Zen & Stern collaboration teaser?

[shutyertrap]

My understanding is there are a couple of key people at Stern trying to open Gary’s eyes to technology as it applies to gaming, but Gary hasn’t really processed the potential. He can see the now and doesn’t want to repeat mistakes of the past, which in and of itself can be a roadblock to the future. I’m sure he waived off what JJP was planning with their backglass, only to realize later that Stern needed to play catch-up. Tech moves at a blistering pace, and you can’t just sit idly by.

The cab Arcooda has been working sounded really great 2 years ago when I first heard what it could do. It still hasn’t come to market as they seem intent on getting everything just right first. The cabs Zen was parading around 2 years ago certainly couldn’t do what the Arcooda cabs were advertising, but at least they were shipping. Zen is now going to drop these monster cabs into the commercial realm, which was Arcooda’s main target all along, before Arcooda does. Being first to market is huge, especially when in terms of pinball you’ve got the better software that’s in active development. Arcooda was looking good with customizable side cab LED lighting, but Zen is doing full motion video. Tech favors the bold is what I’m trying to say.

Btw, there are aspects I know privately about the Arcooda cab that are indeed exciting, but it was supposed to ship last December. They haven’t even brought it to any trade shows. I’m worried for them.

Zen is thinking a bit outside the box (not just with their cab). People have been pushing Gary to think outside the box too. Like a Ven diagram, hopefully there’s some overlap and then it’s off to the races.

 

[wilbers]

Zen is thinking a bit outside the box (not just with their cab). People have been pushing Gary to think outside the box too. Like a Ven diagram, hopefully there’s some overlap and then it’s off to the races.

Unusual example of that expression where thinking outside the box is to get a new box (cabinet) and use the box in an entirely different way! Although for the other outside of that box part, is everything else they can do by having them all connected together through the internet.

Is part of what you mean about Gary Stern to do with connecting physical tables to the net as well, or something else? Operators could benefit from it by getting messages when something needs to be fixed, reminder to change rubbers after X number of games, auditing, etc., but would there be as much of a benefit for players due to differences in how tables are set up?

 

[shutyertrap]

Is part of what you mean about Gary Stern to do with connecting physical tables to the net as well, or something else?

I honestly don’t know. I’m piecing together bits I’ve heard from various things I’ve read and come up with the tech angle. Again though, JJP is clearly not afraid of trying things out. Wish there was rumors of them and Zen hooking up!

 

[Kolchak357]

I honestly don’t know. I’m piecing together bits I’ve heard from various things I’ve read and come up with the tech angle. Again though, JJP is clearly not afraid of trying things out. Wish there was rumors of them and Zen hooking up!

100% yes! Zen and Jersey Jack hooking up would be phenomenal. I might start my own rumor.

 

[Citizen]

I'd love to see Zen+JJP though I would imagine then we'd never see Zen+Stern. And that'd suck, because I want that too.

And there's an awful lot of DMDs for Zen to work with from Stern, not to mention hopefully modern display games and DE/Sega DMDs.

 

[zmcvay]

I'd love seeing Jersey Jack, but give me a choice and I'd go with Stern if it was an either or. Maybe I just haven't had enough playtime, but Wizard of Oz and the Hobbit have just never clicked for me when I've played them.

How much of a problem would the larger video screens be though for home versions? I imagine getting that working on mobile would be a headache for sure. Given Stern already has the licence for Guardians of the Galaxy tables, my son would lose it if the Stern table became a reality for FX3, he's played that one a ton at every opportunity.

 

[francis247uk]

https://twitter.com/PinballFX/status/1147166445547266054

Well to add fuel to the fire, there's clearly a Stern AC/DC Luci + a Jersey Jack Dialled In in the Zen Studio offices - so who knows!?

 

[HighFive]

https://twitter.com/PinballFX/status/1147166445547266054

Well to add fuel to the fire, there's clearly a Stern AC/DC Luci + a Jersey Jack Dialled In in the Zen Studio offices - so who knows!?

Its there for a while. Its just their favorite pinballs and they love having them at their office.

 

[Byte]

I'd love to see Zen+JJP though I would imagine then we'd never see Zen+Stern. And that'd suck, because I want that too.

I wouldn't say never, but 5 years down the road I could live with, provided Zen works with other manufacturers tables until that time, which we otherwise might 'never' see. Zen would of course like to minimize risk and why put out a couple of Atari tables when you can issue Stern tables?

 

[djb5f1]

I'm setting up an interview with Mel once more, you'd better believe I'm asking if he's just messing with us or if it's a hint of things to come. My only worry is what this might mean for all the Williams SS/Alpha Numeric tables, as clearly Zen prefers DMD.

Zen already has licenses for quite a few of those Stern machines, so it'd be just a matter of setting new terms rather than starting from scratch. Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, X-Men, Avengers, Spider-Man, Walking Dead, those become practically a given. Pirates, Tron, now the Simpsons, and of course the ability to then do both Indiana Jones tables, just another conversation with Disney. Considering the Star Wars to Switch announcement, you know they've spoken VERY recently.

Would be interesting to see how Zen fairs with the music tables, but Metallica would be my first order of business, followed by Maiden and then Aerosmith. I don't know who holds the music rights to the various bands, but you probably would see a bundle if some are under Warner Music, and others under Sony, etc.

And of course it all could just be a one-off deal, doing Black Knight: Swords of Rage, as Zen has the Williams license and Stern had to get an agreement from SG and the remake company (name escapes me).

All goodness, want those recent Stern music tables badly.

Please no Gottlieb association, never enjoyed those with TPA, especially the really old ones.

 

[shogun00]

The one thing I'm a little concerned about is the amount of storage that these LCD tables will require.

I'm planning to purchase Black Knight 3 in the Fall and I started doing some digging on Stern's site. It appears that there are 2 seperate ROM files for the LCD tables. One is the game code which hovers at 1.8GB and the other one is the image code (for the LCD) which hovers at 2.8GB. That's 4.6GB total for the ROM alone. Add in the fact that the table needs to be recrated too and each table can easily be 5GBs.

I don't even want to image how large the JJP ROMs are, since prefer to have their video files uncompressed.

 

[Pete]

I think a bunch of that space is due to uncompressed video and audio files. wavs instead of mp3s and giant uncrpressed hd video. probably for digital release they would compress that stuff down and lose more than half of the 5 gigs.

 

[Scared Stiff]

All goodness, want those recent Stern music tables badly.

Please no Gottlieb association, never enjoyed those with TPA, especially the really old ones.

Oh I disagree. I would love to see Caveman!

 

[Citizen]

I'd love to see Zen pick up Gottlieb too, even if they only did the SS stuff. Plenty of good Gottlieb SS tables that FarSight never did, and a few they did do that'd be nice to see remade.

That being said, I don't actually expect to see Zen bothering to get the Gottlieb license. Maybe it'd be something they'd consider for years down the road, if they're satisfied with the sales of the Bally/Williams pre-DMDs, after they get around to those, and have most of the big name ones done, and also probably only after they at least attempt to get a Stern license first, because I have to believe that'd be much higher profile for them. And if they do get the Stern license, that'll push Gottlieb even further back, because they'll have another big pool of 90s/2000s/2010s tables to draw from.

Maybe after all of that, Gottlieb will be on their radar. So for anyone who doesn't want Gottlieb, I really don't think you need to worry. But I'd love to be wrong here.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Oh I disagree. I would love to see Caveman!

Me too!

 

[rehtroboi40]

100% yes! Zen and Jersey Jack hooking up would be phenomenal. I might start my own rumor.

Zen teams up with GamePlan?

 

[Citizen]

Zen teams up with GamePlan?

God I wish.

 

[kimkom]

That being said, I don't actually expect to see Zen bothering to get the Gottlieb license. Maybe it'd be something they'd consider for years down the road, if they're satisfied with the sales of the Bally/Williams pre-DMDs, after they get around to those, and have most of the big name ones done, and also probably only after they at least attempt to get a Stern license first, because I have to believe that'd be much higher profile for them. And if they do get the Stern license, that'll push Gottlieb even further back, because they'll have another big pool of 90s/2000s/2010s tables to draw from.

Maybe after all of that, Gottlieb will be on their radar.

Citizen, I agree.

I probably wouldn't be in favour of Zen rushing into a Gottlieb deal, and I can't really imagine that happening anyway.

Should Zen want to expand on their real pinball licenses, then surely Stern and JJP would make more ideal partners for the current generation of paying customers.

 

[Blkthorne]

I kind of thought Magic Pixel might take a look at the Gottlieb license, at least for the EM's if anything, give them a chance to upgrade their physics engine too.

 

[Nighthawk]

I kind of thought Magic Pixel might take a look at the Gottlieb license, at least for the EM's if anything, give them a chance to upgrade their physics engine too.

I have to admit I've been hoping for the same thing.