Quoted from Pinballomatic:"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).
Touche. Then perhaps they messed up in giving him too much creative freedom. I hope I'm wrong, I really do. I consider JJP the Bugatti of pinball machines and I want them to be making pins for a long time.
Do you know which licenses JJP has in queue?
I wish the best for Stern too. I am a big supporter of theirs and feel like they have kept pinball alive for many years and have made some great games over the past 10 years. But I do not like Aerosmith as a band. I am a theme whore and a big comic nerd and the old Batman show is cute but doesn't appeal to me as a theme. If someone made a modern Superman themed pin, I'd buy two of the top version. If it was based on the George Reeves show or the comics from the 50's and 60's...nope.
Rapid City, SD
