Check out Keith P Johnson's comments.

http://groups.google.ca/group/rec.games.pinball/browse_thread/thread/a6defda2e46f1e9c?hl=en#

The 3 minute play point is interesting. Unfortunately what I witnessed is that the younger crowd never really learned to play pinball so no matter how generous you make the game, 3 minutes of play may not activate a single toy often and will amount to nothing more than a series of hopeless ball saves. Very disappointing and probably would lead most newcomers to walking away dissatisfied.

I agree with the poster that says pinball has done little to promote itself and in IMO doing so has not generated the interest for newcomers to stick with the games in order to build the skill set required to really enjoy pinball.

There is almost a dichotomy in players today. One's who can and one's who can't and trying to satisfy both is a challenge.

Steve Ritchie responded.  Ouch.....  A must read.

Here's a direct link to Steve Ritchie's post. Ouch indeed! Go Steve go!

I hope Stern sells to Steve Ritchie and pals, as if that could ever happen.

Wow, Great insight!

wow ... indeed

I don't think he will make another game for stern do you?!  

I would have fired Richie after T3. then again, T3 never should have been made so maybe it was Gary Stern pushing T3 down our throats.

Richie is usually right about most things yet he will never admit to the (occasional) turds he produces.

Only thing to save pinball is a re-release of Williams/Bally's best games...that's it that's all.
Stern's games are garbage, and the sooner he's gone the better.

MAACA impersonation of Steve getting his daily "pep talk".

So Steve felt they were good for 2.5 polished games a year. Just looking historically what they did it was 2.7 games per year average but the last couple were 3 which is probably where the pressure started to appear. Mind you 2003 was arguably a good year for games getting polished (LOTR and TSPP) and that was a 3 game year. I am working on the basis of artwork and some changes to dots (and minor rule alterations) not counting which is not entirely a fair analysis.


2000 2

2000-01 Striker Xtreme
2000-09 Sharkey's Shootout

2001 4

2001-01 High Roller Casino
2001-06 Austin Powers™
2001-09 Monopoly™
2001-11 NFL (arguably Striker Xtreme)

2002 3

2002-01 Playboy®
2002-08 RollerCoaster Tycoon
2002-11 Harley-Davidson® (2nd Edition)  

2003 3

2003-02 The Simpsons Pinball Party  
2003-06 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
2003-12 The Lord of the Rings  

2004 2

2004-03 Ripley's Believe It or Not!®  
2004-08 Elvis®  

2005 2 (NASCAR and Grand Prix as 1)

2005 Grand Prix  
2005-02 The Sopranos®  
2005-08 NASCAR®

2006 2

2006-02 World Poker Tour™
2006-07 Pirates of the Caribbean  

2007 3 (Dale Jr. same as NASCAR)

2007 Dale Jr.  
2007 Family Guy  
2007-06 Spider-Man™  
2007-10 Wheel Of Fortune  

2008 3 (Shrek same as FG)

2008 Shrek™  
2008-04 Indiana Jones
2008-07 Batman Stern  
2008-11 CSI

Quoted from Hippochrome

Only thing to save pinball is a re-release of Williams/Bally's best games...that's it that's all.

nobody gave a flyin' f*** about williams games from '95 onward. pinball started its death after TAF.
the designers have to take a step back and reinvent something fresh with mass market appeal. not appeal to the hard core eliteists.
Kid's stepped into arcades and plunked down quarters because it was new, exciting and grabbed their attention.

something new has to happen.

Quoted from takochef

something new has to happen.

Pin2000

History repeating itself?

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Pin2000

i said something new, like Pin  3K+

the sad reality is, you need 1 million to develop a game (if you already have the manufacturing infrastructure to assemble).
what nobody has (or the viral vision) to spend the 20 million plus for mass market campaign to get people hooked.

the fundamental part of the equation is figuring out who will buy the games since arcades don't exist. home sales arn't enough and kids prefer to buy consoles and cartridges for home. let alone plunk 4K for cabinet.