they started to with WWE.... has a small LCD monitor in it .... I'm pretty sure we will see more of these in future games (especially now with the new boardset)

Having played WOZ, all I can say is meh. DMDs are showing their age, but at least they have character. Then again TBL videos did look pretty cool so maybe if they do more than just throw a tv in the backbox?

Most likely, they are easing into the new Spike system. Also, making HD animations is a lot more involved than dots. It may be simply that Spike was ready, but the LCD side wasn't.

Ritchie's GOT thrones later this year may be the first from Stern to ditch DMD for LCD.

It will eventually happen... the thing is.. the LCD like on Woz - the animations are awesome, the player hardly ever gets to enjoy them though

I'd like to see something Super-Sega sized (like, those gorgeous DMD's in Batman Forever, Frankenstein, etc). I don't think it needs to take up the whole backbox like in WOZ.

Pete

They're not really for the player so much. They're for the room. The spectators. The people who catch sight of it as they walk buy and go "whoa, what's that?" -- and that purpose it serves VERY well.

This.

Here! Here!

I own a WOZ and see a lot of the animations while playing. Ball lock, Munchkin modes, crystal ball modes, Battle the Witch and a lot more are easy for the player to see as the game gives you a few seconds to do so. It's also nice between balls, or during a ball lock, to glance up and see your progress on the screen.

The large LCD in WOZ is awesome and I find myself looking at it far more often then I do looking at a DMD in my other games.

I had literally NO idea...

I think something the size of ColorDMD with Adobe Flash-like animations would be perfect. TBL is a great example of how one could use an LCD in a pin. I believe Stern's new hardware has HDMI out, so driving any laptop display is trivial for them at this point (basically just add power ... their CPU should have embedded graphics and the like).

My only fear is that they'll start to run clips from movies as filler material if they don't have enough artists on hand ... I'd take 128x64 art over that nonsense any day of the week. It looks as bad/tacky as cut-and-paste photos on a playfield (Tron is a rare exception ... that playfield was done right despite the photos ... and my bigotry towards that kind of art is the reason I didn't get one when they were released ... makes me hate photo-art even more since I've been kicking myself ever since ).

A full sized *backbox* LCD adds nothing to gameplay. It certainly looks pretty, but, overall, they're a waste of money, space, power, etc. You can make the argument that a full sized backbox LCD can attract people to the game leading to more potential games on route, but I suspect you can do the same thing with a ColorDMD sized display and cool animations.

Of course, the rumored Pat Lawlor game that Jersey Jack is supposed to release next will probably make my comments above look stupid and shortsighted. That man is an artist.

I'm really curious to see how P3's playfield LCD pans out. Their technology to date is certainly impressive. I'm just worried about the long term fun factor of such a platform. I totally dig their modular approach to pinball design though and think they'll be successful if they can get costs under control and use the playfield LCD effectively.

Looking down the road a bit, you should be able to 'glue' OLED technology to a playfield and cut it to whatever shape you find necessary. I could see a day where a playfield overlay is actually an OLED sheet for all of the artwork and lamps on a classic pin kind of like this ...

http://www.fastcompany.com/1753032/foldable-device-screens-coming-soon-your-pocket .

Not only could you make classic playfield overlays, you could also animate them and do all sorts of nonsense to drive the purists crazy (seeing that I am somewhat of a purist, I'd be driving myself crazy as I know I'd buy something like that). Inserts would be a thing of the past as you could basically do all lighting on the sheet.

Sorry for the rambling ...

You mean like the terrible video to dots conversions in BF? Mind you I think the game has some excellent dots, but the stuff ripped from video looks terrible.

... Or Ironman ... or Tron ... or Indiana Jones 4 ...

Stern have done there first lcd screen and showed it off the other day

check out the vid, it's in the apron......

https://www.youtube.com/embed/14zl3y1OUdI?autoplay=1&rel=0

WWELE is a start. They have a lot of room to add with code updates, enjoying mine so far.

The new system is built for expansion......once the system is dialed in we can look for some new features. I'm rooting for lcd and wifi.

I don't think Stern has any plans to replace the main display with an LCD. They'll leave that for the aftermarket. As has been mentioned, there's a lot more work (i.e. cost) involved in coloring, and the hardware has to support it, so why would they do something so stupid as to raise costs? We're talking about Stern pinball, right? I remember waaaaaaaaaay back when ST was going to be the first game with an LCD. Uh, huh. But it's cute to see the optimism.

Personally, I love what JJP has done. The more information available to me at a quick glance, the better.

Much prefer for the translite space to give me more information when desired, rather than static artwork. Cradling the ball and cycling through tiny screens for information is archaic.

When just looking at WOZ turned off, I sometimes miss having a regular size BG on WOZ briefly. However when I'm actually an playing or watching someone else play, I'm mostly glad that JJP's game has this.

As for Stern, they've made several games I like and some I don't. However, I never have seen Stern as a huge innovator when it comes to technology in most areas. I do think some of their games have improved sound quality, better than most of the factory speakers in B/W and Gottlieb games Many of their games play quite well and this is no Anti-Stern rant at all. But they've shown no huge hurry to place LCD's or a replacement for DMD's in their pins so far. Remember I said so far, not that they won't ever do it.

Before people start typing angrily, I always have and will credit Stern for keeping pinball alive when it could have died many years ago. However, I don't perceive Stern as on the cutting edge of technology when it comes to pins. Not sure if price and profit could handle them going that direction or not.

LCD is coming, and Stern has said as much (through Gomez). Star Trek was rumored to have an LCD, but it didn't have the new Spike system. SAM couldn't drive an LCD. Spike can.

DMD will be gone a lot sooner than you think.

I thought all Gomez said was "you will say goodbye to our orange friend" or something like this with "orange friend" being used. If that was the quote. Then the move to led red, green and blue "DMD" would suffice.

I like the idea of using a display the size of a BF DMD. I just think the WOZ screen has too much going on. It was hard for me to tell where the hell my score was haha. I like what Dutch is doing with TBL though. The gameplay videos for that look promising.

I bet the next game has an LCD with dots.......Kiss. Gene will want to see his face in the lights one way or another. I can hear Gene now demanding to Gary that Kiss be the first game with the new technology.

Somebody specifically asked about LCDs during the Gary Stern talk at expo in 2013 and George stepped in and said a definitive "Yes, it's coming, eventually". But that was a year and a half ago, so apparently eventually is a really long time in this case.

Gomez has said this in print interviews as well.

SAM couldn't support a LCD, so there was no way to add one until Spike was ready....and Spike was ready before the support for a LCD was ready. It will all come in time.

If they don't go large LCD they will have little part in any increased location opportunities. Once second hand JJP machines are a bit older and there's a choice of games they could be much more valuable relative to original purchase price if the route scene flourishes.

If they don't have time to properly code games, where are they going to find the time to code / sequence nice COLORED animation sequences on an LCD?

Display coding is display coding - they have to do it either way. This would be more art department man hours, not so much more coding time.

SPIKE supports LCD displays, LCD displays are cheaper than the LED displays... so they will be coming...

what they do with them is a different story, who knows

WNBJM has one in the apron! WINNER
oldskool/newskool

Stern can't finish a DMD game

How in the world will they finish an LCD game?

LCD's are more work I'm sure

Depends on the theme actually - if it's a movie/tv theme, they just have to find scenes and edit them. They are doing it already for DMDs - but they have to convert it to grayscale and clean it up - which may take longer actually. An original theme however is a totally different story....

When was the last time Stern did an original theme and I really wonder if they ever will again. LCD would be interesting with an original theme if done well.