everyones a stern basher these days, but u have to look at what they had to deal with....
Pin2000 failed, it didnt keep pinball going for the biggest player, so was Stern to follow suit and try some INNOVATION like that and then closedown....or do u do what u know has worked for the last 100 years and stick to basics...? they stuck to basics and survived...
yes, some games like Avatar with 1 x ramp, and transformers was basic etc, i agree, the cost cutting days were not days/games to be proud of, but what else was Stern to do...Pinball that works is 2 x flippers (or 3 flippers) , pop bumpers, 2 or 3 ramps, a good DMD, plus some great shots n decent cabinet art etc etc...title is subjective, but they stuck to what works...what else can u do, except try something like Pin2000 and then lose even more of a very very limited market...
Look at WOZ, theres some innovation with the LCD, and its getting a warm at best response..who gives a crap about whats under the playfield, who cares, cause it dont make a difference if the gameplay, the shots, the flow isnt right...except the RGB lighting and clear inserts, its still the exact same format as any std other dmd pinball...its still got flippers, ramps etc etc etc...a LCD doesnt make or break innovation...and to a player, who will never see whats in a locked metal box under the playfield, the only thing about pinball he gets to rate, is gameplay..so innovation in the context everyone is raving about is bullshit in my mind...u can run a pinball machine on diamonds, or alien technology, no good unless the playfield works well with shots n flow, and its a decent modern title/subject matter...
Pin2000 was innovation..didnt help at all did it...what innovation are we missing...everyone keeps saying there a lack of innovatio, so OK, lets have the people who keep talking about innovation please list all the innovation and great ideas that are so easy to imagine, we should have had it ages ago, list away the innovation which has been staring us all in the face we should have included as a pinball industry ?
