Empty out your pockets, I need all that. I get the millions, then I fall back. They be chameleons, they'll chase for some change. Days ain't the same, they be switching for the fame. Louis Vuitton, I'm in my bag, get how my memory's going. I've been hurting, rock like electric guitars, I be raging. Sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up, sit up. Oh, welcome everybody to Canada's Pinball Podcast. It is Wednesday, September 10th. It's my mama's birthday. And I'm here to tell you right now, first and foremost, thank you to Pete Rosen for upping his membership from $50 a month to $100 a month. Pete, this show and every show after it is dedicated to you. So Star Wars, where is it? Has Stern fumbled the launch? Everyone's complaining. Everybody's moaning. And I'm here to tell you right now, Stern Pinball has done nothing wrong. They didn't miss a release date. This hobby is filled with the biggest bunch of babies I've ever seen. How can people say that the game is delayed? They didn't even give you a reveal date. How can you be delayed if you don't even have a date by which you promised something? And I know they put out a teaser. So what? That's what a teaser is meant to do. And I know they're going to do things a little bit differently. They had some dealers over there yesterday under NDA. They saw the game. I am shocked, by the way, just shocked that nobody like told anybody what's in the game. even if you saw it, because I know for a fact that the dealers played the game and they also were shown all of the Stern marketing materials and zero, there's zero information on Pinside or anywhere else where someone said, hey, it's got, this is the main Mac, the ATST or the ATAT. Where is it? Where's the info? Is it a fan layout? What does the artwork look like? Nothing. nothing. And so today's going to be the real challenge because they're going to usher in the pinball media. Bring in the shills, baby. Open the doors. Bring in the shills. These suckers paid their own travel to come see our game so they can turn them into a Salesforce for Stern on their own dime. Bring them in. Bring in Don. Bring in Colin. Bring in the shills. Hell, Ralph might even make it, bring them all in, show them the game under NDA. So this is going to be when it really gets interesting because you're going to show these guys who live and breathe to have exclusive info about pinball machines. And are they going to be able to keep everything quiet? They're not. They're absolutely not. So I fully expect today we're not going to get videos. we're not going to get images. I think we're going to get descriptions of what's in the game. Now, I actually don't think that's a bad idea. I think showing media the game first under NDA is a good idea. It's how you normally would do it. I always felt it was silly that media would go down there after the game was already revealed, like they're getting nothing. Now, here's the thing, everybody. We got people watching on Facebook right now. I'm going to let you guys go a few more minutes. Then I'm going to pull the plug. And if you want the world's most entertaining, dynamic, insecure, sociopathic pinball podcaster on the planet, you know where to go. Go to Patreon. Sign up today. There are literally, if you sign up today, 500 episodes you unlock. We're now doing fun. Patreon lives exclusive for the club members. And we've got the greatest chat in all of pinball. It's impossible to follow. You wake up every morning though, and it gives you a new reason to smile on planet earth. We've got fans in Australia, Europe, US, Canada, South America. They're coming from all over to hear what this dude in Roatan, Connecticut has to say about the hobby. So here's the thing, everybody. Stern did not botch this launch. And I'm going to say something now that might be a little bit upsetting. It doesn't matter. It's freaking Star Wars. I think somewhere in all of this, we've become a little bit lost thinking that layout matters more than theme. We've been a little bit lost thinking that like mechs matter more than theme. We've been a little bit lost thinking that artwork matters more than theme. The number one reason people will buy a pinball machine is theme and theme alone. The themes over the last four years have predominantly sucked. And so now you've got a very hungry pinball community that is starving for a great theme. And I don't subscribe to the people that say that there is Star Wars fatigue. There might be to the Disney stuff, but there is nobody tired of the original trilogy. You know what I'm saying? Like you might not like Chinese democracy, but there is not a Guns and Roses fan out there that now all of a sudden doesn't like appetite for destruction. It is the OG baby. and episodes four through six have not, have not like aged poorly. We're now not over it. We want it. We want it in pinball form. We want it served up to us in a pinball game that's enjoyable. The Steve Ritchie game is not that. The Steve Ritchie game, I've already heard from people over at Stern. They said, Chris, Kaneda, like, let me just tell you right now, this is much better than the Steve Ritchie game And I think what they mean by that is that this game is going to serve us up the Star Wars movies we loved in a much better fashion Okay so for those of you on Facebook right now I pulling the plug I'm pulling the plug, and you got to go over to Kaneda's Pinball Podcast on Patreon. Look at me. Look at me trying to sell my own goods. If you're good at anything in life, never do it for free. And for those of you who are watching right now, who still refuse to sign up and subscribe, and yet you're losing $3,000 on every Stern LE, it's time to get on board, baby. Let's get back to our goal of getting to 800 subscribers. Peace out, Facebook. All right, this gives me so much pleasure to end the broadcast right now. You can kind of hear it. Now, look, I'm going to do this right now. I'm going to go live again, but only because I want to see myself, baby. I love seeing the way I articulate this show. Okay, so we're back. Okay, so here's the thing. Here's the thing. There is not a fumbled launch. And this is still Star Wars. And I know, I know, half of us are rooting for this thing just to fail because we want to point at Stern and be like, like, you don't understand what we want. You're ripping us off. Your new platform is not going to be as special as, like, JJP's. APs and it's only going to be a halfway into the spike three world. Look, I'm just here to say on this Wednesday, knowing we're one day away from Star Wars, knowing they made us wait a couple of days. I think all of us just need to zoom out a little bit, put all of our little pinball panties back in the drawer. Stop being a baby about it. They didn't mess up yet. OK, they didn't mess up yet. Now, I think regardless, I've been saying this, regardless of if this game is the next like Godzilla, it's not going to shoot like an Elwynn. It's not going to shoot like a Jack Danger pin. It's a John Borg game. But John Borg, last time I checked, made some damn good games. Do people not love Tron? Do people not love The Walking Dead? do people not love okay where's the rush right dude and he's made a lot of games I almost should pull up the John Borg catalog right now because you know I think this guy is gonna make a game that has mass appeal and I mean that I think it's gonna be an inviting game for everybody but I also do believe that this game is not going to be special and I think those two things can again coexist. I think it's going to be a game that when we see it, we're absolutely probably it's going to like exceed our expectations, because I do think after all of what Stern's done recently, after this like sort of long drawn out launch, I do think the expectations are low. I do think the excitement is low. I do think the FOMO is non-existent. I agree with all of that. I'm not saying any of you are wrong. There is like no energy this week. There is like nothing going into this launch that feels exciting. And I'm reading the silence. I'm like, it almost feels like Stern knows they don't have a hit and they're treating it like that. Or the alternative could be they just know it's freaking Star Wars and it's going to sell 8,000 units easily. And the latter is probably true. And I think when this game comes out, at least we're going to get a new artist, like finally a new art package on a Stern machine, something different. That's good. Too many Sterns are looking too similar. Everybody look, I'm just going to be completely honest right now. The main reason that King Kong did not sell well is that it didn't look good. It didn't look good and it wasn't based on King Kong in the right way. If King Kong looked like the classic Kong movie posters and had footage from the classic Kong films, it would have sold three times more units and it would have connected with people a hundred times more. When I look at that game, when I still look at that game, it looks like a King Kong child's book I would buy for Killian. It doesn't look like a $13,000 sort of this is the king of the monsters. We made Godzilla to reflect, you know, the Godzilla people know. And I would even argue on that game, the main reason why I never really loved the Godzilla Elis or like I just never loved the way Godzilla looked. I still don't think that's the iconic Godzilla like way to visualize it. And again, I love zombie Yeti, but I just don't think you can zombie Yeti everything. There's a time and a place. There's a time when certain styles allow for Yeti to do his magic. And then there's a time where that's just not how we visualize and remember Godzilla. And I think there's a big difference there. And that's why I think Stern losing Franchi was a huge mistake by them. And again, they could have made amends. And I think when we see spooky pinballs, Beetlejuice, and you see Beetlejuice exactly as you remember it, but only better. That's what Franchi can do that like Yeti can't do is he can take the source material and enhance it in a way that is just what you want. That's what nostalgia is all about. I don't want you to take the thing I'm nostalgic for and alter it. You know, I want you to serve it back to me. And that's why I think this Star Wars game, when we see footage from the films, when we see that theme song and that scrolling, is that even the Star Wars theme? You know, when that hits, when that hits and you see the scrolling Star Wars story, and it's going to be like, it's going to say like, episode whatever like fall of the empire And it going to invite us in to like what the journey is And I assuming the storyline is going to be something you are you're a rebel and you're trying to take down the empire. And maybe you assume the roles of the different characters from those moments. So, you know, maybe in one scene you're Han Solo and another you're Luke Skywalker. So I just think they're going to do it right. I think Ray Day is going to arrange it right. And I think where this game is going to win, it's not going to be on layout. It's not going to be on mechs. I think where Star Wars is going to win is in the code, the sound, and the artwork. And I think the other stuff is going to be fine. It's going to be nothing to write home about. But I think it's going to be just enough to make each and every one of us that's been starving for a theme we really want. I think it's going to make you guys open up your walls. I really do. And I'm just going to call it right now. I'm going back. I'm going back, baby. I'm going to bring it back. I do think the L.E.s are going to be a day one sellout and maybe not 18,000 a pop. But I would say it's going to be sold out. And I think we're going to see people spending 15 to get one, maybe not 18. And, you know, look, I'm also shocked. I went on to Pinside. I am shocked. Nobody, nobody has a Star Wars LE for sale. I thought more people would have been like panicking and selling those games. But what I've been hearing from people and from collectors, if you love Star Wars, a lot of these guys are just excited to put both games side by side. I can't blame them. I mean, if you're a Star Wars fanatic, you might want to have Mandalorian, the Steve Ritchie game and now this game. The other thing I'm hearing is this. I am hearing like the Walking Dead remastered is next. It's coming out at Expo, people. I mean, just think about that for a minute. They're going to release Star Wars now. It's not going to be like on the line this week. And so by the time we get the Walking Dead remastered, it's only going to be like a month after Star Wars is out. They did the same thing with X-Men. They absolutely sandbagged all the excitement around X-Men when they brought out Metallica Remastered. I was there. I was there. Like nobody cared. Like everybody was running towards the next. I don't think that's gonna happen with The Walking Dead. You know, I know they have a coder on it who's helping on the game. It's weird to me because it's like Lyman Sheets made a masterpiece. How are you going to like improve that? Like they better be very careful what they do with this game. I don't think they're going to change the lineman code. I think they're going to add stuff. And I think they're going to add clips. And if we see clips from the Walking Dead in this game, I don't know, man. Sometimes when I walk across and I see a Walking Dead now, it looks dated. It doesn't look like a game people are going to be dropping 13,000 on, especially Walking Dead. Because remember, back in the day, a Walking Dead LE was $6,000. It was like $6,500. Okay. And it looked like a $6,500 game. So how are you now going to re-release the same game and charge us $13,000 for the LE and then the rest are going to be premiums? It's going to be like Metallica, only two trims, no pros. I just don't know. I don't know. I don't buy it. Like, you know, the R&D cost wasn't there. Why should we have to pay twice as much? It just leaves a bad taste in everybody's mouth that you used to be able to get it for this. Now it's going to be this. All right. So look, today I was expecting by today to be talking about Star Wars, but I'm just here to tell you I'm back on the Star Wars hype wagon. I hear everybody complaining. I think a lot of you guys saying you don't care are going to be ordering the game. And then what else is happening in pinball? I don't know. Right. Not a lot. Not a lot. I've been hearing some more stuff about back to the future. There's been some changes to the game that have been great. I've been hearing. I will say this. This is something that nobody ever wanted to hear. Are you ready? The only way you're ever going to get your hands on back to the future. The only way it's ever coming out and the savior of Back to the Future. This is crazy. What do you think about this? And if I told you 10 years ago, this would be the case. The only game that can actually save Dutch pinball and get them to make Back to the Future and keep them alive is no other than Raza. Retroatomic Zombie Adventureland is gonna be the savior of Back to the Future because Back to the Future is not done. Dutch Pinball will not have made 500 Alice's by the end of the year. And imagine if they did. Let's just say DP was more efficient and they finished the 500 Alice's in January. Okay, they don't have Back to the Future ready. It's not even close to being ready. And so they're going to need almost another year to finish and get the game on the line. And so what would they have ready to go? Nothing, nothing. And then what happens? You go out of business because you're burning hundreds of thousands of dollars every month. What do you do with all your employees if no games are going out the door? They really need Raza to be next. And here's what I think is going to happen. I think in the end, there will be some refunds on Alice. I don't think a ton. I would assume that about 50 people will probably bail on Alice. And the main reason why I think 50 people are going to bail on Alice and want to get something else is because of Beetlejuice. I think when we see Beetlejuice, I have a feeling Beetlejuice is going to be the most exciting machine we've seen since Ghostbusters, since Batman. I mean it. I mean over Godzilla. I mean it. I think Beetlejuice as an IP with Franchion artwork and only and you look at everything that in Evil Dead Finally a company putting a lot of mechs back in a game Finally, a company that makes a game that is absolutely stunning. And you're not going to have to change anything. And I love what Spooky's done. They don't make you need to mod up your plastic stern with a bunch of extra sculpts. We know this thing is going to be stunning. And I just have this feeling. I just have this hunch. You know, I've been reading the room, like the people over there, the level of excitement they have around this game. And I think Beetlejuice is going to raise the bar. And I think it's going to raise the bar for everybody else. I mean it. JJP, Stern Pinball, like nostalgia done right. That is huge. and I think Spooky is not only going to do it right on this game, I think they've got two to three more games in the hopper that are going to do the same exact thing. And it's crazy to say this, but the only company with FOMO right now is Spooky Pinball. Nobody else. Nobody else. Now, look, I want to congratulate Turner Pinball. They've shipped Merlin's Arcade. Number nine, I'm happy Chris is getting those games out. You know, people have been lifting the Turner playfields up and I get it. Like Chris's model of manufacturing is absolutely the innovation, right? That's a much easier way to make games. It's very clean. There's no switches in the game. It's absolutely incredible how clean it looks. The problem with Turner is the same problem with multimorphic. It's the same problem. if you innovate and you do stuff that is like evolving pinball none of it matters if the game isn't great like i don't care if a meal was cooked in a brand new kind of oven if the meal i'm getting over a barbecue is better you know what i'm saying and that's what it comes down to and that's the same issue i have with the star wars launch none of this matters if the game excites us like the fumbledness of this launch week and the NDAs and waiting for stuff. None of it matters. In the end, the game itself needs to create a pull on you as a pinball fan. And I think Beetlejuice is going to have the biggest pull on everybody. I do. I don't think The Walking Dead on Spike 3 is going to be that. And then I'm hearing again that Keith Elwin's game is Fallout. Talk about not reading the room. If Stern Pinball, I'm going to say this right now, if Stern Pinball makes Fallout with Keith Elwin, that game is going to be dead on arrival. I'm sorry. There is not the nostalgia for Fallout within this community. They don't get who buys their product. Every time Stern tries to make a modern IP, they don't know what they're doing. They're actually picking the wrong stuff if you ask me. Fallout, really, Fallout is where you're gonna go. I actually don't even think modern IP is where I would go ever. There's just enough in the 80s and 90s to fill up a portfolio of games that would sell 8,000 units each if you made the Karate Kid, if you made G1 Transformers, if you made G.I. Joe. You would sell more He-Man than Fallout. I'm serious. You would sell more Fraggle Rock than Fallout. I'm here to tell you right now, if we were going to test this, Stern would sell more Fraggle Rock pinball machines than they would of Fallout. You can't look at how much money the franchise made because it made that money in the video game world. It's not going to cross over. It's not. It's not going to work. They're going to do it and then they're going to learn another hard lesson. Sonic the Hedgehog, the Sega version of the game, that's what Jersey Jack is making. That is going to run circles around Fallout. out. Sonic will outsell Pokemon. I mean it. Sonic will outsell Pokemon. There are more people in this community that are into Sonic the Hedgehog. You grew up with it. You grew up with a Sega Genesis and you're just going to have such a smile on your face when you see Sonic doing the loop-de-loops, jumping up and catching the rings. You are not going to feel that way when you see Pokemon. on. It just doesn't make you feel that way. Everybody, thank you for being a member of Canada's Pinball Podcast. I really, really appreciate it. We're going to be back tomorrow, absolutely. And we're also going to do a live, I'll probably do it on Patreon, maybe Facebook at the same time, my live reaction to Star Wars. So keep a lookout for that. We know the Stern webinar, the date at which they're going to reveal the materials is tomorrow at five o'clock central time. So that's like six o'clock my time. That's when Star Wars is going to be revealed to the world. I hope it's earlier because I wanted to go into the city and go to my Japanese jazz bar tomorrow night. And then I've got a poker match tomorrow night. So we'll see what happens. But everybody, it's going to be a really fun 48 hours. Let's see if these content creators can keep it under NDA and not leak what's in the game. Everybody, peace out. I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known Don't know where it goes, but it's home to me and I walk alone I walk alone, I walk alone