Slings:
I wondered why slings have two switches, then realised that it's only because the kicker is in the middle. It may have been that Stern saw it as simple as that by using the opertunity of putting in only one switch with no kicker taking up the middle position. They probably didn't realise it would affect the sensitivity of ball detection.
There may be an opportunity for a mod here. Tap of two extra switches and surface mount them. Perhaps even add an optical sensor that sees the rubber move. Or maybe a simple bending of the switch leaves will be good enough.
They have 2 switches so the ball gets rebounded back at any point of the rubbers. In the 30's this was done with a long coiled spring that ran the length of the area required. This was replaced with a rubber band and then the switches ( 1 at first and then 2 of them) were added for extra effect. This has remained so for some 50+ years because it works.
If Stern didn't realise that the way THEY want to now make slings takes a lot of the effect away then they obviously didn't watch their own video that was released prior to the games launch. They also couldn't have been watching at any point of the R&D process which of course is impossible.
Im all for innovation and the game to be ever evolving, but if you are to reinvent the wheel then the accepted outcome is to make it BETTER ( key word there). When I first criticised the Magna slings the usual pathetic reply of "Stern bashing" once again got banded about... but here we are with a games launch to the market with less effective slings and the customer reaction appears to be luke warm at best. The ridiculousness of the situation becomes almost laughable if customers are actually buying the game and then considering Mods to make the slings act like... wait for it......... SLINGS!!!
So... either the Magna slings are still in the refinement stage in which case its not ready for market... or... Stern want to sell a less effective product and be applauded for striving to be clever ( or unclever in this case). Either way, the punch has been taken out.
Good on you Stern for having a go, but the company isn't a pre school child to be rewarded for at least attending and attempting.. its supposed to be a professional pinball machine manufacturer with some 30+ years below its belt and should only be treated as such.
If they bring back the passive bumper and customers start talking about ways they can make them pop, im taking my ball and going home as its GAME OVER.
