No one realistically expects anywhere near AAA game level quality. I also want to say Stern has made some improvements recently. They are still around the level of budget knock off indie video games. Its not so much the graphics, that I understand. The feature set is what drives me crazy. It is just so far below where it needs to be. That is across the board, the industry as whole is still pretty much in the dark ages when it comes to features.

Wow that that is embarrassingly bad, even just the basics of legibility its a complete disaster. Stern doesn't even have the basics of layout sorted out yet, let alone animation.

LOL, speak for yourself.

I kinda agree, graphics on the screen don't matter that much to me. That being said I want to see innovation that having a full size screen will allow. Online!! Leaderboards, achievements, collectibles, friends lists, weekly challenges (Ok let be realistic how about quarterly) sure you could probably half ass this and make it work on a DMD but you really need a proper screen to convey the information required. Sterns screen looks pretty ass and I would like to see a little improvement graphically but its lower priority to me than everything else.

Ha ha, you have no idea how this stuff works and how massively they increase profits on minor investments. History, mathematics and human biology have proven this model. It cracks me up that you consider yourself an expert on these areas.

Dopamine, tap, tap, tap

This model even without subscription is proven to have significant impact on iterative products. They will increase the sale of your next release. Subscription is great for the balance sheet and shareholders but it is much further down the road.

This is to Levi, Ha ha I love that all these years later you role out that argument about more coders and still can't grasp the concept that having ten people swinging a hammer at a single nail won't drive it home any faster.

A pin as far is software is very small, all I said all those years ago throwing bodies at software may not solve the problem. Here you are with no reasonable retort or counter point so your just rolling it out again.

In general terms I can explain how it works but professionally I could not provide you any details. Shoot me a PM, if you want to chat about the basics.

The irony here is comedy gold, if you are going to take the glass off and cheat to earn a weekly challenge, your already a fish on the line. This is exactly why these types of features exist.

If you already addicted and completely in love with pinball, I agree with you, this functionality is meaningless and does not add value for you. If as a business you want to sell more machines and get more people in love with pinball this functionality is proven to do that.

This is not high cost functionality, this is very basic stuff. You guys that are so against this are making it out to be way more than it is. Is it really such a bad idea to add some achievements to a pin or allow for a friends list. Even peer to peer multiplayer on a pin would be very minor. This is early nineties technology not exactly cutting edge stuff. This is the kind of project you assign to a co-op.

Man I should know better. This place just goes protect the hive over the most mundane of conversation. This cost to much money, no one wants this, do not change pinball. Man this place can be miserable. I have no idea what is so threatening about stuff that has been routine for decades.

Protect the hive, is a reference to hornets when you poke the nest. Say the most mundane thing and the pinside regulars will come buzzing out.

The stuff I'm talking about is routine in basically ever interactive media for the last 25 years.

All of this dramatically affects how it feels to play the game and creates depth and a reward system. It just gives you more reasons to push start one more time. I find hilarious that all these pinball junkies act like that no one in pinball enjoys that feeling or would want to increase it.

Nothing I am talking about has a damn thing to do with social media.

P.S. There is a very loud vocal group that appears to have no idea what "online" even is. They just know they hate it and if it comes to pinball the industry will die.

Yes for simplicity in this conversation I am a programmer. I do regret ever posting in this type of topic, I forget the the vast majority of people have no idea what online brings behind the scenes. Even if Stern never delivered a single online feature to the end user, the data collection alone would make huge improvements to their product. It's about creating an experience, its about giving all your user more ways to engage and giving them more rewards. That is what it means to add online connectivity. The problem is everyone is an expert even though they clearly have no experience in the field. Donkeys like Levi just endless spew the same stupidity and people think it makes him smart. I'll probably get modded for not being nice to him now.