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The problem is the status quo. Just like movies and music, Hollywood and the music industry are not wrong that the masses don't like 'new unknowns'. Way more likely to lure people in with something that is overly popular than something that is unfamiliar.
Quoted from dung:Less a pin and more a kid's redemption, but for what it is? Its fine, I like the translite (not a true translite, more a giant decal). The PF art is the stuff of nightmares when you take the plastics off. The sound effects are annoying, but its a kids ticket dispenser. If it weren't for its oddball size I wouldn't have it. It also did not cost me 10k. Do you walk up to it and say wow, that clown screams 1992? Nope, it could have been made 5 years ago from a theme perspective and no one would know. At this point the display and sounds are what really date it.
So your argument is that because a senior citizen thought a game about cell phones would be a great theme it is our fault that they don't make them? How about the designer picked a terrible theme that is out of touch with the times because sometimes people make poor choices? As much as people dog on Mafia it looks great from a theme perspective. tokyo perfect drift, strange name aside, looks great too, but then did so did Captain Nemo.
What's brown and sounds like a bell?
A game about cell phones? That shows what you know...fine you don't like it, but you clearly don't even know what the theme is, and may have never even played it (that's an exaggeration btw). Rant some more though..I mean, it's only pinball. Disclaimer: I don't own this pin, but I'd like to.
Quoted from taylor34:It's ironic that most video games are unlicensed and almost all pinball machines are. Kind of proves that although licenses are powerful, that if you come up with good original IP it will do better than a license.
I'm really surprised that no pinball manufacturer has done a licensed video game lately. Like Red Dead, GTA, Call of Duty, Mario, etc. There is a pretty big cross section of pinball players that also plays video games, seems like a pretty natural fit. An updated Mario machine would frankly blow the roof off sales, it's one of those universal themes. First manufacturer that does that is going to make major $$$. Super Mario by Gottlieb is, by most accounts, not a great game. However that thing kills on route, even now, 25 years later.
Historically, licensed video games are horrible...probably in the 98% range of horrible. RCT was a videogame licensed pinball, and as has been said it didn't do so hot.
I will agree it is surprising that they didn't jump on the GTA or Minecraft craze. I also can't believe Sega never did a Sonic Pinball machine (aside from the video pinball game).
Quoted from Hazoff:no he isn't, why is it so hard for you people to understand when it comes to pinball and most games theme matters. Happy for all who don't care but u are in the minority.
theme is still personal. Addams Family is huge - I hate the theme, hate the gameplay. I'm in the minority. It's just how it is, it in no way means the theme is bad or gameplay is crap. I don't hate on it, like some people like to hate on other games - like it is some sort of personal vendetta.
Quoted from dung:BBH Pro also bombed when new, took a few years for it to gain a following. Part of it is that it is a game that is supposed to be the video game instead of the theme around a pin.
I didn't even know there was a BBH pinball?
Quoted from SantaEatsCheese:I'll say this. In an era of Pinball machines dominated by LCD screens, which do you think is cheaper, creating original animations or video for the LCD screen or slapping in some movie clips? I'm willing to wager that paying a half million dollars for a license (no idea just a guess there) is cheaper than paying someone to create 45 minutes of original animation/ voice acting/ artwork on a machine. With licensed themes you can also just Photoshop the playfield art ala LOTR. With a DMD back in the day it was easier to just create your own animations than to try to copy anything out of a movie... and the animations were not really too deep. If you look at the animations from the color DMD sample youtube videos, there are really only like 5 minutes of animations on the 90s DMD games. How much video/animation is in a modern LCD Stern or a Jersey Jack? Back before the DMDs, you were getting hand drawn art on the playfield anyways as they couldn't/didn't print things photo realistically on the playfield anyways.
All in all, I'm guessing that it's cheaper from an art perspective to do a license than it is to pay for all the art and animations today. I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule, but if manufacturers can save money on a machine to keep prices low (ha!) or divert that money to better mechs, more programming, or more gameplay, more power to them.
And obligatory I want a Harry Potter pinball machine too.
I dunno...ask Heighway pinball why there is no Weaver on their game... easier? probably...cheaper? Don't bet on it.
That being said..not a fan of the LCD's. For many of the reasons you state. I am not interested in movie clips / or music video clips. I find the old DMD's have a certain charm and originality to them (more with less) in most cases. Maybe the LCD craze will get better, but it has a long way to go. At the moment it seems forced and tacked on and in many cases an afterthought of 'we have to put SOMETHING here'...but then again, the player is generally not looking up there that often.
Then...look at AC/DC and the drummer situation and the..odd way they handled that. With all the #metoo and things happening, do you want your favorite 'star' to be on your pin when they get taken down for XYZ? Imagine if there'd been a Harvey Weinstien pin...ouch.
Quoted from Cruster:I for one cannot wait for an unlicensed music theme pin!
Hello....Oktoberfest man!!! :p Polka metaaaallll!
Quoted from holminone:It's interesting isn't it. The license provides the initial money making draw, immediate attention, etc... yet at the same time I can't help but feel it dooms the pinball platform to irrelevance. The way I see it, the license by definition is always burdened by judgement. Yes, a license may be favorably judged and be a draw, but it's a short lived high with higher ultimate cost. A license, unlike an unread book, is saddled with constant expectation and judgement... they should have done this... why didn't they include this... this actress is annoying.... this actor groped a woman... And in most cases (save LOTR and maybe a few others) the license, like a movie following a good book, ultimately serves up disappointment- a failure to meet expectation- or the license itself is fatally flawed (I think Munsters is terribly annoying and old, but I guess us old guys are buying the machines...) An original piece of art and story on the other hand stands alone on its own merits. I think that is why the top of the list are endearing, unique themes that stand alone (Granted, MB has its influences (arguably Munsters) and you can't deny the Monty Python influence of Medieval Madness. Funhouse.... fantastic. I would even argue that TZ is a hybrid form of license- an interesting hybrid of Golden Earring music mixed with TZ strangeness and voiceover.)
But with the current heavy bias towards licensing, the problem as I see it is that pinball is at risk of being permanently, and unfavorably judged as a marketing tool to the primary license, and at risk of never being able to stand alone as the art form and experiential achievement that it is. The "brand" of pinball if you will, is subservient to the license it represents. "Oh, that thing was so big and cool they made a pinball machine out of it... big whoop." Old news by the time it hits the street.
Gawd the lack of creativity is appalling. I don't know why I have such a bad reaction to licenses...
Yes there is no turning back the clock to the 90s. I think we would all agree that a great pinball experience impacts how a person feels. Delivering a sense of satisfaction. A sense of unpredictable wonder. But a license means expectation and judgement... and most likely disappointment. Now of course, there is only so much you can do with metal balls, pop bumpers, flipper bats, targets, ramps, etc... so maybe copycat licenses and subservience to a primary brand is the final destination and pinball wasn't intended to be its own art form.
But like the author I quote... I think the data indicates there is better way. And one more thing about DI... I think the concept of Pinball as a development platform is intriguing. I get the sense that the way that Lawlor and co are thinking about the architecture, it's possible for users like us to "dial in" our own experiences into the machines themselves (musical scores, voices, photos, modes, rules, etc)....
I don't think the issue is the idea of licenses. IMO it is more about that Stern went exclusively to them AND on top of that fell into a very same ol same ol gameplay rut. There was very little experimentation, very little new ideas - or even improvements. It got predictable and there were no alternatives. That is just speaking to the themes, the gameplay only complicates it (personally I am not a fan of the majority of Sterns). Bringing out the music pins was one of the best things Stern did. They kept it to bands that have longevity and huge mass appeal, but there's only so many of those and even that can be divisive (like IM).
Now we have these other companies stepping up with a few originals and I think the field will change a bit - but I also think with todays sheep public, original themes will never do as well as the next blockbuster movie. I personally tend to lean toward the originals as well, but one of my favorite pins is still T2.
Quoted from benheck:Yeah they forget all the top games of 90s were in fact licensed and of those that weren't...
TOM - was supposed to be David Copperfield
AFM - unlicensed Mars Attacks
MM - unlicensed Monty Python Holy Grail
No Good Gophers - unlicensed Caddyshack
...and when you get to the actually original stuff:
Junkyard - flop
Circus Voltaire - flop
Safecracker - flop
Notice a pattern?
CV was a flop?? That's a shame. Love that game.
Quoted from greenhornet:how about making games without themes or art? perhaps then people would discuss and buy games based on how the game actually shoots.
So like P3 with no game? 
Oh wait, you meant like Supreme.
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Kellogg, IA