Upcoming DE/Stern Tables?

[PS Garek]

In a recent interview on Engadget Gary Stern got a bit tongue tied and said that Rollercoaster Tycoon on Pinball Arcade had raised its value (he also mentioned Tales From The Crypt). While he was obviously referencing Ripley's, it lead me to wonder if he tossed those two titles out because they were recently sent off to Pinball Arcade. Given that they're both pretty easy licenses to get (especially RCT) they seem pretty plausible. Of course, he could have just been wrong.

I hope these two do come out because they're both pretty solid machines, and it's been years since I've played Tales.

 

[gooche77]

I've never played RCT but Tales from the Crypt was AWESOME! We need some more Stern up in here.

 

[Kolchak357]

Very interesting. Good catch PS G.
Tales would be very welcome.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

OLD MAN STERN is oblivious to his own company!

 

[PiN WiZ]

Gary is aware of everything that involves his company. It's just that at his age, the things that are freshest in his mind come out of his mouth first.

 

[karl]

I love it when Pin Wiz comes up with those posts. Is it true? Is it hope? What the hell does he know?

 

[Rafie]

Well I hope its true. I've never played Tales From The Crypt before. I would love to play them now, even if its in digital form.

 

[Gorgar]

I don't have a source to back it up, but I remember reading, either here or on facebook about 6 months or so ago that they said that they were working on Tales From the Crypt. So it is very possible, but at this point, it is only speculation.

 

[Bowflex]

As much as I prefer Bally and Williams games, the long-term survival does require more Gottlieb/Stern games. I think too much neglect could lead to less support to the point of pulling licensing rights once they expire. Stern is obviously more difficult since they have a limited number of games without licenses and lots of their tables, regardless of licensing, are not exactly high in demand from the community. Of course Tales from the Crypt would be perfect. Very good table themed to a show that I wish was still around. RCT could be good as well, especially if the licensing is cheap. Definitely has a very light hearted feel which would add variety to what we have available in the game. I haven't spent much time with it. I wasn't blown away but it wasn't horrible by any means.

 

[mattenno]

Gary Stern also said that one of his favorite games was Family Guy. I'm assuming that Family Guy will come to TPA soon!

 

[Dutch Pinball ball]

Rct is sterns worst machine.

Hope they go for another one.

 

[Bowflex]

Rct is sterns worst machine.

Hope they go for another one.

As I said, I don't have the most playtime on RCT. I can see criticism for the simplicity of the game but I think it is good to have some games with simpler rules and easier to get into, especially to draw a younger crowd. Plus like most any Stern game, the playfield is rather busy; littered with all the toys and junk they are notorious for.

I can think of over a hundred tables I would rather see than RCT. However I can also see where it would provide the thematic variety and a table that is not so "dark". Plus it is more accessible for beginners. I do respectfully disagree that it is Stern's worst machine as long as X-Men and Rolling Stones exist.

 

[Sumez]

To quote myself from the other now-locked thread, based on Stern's interview:

Even so, it's still good news. It means Stern will probably be interested in allowing more brand new tables to be digitized by FarSight, to help boost their sales! And it definitely proves that it would never have the opposite effect (the "they won't pay on location because they can just play it at home" scare)

I'm thinking AC/DC, Tron and Iron Man, here. They just need to get their licenses in gear.

Would there even be a chance that a license acquired for a brand new Stern table could be secured for both the physical and a digital version created shortly afterwards? That could save FS a lot of woes.

 

[xNiCeGuYx]

I've seen a making of video for the upcoming avengers game and it looks like Gomez and his men digitize the whole table before the production.
Wouldn't it be cool if Stern could work with FS together and send them their digitized tables. We would have a 100% identical version of the real thing.

 

[karl]

Everything is possible of course and it would be extremely cool to have brand spanking new table coming out shortly after Sterns release. It all comes down to what Farsight would have to pay for the license to do it digitally. It would probably be much cheaper if Stern got the option from the start to also do it digitally rather than hunting down Disney or any other big names a second time. If the price is right I am sure Farsight would have no problem putting down the extra hours to learn any new dmd/lcd system Stern might have in their works. Just getting the big boys lawyers to sit down and talk about another contract afterwards will cost them many thousands of Dollars. This would also help bring in a lot of new customers that are only interested in the latest real tables to see if it is worth putting down cash for a real one by checking it out on the Pinball Arcade first. Opinions vary on the subject of is this a help or hinder for Stern. In my view it is a huge help and will bring them a lot of new customers. Maybe Jay could invite Gary up to those beautiful California mountains and sweet talk him some more ;-)

 

[PS Garek]

To quote myself from the other now-locked thread, based on Stern's interview:


Would there even be a chance that a license acquired for a brand new Stern table could be secured for both the physical and a digital version created shortly afterwards? That could save FS a lot of woes.

It's okay with Stern to do so, but all of their current tables are far too expensive to get licenses for. The rumors say that the next two tables are Metallica and JJ Abrams Star Trek and I can't imagine that they'd be able to land either.

I could be wrong on this but I also believe that the current generation of Stern's hardware is a pain to emulate. Someone with a bit more technical knowledge can correct me on that that.

Also the worst Stern is clearly Harley. RCT is never going to rank at the top but it has a bunch of fun shots and looks cool.

 

[gooche77]

Does Zen have exclusive rights to Marvel Pinball games? Also, I'm fairly certain Bobby said the newer Stern tables are not able to be emulated due to constraints on the mobile devices.

 

[Carl Spiby]

Does Zen have exclusive rights to Marvel Pinball games? Also, I'm fairly certain Bobby said the newer Stern tables are not able to be emulated due to constraints on the mobile devices.

Newer Sterns aren't emulated due to the S.A.M system.

 

[Sumez]

It's okay with Stern to do so, but all of their current tables are far too expensive to get licenses for. The rumors say that the next two tables are Metallica and JJ Abrams Star Trek and I can't imagine that they'd be able to land either.

But Stern already landed it, that was my point.
Two seperate agreements on licenses is a much much bigger job, and most likely a lot more expensive, than expanding one that says "for a physical pinball table" to say "for a physical pinball table with an accomodating digital version of the same table"

 

[Bowflex]

Does Zen have exclusive rights to Marvel Pinball games? Also, I'm fairly certain Bobby said the newer Stern tables are not able to be emulated due to constraints on the mobile devices.

Zen has exclusive rights for ORIGINAL DIGITAL pinball games. Farsight has exclusive rights to reproduce physical tables into a digital format. So Zen could not reproduce any Stern table.