That's why Star Trek LE is just a bunch of flashing lights and lasers and not much difference to the playfield from the pro! The VUK into the lane is not really a big change from the pro, and they scrapped having the ball shoot back, just wayyy too complicated to make happen.

Those are some great points. I agree. It seems like less emphasis is being placed on putting more toys on the playfield and coding for them. Personally I think more "flash" is being added elsewhere like you said as less money is then spent on programming those features (such as LED lit side rails) then programming for interactive based toys on the playfield. Does a game need a lot of toys to be fun? No. However, Stern is charging more for games now then in the past where games came with more toys. I just don't like paying the same amount or more for less...

I do think Star Trek is a really fun game. Does it have more toys then say LOTR? Heck no. Does it cost more? Yup. Are there less toys then that game? Yes. I have no doubt in my mind that Star Trek is cheaper to produce and program then a LOTR type game. Now Metallica is a game with a lot of toys and look at how long its taking Stern to get code out for it...No excuse. If they can afford to make a game with a lot of toys and charge people $5k-$7.5k for it then they can at least afford to support it code wise by taking advantage of the games features.

The trouble is we've had the end in sight since pre-expo. The code drop is always a couple weeks away. It's the fact that we DO have the end in sight that people are so frustrated.

If there had been no insinuation of code pre-expo, at expo, post expo, pre xmas, during xmas, after xmas, we'd all just be pissed and say 'this sucks' and walk away from Metallica for the time being, but we keep getting the tease of a treat, then it's never delivered.

Allow me to break this down for everyone....

Stern-Code-On-Stick.gif

New post on Stern's Facebook -

The team at Stern are constantly working on improving and making sure our games are the best they can be. There are code updates being worked on for our past few titles. We have no estimated date for when they will be complete.

I guess all it took was my animated gif, lol

And we have no estimated date that we will buy your product again.

HaHaha, nice

Finally. - They should mention the games. We assume Metallica, Avengers and X-men as they said a our past few titles. Star Trek is a current title.

I heard Avengers, Metallica and X-men and know Metallica and X-men code is in the works.

At least they have now said something now, good start to better stern communication 2014

Evidence they do read pinside and have responded to everyone's request. Even though it may not be the answer everyone wanted.

+1

Good to see that there is some sort of communication going on now!

I think Stern has tapped into a more profitable formula with the 1 toy, 2 ramps and a spinner and a whole lot of bling...

The light show brings the wow factor and less toy interaction is easier to code, less expensive.

Look at what happened to Met with the update and hammer. Not sure how or if they can keep rehashing the above model over and over again, except the Lcd and stereo sound will be great.

I wish this whole thread was posted on their Facebook!
Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance... When will they learn.

Good points, well said. I can see paying $4k-$4.5k for that model above but not $7k-$8k with what the competition is offering. I really like Star Trek Premium / LE and if I had lots of extra money to toss around I would get one. I don't though, lol. I can only afford one game like that every couple of years and I want to get the most for my money. I hope Stern isn't going back to putting less and less in games yet charging the same prices. I just hope that Metallica owners get their code update as they deserve it and Stern owes it to them for selling a game with some very cool toys.

Post the dubbed movie. That was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. Maybe they saw it and started to realize it could and will go viral. That was pure genius!

They may not be able to name the games they are working on. If their license agreements has non-disparagement clauses (which surely it does) they can't say the hold up is with the license granting entity approving the new code.

How is it that they can make a list of features that the game comes with, but not include them when the game is bought and shipped. Is that even legal?

It does seem like "puffing" . . . especially in the era of pre-orders. I don't know enough about that area of the law to weigh in either way, but Transformers had a lot of promised extras that never made it like the transforming toy. Also, I don't think Avengers LE ever got the six ball multi-ball?

Was it ever promised a 6-ball Multiball, or just a 6 ball trough? The nice thing about the extra balls on Avengers LE - if you have 2 physically locked in the Loki lock, you can play a 4-ball Hulk MB without draining the Loki Lock. That being said, you can also add balls with the SHIELD mystery target...I've definitely had a 5-ball MB going and I swear I had 6 going the other day...maybe you can do 2 add-a-balls? It was so frentic I couldn't count.

Definitely seems illegal to me. Could be grounds for a pinside class action.

Where will we find any lawyers?

Haha thanks for the cheap laugh!

Per my memory the LE was absolutely promised a six ball multi-ball. Let's see if my memory is right if someone can dig up the old data.

It was on the spec sheet that gets leeked on each title. But, as always, the print says subject to change.

That's right, that's where I saw it! I'm glad i don't have to go get a memory test, which I may have done if I was wrong about that!

Even if you could bring a DTPA action or sue for Promissory Estoppel, Stern could always come back with "Substantial Performance" of the contract/agreement.

Well, Avatar LE was promised "marching" AMP suit feet and that never happened lol

At least I can get a 5 (or 6) ball multiball with add-a-ball

Well, not only did they NOT DELETE my comment, but they've actually adressed and responded to it.
I think I have finally cracked the secret code of Stern Facebook: Be nice and act stupid!

I just pushed Metallica in the back corner and just set up my ST pro 30 minutes ago. I will check back in couple months for the code update. See ya later.

Well what did they say?

The team at Stern are constantly working on improving and making sure our games are the best they can be. There are code updates being worked on for our past few titles. We have no estimated date for when they will be complete.

- I questioned this and I believe the initial code had a 6 ball multi ball that was omitted in later updates. The reason I bought the LE was the 6 ball multi ball because that was the only huge difference I saw at the time.

On a redo I would buy an LE again as Avengers is a great game. On X-men I would have gone PRO or not even bothered with it as I still am not loving the shots.

Finally got the translite I've been wanting.

MetPremRC.jpg

Now where's that code update!

Who is selling them? Me want.

Nicely done. I would have replaced the one that came with the road case version too!

Road case version looks great! I think I like it better than my LE cabinet.

Looks awesome man! If I didn't go LE, I would totally do what you did. Good stuff

I didn't realize how nice the Road Case cabinet was until I saw it in person at CAX next to the Pro cabinet. It been a loooonnngggg wait for this translite.

Good riddance to that stock one. But when I was swapping them out, I did notice that the stock one is a pretty good quality print. It's cool how they are in outfits from Through the Never. But the artwork on this DD premium version is epic.

I don't know if any of the Metallica guys are on Twitter, forums or whatever, but I wonder what their reactions would be if they knew that their names were on incomplete (and in many cases broken) product and there was almost no communication with their fans.

If Kirk Hammett was selling a guitar with his name on it and there was warping in the neck on some, bad soldering on others, or some other issue, and six months on the manufacturer was still vague about a resolution, it feels like there would be more movement. Is it because the pinball machine is niche and not in the band's line of sight?

Seriously, if pressure coming from customers who spent $4-8k isn't enough to move Stern, maybe pressure from license holders would be.

What would the pressure do? Lyman is trying to finish it right now. He was trying to finish it before the end of 2013, I'm sure he wants to finish it before January is over. Force him to release incomplete code? No one actually wants that.

Here's the problem: as a Stern customer I have no idea what Lyman is working on, how long he's been working on it, if he's the only one working on it, what the general priority is, or anything else. Everything has been second or third hand from an Internet forum. So while I don't want unfinished code released, I would like to know exactly what in the hell is going on from the company who sold me the product.

Killer looking translite…. looks great with the cabinet.

Have you asked your distributor? How about emailing Lyman directly?
By now you should know he's working on the code. What more do you want? Pinball code is hard to give an ETA as there's code - testing - more code - more testing. That's why a lot of people 'in the know' get a lot of shit because they'll say something like 'its coming next week for sure!' Then nothing happens that week and people go on a huge rant of stern promised this or stern promised that where in actuality the designer, programmer, or test team found something that wasnt worthwhile to release to the public. Look at last years xmen Xmas POWERpack - 10 bucks says they didn't want to release that code but because Gary 'promised' a Xmas update, they had to release it. Took em 3+ mos to fix that debacle.

Bottom line; theses things take time to code right.

Looks so good, if I had gone premium I would have gotten the road case as I love the side art, I did hate the translate though. This fixed that, again looks amazing

Perhaps they should wait to sell their games then? Sell them with complete codes? I sure am glad the truck I bought came with seats, I'd hate to wait for those in a update.
On the other hand, waiting for the code gives us all something to look forward to right?

Either way, something will work out in the end. I'm still having fun playing!

Or something to bitch about. Imagine where Pinside would be if we didn't have that.

We'd all be lost!

I guess since I'm a noob, I am more patient. I would rather the code be right then here now. Pinball is a rich man's hobby, I'm not rich, just in the right place at the right time. Some people feel entitled they should snap a finger and it gets done. Some of these richies are pushing it into the corner cause the new hotness is home. I would say must be nice, but Im more like, that's just how impatient people are. gotta have something to bitch about. My HEMI Challenger needs updates to make it the best it can be, so.I wait..

What's gonna be fixed first?
1. Obamacare
2. Metallica Code