Episode 1108: "Kaneda's Brutally Hilarious Takedown of Predator Gameplay Video"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·20m 28s·analyzed·Jun 26, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Kaneda savages Predator as overpriced with poor gameplay, warns Alice inventory will tank value, defends JJP Harry Potter.

Summary

Kaneda delivers a scathing critique of Pinball Brothers' Predator gameplay video and finished product, calling it a company-killer game at $15,500 with sparse playfield assets and boring gameplay compared to competitors like Alien and Harry Potter. He also criticizes Stern's $400 flat plastic toppers as price-gouging, discusses concerns about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland code simplicity and oversupply, and expresses cautious optimism about King Kong and Harry Potter's long-term competitiveness in the current pinball release cycle.

Key Claims

Predator is a $15,500 game with much less content than Alien, priced $5,500 higher than Harry Potter Arcade Edition
high confidence · Kaneda stating pricing and comparative asset analysis directly
The Predator gameplay reveal video was poor quality with Daniel (Pinball Brothers rep) delivering presentation in a soft, monotone voice without enthusiasm
high confidence · Kaneda's direct criticism of the official Pinball Brothers gameplay video
Predator widebody has nothing to shoot at and sparse playfield content compared to games like Evil Dead, Dune, and Harry Potter
high confidence · Kaneda's detailed comparative critique of playfield assets
Stern's new $400 flat plastic toppers should be included standard with LE and Premium games, not sold separately
high confidence · Kaneda's opinion on Stern's topper pricing strategy and comparison to JJP Harry Potter practice
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland code is very repetitive and players describe it as 'chopping wood' (hitting same shots repeatedly)
high confidence · Kaneda reading forum thread discussion about Alice code feedback
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland production volume (500+ units) was a mistake; should have been 250-300 units to preserve scarcity and demand
medium confidence · Kaneda's speculation on production strategy and secondary market dynamics
Predator may be a company-killer game for Pinball Brothers given the price, gameplay quality, and failed marketing
medium confidence · Kaneda's opinion stated directly; based on gameplay video critique and market positioning analysis
King Kong will ultimately be the most fun game and win the current competitive cycle over Potter, Portal, and Dune
low confidence · Kaneda's prediction about future code development and player satisfaction
Harry Potter LE has high CE (Collector's Edition) orders, possibly more than all other editions combined

Notable Quotes

“This game will turn your wee-wee into a four-inch unit because there's nothing going on.”
Kaneda @ ~9:30 — Crude but memorable critique of Predator's sparse playfield design
“This might be the end of a boutique pinball company... I think this is a company killer kind of game at this price.”
Kaneda @ ~15:30 — Strong prediction about Pinball Brothers' viability based on Predator's reception
“I would have come out in a red polo shirt. Everybody look, I know what you're saying. There's no Arnold in the game, but you are Dutch. And we're gonna walk up to this game right now and I'm gonna show you what you need to do.”
Kaneda @ ~18:00 — Kaneda offering to demonstrate how the game should have been marketed with enthusiasm
“You're not going to sell a $15,500 game on the same month of Harry Potter, where Stern can't even sell King Kongs?”
Kaneda @ ~21:30 — Commentary on market saturation and timing issues for Predator launch
“This $400 ripoff should just come included on every single LE and premium of the game you make. It should just be the standard Topper.”
Kaneda @ ~28:00 — Criticism of Stern's accessory pricing strategy and industry practice
“The phrase that's being used is not a phrase you want to hear. It feels like we're chopping wood.”
Kaneda @ ~38:00 — Summarizing negative forum feedback about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland code repetitiveness
“I think you could have sold each of them for 12 5 13 and they all would have sold... And with only 300 of each 150 in America 150 in Europe they easily would have sold.”
Kaneda @ ~41:00 — Analysis of optimal production volume and pricing strategy for Alice
“The 350 games are going to trade for like 250 more. It's just gonna happen or maybe even less who knows.”
Kaneda — Prediction of secondary market collapse for Alice due to oversupply

Entities

Kanedaperson Pinball Brotherscompany Predatorgame Danielperson Aliengame Harry Pottergame King Konggame

Signals

?
product_concern: Predator criticized for sparse playfield, minimal content to shoot at, and boring gameplay compared to contemporary widebody releases
high · Kaneda detailed comparative analysis of playfield assets: 'There's much less to shoot at. There's much less assets in this game' vs Alien, Evil Dead, Harry Potter
?
product_concern: Predator priced at $15,500 with insufficient content justification; $5,500 more than Harry Potter Arcade Edition; poor market timing vs simultaneous releases
high · Kaneda: 'This is a $7,500 game' with 'much less in this game than Alien' but priced at premium; 'You're not going to sell a $15,500 game on the same month of Harry Potter'
~
sentiment_shift: Kaneda predicts Predator could be a company-killer game for Pinball Brothers due to combined factors of poor gameplay presentation, sparse assets, premium pricing, and failed marketing execution
medium · Kaneda: 'this is the kind of game that might just sink the Pinball Brothers... this is a company killer kind of game at this price'
?
content_signal: Official Predator gameplay reveal video criticized for poor presentation with monotone delivery and lack of enthusiasm from company representative
high · Kaneda: 'The way Daniel is talking about the game in that very soft monochromatic voice... You are talking to people like you're some sort of dentist'
?
product_concern: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland code reported as overly repetitive with players describing gameplay as 'chopping wood' (same shots repeatedly)

Topics

Predator game critique and commercial viabilityprimaryPlayfield design and asset comparison across recent releasesprimaryPricing strategy in boutique pinball marketprimaryStern Pinball accessory pricing (toppers)primaryHarry Potter code, demand, and market dominancesecondaryAlice's Adventures in Wonderland production volume and secondary market risksecondaryCurrent competitive cycle: Potter vs Kong vs Portal vs DunesecondaryPinball marketing and presentation qualitymentioned

Sentiment

negative(-0.75)— Kaneda is harshly critical of Predator's gameplay, assets, and pricing; highly critical of Stern's topper pricing; concerned about Alice's production mistakes and code quality; however, expresses genuine appreciation for Harry Potter and cautious optimism about King Kong's future potential. The episode balances sharp criticism with constructive analysis and personal warmth toward distributors and the community.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.061

And the stronger weapon you have, the better things you get as well. Now we start choppa multiball in the jungle. Goal! Goal! Get to the choppa! And there will be a number of jackpots lit. siendo 축제롬وقמה안랜 �gy가 weaknesses Mistress트잘게�리살 zehn좗i已经 혹시엄건 cubed드� enzyme轉은 ㄱㄱ값,때� fantastic thank you to appearsassokye developer neither and order a credit Church and is a all that maybe What did we just do? Go away pinball brother! I mean I sound just like it! This is the weirdest worst gameplay reveal video! Why didn't they just fly in Cengiz and have him show the game with some enthusiasm? The way Daniel is talking about the game in that very soft monochromatic voice. You are Dutch, you're going into the jungle and then you want to collect guns and you're gonna lit some gang. Look, I've been hard on some games over the years. I call it like I see it. Thank you for putting up with my personal show yesterday. Times are a little stressful, but I'm not gonna stay in that mind space. You can't stop Kaneda from ragging on games like this, gang. Look, you saw the gameplay video. If you haven't, go watch the Pinball Brothers gameplay video of Predator without Arnold. And I'm just here to say this. This game is a $7,500 game. I mean, there is much less in this game than Alien. There's much less to shoot at. There's much less assets in this game. It's much less interesting than Alien. Remember Alien had Mr. David Thiel doing the music. The atmospheric elements of Alien are awesome. This game just has like the same sound over and over again and I'm watching the wide body gameplay of Predator and I keep asking myself, why is this game even a wide body? There's nothing in it. There's nothing to shoot at. And the gameplay is as boring as I've ever seen in a pinball game. It's boring. You shall invoke go next to King Kong, and Jaws, and Harry Potter and Elton John and all the other games that are out there. Put it next to Dune and Evil Dead. Evil Dead got something to shoot at every like four inches! This game will turn your wee-wee into a four-inch unit because there's nothing going on It I don't understand how they have nothing in the widebody gaaaaaaaee lolcontent The heck is this? And everybody, if you want this game in your American game room, it is with all included $15,500 for the... I'm gonna stop. I'm not gonna do it anymore. I'm not gonna do it anymore but $15,500. $5,500 more than a Harry Potter arcade Edition. The game is the last collectible game on planet earth. It's the only game that's come out that's held value. Maybe that and Metallica remastered everything else you can go get for whatever price you're offering these days. Everything is OBO except for Knapp's Pinball Podcast. But yeah, I'm not going to beat a dead horse. You know that this game at this price with that gameplay and those assets and that kind of launch video, you add it all up and you're not playing as Dutch people, you're playing as Jim Hoppa. You're gonna get skinned alive if you buy this game for $15,500. And I think this is just gonna end up being a game that, I don't know, I'm just gonna say this, this is the kind of game that might just sink the Pinball Brothers. This might be the end of a boutique pinball company Now look this hobby has proven to me that they really don have much intelligence many times So they might just sell on theme alone but after seeing that everybody I don know man if you had an order in I don know It not refundable It why you should have waited and saw that gameplay video But I just think this is a company killer I mean it This is a company killer kind of game at this price And unlike the other pinball companies out there that can seemingly survive without having a hit game I think the pinball brothers needed this to be a hit. I think they invested a lot in it. And I think they're going to learn a marketing lesson as well. Daniel, I know it's your company, but you're trying to sell us on predator. I would have flown over there. You could have bought Canada a first class ticket. And even with the game you had, I could have got people a hundred times more excited. More excited. I would have come out in a red polo shirt. Everybody look, I know what you're saying. There's no Arnold in the game, but you are Dutch. And we're gonna walk up to this game right now and I'm gonna show you what you need to do. So you need to beat the predator. You need to collect your weapons. Let's go right now. I mean, give some enthusiasm. You are talking to people like you're some sort of dentist explaining what the root canal is going to entail. And it's your company. This is an important video because the other video was illegal. You showed Arnold throughout the clip. Now we got to see what it really looks like. And he's nowhere near it. You're never going to see Arnold in this game and look, everybody, this is the problem with pinball marketing is like everyone just takes it for granted that if you just make a game, it's going to sell, but you're not going to sell a $15,500 game. On the same month of Harry Potter, where Stern can't even sell King Kongs? I mean, look at King Kong! Look at everything that's in it! It's not even selling well! And this thing is $5,000 more than a Kong Premium! Game. Set. Match. You're Jim Hoppa! If you pre-ordered this game, and you're now expecting to get something that's gonna hold value, I think what's gonna happen to this game, I think it's a game that you're gonna play at shows, I think it's a game you'll play on location. I think there'll be some curiosity around it. But from what I saw in that gameplay video, it just didn't look very interesting. It didn't look like there was a lot in it and there was absolutely nothing compelling about it. That would make, I think, any of you want to pull the freaking trigger. Which is ironic because it's a movie about guns in which these muscle-bound men do nothing for 90 minutes other than pull the trigger. Something else that I bet most of you are not going to pull the trigger on are these toppers from Stern pinball these flat Plastic toppers. I mean we make fun of flat plastic toppers It's almost like Stern is in on the joke and wants to rub it in our faces now. They are releasing flat plastic toppers with a little bit of expression lighting at the base for $400 $400 for a piece of flat plastic and about 12 little lights at most cost them $3 each. Everybody look. Stuff like this, I know it comes out, it's like I get what they're doing, but this should just come included on the game. Let's look at Jersey Jack Harry Potter. When you buy an LE, they include the flat plastic topper for your game. Right? Flat plastic topper, I believe it lights up on Harry Potter and it comes with a $12,000 game. If I buy a $10,000 Stern premium, even if I buy a $13,000 Stern LE, it comes with nothing. Stern. We're not stupid. I get that you want to make these accessories, but this Topper, this $400 ripoff should just come included on every single Ellie and premium of the game you make. It should just be the standard Topper. Then you should sell a more expensive interactive Topper, but this thing shouldn't be $400. The interactive Toppers you sell at most, at most should be $800 bucks. Nothing $2000, $1000, All of this is just the wrong price for the wrong thing at the wrong time because what these companies have been doing lately Pinball Brothers this topper it just reinforcing for so many people how this hobby is just become overpriced across the board I mean you can go get a Harry Potter and have the time of your life on that game or you could spend more and get no more of an experience It so funny to me It like do you want to go on this Disney World ride for 50 bucks or would you like to go on it for 150 bucks You going to have the same ride Which one is it Now when you pay a hundred To speak Tanhimkiновicčk Ğpččččččččččččččččččččččččččččč nutrition conviction nationwide 24 nine percentâce in it acadbye. The early games are going to the content creators who say everything is awesome and they're also gonna go to the JJP loyalists like Jack's best customers are getting the games first. I just want to see what people are thinking about the code. I know the game shoots well, but I want to see how people feel about the code and I'm reading the thread. I'm not really seeing anybody say that I was wrong or you know, what was it? I don't see anyone saying that they've really fully improved the feeling that you're going through the movies that when you start a mode you really feel like you're jumping in to those Harry Potter movies. So I don't know. We'll see what happens. They're gonna sell a boatload of these games. It's gonna do really well for Jersey Jack. That's a good thing. This game is going to be on location everywhere. I'm not gonna stop making Harry Potters. I'm just curious in the end how many CEs roll off the line. I think they got more CE orders than all the other editions combined. It's absolutely bonkers. I'm happy for Jersey Jack that they have a successful game on their hands and I hope everybody that gets one has a lot of fun with it. I won't be buying one simply because I am able to play this game You can find this game so close to me where for $15,000 that's like half the price of the car I own that takes me to Automated Amusements to play the game. But if you're gonna buy one of these, I recommend you go to Automated Services up in Milford, Connecticut or hit up our friends over at Cointaker. I get no kickbacks. I get no discounts. I get nothing. I get friendships from all of those individuals. And as I said on my last show, that's the most important thing. They never call me up. I mean this. Whenever I rag on a game, I never get a call from Mike or Melissa. They're never like, Craneta, come on, man. I gotta sell games. This is my livelihood. Nope. I've been praising games over the years and I've been ragging on games. Talking about ragging on games, I was talking about my boy Melvin. I'm reading, I have to call it like I said, I'm reading the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland thread and you know I think people are starting to realize the code is very simple. The phrase that's being used is not a phrase you want to hear. It feels like we're chopping wood. That you just have to hit the same shots over and over and over again. I said I wasn't going to do it. I did it. I did it again. Hard not to do it. Almost want to buy a predator just to have that sound clip. They should just add my sound clip into the game. It seems like the code is very repetitive and I am a little worried. I am a little worried that because they didn't make these that quickly There's gonna be people that are gonna want out and see here's the thing when you sell 500 Allysses you want to get those people those 500 games ASAP and then you got berry making them who can't make anything fast and the last thing you want to do is give people too much time to think about it you don't want to give people too much time to second guess it I'm like looking there's like three Alice spots for sale there are more than three for sale a lot of people can get out now and so I think the mistake they made and I think this should have been a 250 to 300 at most They should have baked in demand because of the low supply forever and then move on and make 300 Raza And I think you could have sold each of them for 12 5 13 and they all would have sold And with only 300 of each 150 in America 150 in Europe they easily would have sold and it would have been easier to make them Yes you not going to make as much money trbergcharge Abgeord a sec目前 أي I'm not saying there is that, but I worry there will be that. That scenario will come to fruition after 350 of these are made. I'm really not sure that another hundred and fifty people want to plunk down 12-5 when they start to see some of those original games. The 350 games are going to trade for like 250 more. It's just gonna happen or maybe even less who knows now I'm seeing Guns N' Roses collectors editions. There's only 500 maybe this is not a real sale, but a dudes like asking 8 or best offer. I mean quite how can that be real? Really? That's a crazy buy if it is buy it. I think it's gonna get really interesting. Are we gonna see Jaws 50th next week? Is that going to be the 4th of July special? What else is around the corner right? I mean for now it seems like we have a little bit of a lull every week. We're getting Closer and closer to John Borg's next game. I think that's the next big drop. I don't think we're ever going to see Cuphead from American Pinball. They're never going to sell that existing inventory. We don't have Spooky's next game until the end of the year. See now would have been a perfect time. I mean it. Now would have been a good time for Barrels of Fun to have released Dune with more assets in it. I actually would have waited maybe even to early July Yeah, that. If it were true, it would've made way more sense. I still worry that Dune even after the Carl stream, I just, I don't know. Maybe it's just me. Is it just me? Am I the only one? Um, I know the word of mouth is good. It's just the theme. I, I just worry that the theme is gonna be hard, but you know, none of this is public. I don't know how many games these companies are selling in the automotive industry. It's easy to track the failures of a car. Patronic Tiffany, In the end, here's what I think is going to be the winner. I mean this. In the end, I think the game that people are going to look at as being the most fun, and I think you're going to be able to get one for much less than new in box prices. But in the end, out of all of these games, Potter, Kong, Portal, Dune, out of this new crop of game, I do think the game when all is said and done, that's going to be like I think it's going to be King Kong. I do. I just, I really do. I think Stern's going to take it to a place with the code that's going to be really, really satisfying. Now look, the other game that could take the lead is Potter, but Jersey Jack needs to adjust the code. And I just don't know if they are. They keep telling me there's major code updates in the recent code update. But then I look at the stream and I'm like, I'm still not seeing a major difference in the movie modes. I don't know what they consider major. I don't know. I need to get time on the new code and see what they're talking about. Everybody, thank you for being a member of the Kaneda Club. Thank you for putting up with me. Some days are good. Some days are stressful. I like having good days. I had a better day yesterday. I woke up this morning. Brenda took our little one Cassian to get tubes put into his ears to drain some fluid. He's home today. He's doing great. It's really, really nervous putting a little baby under general anesthesia. So he did just fine. Killian's at school. He was difficult to get out the door. You hear me for 20 minutes a day. Think about this. You hear my show for around 20 minutes a day. There are hours, hours of Kinead making it through every day, trying to do other things to free up this much time to give each and every one of you what I consider to be the most entertaining and enthusiastic pinball podcast on planet...