Nice cross out....

Mark that game an 8 and you're entering a world of pain.
A world of pain.

175 to 35, I guess Gary was right when I asked about Stern making TBL and he said it was dated and wouldn't sell.

You forgot TWD Drop targets
Cell Magnet

LE - Extra Drop target
Extra Magnet
Cross Bow

Not getting the feel for the (Upper playfield with reveal car toy)
The upped playfield looks like it will be boring like Elvis was for stern.
I cannot see you hitting the car, it will only display like the witches legs on WOZ.

-Bowling ball tits pop bumpers ? Hmm I think I would rather add Zombie heads to my Pop bumpers on TWD

-Super sweet light up apron - Seriously ? not my taste sorry

The bowling alley would have been better with tiny flippers imo.

Oww and I forgot the largest tick for TWD - Lyman ;P

I will say that when I heard that Stern was taking on TWD I was excited! I'm a huge fan of the comic and I do enjoy the show, but IMO the TV show is by far the weaker of the two. I was really hoping that Stern wouldn't do the AMC take, but rather focus on the darker and much more violent tone of the comic. I can understand why they did the AMC version, but I really think that the comic style art would be great. What sold me on TBL, was the fact that it was hand drawn art. I really don't like the pixelated photoshop art on Sterns, it doesn't take anything away from the game, just is a minor annoyance.

I really believe that if Stern had done TWD in the style of the comic, rather than the tamer version of TV show, I would have been leaning more towards TWD than TBL.

Please explain "hand drawn"

It is a niche title, but any game done well will sell. It's tough to come up with a game that encompasses its theme any better.

Yes, everything is "digital" and done in Photoshop these days...when people say "hand drawn" they mean 2D style art. Black "ink" outlines and solid colors. "Classic style" pinball art - stylized and cartoony vs. highly rendered (mostly using pre-made licensed assets). Lebowski has the classic "hand drawn" look, except for the character heads...although the video blurred them out and said that art was subject to change. Maybe the characters will end up more stylized as well.

New shit has come to light.. Pinballnews had a peak in the kitchen during the launch party

I love the last animation when the guy dragged the dude to the toilet

Twd isnt even in the same league anymore. Watch and see it for yourself during expo

I'll stick with my TWDLE

But thnx for the vid

I like the art on twd very much too..nothing wrong there, i mean i didnt even seen TWD yet but from the pictures it looks great. And i am a big fan of the show. But once ive heard those southern boys callouts on that game, that was so odd to me.. If u ask me is that an good pinballmachine is an sort of marriage with all the elements within the game, like art vs sound vs music everything.. But with twd those odd callouts into that game took that marriage away imo..I dont like it at all. And i hope for the sake of stern that they will change it into more appropriate callouts to the game.before actual release. I really do..

But with TBL its been a long time that i felt an actual bally/williams feel to it. But yes this game gaved it to me. This game is an work of art , love and passion by DP. I cant believe they just worked 1 year on this.. Amazing!

If u go to pinball expo u can see if for yourself! And hopefully we can play on it too..

TBL 180 votes
TWD 33 votes

I think the poll says it all.

TBL looks in a different league to Stern games. Really is and I am a Stern buyer.

Thankfully I can watch from the sidelines as TBL is not a theme for me. To spend the kind of money all these games are priced at, everything has to be right.

But as soon as DP hit a theme I like, that is where I will be spending my money. I would still buy pro from Stern but LE's are overpriced relative to technology.

You're perfectly right, but - and this maybe just me - every single eposide/scene looks exactly the same to me and it doesn't look very interesting. I really hate TV-series in general as they force you to waste tons of time over months and years, otherwise you loose track of what's going on. I like Zombie themes a lot though, so i'm very happy that TWD is not to close to the TV show. I actually tried to watch a few episodes of TWD a while back and regarded it as the most boring "undead-screenplay" ever.

I have the feeling that 2 hours of The Big Lebowski or 9 hours of The Hobbit bring far more diversity, different ideas and interesting settings to be used in a pin than years of TWD episodes.

Another problem with TWD for me is that it seems they have used their disgusting floodlight GI again. It kind of works with Metallica, but for ST which is a space theme that should be dark it really turned me off so much that i didn't buy the pin after seeing it live. If TWD also uses this blue-ish "supermarket-lighting" i'm out for sure as it will completely kill the horror-zombie-dark atmosphere.

Was really looking forward to TWD, but it seems TBL and TH are making it look inferior and old in almost any possible way. Maybe Stern should stop pumping out new titles like crazy and concentrate on less games, but doing those right. Drop filler pins like Mustang and use those ressources to make the big titles really shine.

In Europe it's the other way around. Here TBL is 1500USD cheaper than a Stern LE.
That changes the game completely for the European market.

Sorry, every time I read "TWDLE" I think this...
tweedledee-tweedledum-3.jpg

As a TWDLE orderer I gotta disagree with this. There NOTHING on TWDLE (or pinball in general) that looks like that bowling alley lower PF.

It is 90 Williams stuff...a unique toy on each machine.

Trying to think of the last unique toy on a Stern...maybe the moving Iceman ramp? One might say the Hammer on MET but pulling the ball under the PF with a magnet has been done before.

ST is pretty much a joke

Holy crap, the comic is more violent than the show? I didn't think that was possible. The show is pretty brutal and dark (in a good way) if you ask me.

.

_{Post edited by swampfire: Eh, perpetuating sterotypes is not so funny.}

twd looks nice, except for the welverine, which looks like someone dropped a big deuce on the playfield. tbl looks better in every possible way.

stern better up their game, and not just prices, if they want to compete with the young guns. i hope they can!

So is this thread resolved yet? I'm anxious for TBL to go back under the radar where its more mellow

You can just about cut and paste the "WOZ vs. MET" threads, same arguments.

The lower pin alley is great. Glad to see another company raising the bar like JJP. And Jpop which will be shown at expo.

Stern might just have to end up being the pro specialists.

I'll wait for Lawlors new Bally/JJP pin. When not budget constrained by Stern he's the best pinball designer ever.

Add in the best coder in Keith and I'll save my $$$ for that one.

TWD is a theme buy for me with Lyman driving the bus. I'll go with the known outcome.

Keith isn't lead on Pat's game, Ted is...not too shabby either way though!

Dutch Pinball...if you're reading, please do Pulp Fiction with "hand-drawn" art next. I'd insta-buy (tm).

+1 +1 +1 +1

Wow, I didn't know that. Very interesting.

Well, he was spot on. TBL would have looked dated if Stern would have made it.

No hate for Stern here, just got carried away by the assist...

No it doesn't. Compare sales. Voting is free.

Might have to bookmark this...may be interesting to revisit in a year.

Agreed. Not saying sales won't prove TBL to be more successful than TWD. All I wanted to say is that a poll does not necessarily translate into sales. Especially at $9k.

So I wonder if stern will add an LCD and start charging 9k too

That they didnt come up with LCD tech for TWD is beyond me.. Now they are scrubbing behind their heads probably at stern hq and feeling all the loss in sales after the TBL release, which they could have prevented if they introduced technology which exist for years now which they promised us customers an game release of 2 ago.

But even with an lcd screen added, they are behind companies like jjp or dp.

If they wont come up with new technology and innovative changes and still have the guts to ask 8k for their "premium" dmd games for their other next releases, then im affraid the end for stern is coming sooner then u guys all think. And dont think i want that!

I want them to strife, and move forward.. And get at the top of their game

Afterall without stern.. Pinball would probably be only existing in an museum. We owe them for sticking around producing games.ill give them that.. But now they gotta step up their game

I dunno
I think TWD pro is going to kill it on location

Well it could be the next bbh so who knows. They allready have pappy kind of callouts

The last thing Stern is worrying about is DP and TBL. TBL way have more votes here...but TWD is beating it where it counts in sales. On a side note, I spoke with my distributor on the status of my TWDLE and was told to expect it before Holloween (will see) as the Pros are being shipped next week. I was also told that there allotment of LEs were cut nearly in half to accommodate the demand over sees.

TBL won't even be available to anyone for more than half a year, TWD isn't even shipping in the states yet, and you are making the above statement?

Even if all the new games impact their sales, they are still pretty much alone in pumping out pins fast and reliably plus they've got many offerings in the 5K price range. As far as i know MMR is also built by them, so they have plenty to do.

They've also survived many downturns over the years and learnt a lot getting over not so sunny times. They'll be around, don't worry.

It can only be good for pinball if more companies are around. Since JJP they've already improved, MET & ST are great games after a long stretch of mediocre ones. Timeshock! seems to be coming, JPop might someday finally present a live working machine, AMH is being shipped - great stuff happening in pinball. Who would have guessed that 5 years ago?

Well TWD also needs probably an year to get the software done, in the meanwhile ur sitting with an heavy expensive piece of equipment awaiting its very desired code. How good is that for you?

All stern is concerned about is cranking games out at the speed of light out of their factory at maximum value with minimum bom. they dont really care that u have a half assed game at home do they?

Its like buying a brand new muscle car, but hey hold on, you cant go to 6th gear as the software is not done but they will work on it, dont worry..that sort of thing

That worked maybe for stern, but times are changed.. And about sales im sure TBL takes a large chunk of the pie away from possible stern sales. I cant blame the customers thou, I mean i have seen the big lebowski last weekend. Its amazing what they have done with it.. Simply wow.

And i am most probably buying it, just have to figure out if there's a way of trying before buying and still getting the rug.

I want that rug!

Yes I am. You can buy TBL...right? I never said buy and play tomorrow. That means TWD has more interest since they have sold more games thus far. My distributor told me today that the Pros are being shipped to US customers next week.

Your a lawyer and probably have defended or prosecuted for those who were not in the right! use your imagination and creativity your job depends on it!

Imagination?

What's that?

I highly doubt that it will even be a crumb of the pie. What... 37 people bought in so far here. I would have thought that after the greatest revile in Pinside history, that it would have a least doubled the amount of sales her on Pinside. Bumping it to a whopping 74 sales Please...

Hey PDX either these guys are really smart or blind justification will certainly line their pockets.....again! Couldn't agree more with you more with this statement

Not sure I would be taking that 37 pre-orders as Gospel. There are a hell of a lot of Lebowski fans out there (as well as Pinheads) that have never seen Pinside.

I would even go to say, that after the launch party, Phil over at DP was hearing Donny say, "Your phones ringing Dude"...and the people over at Stern where picking up the phone to make sure they are still working. I don't think there is a single person that has reconsidered their purchase of TBL because of the Launch party. I am very confident that there are a few that have reconsidered their purchase of TWDLE because of the Launch.

Frankly I could give a rats ass....if you love TWDLE great, if you love TBL great. Some people love Raven, and some people love TZ....enjoy what you love.

But if I did, I would not have to go out and try and find someone to buy my space! Fully refundable until your specific machine goes into production. About as risk free as it gets in my book.

Well I enjoyed my MET Pro from day one, even with incomplete code. And anyway, your comparison falls flat because Stern doesn't ask me to start sending them $2500 a quarter a YEAR before I get the game in my house. Don't throw stones from your glass house, dude.