Has anybody really SAID they WISH woz or jjp to fail? I would think not. People of course have different opinions on theme, game play, fun factor, deadlines, code, etc...like any other table...but I would think all collectors, players, and ops, HOPE they succeed for the benefit of the greater good of pinball. I hope they are very successful. Hoping they make it, and theme number 3 is an original idea.

I know a guy that has been divorced twice and has had 3 different jobs since he put his initial deposit down on WOZ. Maybe he'll get to use the cabinet as his coffin...that's IF he doesn't die first.

Well, check out this guy talking about a Pinside thread: http://www.aussiearcade.com.au/showthread.php/38841-Wizard-Of-OZ-Pinball-Discussions-and-Opinions?p=722635#post722635

I'm not feelin' the good vibrations!

You have to be a member to view that forum. Can you give us a brief overview of what was said?

Oh. Sorry.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/woz-killing-it-at-the-shark-club-in-howell-mi-hardly
Post on pinside refuting that orginal post.

That seems a more realistic thread on woz compared to the propaganda tripe you read about how great it is going to be,

My theory is the only way woz is/will be popular is from all the suckers that layed down some coin on it to keep building it up in the hope they can find another sucker to buy them out of what could be the biggest flop the pinball industry has ever seen.

lol, I just read the last 3 pages of this thread, and couldn't find any more news on WOZ from the OH show. Just a bunch of jjp and stern haters.

Currently being tested awaiting approval for release.

This news makes me sad

Don't worry Alex is all over it. He'll never let the game shipped unless it's ready to go!! Thanks!!!! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qHej4ZqZDwo

I have noticed on mine if you are not the player on the machine its hard to see the Crystal Ball. I think this happened as the crowd was so big it was hard to get close and see. In previous conversations with JJP that is the magic of the crystal ball interacting with the player. If you want to see it play it. It will help operators make more money on locations and encourage more than single play.

I can not comment on the ones at Ohio but I only reset the machine once Sat from 2:30 to midnight. I did open it open to show paying customers who wanted to see the "guts" after all I work for them so I had to stop and let them see it. They paid me and this was the first time many had a chance to see what they had paid for. Friday was the day with the most trouble as the ball stuck on the ramp switch and was corrected and not an issue again. Sunday after 2000 balls played the right flipper started to slip and was allen wrenched tightened and not an issue afterwards. Yes it a prototype but both machines I brought and even Rocky had major play. The ACDC Pro right flipper showed it was pushed over 50,000 times this weekend. Major play action! This is the best way to test the machine and show the world, which is what i also wanted to do with ACDC Pro as its way better than given credit for. Its way better flow than the Premium and no lower playfield to get in the way with cloudy or cracking window. I sold 2 Pro and could have sold another if I had more room. Those people could have purchased a Premium but enjoyed the "Hemi Pro Ultimate Home Edition" and even saved some dollars.

Baaahaha! That's a hilarious, ridiculous spin to put on it. It's all by design to help ops make more money! That's "the magic of the crystal ball"!

Jack is an amazing salesman.

Actually WOZ was one of the most reliable games at the show in Louisville and to see the crystal ball work you had to actually play it,but there is a lot going on in the game to keep up with,Woz is a very fun game now and will only get better,by the way I played over 20 games on it during the show.

Wow, a WOZ thread can still generate over 450 comments in a week. Impressive!

What until they start showing up in people's homes, they might have to change the site name to WOZside!!

The funny part is, that you don't realize how ridiculous you look every time you open your mouth. Most of the time it's just to switch feet but its comical nonetheless.

EDIT - If I remember correctly, the crystal ball is a self-contained media player with separate storage that will have video files triggered by the game for playback. I don't think it's actually integrated with gameplay yet, and I wonder if there was a problem with control, storage, or if it somehow got into some test mode.

EDIT - Nothing to see here. Move along.

I don't know. I think it's only going to get worse once it's released.

For what it's worth, I completely believe your experience of playing WOZ.

(Also, considering the utter nonsense some people spread around here as fact - certainly not saying you, but if you're in the know then you should have noticed this too - some basic fact checking is usually in order on new and unverifiable information.)

I think pinball can officially be called a sport. Because only sportsfans get this riled up about a game!

...

Not over. Wait till the Hobbit stuff starts getting released.

Rob, at this point most stuff is just personal opinion and conjecture. What makes mine any better than yours such that I should try to "correct" you? Who knows, you may be right and are certainly entitled to your opinions.

The point of my post was to simply make the observation that I can count on some of you to have a criticism or complaint when you post to a WOZ thread and that only you know what your motivation is for doing so (this was somewhat in response to your complete incredulity when TomGWI suggested you seemed to have a bias)

It was not an attempt to get you to change your posting habits to please me or anyone else.

I understand where you guys are coming from. I just don't see any productive value in launching a public campaign to diss JJP. It would be one thing if this were game #27 and it has become obvious he is phoning things in, but it's otherwise not a big secret that he and his people are busting butt to get the game to market, and it is inevitable at this point it will be soon as there are dozens of games in places around the country at this time.

I apologize but I didn't want to get into any position trying to defend JJP. I sympathize with peoples' frustrations, but I also think a lot of the criticism isn't coming from people who have anything on the line. My frustration comes from the fact that there seems to be "sides" in the community, of people attacking each other, lining up behind one manufacturer or the other. I don't want to do that and I hope others don't as well.

Help is once again the Voice of Reason. We said my friend.

omg, reading this thread from start to finish was the biggest waste of time maybe ever for me...

i don't know why i do it to myself....
the journey was not the reward for me in this thread!

LOL Mike

At the risk of getting in the middle of this "Love Fest" I will say the first (and only) time I have played WOZ was this past Saturday at the Louisville show. And the crystal ball worked perfectly for me and everyone around me in line that played about the same time. I can't make any claims beyond that, but it was cool and was displaying more than a test pattern. Maybe the way they are doing it you have to be of a certain height for it to work properly.

Image was not really visible to anyone other than the player, which appears to be by design. I personally thought it was pretty neat, and the game played nice even with the early software it was running.

I'll bet that he likes the pre-payment plan.

This whole thing has become very dramatic.

For you WOZ guys who shelled out money early on...did you NOT see something like this coming?

You prepaid for a promise on product that didn't even exist yet...kind of like buying a northern California bigfoot wilderness adventure. You might see bigfoot but it's really the adventure that you're paying for and.....hasn't all of this been a fun experience?

All kidding aside...don't have a heart attack before the first pop bumper even registers a hit.

Incidently I just meant this as an example. There isn't a day go by that someone isn't complaining about Stern about something.

LTG : )

YUP!

Have the boxes for woz shipping arrived at jjp yet?

This thread has gotten out of control with some of the comments. Wow...unsubscribe.

Jack said that they would be in this week.

I find these statements odd. The LCD "just seems a cheap way to get away with not having to do art for a translite"? wow. Because a translite is SO much more expensive than a 26" LCD display with supporting video display hardware. uh-huh.

The main point is that you can do SO much more with an LCD than a low-res monochrome DMD. Like full-color video clips and hi-res animations, having all player scores visible at all times along with other stuff, real illustrated tutorials and shot/mode guides to explain the complex rules, indicators for different modes/goals visible, easy-to-use diagnostics and settings screens, etc. And the RGB lights also allow better shot illustrations and hints 9besides looking cool).

For clarity and amount/type of info displayed, LCD>>DMD>>alphanumeric>reels>bulbs behind the backglass.

Your reasoning at the end makes total sense, but I disagree with some of the context.

First point: Stern pinball is not in "high demand" anymore. It is a niche market, with only a scant few hundred of the various LEs being made/sold per title. High demand would approach the 5-10k title runs, but those days have passed. The real-world demand for new pins has fizzled, with much of it shifted from operators to the collector market, a tough market to sustain a maker of high-priced toys. And the collector interest in places like Pinsie skew the big-picture state of the world pinball market. Total sales volume matters more than anything. JJP is going for mass appeal and broader sales, with operator incentives, etc. It remains to be seen how successful that will be, of course.

Flippers? They are clearly still working n the available adjustments; seems like the early test games didn't even have adjustability. Nobody knows how the flippers will play on production machines until they ship (with sufficient control code).

Unfinished code? Yeah, I agree that the code will likely have several updates after the game ships. How unfinished will it be? Dunno, but I suspect there are more pieces done that haven't yet been implemented in the test games.

Not over-delivering? Yup, can't tell for sure until the final game is delivered. But I already see a ton of over-delivered stuff that was not promised when I bought in way back when. Stuff like a crystal ball with embedded video; full bottom rails on an easily-removeable playfield; a killer 150 wpc sound system with 7 drivers; Full-spectrum controllable LED lights for all inserts; a classy wooden apron cover; 5 flippers and a bunch of magnets; 11-ply plywood; hi-res clearcoated cabinet art; etc. Pretty sure we haven't even seen the LE topper yet. And I have no doubt that the WOZ rules will be incredible.

Yeah, I can understand why many are frustrated with the time this project is taking. But the jury is still out, and I think the game will be better than what people are expecting now.