Hell say his name don’t beat around about who it is. He didn’t do anything but speak the freaking truth and the bunch of millennial people didn’t like it so they went to extreme lengths to shut him down well tough shit it didn’t work.

Old smoke was AP

New smoke and from several sources apparently was Stern.

It may have been after hot wheels this just made the most sense for AP in peoples minds?

Please no.

Yeah I am on the list for a Metallica Premium. My assumption for a long time is that this is a "Vault" style game upgraded to SPIKE 3 system and cabinet. SPIKE 3 should in theory be fast enough to emulate the SAM system, so little porting would need to be done for each game. The crappy mp3 mono sound would need to be replaced with uncompressed stereo sound and obviously the dots can be greatly upgraded.

Metallica was Borg's best game and even more importantly, one of Lyman's very best. I want the same exact playfield layout and rules. New art would be fine but not needed. If they change the playfield and/or move to newer songs instead of the greatest hits I will most likely just pull the plug and pass. If it is as I am expecting I would 100% be in. I'm also pretty sure this game is next after Jaws so it won't be long.

It’s going to be a St. Anger focused pin

ABBA would make a great pin

I’d be in for a new Metallica. Especially if the band gets involved with callouts, sigs, etc

Nothing will ever reach the level of GNR as far as band involvement/integration goes but anything would be better than most

The word seems to be entirely new design, art, etc.

New

I guess we will see. If it is totally new, I will most likely be out.

This was done with Elvira and Black Knight trilogies, a couple High Speed pins, and likely some more I am forgetting. Lots of collectors own multiple iterations by the same designer.

How can one turn down easy money. If there is demand, Stern will produce.

I would put TWD on top as Lyman's best code and one of Borg's best playfields, but it's so ugly it didn't get the penetration of Metallica since it was banned for many households due to wives/kids/family considerations. Still needs a comic overlay re-release where it would destroy all comers.

But Metallica is very good. Inline drops are always a winner.

Agreed 100%

Whirlwind, Jurassic Park, reversed Tron, reversed TMNT lite

I would LOVE a better playing X-Men game. The current one isn't even in the top three of its own layout. I'll take a nice Whirlwind over an X-Men.

I disagree totally about the artwork. There is no other machine that has artwork like TWD . Artwork is awesome, I love it as it is so different. Lyman code makes it one of the best games ever made IMO. People are missing out playing or buying a game due to the artwork? That is just crazy.

It's reality. Wives and kids do not like the art. It has definitely made the game less successful than it should be.

I refer to this game as the one that looks like it's cover it blood and $hit. Freaking hideous

This is why I had to buy LT instead of TCM. Not that I don't also have a fondness for LT, but I have a wife and kids that play the game and TCM ain't gonna fly with the Mrs.

Also, looking at Spooky remaining availability of the two pins, other guys probably fall into this category.

Wife already hates me buying them. Can't imagine if I brought home a blood soaked ugly gore pin with Sally tied up and a knife to her throat as the side art...

Talk about an earful...

TWD falls in this same category. Hell, even I think it's kinda ugly.

Oh, I absolutely think the art itself is just ugly and too much BROWN, but I would have it (and have) because the game is just SO FANTASTIC. But if there were a comic overlay, it would solve a lot of problems. I keep saying I should look into owner interest for a licensed conversion kit with new cab art, backglass, playfield, and plastics, but I keep hoping Stern will just announce a comic art re-run and save me the trouble. I think at least half the owners would want a comic conversion if the comic art package was good and not too gory.

One of the original OG GOAT games.

Designer, code and the whole package at a time when pinball was struggling.

Borg and Lyman on TWD.

Might be best coding effort ever.

Stern wasn’t even going to sell a “premium” version of TWD.

It marked the beginning of the bull market pin run.

And of course some great toppers. I think the 3 head topper was $350?

Newbies can’t appreciate the greatness that came “BE”. Before Elwin. I guarantee you he does with all he learned from the best of the best.

Agreed! BE.. I love it.

If a wife or kid comes to ours and does not like the artwork, they are welcome to not come back until the machine is gone, which will never happen.

And.. how good is the topper? I think we paid AU$500.

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Such a great topper PB!

This thread is making me want a TWD. Might have to sneak one in and see what happens

And soon, there will be an mbl1116 "Need to sell pin collection for $87k, touched by the curse and getting divorced" sales ad.

If you do, get a color DMD for it. Really helps the game. Know that it's a very HARD game, though. Super rewarding, but HARD.

Guy on location near me has 2 of them. Amazing fun game. I finally see what everyone is talking about.

I don't know if I can buy into this rumor. An all new Metallica doesn't make any sense for so many reasons. I mean anyone who wants one can get one (current Metallica is a good game) and there are so many other band pin licenses out there to capture new players for Stern. Not saying it won't happen but I think it will flop if it does no matter how good the game.

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$87k... Wouldn't that be nice

I could see Metallica as a new LCD game happening. I think Stern was looking to do a vault of Metallica, talked to the licensing people they'd need to do that, and found out that the license for a brand new game wouldn't be that much more so they went for it.

I'm not saying Metallica will or will not happen, but its just as likely as Pokemon at this point in time.

If you put a gun up to my head I'd say the next cornerstone game is:

Most Likely: John Wick
Second Most likely: Metallica
Third Most Likely (tied): Pokemon, X-Men 97, Journey

You'd be surprised...

I think Halo is starting to make sense for a pinball theme. It's been a popular franchise for about 25 years. It can be a relatively generic space marine game. They have two seasons of a moderately popular TV show (ie LCD content). The video game series has very good music for pinball

I think it has serious theme potential in the next few years, especially if the show keeps going

Nah...

Halo... Red Vs. Blue!

Yeah I feel like a slightly updated Metallica is so much more likely than an all new game. Add some concert footage and redo the dots in a higher resolution.

No. Halo peaked at Halo 2 imo. I don't know a single person personally that knows a single thing abiut Halo after 2000 or so. Didn't it get a show that people HATED?

It got a show thats still airing

Who cares if they know anything about the series? Space Marines vs Aliens. That's all that matters. I don't need to have seen Mandalorian to know what the gist of the game is.

Why would they attempt to ruin a masterpiece. If this rumor is true it’s dumb on Stern. Other titles like Ozzy, Van Halen would work better!

But how many other bands are out there that are as big as Metallica that love pinball, will likely give them a huge break on licensing costs and be favorable to work with, give Stern all the assets (custom callouts, hand-drawn artwork, concert footage, etc.) that they need, etc. This is a scenario much like Slash working with JJP on GNR. When a band that is as big as Metallica approaches Stern I don't think it matters that they already built a different Metallica pin 11 years ago. When you get those types of opportunities to build a game like this where the band is heavily involved and easy to work with it's an easy choice to make vs. going with a band like LZ which is super restrictive with licensing and only allows you to use clip-art.

Halo 2 came out past this imaginary point in your head, 2004. And that was not popular? Did CA not get X-box til later?

Edit: reboot your memory banks, halo was released nov '01!

I wholeheartedly support more modern themes being considered. Boomers had a lot of pins made in the 80's and 90's that were themes approachable to them, things like addams or TZ being shows from their youths.

So I don't think you'd have problems selling a halo pin- even if it was somewhat mid on gameplay, just for theme ALONE. Like first year sales could be easily north of 2k amongst trims if you want to use some of that capacity. And for stern right now, that is low hanging fruit- making a pin that could carry itself on theme, and perhaps this license would not be exorbonent, if you make connections with the right person over at MS.

I also think Halo has more going on as a theme vs some other popular video game franchises people toss out, but maybe don't make a lot of sense in pinball form. Like GTA. What is a GTA pin? Generic crime modes and a super expensive licensed soundtrack? Call of Duty is....gun porn and Michael Bay explosions? Granted, not counting GTF, there aren't a lot of war/military/gun themed games...so maybe that's an untapped theme demand. That said, if they wanna do gun porn pinball theme...John Wick or even better, The Matrix, lend themselves better to pinball IMO

I think the same way - that's why my gut tells me it will be same game with new artwork

Im not quite clear on how coming out with a new different Metallica pinball machine would “ruin” the already existing older machine.

Halo makes a ton of sense and I would be very interested.

A band doesn't have to be as big as Metallica to sell well.

Easy to work with is great but if it doesn't sell, what's the point. So many Metallica games out there, just don't need another.

Obviously Stern and Metallica feel different and are betting on it selling well enough irregardless of the original game and how you feel if the rumor is true.

We just need a punk/ska mashup machine but instead of skateboarding make it car combat like Twisted Metal.

It's a rumor, we shall see. I think a refreshed art/video package of the old game is much more likely.