The Walking Dead?

[Hilton]

So...

Any locals in the "buy it now" group for this pin? I have never even seen the show (don't watch much TV) but I gather it is about zombies which is cool.
I am more excited to see what the pin after this will be since it is John T.'s design and will liekly have an upper flipper design.

[MikeS]

If it's Borg/Lyman I'm sure it will be a good game. Probably not revolutionary in any way but I'm sure it will shoot well and have good rules. As for the show I've seen the first 3 season's and it's pretty entertaining. The writing isn't as good as the other AMC shows like Breaking Bad or Mad Men, but I enjoy it. It kind of feels like a soap opera as there isn't a ton of action and the pacing can be rather slow at times. There are some great characters such as Daryl, Merle and Michonne. It should make for a good pinball theme as zombies are pretty universal. It would be nice if they could stylize it to look more like comic book art vs. doing an art package similar to 24 or CSI that is more photo-realistic. My guess is that there will be some sort of bash toy that opens up (maybe a barn?) that will open up where you have to fight off hordes of zombies? I could also see some pop up drop targets (like CC) that pop up exposing random zombies as well.

It's been a while since a new machine has come out so I'm excited for some new pinball! Should be a good Fall/Winter with Predator and Hobbit coming out as well.

[Hilton]

Yeah I am still waiting for the word to come pick up Predator which I am super pumped for. I should be in the first batch, but unfortunately not in time for MRP as originally hoped.

I hope someone local gets TWD so we can check it out. I would guess 1 will show up in the WI area (maybe MKE) on route also.

[Tim E]

My buddy Carl said Borg told him that he would really like this game bc Carl is a sci-fi and horror freak so I knew that it was TWD. I think it's a great theme and Borg said that it was turning out great. Sounds like Carl is going to get one...I'll give him a ring to make sure he follows through.

[ralphwiggum]

This theme and Zombies in general, does nothing for me. Luckily they will price it high enough that even if great, I won't ever have to add it to my collection. Sounds negative, but I just don't get how a zombie theme will be a good seller for them.

[Tim E]

Yeah, I guess if there is not tons of fruity colors ala WOF and CV your out.
Are you just scared?

[Tim E]

I'm thinking about designing a pinball based on Super Auctions. What could be scarier than that? Yup is like a character out of a Rob Zombie movie!

[noncommittaldave]

i like how everyone on pinside is losing their mind over this game without knowing anything about it. There are so many little nuances in a game that make it stand out as opposed to just being ok and people will just order this thing blindly without knowing anything about the game. I guess buying a game without playing it is kinda like marrying without... you know..

[Ken]

I imagine right about now Tim N is feeling like the walking dead. Glad to see you're still around!

[DeaconBlooze]

The only thing people on pinside love more than pinball is losing their shit. I can't keep up with the posts, if someone finds some actual information can you just post it here?

I like the show, I'm current on it and looking forward to more, but not a theme that would get me to preorder based on name, alone. I'm curious how they'll integrate the theme. Choose which child dies mb, suicide before zombification mode.. maybe a little dark for a pinball theme, but who knows.

I'm excited to see what it looks like and how it plays.

[Hilton]

at least it gives me another reason to attend Expo

I was planning to drive down and back for 1 day to see the new WOOLY and other P-Roc projects. Excited to see a new Stern there also.

[MikeS]

I know it seems crazy for people to pre-order a game that they haven't even seen a layout for but in the grand scheme of things it's really not that much of a risk. Most of these guys can afford to take a $300-$500 hit if they buy the game and sell it a month or two later if it doesn't live up to expectations an the code isn't developed fast enough. People spend more than that to take their family to a football game at Lambeau and at least with pinball you can enjoy the entertainment of a NIB game in your house for longer than a few hours. And if Lyman is the primary programmer then it's even less of a risk. He's had a great track record recently even if his games take a while to be completed.

As far as theme goes I don't really understand the huge obsession with zombies but there hasn't really been a zombie pin before so I think it's a pretty smart choice. I can't really think of too many other "licensed" themes that would be better at this point besides "Game of Thrones", "Harry Potter", or "Lego". I think Superhero's have been done to death and Music pins are tricky. I think Metallica succeeded because they changed the art and the toys to almost make it like an original theme. If it was just another game where you "Collect Albums", "Go on tour" and collect band members similar to "Rolling Stones" with regular artwork it would have felt pretty stale. I'll still be crossing my fingers for a "Muppets" pin at some point but that one keeps getting pushed to the wayside.

[DeaconBlooze]

That's a good point, Lego could be a slam dunk..

I think TWD is pretty smart, if for no other reason than to put some pressure on some of the boutique suppliers. As a business move, it makes sense to go with a very popular licensed zombie theme to make guys like Charlie or JPop sweat. I think the zombie thing is kind of niche. I bet they sell this one pretty well if it's a good game, but more than likely, those guys won't also be buying the other zombie themed games.

Stern has everything in place, and they're able to get games out the door quicker than anyone. I'm not saying I like it, or that it's good for pinball, but you can't blame them for using their competitive advantage to force out some of the emerging companies.

[Hilton]

Definately a kick in the junk for Spooky

[MikeS]

Yeah, I'm sure JPop's and Spooky's zombie games had something to do with Stern's theme decision as well. Stern isn't afraid to pull any punch's when it comes to this kind of stuff.

I feel bad for Spooky and hope it doesn't cost him too many sales. As for JPop I think he has himself to blame on not getting his game ready in time. You'd think by now he could at least have a working proto. Instead he's wasting his time designing a Kiss game that will never be built and taking pre-orders on Alice in Wonderland.