Stern's Next Pin - TWD 2014 / 2015

[GORGAR 1]

Gotta agree $5900 NIB for acdc was a great price point :) now to expensive.

[Caveoftreasures]

I don't see any value in Stern pro games nib at all, at $7100 they are over-priced and lose at least 1k as soon as it's out of the box.
At around 5k 2nd hand they are a fair buy but not nib.

That's a better percentage loss than any car or jetski or motorbike.

For the BNIB price, u know you are getting brand new which is a lot better than buying a sited machine that already has a year or three worth of commercial wear on it.
Opening a brand new pin is worth the extra money to most.
Buying a low usage home use only machine is worthwhile but only if it's local and the new decals don't get scratched in the transit home.

[Caveoftreasures]

 

Gotta agree $5900 NIB for acdc was a great price point :) now to expensive.

Yeh we went from $1.13 USA to a crappy .87 cents.
I am amazed we aren't paying more than what we are for the Pro models.

I think I paid $6100 for the ACDC Pro which was without delivery and a shaker motor.
Then when X Men Pro came out it was $6400 plus shaker and delivery.
Star Trek was priced at the time at around $6700 plus etc.
Mustang was $6900 plus etc.
Walking Dead was $7000 incl shaker for repeat cash customers who had purchased a few machines before.

So you can see how the price has slowly risen with the now absolute crap Australian Dollar.
It's about a 26 percent difference in the Australian dollar since ACDC but we are only paying about 14 percent more for the current Pro according to my calculations so the prices are currently less than what our Aussie dollar would normally dictate.

If you are going to sell a new Stern after a few years u still get a very good percentage back.
Example, u buy at $7,000 now and u sell for $5500 in a few years when people can't buy that pin anymore brand new.
That's a loss of apx 18 to 20 percent if my math is correct. Or $15 a week over 2 years or $10 a week over 3 years.
So it's like renting a BNIB for $10 or $15 a week for 2 or 3 years.
That's good value considering. That's only my opinion ofcourse. Lol

Better than watching the wives waste it on handbags and stuff ! .....

[Retropin]

Gotta agree $5900 NIB for acdc was a great price point :) now to expensive.

Yeh we went from $1.13 USA to a crappy .87 cents.
I am amazed we aren't paying more than what we are for the Pro models.

I think I paid $6100 for the ACDC Pro which was without delivery and a shaker motor.
Then when X Men Pro came out it was $6400 plus shaker and delivery.
Star Trek was priced at the time at around $6700 plus etc.
Mustang was $6900 plus etc.
Walking Dead was $7000 incl shaker for repeat cash customers who had purchased a few machines before.

So you can see how the price has slowly risen with the now absolute crap Australian Dollar.
It's about a 26 percent difference in the Australian dollar since ACDC but we are only paying about 14 percent more for the current Pro according to my calculations so the prices are currently less than what our Aussie dollar would normally dictate.

If you are going to sell a new Stern after a few years u still get a very good percentage back.
Example, u buy at $7,000 now and u sell for $5500 in a few years when people can't buy that pin anymore brand new.
That's a loss of apx 18 to 20 percent if my math is correct. Or $15 a week over 2 years or $10 a week over 3 years.
So it's like renting a BNIB for $10 or $15 a week for 2 or 3 years.
That's good value considering. That's only my opinion ofcourse. Lol

Better than watching the wives waste it on handbags and stuff ! .....

Aus$ is still good at .87C... the world economy wants to see it go back to around  75C. The unusually high price at above or equal to the US$ went on for way longer than anyone anticipated. It was good while it lasted but it was never going to stay there.

[Cow Corner]

I don't see any value in Stern pro games nib at all, at $7100 they are over-priced and lose at least 1k as soon as it's out of the box.
At around 5k 2nd hand they are a fair buy but not nib.

That's a better percentage loss than any car or jetski or motorbike.

For the BNIB price, u know you are getting brand new which is a lot better than buying a sited machine that already has a year or three worth of commercial wear on it.
Opening a brand new pin is worth the extra money to most.
Buying a low usage home use only machine is worthwhile but only if it's local and the new decals don't get scratched in the transit home.

I'm not interested in cars, jetskis or motorbikes...2nd hand or brand new.

Never scratched decals moving a 2nd hand pin home yet, touch wood.

Would never consider a nib Stern pro again at the price they are( and they will only get more expensive) when 5k tops will grab one easy 2nd hand down the road.
Yeah you know what your getting with a nib Stern pro ... a watered down version of a game at top dollar with incomplete code.

At 7k if you really want the game new and a Premium is available grab that and get the full game, otherwise go the LE road or check out some of the other manufacturers.

[Cow Corner]

Something interesting in the zombie fish tank.
Apparently one of the zombie heads is a teaser to a future Stern title..........
 

Pic is from a pinside post

[Strangeways]

The AC/DC Pro was a marketing stroke of Genius to the Aussie Market. The AUS$ was $1.07 (March 2012) - 0.97c (May 2012). this was more of a coincidence that worked VERY well. The idea of dropping the price for the Aussie market was to stimulate the pinball economy. I remember it well as dealers were jumping over each other to become Stern retailers to cash in on this bonanza.

AC/DC = Aussie band = BIG sales in Australia. Drop the wholesale price and pass it on to consumers = "The JB Hi Fi" Sales model. Sell cheap, but sell in volume = more profit + stimulate the market. It worked VERY VERY well - and it helped that the game is an absolute cracker to play.

The AUS$ is affecting the price, but Stern can repeat what they did with AC/DC if they wanted to.

For AUS$7000 - I'd expect a Walking Dead LE with colour display. It can be done, but it would reduce profits.

 

[Caveoftreasures]

On some of the Stern games I have seen the value in going to a LE or Premium.
I didn't see the value on X Men or ACDC, or Mustang. The Pro was excellent.
Even on Star Trek I didn't see the value in going up to a Premium or LE.

It's the same with the Walking Dead Pro. The Brown LE is not a massive jump at all. Very subtle differences only from a playing point of view. Visually, a different story.

I also reckon the resale on a Pro is better pro-rata and a Pro is much easier to sell because people always want much more for the LE espescially.

I don't see the LE as a fully featured game and a Pro as being a big drop in features.
The way I look at it, is you play the Pro first and say, OK, that's a great game, then you play the LE and say, OK, I see the few extras they have thrown in. They make the Pro first, get it great, then improve it slightly. They don't build the LE first then take stuff away then make the Pro ! I have spoken with Borgy from Stern on this. The Pro is always designed first and action packed. His approach to how he designs and sees a game is very intelligent. Steve Ritchie does it differently. He actually designs two different games from the get go. Different styles, different results but both are excellent at the finish. Borgy is probably the best designer on the planet at the moment. Johns work rate is double compared to Steve when u look at amount of titles over the past five years.

The difference in price doesn't seem to offer anymore than a 10 or 15 percent increase in features.
It's definately not a 40 or 50 percent feature difference that's for sure. 7 grand on a BNIB is one thing. $10,000 or $10,500 is a completely different ball game altogether. I just don't see me ever buying a LE. The Stern Pro is always excellent value for money and still feature packed.
Just play the Pro Walking Dead versus the LE and I am sure most would agree the feature difference is only slight.
I feel that way about the last 5 or 6 titles. Pro has been to me, a exceptional game for the money.

[Caveoftreasures]

The AC/DC Pro was a marketing stroke of Genius to the Aussie Market. The AUS$ was $1.07 (March 2012) - 0.97c (May 2012). this was more of a coincidence that worked VERY well. The idea of dropping the price for the Aussie market was to stimulate the pinball economy. I remember it well as dealers were jumping over each other to become Stern retailers to cash in on this bonanza.

AC/DC = Aussie band = BIG sales in Australia. Drop the wholesale price and pass it on to consumers = "The JB Hi Fi" Sales model. Sell cheap, but sell in volume = more profit + stimulate the market. It worked VERY VERY well - and it helped that the game is an absolute cracker to play.

The AUS$ is affecting the price, but Stern can repeat what they did with AC/DC if they wanted to.

For AUS$7000 - I'd expect a Walking Dead LE with colour display. It can be done, but it would reduce profits.

 

Yeh, spot on.
Hope the colour DMD etc etc part comes true.
Just so glad Stern and JJP and others are battling it out.
We all win with competition and the extra features it brings the end consumer !

[Cow Corner]

New code is up for TWD.
 

[skywalker]

Well, just updated the code, 11pm now, can't play it till tomorrow night, everyone is asleep 

[Caveoftreasures]

Ok, very cool

Looking forward to your thoughts. 

[skywalker]

With the new code in this game is has changed straight up,  Skill shot awards & dots have changed, walker girl in skill shot BTW wife says it looks like young sophia in the show gets her head blown off if you hit SS right, I haven't played many games yet, but pretty excited to see heaps more new dots, the difference in code update is mind blowing really, referring to all the changes to the display dots/graphics etc fkn Unreal  Cant play the game deep enof to see the changes in the modes  call outs seem the same so far, I have no issue with the fake call outs, They blend in & suit the game honorably, opinions on this have been blown way out by others IMHO, This game was already a hit out of the box with the std code & I'm only playing the pro the LE must be Awesome, IMO this is going to be one of sterns best games, Borg has done a fantastic job with the PF lay out, I know others  have canned the crap out of it, Everything fits perfect, Every shot is satisfying & positioned well, the tight shots are hard to hit but when you do its rewarding, The pops are positioned spot on, yes the ball gets hung up alot, both ramp shots are killer, long, smooth & flowing, SDTM drains for the prison magnet is way better than previous code, magnet pulsates randomly now, wife & i cant stop playing the game & its only going to get better with new code & me playing deeper, Well done stern top effort yes that's coming from a B/W lover.

[Caveoftreasures]

Excellent feedback. Agree everything is very cool. Borgy is a great designer. Best on the planet right now.

[GORGAR 1]

Well thanks to a very generous forum member Luke (skywalker) I got to play this game today :) and I gotta say I loved it. Awesome dots and great soundtrack and quirky call outs. I didn't find it as brutal as others have said but it can be if you have slow reflexes lol. It also has some great orbit shots and very fast ramp combos. The well bash toy is actually fun to hit and doesn't really block the prison. Thanks again Luke you have an awesome collection including my first ever game on WOZ :)