As much as I don't like the new pricing, I do agree with the methodology. People were complaining that Stern games were being stripped down, such as IM and Avatar, and Stern was still charging their $4000 price tag. People wanted more toys in the game, but Stern had to cut something out due to rising costs of material and I assume labor too. Sorry, but you can't have all the toys and the cheap price too. If you think that's possible, then start making pinball machines and let us know how it goes. So, now you can still get Stern's standard pinball machine (stripped) in their Pro models, which is what the game would have been anyways before all these price increases, or you can spend the extra cash to get the game that everybody really wanted Stern to make, which is loaded up Premium or LE. The extra bells and whistles that go in these games cost Stern money, so that means higher prices. If you don't like it, don't buy them, or just buy the Pro, and everything will seem like it's "back to normal."