I highly doubt Stern will attempt to duplicate the voices of the deceased actors. It’s more likely they would try to double Ralph Feinnes, the actor who currently plays “M.” Sound-alikes are rarely convincing - to my ear, anyway. Tom Hanks’s brother sounds only slightly like his brother in TS4.

Spoiler: Odd Job never speaks in the movies.

He's also - The Rock , Dwayne Johnson's grandfather .

Pretty sure he has a couple lines.

EDIT: According to Wikipedia, three "A-ha" and a yell when dying:

With Xenia Onatopp two ball lock.

E12CCFCA-F3F0-4B7E-8288-B651655CAE27 (resized).jpeg

She always liked a good squeeze

The movies are rich with classic lines ideal for a pinball game. One wonderful example:

"I think he's attempting re-entry" - for a ball save.

There are hundreds of them, and any attempt by Stern to go cheap and hire sound-a-likes to scream out "Jackpot!" would be terrible. But you get what you pay for, I guess.

Interesting fact: Martin Sheen's brother did the voice over in Apocalypse Now. He has a near-identical voice.

That was the intended joke.

Yes, "Ah ah" after he drops the golf ball down his pants leg and after he kills the girl with his hat. And a single Ah to tell Bond to put a gas mask on at fort knox. Also Gert Frobe spoke all of his Goldfinger dialog in German and was dubbed by an English actor.

So game reveal on Tuesday?

Yep

M I N D B L O W N

P.S. They just did a kind of Raymond Burr sound-a-like for GZ, so something kind of Connery would work. Or, honestly, for you to feel like Bond, maybe you need to be directed by someone in the role of Q. That makes more sense.

Pretty sure he is in prison for raping a woman.

The actor that died 40 years ago?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Sakata

Actually that was Joseph Hyungmin Son who played Random Task in Austin Powers.

Oh snap, holy cow. Bond, Powers, all the same!

Sooo whats the next Stern, Venom?

Tom hanks' brother sounds almost exactly like him.

And if you are playing pinball and focusing on some voice actors voice vs enjoying the game... Then that's on you.

Harry Potter or Eminem

jjp Billy Joel, Elton John

pfft !

Next music pin from Stern \m/

Screenshot_20220911-165623_Google (resized).jpg

1000 thumbs up!!

Asking out of curiosity here and let’s keep it as positive as possible.

But has anyone else who buys NIB (I’m not talking every new release but themes/games that shout out to them) had their excitement dampened a little due to the price increase and being a little priced out this release after such a long wait since the last game?

Prices here in the U.K. are rumoured to be f’in nuts! £14k+ an LE, £12k ($14,000) for a premium!

Secondary market is still high in USA, although slipping slightly. If you can get a NIB at msrp and then sell one of your other games for not much less, depending on title. I imagine as the backlog continues to clear that may not be the case forever though.

Let Them Eat Cake...

let_them_eat_cake1 (resized).png

I may never sleep again

HAAHA.....one more....straight up with a twist...just the way I like it.

Nice cans Gary!

My only disappointment is the continued cost-reduction in parts past the point of functionality. The last two NIB sterns that have come had almost non-functional service button blocks because the module they're using now is so crap the buttons don't register or register double presses randomly when you press them. This new all in one module is REALLY POOR QUALITY that never should have been considered, let alone actually sent for production. Stern does not care, obviously.

If you're going to keep raising the price, at least maintain a minimum level of quality in the parts of the machine that people interact with and will notice quality slips.

Noticed this in my 2021 Imdn, really crap.
My 2022 JP prem seems fine but never cared to see if it is the same control module.

Maybe someone can post a replacement option?

Stern will send you another under warranty, but it's just as likely to be garbage. Total pot-luck as to whether you get a good one in your NIB these days. Two out of the last three NIB machines I bought have had crappy buttons on the service block with problems registering when you pressed them. My JP Prem new build was the only one with decent button response. Not a good look, Stern.

Pinball Life sells replacements, but I have no idea if they're any better.

Had no idea they had changed these but my last two NIB pins had shitty service buttons and the service buttons in my Deadpool Premium this year didn’t work at all.

Agree with you Vic, the cheapening of parts or flat out removal of small parts here and there added with continual price increases does dampen down the new release excitement.

Yeah, they moved from real buttons to kind of an all in one module with remote-control-like rubber caps that the buttons press down to make contact. Problem is, it's the worst possible design/construction/materials possible so the real world effect is buttons that don't work, register too many hits per press or just work intermittently. Really bad form, but not out of bounds for the Investment company-driven era of Stern.

One can only hope!

Hehe, right!?

I'm still on the lookout for my coffin, err Funhouse!

My service buttons on DP were completely broken, had to swipe from another pin until the distributer repaired it.

Just like coil stops in the past, Stern had a bad batch of service buttons. Ive talked to them when i was up there and they had additional QA stuff done on all the ones they get now, but when they buy 1000's and all get mixed up, bad ones have still made it out. If you get one, just contact your distributor, it will be replaced

Thanks for the heads up that they know about it, but this makes no sense, either. Why don't they keep the parts in separate bins or boxes marked with lot numbers instead of mixing everything, or have lot numbers on the boards or screened onto the casing so they know when there's a bad batch then only have to look at the lot number to know if it's in the affected batch?

Stern is not powerless to fix these kinds of issues, but the fix will probably cost a penny more or something and that's a price too high to pay. Other manufacturers across all industries seem to have the part lot identification issue worked out. Stern is old enough to know HOW to do it, they just seemingly choose not to. I'm sure there's a cost/benefit analysis spreadsheet somewhere in Stern that shows it's cheaper just to ship with it because most users won't call about it for warranty support.

Set aside the price increase. You guys are at a big disadvantage at the moment with exchange rates. The Pound and the Euro have lost a lot of strength against the dollar in the last year.
Based on the fluctuation in exchange rates alone the pin is more that 10% more expensive.

Any time I've had an issue with Stern, they've come through and I've always been impressed with their customer service and response.
For you to say that they "obviously don't care" seems like a pretty cheap shot to me.
With all of their previous play field issues, I'm not hearing any ongoing issues. People slammed Stern previously also saying they didn't care when that debacle was happening but seems as though they've taken care of most everybody?
Anyone repeatedly throwing stones who's not actually working there... I dunno man. Seems more than just a little ignorant in my opinion.
Stern's not perfect but I have faith in their product, even if something minor needs replacing now and again.
Sure wish the prices weren't as high as they were but I could say the same thing about groceries, gas, or pretty much anything else.

This is not a one-time problem. For example, they've notoriously been shipping bad coil stops for like 5 YEARS.

And, again, why wouldn't they come through when you call? The cost-benefit analysis has told them shipping stuff they know may fail quickly is cheaper than fixing the part before shipping. The number of replacements is dwarfed by the number of people that never call and replacements they never have to send.

I've never called for more poor quality Stern replacement coil stops when they fail quickly. I just pay out of pocket for some reliable Pinball Life ones and it solves the problem. I am not alone. This is Stern shifting the costs to the customers, and it's not a new thing.

When I DO call Stern for warranty support, I've never had an issue, but that's not the POINT. It's this nickel and diming strategy of shipping stuff they know is flaky or has a high percentage of flaky and banking on that being cheaper than fixing flaky parts first, making sure they don't ship stuff they know may be problematic.

Yeah and it’s only going to get worse with the latest clueless moron we have in office pretending to run the country

The king?

When you make statements like "The cost-benefit analysis has told them shipping stuff they know may fail quickly is cheaper than fixing the part before shipping.", you're making an assumption and accusing them of being nefarious, all at once.
Pretty similar to conspiracy theory rants.
Open your mind and try to understand how difficult it must be to keep the factory going right now.
"Hey, these plastic buttons aren't great. What do we do?"
"Damn. That's gonna cost us replacement parts and shipping now for everyone after they get their new pin. Wont be ordering more of those again."
"Should we shut down the line and wait for new ones to arrive? Should be 6-8 weeks."

We renovated our kitchen about a year and a half ago. We waited about 18 months for the wall oven to arrive. Things are not simple out there right now and dealing with parts from China is probably not easy by any means.

It can't be a conspiracy theory if it's true. Stern has shipped bad coil stops for YEARS. Anyone who buys any volume of new Sterns knows this well.

Open YOUR mind. The well-documented bad coil stops they shipped have been for AT LEAST 5 years, well before supply chain problems or a pandemic. Pinball Life seems to get all the good coil stops they need from their overseas suppliers, even now. This ongoing, long-running problem is not limited to service menu buttons.

“It must be true because they’ve had a history of sending out games with bad coil stops.”
They’re charging thousands for a new game and can/have/will raise prices as they wish because the demand is there, but you alone have cracked the case that they also are intentionally making an extra… $1? $3? on each pin by using crappy parts that they KNOW will break, causing problems for customers and especially operators?

We will have to agree to disagree on this one. I don’t think that’s where their focusing their efforts, eking out a profit.

Thought saying anything bad about Stern in this thread was strictly forbidden ?

Completely.

Stern is nowhere near "eeking" out a profit these days. Since the investment company took over around the 2008 crash, Stern has been sharply managed, profit-focused, often to a fault. Electronics, cabinets, hardware, plastic parts, playfields all of it has been cost-reduced, sometimes multiple times, sometimes too far (cabinet corner braces come to mind) where they've had to back off and restore the cost reduced item, occasionally in a lesser form.

Stern's making plenty of profit, but the drive is to make more. So excusing ongoing long-running parts problems because they're great to deal with on warranty claims or because golly, they're having a hard time (like everyone else) with supply lines doesn't really wash when they're being paid very handsomely for those machines.