Old news, this has been talked about since last year, if ur a pin guy u knew this was coming, its even in mrpinball price guide and under price it says Rumor. I don't know about Stern Pinball at this point, Indy sucks, 24 is decent but not great and I'm a huge fan of the show and was all ready to buy a NIB one till I played it,
Yup, Indy blows...I just played 24 at CA Robinson last week....wow, that is the UGLIEST pin I've ever seen. The artwork looks like vomit. I'm not a fan of the show, so I just couldn't get into it...and I tried...I love Steve Ritchie pins. Surprisingly, NBA was VERY fun. I had no interest in it ...I don't care about B-Ball, and it's a re-use of the old Space Jam game...but I dunno, it worked for me. Very fast and fun, not too complex rules-wise, but satisfying shots.
Spiderman does nothing for me but I guess its ok,
Wow, you're definitely in the minority on that one...one of Steve Ritchie/Lyman Sheats/Stern's best. Excellent w/ the 2.4 software, sound cranked, and shaker motor rumbling!
I like DarkKnight but I would get bored easy,
I like playing it on location, as the crane is fun to hit...but yeah, it gets a bit stale. Software isn't finished though...once the next update comes, who knows - could make the game special. Then again, no matter how good the code is, the bridge is fucking stupid, and the Joker Can is a waste of real estate.
CSI is not my taste at all, we will see I guess, I'm sure there will be one at CAX if it comes out in april. I like Ironman but Sterns pins have been very average to poor lately.
They had a great run w/ Simpsons, Lord of the Rings, Pirates, Family Guy, and Spidey. Wheel of Fortune COULD have been a sleeper, but the incomplete software still hampers it. Really underrated and unique game though. They had great licenses w/ Batman/Indy, but kinda blew it by rushing them out to meet the movie release dates. From there, the licenses have sucked....Ironman's the first good one in a while. Hopefully it will be great...but most pinheads are skeptical w/ Borg designing it. Fingers crossed....
Pirates I like but probably only because I'm a huge Disney fan. I'm really hoping for Tron and Blacklights and lots of dark neon, that pin would rock. I tink Stern needs to kick it up a notch and get into LCD displays and dump the DMD and feature actual interactive movie scenes if there gonna stick with TV and Movie themed pins, if they do that they will change the industry and perhaps sell 10,000 or more pieces.
Their highest selling game is Pirates, a bit over 6000....and thats when the economy was OK and arcades were only quasi-dead and not damn-near-dead. No pinball will ever sell 10,000 in this day and age...and LCD won't really do much for sales. You play pinball for the PINBALL ..you're looking at the playfield. The DMD, while having animation and such - is simply a scoreboard. LCD doesn't improve pinball or make people care who don't care about pinball....and - it just adds cost on Stern's end, because then you have to create full color graphics. It might sound cool, but makes no sense from a business or gameplay perspective.
They need a new inovative concept to keep ops buying pins and players to keep playing them in the wild, if not there will be no more Pins. Let's hope Ironman isn't the fall of the last pinball Company!
If CSI, 24, and Big Buck Hunter didn't kill Stern, Ironman sure won't. Stern innovating pinball doesn't solve 3 critical issues:
-Arcades are dead
-Pinballs don't bring in money like redemption or video
-Economy blows, so homeowner purchases are down.
Coin-Op needs to be healthy for pinball innovation to make sense.