good but then might just picked up a HUO later instead.
I'm really torn on this one. I'm a fifth time Stern LE buyer here and starting to have some buyer's remorse on this one. I preferred Resident Evil as the theme and planned to sit this one out. Then I saw the playfield and was so intrigued that I wrote a very large pre-order check. Now, learning that there's no series voice work, I'm bewildered. We've got Cell Block C, the well walker, the music (thanks Stern, this was a huge positive decision), the cast on the cabinet of the pro version, but nothing else from the show. WTF, really? This isn't one of the other generic zombie pins like RAZA, this is AMC's The Walking Dead. To have generic voice work would be like stabbing ME in the eye with a knife or cutting off my head with Michonne's sword. Oh, wait, they're not part of this AMC game, so no worry. No Governor, no Shane, no Merle, no Daryl, just random milktoast zombies.....in this AMC's the Walking Dead pin. F@$k that! If this is the case, zero pre-order from me in the future!
It's a missed opportunity by Stern to not include voice audio of actors from the show. So far we have 33 "no's". Let's average a machine at $5,500 (factoring in some LE buyers) and multiple that by 33. That's over $180,000 in lost sales...How much could the license have been to use an actors lines from the show? Even if it was $100k to hire Norman Reedus for custom lines that is still another $80k in sales made. Let's say another 100 people then buy the game simply because it also features the voice of Daryl Dixon. That's $550,000 at $5,500 a machine.
Layout looks good, art looks great, music is solid, dots look awesome, call outs.....completely ear wrenching. Hope something gets improved over the next year of updates.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:It's a missed opportunity by Stern to not include voice audio of actors from the show. So far we have 33 "no's". Let's average a machine at $5,500 (factoring in some LE buyers) and multiple that by 33. That's over $180,000 in lost sales...How much could the license have been to use an actors lines from the show? Even if it was $100k to hire Norman Reedus for custom lines that is still another $80k in sales made. Let's say another 100 people then buy the game simply because it also features the voice of Daryl Dixon. That's $550,000 at $5,500 a machine.
i think it's too complicated from them to understand.
I voted the first option. But, I wouldn't quite say "but now forget it". If the game play is top notch and they fix some of the "BBH meets Mustang" call outs then I would still consider buying a pro. I'm just so bummed out by this whole deal right now. 
This was a "dream theme" for me, now turning into a "clownish nightmare". 
Quoted from PanzerFreak:So far we have 33 "no's". Let's average a machine at $5,500 (factoring in some LE buyers) and multiple that by 33. That's over $180,000 in lost sales...
I would agree if Stern actually listened to people saying "I'm not buying this game!"
I mean if they believed all on here that said "Never getting a NIB again" they would have closed their doors.
Instead of moving to a better place to produce more.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:It's a missed opportunity by Stern to not include voice audio of actors from the show. So far we have 33 "no's". Let's average a machine at $5,500 (factoring in some LE buyers) and multiple that by 33. That's over $180,000 in lost sales...How much could the license have been to use an actors lines from the show? Even if it was $100k to hire Norman Reedus for custom lines that is still another $80k in sales made. Let's say another 100 people then buy the game simply because it also features the voice of Daryl Dixon. That's $550,000 at $5,500 a machine.
$180k in lost revenue, but probably less than $50k in lost profit. However, multiply that by 3 or 5 because this is just a Pinside poll...I assume there are more of us malcontents in the world.
If Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon) did custom speech for the game, I'd be in again for sure.
Quoted from swampfire:multiply that by 3 or 5 because this is just a Pinside poll...I assume there are more of us malcontents in the world.
Hmm....tough to follow that logic.
EDIT: Also, those are some "hard numbers" that aren't real life. When Metallica came out, I didn;t have the monies as wasn't interested in the theme. After it was out for a year, I had monies, had played it, and bought one.
So same people who are crying over their man crush Daryl being missing now, might be back later.
It's easy to say you not going to buy a machine and then end up buying it.
I mean really...it's like Pinside never learns anything from itself.
Quoted from swampfire:In hindsight, I should have broken down the "meh" into two buckets:
- Still buying the game, but not happy about it
- Buying the game, and indifferent about it
...how about the "Was interested, but without quality show speech, I'm definitely OUT" poll.
~Steveo
Are you really to pay significantly more to have the voices of the series?
If yes - send a cheque to Stern
In no - take it as it is...
I would rather invest in a PDI glass!
Quoted from mnpinball:75% of the speech hadn't even been added yet. There are 5+ characters in the game.
You never know Stern may pull a Karl Urban on this one and get a real iconic voice actor down the line
They have said directly that they won't. But ok, let us just say for the sake of argument that they get Andrew Lincoln to do the calls. Is that enough? I still say that without some type of background from the show it just won't fly right.
And you know what? That is perfectly fine. I'm still happy. I'll play Tron and LOTR and everything else and have a blast. Just because they hosed up on a theme I wanted isn't the end of the world... Fight along with Rick Grimes' redneck brother in law from NASCAR as you attack generic zombies.
Quoted from DaveH:But ok, let us just say for the sake of argument that they get Andrew Lincoln to do the calls. Is that enough? I still say that without some type of background from the show it just won't fly right.
Yet if it was just Daryl everyone would be happy, just like ST.
Quoted from frg:Are you really to pay significantly more to have the voices of the series?
Why should we have to pay more? I didn't have to buy a "speech pack" for my other Sterns.
Quoted from iceman44:Have a little F ing faith people!
I have faith that Gary Stern is a man of his word. If he says on FB that the game won't have speech from the series, I believe him.
BTW I hate when people using "crying", "whining" and "ladies" to describe people with some valid criticism. I bet we're just as masculine as you manly pre-buyers.
Quoted from TheLaw:Happy - It's a generic zombie theme. I'm in! + the acting isn't that great so I don;t need to hear them,
I'll give you this - Rick's southern accent is pretty bad sometimes. I'm impressed that a Brit did this at all. But I was shocked when I found out Maggie (Lauren Cohen) was British; her accent is perfect. She climbed from my top 10 to my top 3 when I heard her non-Maggie voice.
Quoted from swampfire:I found out Maggie (Lauren Cohen) was British
She is actually an American born in Philadelphia, PA but moved to Britain at a very young age. Yes they can mask those accents very well.
Quoted from swampfire:BTW I hate when people using "crying", "whining" and "ladies" to describe people with some valid criticism. I bet we're just as masculine as you manly pre-buyers.
Ladies 
It's not just criticism. It's the incessant non stop childish whine factor.
But hey, if it makes you feel better, float it. Nobody should take themselves so seriously on a pinball site!
Quoted from iceman44:Have a little F ing faith people!
Thank you Ice. Voice of reason.
There was lots of speech in software my friend played. He never even saw this version of redneck speech, so he was surprised by it.
Quoted from swampfire:BTW I hate when people using "crying", "whining" and "ladies" to describe people with some valid criticism. I bet we're just as masculine as you manly pre-buyers.
I don't hate it. I ignore it. That's what real men do!! 
You LADIES are too sensitive.
Oh yeah! He went there. ( but he closed the door gently behind himself).
Stern could have and should have done more to make this pin great.
Art is great and all, but the expenses were clearly kept to a minimum to maximize profit.
The Prison doors should have a revealed a zombie that comes out of the building OR there should have been a small video screen in there, so you could defeat a variety of zombies, including custom ones that you could make on the computer.
Wellwalker should have had moving arms and mouth.
Shot to the left of the prison should have ended at a kicker that kicks it right back at you fast.
Should have had an underground zombie painted on the playfield with only it's arms drawn with a magnet so the zombie affects the ball when lit.
Should have an eyeball pinball with plucking animations.
Should have a reload target.
The rest they can fix with great software and lighting which I am sure they will do.
Oh and the callouts can be fixed with some decent impersonators. Sterns voice talent is horrific!!!!!!
Not losing hope and have not cancelled my LE.......yet.
Quoted from ozno:Stern could have and should have done more to make this pin great.
Art is great and all, but the expenses were clearly kept to a minimum to maximize profit.
The Prison doors should have a revealed a zombie that comes out of the building OR there should have been a small video screen in there, so you could defeat a variety of zombies, including custom ones that you could make on the computer.
Wellwalker should have had moving arms and mouth.
Shot to the left of the prison should have ended at a kicker that kicks it right back at you fast.
Should have had an underground zombie painted on the playfield with only it's arms drawn with a magnet so the zombie affects the ball when lit.
Should have an eyeball pinball with plucking animations.
Should have a reload target.
The rest they can fix with great software and lighting which I am sure they will do.
Oh and the callouts can be fixed with some decent impersonators. Sterns voice talent is horrific!!!!!!
Not losing hope and have not cancelled my LE.......yet.
Sorry but this pin is and will be great!
"Should" come with a lopped off walkers head inside the Cab!
Come on Ladies, control yourselves. Hehe
Quoted from BLACK_ROSE:This was an Easy decision ( disappointing ) NIB for me ,, No !! Used next year maybe ,, Just Hope they get the sound clips better , but w/out the Original voices from the cast ,, it won't be the same ..
I do see decent flow on the pin , but i have cheaper B/W's and IM w/ Better flow ..
Good for you BR. Glad it was easy see above
Quoted from underlord:There was lots of speech in software my friend played. He never even saw this version of redneck speech, so he was surprised by it.
Go on...
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