Re: Stern Pinball: This just in

My two cents is... there needs to be a visible progression through a
storyline. Video games are not so much focused on scoring anymore - its
more about progressing through a story. Pins still focus largely on
scoring. I guess I'm envisioning a larger display capable of capturing the
eye of not only who is playing, but others just hanging around. As you
progress, you see new cooler things. You progress through the story and
want to see what comes next. I have fond memories of standing around
watching others try to make it through Dragon's Lair... and waiting for my
turn to see if I could do it. I know some pins do this today, but the
display effects are not cool compared to the latest vid. My kid's
calculator has a better display than my black spidey. I can't help but
think IJ4 would be much cooler with full color movie scenes instead of the
regular DMD.

I'm not advocating blowing off the playfield and just focusing only on
display effects.... just adding something that isn't there now. Keep the
cool playfield stuff but bring in the rest of the crowd with the storyline
and display.

I know I'm not articulating this very well (its beer time in Dallas)... just
thinking out loud really.

Craig



"popbumper.com" <popbumper@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3fc8a8ec-07f1-41a5-97b8-bcbb8f7efb5f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Nov 7, 11:55 am, "The PinKeeper, AZ" <slones...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I actually want to clarify one thing in what i wrote earlier.

Stern did'nt *uck me out of $4000. I did it to myself.

It was my choice to trust Stern to make a finished product, not
Stern's.

But it is Stern's responsibility to me as a customer, to let me know
that i exist and that they let me down by not finishing the software.

Just a simple post on the RGP, a letter or something on thier website
would be so greatly appreciated. Having to hear it from Keith Johnson
after he gets laidoff is'nt right and it is'nt good customer relations
and is one big reason why Stern has lost my business.

Stern has never recognized me as a customer despite buying 19 NIB pins
in 6 years. Would'nt you want to know who your repeat customers
are ? Is'nt that like common business sense ? It does'nt matter
either that the pins are sold through distributors. I would want to
know every person that was helping me stay in business, would'nt
you ? How much cost and effort does it take to keep a computer
database of Stern customers ? Send us some free flyers, stickers
etc, etc. and maybe a monthly or quarterly newsletter that tells us
about updates, service issues, maintenance issues and other news,
which would make us feel appreciated.
John,

Your points on how Stern has to keep you happy have been made solidly.
I would like to mention that Stern has a lot of people to try and make
happy beyond the collector. I polled a local operator on software
updates - he doesn't do them unless they fix something in the game
that was broken. Deep rulesets mean nothing to him. He wants the games
to be harder and more old-school non-mode oriented. But he still
supports pinball by buying a dozen a year for a small route.

You mention the evolution of technology, something that has been
killing the arcades since the early 80's. People have an arcade in
their home by just have a modern console. How can pinball evolve
technologically and still be mechanical - not virtual? You can pop in
an LCD display, you could put a stereo sound system in there, but what
can you really do to the playfield to make it evolve? Pin2K was great,
and it was surely a modern evolution in the game. And without NuCore,
those machines will be obsolete before their previous titles will. It
was costly. And today, does not allow any manufacturer to move into
that direction since it was heavily patented (and those are still
active). I'm interested in hearing ideas from anyone on the evolution
of the machine. Where should it go? And how do we / they build it
economically?

Add 2 of my cents into your pile ... eventually we'll be able to play
a game of pinball!
Rob


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