Stern Star Trek is officially on the way.

[Nightwing]

I think this title will be released simultaneously by Stern and TPA. It will be a first.

No way.

Having said that,I truly hope that you are correct. That would be HUGE news,IMO...not to mention pretty damned cool!

 

[RagingBull888]

I would certainly be interested in playing this machine. I just wish there were places around here that would have the newest pinball machines. My closet bet for pinball is at Gameworks at Newport on the Levee and they are horrible at maintaining a pinball machine.

 

[George Klepacz]

I would certainly be interested in playing this machine. I just wish there were places around here that would have the newest pinball machines. My closet bet for pinball is at Gameworks at Newport on the Levee and they are horrible at maintaining a pinball machine.

Come up to Cleveland sometime, we have a few really nice places to play some pinball. I didn't know about them until a few months ago. Just finished up my first league that had over 70 people in it.

And if you didn't know about it, the Ohio Pinball Show will be in February. All machines on Free Play. Many top machines will be there. And if Star Trek is out by then, I guarantee it will be there. Wizard of Oz was there last year.

http://ohiopinballshow.com/

 

[smbhax]

It's pretty, but I'm surprised they basically took the same layout as ST:TNG and just squished it a bit and removed some features. Would have been nice to see a completely new take on a Star Trek table. This makes it seem like it's ST:TNG Jr. or something.

 

[warh0g]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/...ce-star-trek-returns-to-the-world-of-pinball/

 

[warh0g]

I would LOVE to own this, but it is too pricey for my wallet atm. Looks really nice!
Side note, anyone else predict a new Star Wars pin when the alleged Episode VII-IX comes?

 

[Espy]

It's pretty, but I'm surprised they basically took the same layout as ST:TNG and just squished it a bit and removed some features. Would have been nice to see a completely new take on a Star Trek table. This makes it seem like it's ST:TNG Jr. or something.

I see it more as a standard Steve Ritchie table rather than a ripoff of TNG. All his regular features are there. And I have no problem with that as his tables flow as smooth as butter.

 

[DanBradford]

did you all like the baked potatoes on either side of the spaceship? there's a great photo of it on pinside

 

[Rudy]

It's pretty, but I'm surprised they basically took the same layout as ST:TNG and just squished it a bit and removed some features. Would have been nice to see a completely new take on a Star Trek table. This makes it seem like it's ST:TNG Jr. or something.

Personally I have no problem with a ST:TNG Jr. table, ST:TNG is needlessly ruthless and even though it's a great game, I certainly wouldn't want to play it for a long period of time. No matter how much you alter the settings, a game like that can only have it's difficulty changed by moving playfield objects around, and we all know that that's impossible.

A slightly simpler version of the table with less shots that become insta-drains would be great and could be just the thing that Stern needs right now, the theme and playfield layout of a classic pinball machine but the accessibility of modern pinball machines. If I owned an arcade I'd feel much safer about putting a Stern Star Trek there instead of a ST:TNG because I've came so close to kicking the thing when it goes against me.

Saying all that, we have no idea how difficult the game is, maybe it's just as tough as ST:TNG, but I'd seriously doubt it.

 

[Mark W**a]

Nope, I've been thinking this all along. Nobody has been able to get Bobby to spill on Stern teaming up with TPA, other than there have been talks. Then you have Gary making the Ripley's comment, and most recently we've had Bobby saying Metallica might be a possibility, unlike all the other music based tables. I believe there is something there, and it's only a matter of figuring out the Rom emulation.

It would be so easy to include a digital license within Stern's contract, and would cost a fraction of getting for FarSight. It's nothing but advertising for Stern, and absolutely would not harm sales of physical machines, as most people can't afford them anyway, but might increase sales as people would be essentially demoing them virtually. It's just such a win-win, for everybody involved. Hoping this isn't just some fevered pipe dream I'm reading too much into!

Right freaking on. Well said.

If this turns out to be true, it's such a win for Farsight, Stern, and pinball players

You're like me reading all the interviews listening to the podcasts and connecting the dots. I feel like Star Trek is too much of a coincidence considering Farsight is currently using the license anyway. It's too convenient. But time will tell. Would be very awesome if true.

 

[Mark W**a]

TNG is a surprisingly slow pin IRL. A tighter playfield will do wonders. Not to mention getting rid of blind, unfair outlanes and absurdly large slings... I'm all for a " TNG junior" that addresses these issues, reusing an otherwise proven layout.

 

[Kolchak357]

I'd like to see some video of this in action before I say too much. But yeah, the baked potato meteors are so ugly. Star Trek has so many great possibilities for playfield toys and this is what they come up with? At least they light up.

 

[netizen]

but those meteors will turn in the LE version ....

lol

 

[PS Garek]

I don't mean the playfield. I am talking about the controllers. Stern has previously been using S.A.M. systems and from what I have read this will be their first non S.A.M. game since the mid 2000s

Stern has been testing out the SAM 2 boards both on their "The Pin" line games, as well as on a couple locations loaded into current machines. Some folks had speculated this would lead to them integrating an LCD into the game, but that appears to not be the case (or delayed down the line to whatever Trudeau's game is). I believe that the SAM 2 boards also have an HDMI out (based on someone opening up one of The Pins) but again that might be speculation.

In terms of the art not having the photoshopped actor's faces, I have a couple guesses as to why that is. The first is that photoshopped actors faces has long been a complaint of Stern's art packages, so they decided to skip them for this one. Second, I think this might be Greg Freres' first full art package with Stern since coming on as art director and he wanted to do something different (he was around for Metallica but Dirty Donny did most of it). Third, the Premium and LE versions have an "Animated Playfield Laser Starfield Projector" and in order to make whatever that is pop they needed art that wasn't super busy.

 

[Kolchak357]

Read about this laser projector too. Very interested to see video of this in action.

 

[netizen]

Seeing as the LE has what looks like LED strips along the side of the cabinet here


I am wondering if the "Animated Playfield Laser Starfield Projector" will be something like what Ben Heck is planning for his latest pin with RGB LED strips

 

[Mark W**a]

I think another reason they haven't plastered the playfield with the usual stock movie art is because perhaps they are going for a simplified, easier to understand playfield.

Again during papa some of the commentators mentioned that top players are complaining about recent sterns. That if the machine isn't simply marked and easy to understand then it throws off newbies and pros alike. I couldn't agree more.

 

[Kolchak357]

Some new vid of the pro model

 

[Kolchak357]

A classic game room review

 

[netizen]

Jar Jar death mode FTW!!