Not exclusive enough.... I'll say Stern/Kapow announce 300 Beatles LE's @ $15k and 75 SLE's @$25k. Further guesses 1) all production will be farmed out to CGC 2) the full run will be built and packed in boxes by time of reveal in Fall and 3) this is why CGC remake #3 has been delayed.

Not so fast O-din.. My inside source at Stern is telling me that it’s not the Turtles it’s the Rutles..
525CA9C1-1DCA-4133-ADA4-B0E4FC54CCCE (resized).jpeg8D24533A-3BD6-4DB9-8B22-BB565AD27D30 (resized).jpeg

Beatles = Elvis=Rolling Stones. All huge iconic artists. 2 of those 3 are already Stern games. It's widely agreed both those games already suck. Why would Beatles be any different?

Because Stern is on a roll. More recently they have made some great Music pins. AC/DC, Metallica, Iron Maiden.

LTG : )

But there are also plenty of recent mediocre Stern games. Just being Beatles is no guarantee. Star Wars?

It will have to be great as they have already injected millions into this title.

I don't mind the Beatles, but no matter how limited and how good the pinball is it won't get my coin.

If the Beatles are a flop ( which I doubt ) but possible ? Stern better up the ante on the next new titles.

Lucky they can fall back on Maiden sales to keep the dollars coming in. (won't last forever though )
If there are no production issues the IMDN market will probably be saturated by mid 2019.

Stern will need Dead pool and Munster's to be kick ass moving forward to maintain adequate turnover for the business to continue to flourish.
The outgoings now must be enormous !

Keep up the good work Stern, Just keep moving forward with innovation, and please put a greater focus on QC

Millions in licence means millions less for the game itself - Star Wars?

Star Wars isn't a music pin.

LTG : )

OK...Kiss?

You don't like KISS ?

LTG : )

Huge Beatles fan, so is the boss as well as our adult kids. However, I admit that I struggle with the adaptation to pinball. Compare that to the Munsters...I can come up with a half-dozen applications of the show to pinball immediately off the top of my head. My guess (and biggest concern) is that the Beatles will require some unique, creative, out-of-box thinking to really optimize the theme.

yeah, stern messed up big time by not including this one

Another musical theme pin..again...all sound programmers were busy?
I don’t care about the Beatles, not my generation. Good news for sexagenarian pinheads

Seems like this license would be even more expensive and restrictive than Star Wars. Considering what was in that game, is Beatles going to be a plank of wood with a ball rolling between nails?

I'm grateful every time a pinball theme is announced that I know I have no interest in. Then there is no debate about whether I'll be a buyer. Makes my life simpler. There will always be another new game around the corner to consider.

That is my personal choice, but I'd never want to stop a Beatles fan from getting a pin made if that is their wish.

I am curious about the Beatles license. I wonder if this whole "trying to get the license for years" story has something to do with the rights to the songs. McCartney only regained those rights last year. Up until then, they were controlled by Sony/ATV. This might have made acquiring the license difficult; assuming using the Beatles likeness and their music would have meant dealing with two different rights holders.

Will be interesting to see how the limited release thing plays out. With a million bucks to recoup, I can't imagine this being a reasonably priced pin.

People wondering if The Beatles is a sufficiently relevant license should consider this thread's post count since yesterday... for all the alleged disdain, there's apparently a lot of interest either way.

I didn't know much about Iron Maiden the band, but I love playing the pin. I'm not at all excited about Beatles as a license, but if it's fun to play, it won't matter.

Personally I have never understood the appeal of "music pins" as a genre. I love a lot of the songs and bands that are featured but the problem is I prefer to hear those songs uninterrupted, and completely through; in a pinball you have callouts, mechs, modes and drains disrupting the music flow so what's the point? I agree the "performance / concert" aspects are energetic and tie in well, especially with visual properties like Maiden... but for me personally, the experience of hearing and "getting into the music" via pinball sucks. For some reason original / unlicensed pin music doesn't bother me as much. Maybe because most of that type is vague and instrumental, so callouts and interruptions aren't as jarring (maybe my filthy casual familiarity with Maiden helped in that regard too)...

I heard that they are going to do a reveal with fully licensed songs and then switch to "chip music" versions right before the launch

"Prototype shown. Music subject to change."

I’m one that is excited for a Beatles theme, hopefully it’s more than a jukebox and shoots well too!

I find this more exciting than Munsters, Deadpool, Willy Wonka, Ninja Turtles and most of the other crap being floated out there. Even find it more exciting than the JJp potc I have ordered. Now I’m hoping it’s delayed until Beatles is released, if it’s good I’m switching.

The great thing with this hobby is that there is more than just the theme and something that appeals to just about everyone.

I have to politely disagree. There are actually some really easy choices there, set by previous precedent.

1. Go the #SWT route. Take the Beatles movies (Hard Days Night, Help!, and Yellow Submarine), and use each as a mode/sequence of goals working towards a wizard mode.

2. Go the Sargent Pepper's route (80s movie w/BeeGees). Craft a narrative from a selection of songs. This seems to be what Cirque du Soliel did for their Vegas show - Love.

3. Go the Rock Band route. Base the gameplay around major events (concerts/albums releases) from the Beatles career.

4. Create a mode per band member. Many examples to cite, but #GotG comes to mind here.

5. Go the Jukebox route, where modes are built around songs/albums. I'm most familiar with this from #ACDC, but there are probably many I'm not aware of.

Personally, I would like to see something of a mashup between 1, 2, & 5. Break the songs up into 4-6 narrative arcs as modes, with goals in each mode based on songs from that narrative.

Some really good ideas there.

I remember earlier this year when this license was rumored to have been acquired it was said the machine would cover the entire catalogue and not just the yellow submarine movie/songs. This is a good move in my opinion as their catalogue is so deep.

The comments of the Beatles not resonating in a pinball machine is quite comical. That’s on the game designers, if it’s a flop and doesn’t connect with the theme then I would have to say these guys didn’t have a very creative mind.
These guys covered it all, pop, rock and roll, the goofy psychedelic era , crazy art etc... plenty to work with.

1989 tmnt crap? Surely you can't be serious. Maybe too old to remember I'm guessing?

I’m 41 so I remember and wasn’t into them. No different than the guys saying the Beatles are crap, just one persons opinion.

You totally missed an opportunity to make an Airplane joke!

S/he is serious. And don't call him/her Shirley.

Limited is so stupid. Now having limited editions and a standard makes sense. Pricing is way too high already and I doubt 10k plus games will sell. Would think the BM66 model and pricing is at the ceiling and anymore the market will not support.

Never mind the Beatles I’m super excited for new code on my mbr!

So reading behind the lines of Joe Kaminkow’s interview, sounds like this might be a simple retro type of game. Single level late EM/early 80’s style? Would fit the theme. Anyone else get that impression?

Notice how every new game we do not know about yet is touted at revolutionizing the industry? I'm hearing it here, Deeproot, and some new/unknown/unannounced manufacturer mentioned on a certain podcast. We could potentially have 3 new gold standards for pinball in a matter of months! (or more hot air)

Which revolution are we talking about?

Of hot air...

...and this one of course:

Which will come first, finished code or all the beatles die?

How many remain? Last time I saw them in concert was 1969. I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

IMG_2493.GIF

PS - don't put ketchup on your beatles, Zach might try to eat em.

I get the same impression and that's what I'm really afraid of. Only Stern could screw this up by getting a great license and then making it a retro game.

How about this. Stern one ups jjp and makes a 4 spinning disc! One for each of the Beatles. O

That could be a nightmare, and a real shame considering how often the Beatles embraced technology and pushed limits in their music production. Frankly, having spent a ton on the license, Kapow should go all out. Even so far as to strike up a deal to use the visuals and tech from Beatles: Rockband in the pin. Some of it is very cool, especially the main intro:

And album intros:

But even the gameplay footage is cool, mirroring the music with computer generated band visuals:

According to Wikipedia, "The Beatles: Rock Band was used as a finale for each performance of the 125th anniversary season of the Boston Pops Orchestra; the orchestra leads the audience in a sing-along to several songs by the Beatles played by the orchestra but synchronized to the visuals from the game."

Can't wait to see what Franchi, Borg and Dwight do with the Munsters

Will be interesting to see what Kaminkow Kapow and Stern will do with license.

JJP was interested, but at an opening of $1M before royalties and only could get Yellow Submarine and could only produce a set number of like 1968 units the year the movie was released. IIRC.... its been talked sbout through the part expos and known about for some time.

So it makes sense that Joe said it's a "one and done" license.

Mr. KaPow did a Sinatra slot machine at IGT aboot ten years ago so don't rule it out.

Apparently it was not successful. Interesting article.

https://www.cdcgamingreports.com/why-some-slot-machine-themes-just-dont-work/

Come on Spooky bring me some Sons Of Anarchy pinball!

I sure hope that the Deadpool theme gets better treatment than that layout we all saw in the photos. I agree it looked very much like Gomez...guess we will find out rather soon.

Soon I hope.

Great update Jeff. Always entertaining and there's a scoop or two every week.

Agree -Kind of sounds like No Deadpool at Comic Con from the press release. Only thing you might see, if anything would be a teaser of comic art for the game if anything.? Sound's like they are concentrating on Iron Maiden in comic form print material along with the usual Stern lineup for actual machines.

Maybe something at Pinburgh for Deadpool ?