Quoted from TRAMD:Dialed In is like having George Lucas and Steven Spielberg work together and they make The Maze Runner. How this horrible theme and hideous pin got made is amazing to me. JJP makes amazing games. WOZ is my favorite pin and TH is the most beautiful pin I've ever seen but Dialed In holds no appeal to me. Twilight Zone is my second favorite pin and they waste Lawlor's talent on this? This is a fiasco of epic proportions to me. Dialed In will be a major hit to JJP. I hope they stay afloat and learn from their mistake so they can go on to make the best and most amazing pins in 20 years. I've heard the game play is great but I will never buy this pin. I don't even know why it makes me so angry but that cheesy dude in mom jeans ticks me off. Also, Aerosmith and cheesy Batman 66? Sorry Stern, better luck next time. The pinball resurgence was at hand but they messed that up. Next? Star Wars had better be amazing for me to buy a six grand Pro.
"They waste Lawlor's talent on this?" This game is Pat's original theme, Pat's concept, Pat's deal. Nobody dictated to him what he should make. You could make an argument like that if it were a license that we forced upon him (there are way too many examples to list, but World Poker Tour on Steve Ritchie, World Cup Soccer on John Popadiuk), but that argument fails here. JJP itself has several big licenses in the queue and Dialed In sales (it's early yet) are off to a decent start. WOZ is still in production albeit on a small secondary line and is still selling (really? Yes, really), Hobbit is finishing out its run, and JJP is doing fine. Keep in the back of your mind also what happened to another Pat Lawlor game called Family Guy. It was done over as Shrek and sold better in the home market (I'm not saying Shrek is a better game), so there are - hypothetically - things that could be done if Dialed In were to flop, which it doesn't look like it's going to do anyway.
Aerosmith to me is just the latest Stern band pin; some of them are good games and some have sold very well. I own a KISS, speaking anecdotally, but look at the following that Metallica and AC/DC have even here on Pinside. Operators will tell you that the way to get pins back into bars and restaurants is Rock themes so I guess that is Stern's thinking. Batman 66 I don't know, much of the pinball home market audience is guys that are old enough to remember the show and it has a cult following. Plus it's got Stern's new display and that will help it I think. I don't pretend to know everything despite what you may think; Star Wars will sell especially with the King designing it (but it would anyway).