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Expo in Chicago

Mfresh

Mfresh

Site Supporter
10 Years
Joined
Oct 7, 2012
Messages
2,224
Location
Marlow on Thames, Bucks
Alias
Paul
Well I arrived at Expo in Chicago today, and the first person I bumped I to was.... Martin Ayub. Things are just being set up at the moment, and deserted in one of the hotel corridors was a Big Bang Bar, fully working, so I got my first go on one of those.

Then in the competition area Stern was setting up some TWD machines, so I got to have a go on that , playing against Koi Morris (he's the guy who appears in the film Special When Lit , the friend of the Pingeek character.)

Then John Papaduik came over and had a laugh at my name, as it is the same as the real name of the Pee Wee Herman actor. Greg Freres also came over for a friendly joke about me being Pee Wee Herman. It's doing my head in as I am jet lagged and it's about 4 in the morning UK time.

Still, people are arriving all the time, and there's growing excitement that there re going to be some big announcements in the next day or two....

Cheers from the good old us of a....
 
Koi rocking the old "goody bag round the neck look." And why not? Friendly chap.

Just got back from the Stern factory tour. This year there is a strictly no cameras policy, apparently because they no longer want the competition to see their manufacturing techniques. Not sure what has changed from last year though, so all any of the manufacturing new comers needs to do is look at my pix from last year: http://pavlovpinball.com/inside-the-stern-fun-factory/

It was definitely more densely populated than last year - they are running out of space, so its not hard to understand why they need to a bigger factory next year. The Stern bods were very friendly and helpful, and Steve Ritchie was at the exit door shaking hands and thanking everyone for coming.

All the production seemed to be focused on TWD, although I did see an X-men and a AC/DC Luci being made in a corner somewhere. I also saw the new TWD topper in the flesh (it was announced yesterday as an official mod) along with the new picture blades that go along the inside walls of the cabinet.

The first reaction to the topper was that it is damned expensive, but seeing it in the flesh you can see why it is expensive. Its basically a glass box with three hideous zombie heads in it that were sculpted by the main man from the TV show, Greg Nicotero, with green lighting that moves across it. I'd say its hideously ugly, which is the desired effect, so maybe worth the money if you are a fan.

There's also a whole area of the factory that is dedicated to making MMr. But. Nothing much seemed to be going on there. No one was working on the line (when I visited) and most of the parts bins were empty. There was a pile of trolls at one point down the line, and some ramps at another, and a dragon at another. And there were some cabinets. But no sign of populated playfields. It may have been an off day - I really don't know - but not a lot of MMR-manufacturing was going on, that's the impression I got.

Also, the staff were working on wiring diagrams for TWD, but they were all labelled DInner Time. That was the code name for TWD apparently - used before the game was formally announced, and still used apparently. Mustang's code name was Sea Biscuit (both horses) and ST's was Bill (as in Shatner.) Now one thing they taught me when I worked for the military (OK that's a lie) is that you should never use code names that are in any way related to the actual project name.

So the moral of all this is that if you find out a Stern code name, it will likely give you a clue to the next game... And I like them alot.... So do we all I suspect...
 
Cheers Paul. Very interesting about MMr - thought they might be a little more down the road...
Keep 'em coming!
 
Just caught John Popaduik with his new machineImageUploadedByTapatalk1413484472.928452.jpg

The cabinet and playfield are patented - all will be revealed when he takes to the stage at 2pm. All he would tell me is that the cabinet is 1 inch taller than Sterns. He is very excited - like a little boy - and very friendly.
 
img_f.pinside.com_201410_1968924_303020_i.jpg

Just saw this on Pinside. Allegedly at Stern's factory. Any inside info on it?

And what about Mr Heighway's announcement?

Have a great time there and thanks for taking the time to feedback to us all
 
Yup I saw four or five MMr cabs and some back boxes at the Stern factory. But no work going on on them that I could see. The MMr line was deserted when I was there.

John Popaduik showed off two cabs for his Adventureland game. He is trying to be the Apple of pinball with massive attention to detail. Here are some pix

They are very big, with a large area for artwork. And different art on each side



ImageUploadedByTapatalk1413490879.285622.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1413490894.018595.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1413490914.669960.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1413490939.487719.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1413490951.041190.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1413490961.609618.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1413490984.491617.jpg

Steel trim everywhere and the z logo on the hinges, backbox pedestal etc. Oh and each one is equipped with 5 speakers - two in the backbox, and 3 in the cab including a 10 inch woofer.

No playfield yet though...

Andrew Heighway is due to announce his new title tomorrow at 6pm Chicago time. He said he will post something on Pinball Info ( he might have already). Licensed theme and Big designer
 
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And Stern has announced Big Juicy Melons. As I said earlier, I like them alot, and so I suspect does everyone else. (Apologies for the fnarr fnarr humour but its late....)
 
Chris Granner just played the original DCS music that was done for TZ before it was abandoned on favour of the simpler synth based sounds that the game uses because the DCS hardware wasn't ready in time.

He says he will make the DCS sounds available and reckons that within a year someone will come up with a way to let you use the much better DCS sounds in your TZ. Is that with new hardware? He didn't say.
 
Rick at Planetary just finishing his talk. No new announcement, but says there will be new games and there won't be a long wait for them... No MB or AFM now though
 
It's a pleasure Paul.. I'm not going anywhere....ImageUploadedByTapatalk1413575287.120397.jpg

Here's the guy from Special When Lit who has a million games I his house

And here's me and the Koister
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1413575373.224455.jpg

All the stars of my favourite pinball film are here!
 
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Just spoke to Pat Lawlor and pointed out that the idea for the name Pavlov Pinball came from something he said in that film, and gave him a Pavlov Pinball cap.

I think he just thought I was barking mad and didn't really understand my accent. But he took the hat anyway.... He was signing translites and I thought about asking him to sign my moobs but I think that might have been pushing it...
 
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No hints about the JJP game but he did say more would be revealed next year. And that designers hate having to design to a license, so he is very happy that Jack just asked him to do something fun. He mainly just talked about Banzai run

Here's Dennis Nordman and Andrew Heighway sitting in the hotel lobby. They are on on about an hour and a half. Really interested to hear what Andrew announces, and talking to people here alot of people want to see him succeed and like his idea of a modular system.

Andrew reckons that announcing a new game before FT is released makes FT more attractive as you will know what else you will be able to slot in your cabinet which makes sense to me.



ImageUploadedByTapatalk1413581009.684275.jpg
 
When you say modular, is this similar to the idea that went with Pinball 2000 originally that you could swap playfields out in the same cabinet or something similar?
 
Yes that's spot on. You buy one cab with a playfield, and then the next game you just need to buy the new playfield, store the old one underneath, and stick on the new artwork on the cabinet, which I think is magnetic and also a new translite I suppose. But I think he is also doing things like flippers as easily removable modules which you can pull out and replace quickly if you are an operator, or pull out and work on at your workbench instead of hunched over the cabinet (with all the risks of falling in...) Multimorphic are also doing something similar.

I was looking at people playing Full Throttle today and it is odd not having anything on the backglass to watch as a spectator. You can't really see the LCD screen on the playfield as a spectator, so there is no way to see how the person playing is getting on. But maybe that's just something that we will get used to.
 
They made 251 games for Bacardi..that was the project they did earlier this year..they are moving to a new factory which is three times bigger, and about the size of Sterns current factory.

New cabinet designs. Since the UKPP they have changed the lock down bar bit so it doesn't hurt your hands.

Upgrade games will be about 50% of the price of the first game. Right now there are 6 games in development. 3 are licensed. Second game is April 2015 release. And it is ALIEN!
 
Alien? Woaah!! Nice :)

Seems to be having something of a resurgence what with the recent video game out.

Amazing to think the movie was 35 years old this year. Still a classic and certainly a great theme for a Pin. Heres hoping they draw on the huge wealth of resources and come up with a design which can match the scope of the film.
 
Bits of Alien and bits of Aliens. Wide body game. Lots of flow and unique new toys. And no humour. The idea is to create a lot of terror (Nordman talking now)
 
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