As someone who bought an Xmen LE from the get go and I definitely appreciate Rcade's thoughts and this whole code thing. My frustration hit the peak last Xmas when that "update" came out for Xmen. Nothing like waiting months and months for an update and "kaboom"! After playing 1 game on that update I just about lost it and I turned to story writing to vent my frustrations:

http://pinside.com/pinball/community/stories/stern-code-updates-sometimes-good-intentions-go-bad

Xmen really did improve with the latest update back in the Spring, but it sure could use a little love to tidy things up. Xmen was a tough NIB experience but the best thing it taught me was to just chill out when a new machine is released and to not get caught up in all of the hype. I'd like to possibly get a ST LE but there is not a chance I'm buying right now, I'll wait a year to see how it all shapes up.

In a lot of Metallica threads lately you can sure see the frustration from owners and it sure reminds me of the Xmen fiasco.

All I know is that if Stern makes it a low priority to finish off Xmen then I've made it a low priority to purchase any new NIB machines.

That's what I was meaning, it's the incomplete code that has some Metallica owners frustrated. It just seems like a similar situation in that Metallica has been out for around 6 months and it's the same story of no communication as to when the machine might be updated and what might be included in an update (so it's the references to code in Metallica threads that seem to be frustrating us owners once again).

Overall I agree that these two machines were in two different ballparks. Xmen was just a disaster all around, and the fact that the machine could barely keep score when it first came out was brutal. The initial software that came on the machine was downright terrible to say the least. I played a Metallica when it first came out and overall I really enjoyed it, for sure a much more enjoyable experience when I compare it to playing Xmen for the first time.

This is one of the things that drove me crazy. Earlier this year it seemed like ACDC was getting updates on a weekly basis (I know they weren't that frequent but it sure seemed like it!) and my XMEN was just getting nothing.