New Stern Video - The Pin !

[Strangeways]

Stern have taken a couple of steps backwards with this "toy". I don't like it, and to me it was the dumbest decision made by them for a long time.

Here we have JJP / WOZ coming out with (what appears to be) a high quality build with some innovation, and stern's reply is to release a low quality toy. Who makes these decisions ?

[Greg]

Yeah it looks cheap but it also looks like a better player than the TF pro model.
 

thats a good point  the pf lay out is better than the pro

[Wotto]

.....to me it was the dumbest decision made by them for a long time.

Who makes these decisions ?

Agree 1 MILLION %

[Extra Ball]

easy to knock it, but try looking at it positively

[Wotto]

I see what they are ‘thinking’ .......in that they have produced a ‘game’ that can more easily ‘encroach’ into households and therefore potentially provide more exposure to pinball , hopefully leading to the desire for people to buy a ‘real’ machine.........but what, just what if someone owns one, a mate walks in and says ‘WOW a pinball”.......plays this toy and thinks it is utter rubbish........does that scenario assist pinball or is it detrimental to pinball.

It’s like one of those kit car ‘Volkswagen Ferraris’ as far as I am concerned..............I see it and think “WOW I can drive a Ferrari” – I then drive it and daka dak along the highway at 80kph.......
Far from the same experience 

[pinnies4me]

I see what they are ‘thinking’ .......in that they have produced a ‘game’ that can more easily ‘encroach’ into households and therefore potentially provide more exposure to pinball , hopefully leading to the desire for people to buy a ‘real’ machine.........but what, just what if someone owns one, a mate walks in and says ‘WOW a pinball”.......plays this toy and thinks it is utter rubbish........does that scenario assist pinball or is it detrimental to pinball.

Could say the same for many of the Sega games, many play like crap, but home users have the one game and they and their guest appreciate it, even if depth or gameplay are not up to standards of a B/W of the era. I don't think one of these would be detrimental to the casual owner/player guest.

[pinsanity]

I am positive that Stern and JJP are now poles apart in terms of build quality. 

[Freiherr]

Half the weight, half the size, half the price, I think they are well suited for kids. Would I play one, probably not. Would my three kids play this, definitely yes.

[swinks]

with the price - they are saying $2750 in the States, they equates to $3500 to $4000 here in Aus - that is one expensive toy. Bad move in my opinion, but if they got the price point at $1000 to $1500 max for Aus then it is a reasonable priced quality toy. I wonder if in is Asian made?

It also makes you wonder how much they are making off us on a LE if these toys are 1/3 the price - yes full size back box and a dmd and slightly bigger pf and different cabinet but, full leds, stern mechanicals, programming - just weird decision making - they should be allowing Gomez to concentrate on Avengers instead of side tracked on this concept.

[Homepin]

It is about double the price it needs to be to sell IMO

[Caveoftreasures]

I look at it this way.....

you walk in into say a FORD/HOLDEN car dealership, the flagship is the larger Falcon/Commodore models, they look good, drive good, got all the stuff we have come to appreciate over many years of car owrnership etc, then all of a sudden they release a smaller car, the entry level model, being a Ford Fiesta or a Holden Barina etc......entry level cars for kids who are learning to drive, getting P plates etc....

.........Then, just up the road, a new car dealership opens, lets call it OPEL (german manufacturer who just hit Australia like say JJP to the market) and just imagine they are bringing out one model only, a fully loaded car like a Ford/Commodore and its a very large model, but its fully specked out with every toy , known to man...u cant then turn around n say Ford n Holden build quality is now gone to crap because they have introduced a small car entry level model for the first time car driver.....different cars or different pinballs are for different markets...just because Stern brings out a entry level Transformers model called the PIN, doesnt mean the larger models have suffered at all....no one goes to a car yard, drives the smallest n cheapest car on the lot, then ignores all the other models n just walks out never to buy a car ever again...why would someone do the same with pinballs, wouldnt they then say show me the fulkl range ..

.......and if someone walked into the persons house who has pinballs already, just like the person who owns a large sized Holden or Ford, it is doubtful that he/she would walk into that persons house n bag their new entry level car/or Transformers THE PIN model that someone just bought for the kids to learn on..I dont see the correllation here at all...if anything, they would say well done for getting into pinball and testing out the waters...

Someone said something about Sega versus Bally/Williams etc, thats a total myth...it always makes me laugh...I would take a Starship Trooopers, A Frankenstein and a Batman Forever over a snoozefest over rated cookie cutter any day of the week...3 great machines versus one only...if u had the room, its a no brainer to take the 3 machines.

Question - So if current pinball collectors n industry people think the new Stern idea is no good, whats the answer then to get new people into the industry whilst keeping the financial cost down ?  Does anyone have any good/new ideas instead ?  

[ajlaird]

The problem is the price.

$3000 is not entry level.

For that price, I could easily get two REAL pinball machines (container, not dealer).

They should be selling this thing at a toy price ($500).

[Strangeways]

If this is aimed at kids (with rich parents), it won't work . Kids don't have the attention span these days. For $3000, go and buy them a nice fishtales.

Absolutely a backwards step for stern. Their marketing dept are still in the dark ages.

[Extra Ball]

it needs to take coin at 3k

[Cow Corner]

If this is aimed at kids (with rich parents), it won't work . Kids don't have the attention span these days. For $3000, go and buy them a nice fishtales.

Absolutely a backwards step for stern. Their marketing dept are still in the dark ages.

Kids in general don't have the attention span at all for pinball these days, they would much rather do other things..... who will be buying pinballs in 30+ yrs???.............
Enjoy it while you can.