I love what Jared is doing with the Facebook posts and the videos. It's a gigantic leap forward from what they were previously doing...or more accurately not doing. That said, the videos that have been shown don't make me want to buy the game at all. It looks extremely flat to me. IMHO, the code revision v.54 video looks better than the most current v.90. Maybe it's the people playing it, the early code or probably a bit of both, but there is not much going on in those videos at all. The majority of footage is of single shots for 100,000ish points with a curtain/light show DMD animation and a cheering crowd sound effect and a couple of voice call outs.

Im sure 1.0 code will be ready for the launch parties and then you need to play it before you judge imo.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to knowing what the actual gameplay is like once it hits locations. I was a massive KISS fan as a kid, and once I saw photos was ready to go Premium. While I realize these current videos are early code (and am happy to have access to them) - I'm a little hesitant to put $ down on even a Pro at this point. My main issue with the gameplay videos is that Im not sure what you're supposed to be doing in the overall scope of the game, and the animations/sounds/etc. seem more repetitive to me than most other games at this stage. I'm not necessarily expecting AC/DC code - but it's not looking like it's where Metallica was at it's release? Hoping by the time 1.0 hits I'll feel differently.

Can you see the videos without having a facebook account? I find facebook too invasive so I don't have an account but would like to check out the vids. Are they on youtube?

I would imagine he made them public so you don't need an account...

https://www.facebook.com/sternpinball/videos/10153344105354244/

It looks like part of the game has you going through different cities. I saw London and Chicago for sure.

Could be an interesting mix of acdc and Metallica style rules.

Either way it's way too early to tell.

Like IM?

I think Metallica flat out sucked when it was first released, and for at least 6 months to a year later, now I think it's second only to AC/DC. The code will come, just going to take time as usual.

Are any these videos available anywhere other than fb?

It tries to make me sign in with my nonexistent account.

This is the double edged sword of more communication. You're seeing how the sausage is made. I think we have to allow for a certain amount of leeway in return for seeing early progress.

It's feeling obvious why Stern games have been launching with such basic code though, they're apparently not really coding them until they're already starting to roll off the line. This one looks like it's going to be business as usual. The question is how good will the post launch updating be?

I'm curious what people will think of the Star Child shot. Looks like it can bounce around in there for a bit. Almost like a second contained pops area.

https://www.facebook.com/sternpinball
Shouldn't have to sign in.

If I click on a video it goes to a login screen.

This is a good call out. Maybe some basic explanation of what you are trying to do would be good. It may be easier to read with an intended goal in mind.

Really? I'm able to view it fine without logging in on Firefox.

Maybe cause I'm on mobile. I'm using firefox also.
Do you have a facebook account? I don't even have one.

I think great games can look "flat" depending on who's playing. Of course, code makes a big difference too. I think Metallica probably looked flat at this point in the development cycle.

What I took away from the video I saw this morning was that I really like the spinner "cameras" sound effect, lol. It did look a bit clunky, but I'm attributing that mostly to the players. They either haven't played it enough to string shots together, or are likewise trying to figure out what to do. Ramp shots look pretty tight too, which probably wasn't helping. Eject from the mouth was faster than I expected.

Was it just me, or did the sound quality overall sound a lot better. I know Spike is supposed to have an upgraded system, but that didn't seem to matter much on WWE, or maybe I just never heard it..I dunno... could be totally in my head.

I do, but I tried it on Firefox, not logged in, using private browsing mode and it loaded fine. Try using a computer if you can.

there you go gene does shoot ball out of mouth pretty fast

no old man dribble here

At this point there is not much to judge. The release code appears that it will still be very basic and not much different in overall depth than any of the other recent releases but I like the up front communication that they are committed to making it better over time.

For shots, the game does not seem to have a ton going on but I like the variety of depth of shots and happy to see the return of a nice scoop shot as I tend to liek them. I like the return on the ramps and the full orbits. I also am happy to see a spinner left in the pro as it should be. It did seem like there is some possibility for some cool skillshots and using teh spinner as a switch trigger coming out of that right side?

Still way too early to tell and looking forward to playing it soon.

They dont bother with code until they know how many are sold. That really is the truth. Looks about as far along as acdc was. Shit when I first played acdc it had .21 software and all it did was the crowd noise and show angus pumping up rosey.

Give it time. No sense on even looking at new Stern until its been a year. Thats the best policy you could adopt because they will likely never change. People need to stop pre ordering and stop buying without playing. I did and it was the choice I have ever made in this hobby. Last game I bought sight unseen was xmen.

Camera sound from the spinner is the same one from CSI.

It would be cool to see Stern do a very rough mode / rules map for Kiss similar to what Dutch Pinball released a couple of weeks ago for Lebowski. Just to possibly give a better feel of the gameplay. I do like what I see so far though. But, very early in the release to tell.

Brian

More then anything I'm just impressed with the level of communication. I have zero interest in Kiss, but hope they continue this for upcoming releases.

this is a great idea. A mindmap/ visual of expected ruleset would be a good think for them to pulish with the matrix but I have a feeling they tend to develop the ruleset more organically and even code .90 they just showed does nto seem to a have a fully vetted plan of attack but moreso only the rough outline of where the code will go.

Ben is correct that it still seems the decision on what/how much to invest in coding only comes after sales.

When is Hobbit coming out? Serious question. Debating between this and Kiss LE.

Sure hoping the songs can be changed with the originals. Every time I watch one of these videos, the re-recorded songs really stick out for me. And not in a good way.

It is, but it sounds cool! Like the paparazzi is follow your band!

Love the communication and improved info flow. Big kudos for that Stern.

Programming is still the same but it looks like they are making progress there too. It only took 7-8 months to get TWD in good shape and they actually did the same thing with Mustang.

Because of what they did with TWD it gets me back to considering buying a premium at launch. BUT, how much of that was Lyman?

Who is responsible for the code on this one?

It's obvious Borg went back to the cookie cutter tried and true layout with Kiss and since I already have a few of the same pins I will probably pass here and wait for the next one that looks different.

Bottom line, great to see Stern moving in the right direction

I'm hearing don't hold your breathe for a quick release of Hobbit. If your looking for something within the next 4 months go with Kiss.

Is it that hard to shoot a video in focus?

It looks like a carbon copy stern game, they do what they do and they do it well.

Not really innovative which i can miss from sterns games.

I do love the handdrawn playfield art tho, definetly wish this went back to being the norm!

Ed played it the other day at Stern. He was playing .56 so there is still a lot in the pipeline for this game. He said you can change the songs during game play although he really didn't know what he was trying to do for each song. He figures it may be somewhat like ACDC where there are different objectives for each song as well as some how progressing through cities.

I asked him if he ever got Love Gun or Demon multiball and he did several times. I asked him because it seems odd that every game play video released has not showed any multiball play. I'm really hoping for a cool opening DMD animation for the start of Demon multiball. Sparky on Metallica has a good start as does the cool animation at the start of lightcycle multiball on Tron.

The video makes me even more excited about the game. Can't wait til my LE gets home.

Yeah, time will tell, as with all things. I prefer a sparse layout anyway than a playfield cluttered with toys & gimmicks. Simple, fast and fun!

Not impressed so far. It is supposed to mimic a live show, and there really isn't much that I can see from these videos. Even the callouts seem lame. There is so much more they could do....

Still getting a Prem, but my enthusiasim isn't what it was.

Appears to be lots of interior cabinet (on the left side) to dress up with mirrored side blades or art work.

it sure is easy to get hyped up over nice art but then kinda get letdown by the flow / game play and other factors

yea to me it's kinda like The Walking Dead - the initial pics / artwork were great but once we saw a gameplay video , the enthusiasm dropped quickly b/c it just didn't seem like that much fun to play (not too mention lame call outs).

When I played KISS it had great callouts. It's a Borg design, no doubt. It's up to you to decide if that's a good or bad thing.

Code is going to make or break this pin, which is usually the case. Nothing inherently wrong with the playfield layout so it will be up to the code in the end.