Cavey... dont take it on board mate... its not Stern bashing as you call it, its a general impression and boredom with Sterns M.O. Since ACDC came out Stern owners have become very sensitive people and they seem to take the " im not that enthused about it actually" posts with greater relevance than the " if it had tits it would be perfect" posts.
Its difficult to list whats NOT been done but seeing as you have thrown down the gauntlet, ill try to rise to the challenge somewhat.
Heres what Stern could have done .
Wi Fi ( been around for a good few years, its even free in McDonalds and is the way online gaming works. For Stern to ignore this is sheer stupidity.. quite obvious its the way the world is going and it was up to JJP to bring it to the fore)
LCD... reasons have already been flogged out but it could also incorporate touch screen etc.
EL vinyl.. saw this some 15 years ago... its been put onto beer taps, V8 car bonnets etc and looks sensational.... maybe used for certain plastics?
Headphone jack.
RGB lighting
MP3 programmable sound
Isolated components like bumpers, slings etc ( see what Mike Homepin is doing...EASY maintenance).
Now im not saying that Stern had to embrace any of the few things above but the fact that they never even really made any effort is what sticks out about Stern.
Heres what they did instead.
Plastic aprons
Low res cabinet graphics
wobbly toys
Mick Jagger moving across the Pf ( how anyone thought that was a good idea is beyond me).
But its not all bad i guess.... i DO like the mini PFs on games like SHREK. BTDK drew me in and i thought it was a good game until i realised its impossible to lose the ball between the flippers and after 20 mins i gave the game away to the little kid watching. Im still wondering why the windows to a lower PF are still the same shape as they were fro Black Hole and Haunted House... it was ugly then and still is now.... it could be ANY shape!
Many many things have been tried in pinball that never became mainstream and its what makes certain era's or titles great.
The backglasses in Black Hole.... Empire Strikes Back ... Spirit.
Zipper Flippers
Power Ball on TZ ( wether you like it or not... at least its something a little different)
Banana flippers
Magna save
etc etc etc... none of which became the norm for pinball but it shows manufaturers throwing ideas out there to create interest and see what sticks.
Stern just dont seem to do this and thats the point us " bashers" are making
