Well, after being accused of buying votes from Brazil, if we do win the sixth Twippy for favorite pinball podcast, we're going to play this song. Oh, welcome, everybody. to the world's legitimate Twippy Award winning podcast for Favorite Pinball Podcast over the last five years. We're going to talk about the Cornerstone Games at Stern. We're going to talk a little bit about Scooby-Doo. Hopefully we're going to see the code this month. But first, I do want to quickly address this notion that somehow we are cheating to win the Twippy for Favorite Pinball Podcast. And this week, someone put up a post about how it looks suspicious that there are like, I don't know, something like four or five percent of the total Twippy votes came from Brazil. More from Brazil than Australia. More votes from Brazil than the UK. And so I just want to say this. Nobody has ever paid for votes. Nobody has bought any votes. And all of my votes, whether they come from listeners of the show or their wives, every single person who votes for canada's pinball podcast is doing so because they wanted to not because they were paid and i just want to say to my fans in brazil who reached out to me after this accusation and said hey look stern makes pinball machines down here this is a very hot market for pinball there are a lot of people down here who love pinball and follow the forums and follow podcasts they might not be as present as some other personalities or other countries in pinball, but there's a legitimate pinball following in Brazil. And I just want to say, I think it's absolutely ridiculous that some people are trying to undermine that pinball has support in Brazil. And the ultimate thing is this. I think it's ridiculous that people are still trying to undermine this show and my hard work. And it is nothing short of just being a sore Kevin Loza. And I'm going to say this right now, and then I'm not going to say anything about this again. If you want to accuse someone of cheating, then you better show the damn proof and you better validate that proof. And I haven't seen any proof and there is no validation in any of it. And we're going to have a damn good time down in Texas. And we're going to have a lot of fun, win or lose. And I mean this when I say this, if I don't win, I'm not going to cry about it. I'm not going to say, here we go again. Someone bought votes. I will be the first person to stand up and clap for whoever wins in the streaming category or podcast category. I will be the first person to congratulate whoever takes the trophy. In life, there's no room for sore losers and babies. And nobody works harder than me at making pinball podcasts. I have 762 freaking episodes. I think we need to just move on from this narrative that is just making people look absolutely silly. All right, now speaking of silly narratives, did John Youssi this thing now? The new lows that distributors have to sink to to try to get rid of these James Bond 60th anniversary edition games. So here's the deal. This game is on the line now at Stern Pinball. This game is going to be shipping to distros next week or the week after. So Stern Pinball is going to make all 500 of them. Now I'm seeing something I've never seen before. Distributors are actually posting ads on like Pinside and Facebook offering, they're offering to trade this game for your other games. Like basically I'm going to have this game and we will accept trade-ins to get this $20,000 overpriced joke. I've never seen this before. And I've been covering this hobby for seven years. There's never been a Stern LE where distros needed to offer you trade-in opportunities. This is starting to sound like a car, right? Like car dealerships. Trade in your old games and get the new overpriced Keith Elwin 60th anniversary included exclusive, not exclusive topper. The whole game is a joke. It's absolutely exposed everything that's wrong with pinball sales in 2022, 2023. And what's sad about this is distributors have no wiggle room to spin this thing. The other thing we're seeing distributors do, and they won't admit this, they're basically having their customers sell the game for $17.50 to get around Stern's rule that they can't list this game for a certain price. So look, this game is going to come and go like a fart in the wind and I think we're going to see some unboxings, but I think when people unbox it and see how little code there is in this game and how ugly it is in real life, that this thing is just going to be like on to the next We going to start getting excited about Venom and then we going to get excited about Foo Fighters or not excited about Foo Fighters We going to talk about that We going to talk about Indiana Hilton Jones We going to talk about Jaws And then we're going to talk about whether or not we're going to see the Scooby stream. All right, so let's just go over these cornerstone games for Stern Pinball. And I was thinking a lot about this. I just put it up for everybody to see. These are the next four cornerstone games I'm hearing Stern Pinball is going to make. And I think it's Venom, it's going to be Foo Fighters, Indiana Hilton Jones, and Jaws. Now, Indiana Hilton Jones was the big sort of surprise for most people. I think we've been hearing a lot about Venom. The game is done. We've been hearing a lot of rumors about Foo Fighters. We've been hearing a lot of rumors about Jaws. But nobody was talking about Indiana Hilton Jones. So let's start there. Stern is going to make another Indiana Hilton Jones pinball machine. Now look, if you're like me and you're like a child of the 80s and 90s, Indiana Hilton Jones is an incredible IP. Now what I'm hearing is this. I'm hearing that Indiana Hilton Jones might be a kapow game. And that's good news because if it is kapow, they might get more of the movie assets. Now look, my big fear is this, and we've seen this. While Indiana Hilton Jones is a great IP, the last movie was terrible, like terrible. and Harrison Ford didn't get any younger. Now, when you look at this movie, I think it's like the dial of destiny. It looks like they're going to be time traveling to different periods in Indiana's life. So I do think it's going to be a mixture of old man Indiana sort of reminiscing and reliving some of his older adventures. And I think the game is going to try to bring that to life. Now, my concern is this. When you try to make a pinball machine with too many movies involved and the movies are separate from each other, right? It's not a trilogy like Lord of the Rings or the Star Wars movies. Like James Bond is like that. Like you've got six or seven different movies with different villains and different like vehicles and different weapons and different jetpacks. And so when you put it all together, I think sometimes it gets harder to sort of capture the essence of a storyline in the pinball format. So I'm a little bit nervous if this game is based only on the new movie and the movie tanks, what's that going to mean for the pinball machine, right? So we shall see. Like, I'm not sure. Are we going to see the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark? Are we going to see like the Temple of Doom? Are we going to see some of those things in this game? I probably doubt it. I think it's going to be based more on the new movie, but it still is an incredible IP. So more to come on that. I also think it is going to be a John Borg game. So we shall see. If we look at this year's games, right, and we look at Foo Fighter and Venom as the 2022 titles, I think everyone's doing a little bit of a shoulder shrug on whether or not these are big enough themes to carry this kind of price point. And we're going to see what the market will bear on these titles. But as I was thinking about these four cornerstones, and especially Foo Fighters, where a lot of people are like, well, are they a big enough band to base a pinball machine off of. And I would say this, they do have a fan base. Pinball hasn't really made a band from the 90s. If you think about most pinball, it's like old dad rock or bands from the 80s. So the fact that we're dipping into 90s like rock and roll, I think you're going to find some audience like in people in their 30s and 40s. So I think that will have appeal. And look, all Stern needs to do is keep their line moving. As long as they sell like 2,000 or 3,000 Foo Fighters, I think it will be like a successful run for them. And then they're on to the next. Unlike everybody else, Stern Pinball doesn't need to live or die by each game launch. Like as long as they're making games, the company is making money. And unlike everybody else, they're the only pinball company that has like a portfolio of like 75 IPs that are tremendous IPs. And at any given point, they can just run more of older IP that people want. Nobody else does this. Like you can't go get a Pirates of the Caribbean from Jersey Jack. You can't go get anything right now other than maybe some Guns N' Roses that are left over that nobody wants to spend $11,000 on an LE because you can get it used for $8,000. So there's no Guns N' Roses on the line. And right now there's a game on the line that nobody really wants in Toy Story. And the sad thing is this. If they were to make more Dialed In's, more Wizard of Oz games, more Pirates of the Caribbean games, there's more demand for those three titles new in box than there is for Toy Story. But they won't do it. And then you've got like American Pinball. Nobody wants like more Oktoberfest and Houdini's and that's what they're going to run. Now Stern Pinball is a completely different story. Like people would love to get more Metallica's or ACDC's new in box. Like even though they made a lot of those games new people coming into the hobby they want to unbox a brand new game that they know is great And Stern Pinball doesn even need to do that Like they busy making backlog orders. I mean, they're making Godzilla, they're going to make more Elvira's like the games they're going to make in 2023. Half of them are still going to be back ordered games. And then they're going to throw Venom on the line. And then they're going to throw Foo Fighters. I think we're going to see Venom in March and Foo Fighters sometime in September. And then I think we're going to see Indiana Hilton Jones like early 2024. And I think they're going to bring out Jaws in the summer of 2024. So that's my guess. I'm not 100% sure on the order of all these games, but I definitely think we're going to see Venom next. And look, I think everyone's starting to have a sort of general feeling. And this is just me reading the hobby, reading between the lines, reading the forum. I think a lot of people are starting to feel like new in box is now a not very popular thing to run after. And if you look at new in box prices, I think that's the main reason. And I think with the volume of games, just think about this for a minute. Let's say Stern Pinball in its current factory is making 600 machines a week at full capacity. They're moving to a much larger facility. Let's just say hypothetically, Stern Pinball gets to a point where it can make a thousand games a week. Okay, that's 52,000 games a year. They will be putting into the world 52,000 games. And then you start to realize nothing is really rare. Nothing is that limited. And if you just wait and see, you'll be able to get all of these games at a better price and when the code is finished. You know, I just saw James Bond has a code update to 0.84. I'm not sure what that means. I'm not sure how much is in the game, but I don't think anyone is really celebrating these code updates. I think everyone's kind of waiting until there's like a significant update. I don't know if this is a significant update. I haven't seen anything on the code yet, but it does feel like James Bond has a long way to go before the price can be justified with what's in the game right now. And look, James Bond sales are not great. I feel like I'm getting spammed with more for sale ads by distros than I ever have before. There's a lot of distros with a lot of inventory. And they need to get these games sold before they take on more inventory with Venom. Before they take on more inventory with Scooby-Doo. Before they take on more inventory with Godfather. You know, distros aren't used to this. And as much as some would like us to believe that games are flying off the shelves, we know they're not. Like, you can see the softening in the pinball market. It's good for all of us. I think we're all going to be able to wait and see and get pinball at a much better price over the next few years. And I feel very liberated. I mean, I know I just bought a super expensive Batman SLE, but I really do feel great knowing that there's nothing in those cornerstone games or there's nothing coming out that really makes me have to have it now. Like, I'm happy to wait. I'm happy to wait and see if, like, these games are any good. I'm happy to play them at shows. I'm actually really happy that location pinball is bigger than ever. Like more and more people are starting to realize that playing on location is a lot of fun. You can save yourself a lot of money. I would rather put $500 into Toy Story at Jack Bar than buy one and lose $5,000. You know, I really do think people are going to lose like $5,000 in like a year. Maybe not $5,000, but you're definitely losing $2,000 to $3,000 if you own the machine. So I'd rather just play it on location, have a few whiskeys, play some pinball, have some fun. I mean, that's what pinball was always supposed to be about. You know, just looking at Venom and Foo Fighters, I think the demand for these games is gonna be somewhat softer than usual. Like I don't think either one of those is a AAA game. I think these are sort of B themes and they're gonna be priced like A themes. And, you know, we'll see how that works. I mean, again, the market will ultimately dictate for everybody, you know, whether or not these companies have hit the ceiling and they need to start either lowering the price or lowering the volume of these games to sort of bake some value back into these purchases. All right, so we shall see, but it's going to be fun. It's going to be fun to see people starting to talk about these titles. I'm always happy to deliver these rumors to the world. I probably won't get credit for these rumors in most media places, but you heard it at canadispinballpodcastfirst what Stern's next cornerstone games are. You know, and there's a lot happening. Like there's a lot of buzz that at TPF, there's going to be a lot of new games shown at TPF. There's also like this buzz that, you know, a brand new pinball company we haven't heard of before is going to be at TPF and show us a game. I think it might be the company who maybe is making Twilight Zone or Big Bang Bar I not sure I heard that it not Raw Thrills making Twilight Zone So even though I rumored it might be Raw Thrills I here to tell you on Canada Pinball Podcast I got that wrong Okay I am wrong sometimes but it seems to make sense that it might be Raw Thrills. So we shall see. But I do know this, Raw Thrills is throwing its hat into the pinball space. And then there's a whole new player coming into the space. And then we have all these other pinball companies in the pinball space. It's about to get very crowded during a period in the economy when it's getting very soft. So I don't know what's going to happen. I think we're going to see a couple lean years in pinball. I think a lot of us are going to be tightening our belts and we're going to be closing our wallets and we're going to be enjoying the machines we have. This is always the funniest part. None of you need a new game. I mean, if you're listening to this right now and you're into pinball, you know deep down inside you don't really need a new game. To buy a new game, you're going to need to really see something special. Let's talk about Justin Roland real quick, fired by the Cartoon Network for inappropriate behavior with women, and now he is leaving disgraced. What does this do to the value of Rick and Morty machines? Does it go up in value or down in value? I don't think it's going to have any impact on the value of Rick and Morty machines, but I do think it's really going to significantly hurt the Rick and Morty brand. I mean, people are going to move away from that property knowing that he just got canceled, basically. So if you have a Rick and Morty, it's always going to hold value. There's only 750. It's still one of Spooky Pinball's best machines. It's still a fun Rick and Morty adventure. Even though I don't like the way it shoots, I understand why you have one if you have one. And I do understand how it can be a fun pinball machine in a lineup of games because it is like a brutal game. If you have one, this game is fast and it is brutal. It's not a great machine if you only have one in the house. All right, what else is happening in pinball? So let's just end this show with Scooby-Doo. I'm really looking forward to seeing the stream of this game. I don't understand why anyone would sell their spot now for a loss. I'm seeing just a few people, not a lot of people, just a couple for sale threads where people are losing 500 bucks to get out. My advice is why get out before the stream? I would wait to see the stream. If the stream really impresses people, I think they probably will sell even more of the inventory. The only thing is this. If you order the game now, you're probably going to be waiting a while. But I also think, as I've said before, distros are going to get allotments that they haven't sold yet. And they might sell some of those to new customers. So you're not going to have to wait like a year or 16 months to get your Scooby-Doo if you didn't order like on day one. But it's refreshing. It really is refreshing seeing that that game has not sold out. TNA has not sold out. James Bond sales are weak. Distros can't sell this 60th anniversary game. And even though some of my friends in the UK are, you know, they're saying stuff like, oh, every distro here, you know, is trying to get more. No, they're not. No, they're not. We don't need to make up lies about this James Bond 60th. There's no demand. I bet they've only legitimately sold 200 out of the 500. I bet these games are going to sit forever. Everybody, thank you so much for the support. I woke up this morning and we are now at 560 club members. I really do appreciate the support. We have grown so nicely this month. You know, when the month began, we dipped a little bit below 500. We got to like 498 and I started to get a little bit worried. And here we are. Everyone's back. Everyone's having a good time. And I do mean it when I say it. I want this to be a really fun place for everybody to hang out. No personal attacks. No personal attacks happen on my Facebook page. If other people want to attack me or complain about me, that's their prerogative. You know, as I say, the hate you give lives inside you forever. We've got nothing but love for pinball and nothing but love for all the fans of Canada's pinball podcast. And this show means the world to me. It's such an important creative outlet for me. And if my voice sounds a little hoarse, I'm just really tired. It's hard being a new dad. And even though I'm tired, I love making you weekly pinball content. And if you just signed up for the show, trust me, you're going to get your money's worth. We do this at least two times a week. And we hit what's relevant and what's timely in pinball. And we do it in a way that's not trying to sell you anything. We're just trying to have fun talking about the hobby in an objective way. and that is what I think real pinball love is about. Everybody have a good day. We'll talk to you soon.