I’ve never seen it. Look here’s how I see it – these tables are being made, they’ve been made, they’ll continue to be made. It should make no difference whether that’s public or private sharing of them. It certainly doesn’t matter in other industries. You can go defend yourself to the RIAA or MPAA, and tell them that you only shared the album or movie with “friends” and see if they care.
This hobby is entirely different, we can argue it over and over but the fact is, VP, FP, TPA, they’re helping with the sale of pinball machines. I see more tables on route, they’re making more money, people are more aware about them. I’m excited to see what TPA has in store for modern Stern table releases, and I’m always excited to see and play the new Stern games on location. I’m not familiar with these “handshake” deals I hear about elsewhere, if it’s not going to be a public statement then I don’t see why we should care. If anyone comes to me from the industry and says, “hey, we’d really appreciate it if you stopped hosting these games” or “wait before they’re out of production” then absolutely, that’s not a battle I’m going to engage and I fully respect their request.
That has not been the case, I’m not here to hurt pinball. I want to promote it. I do that by creating tables I enjoy, or in some cases, tables I may never play. Star Trek and Metallica have taken so many of my quarters locally it’s ridiculous. I spend a lot of time on these tables and I put a lot of money into pinball in my city. VP is merely supplemental.
If I hear anyone say they decided not to buy a machine because the “VP version is good enough” I’ll call their bullshit. I’ve never seen it work that way. It just doesn’t happen.
That’s my take on the web of confusion that has been created regarding “rules”
Here’s my take on the matter for what it’s worth. I don’t believe these tables take away from anything in real life. As much as a resurgence as pinball has had recently, it’s still not like it’s on every street corner like it used to be. I’m in the fortunate situation that I’m in Chicago and have a lot of options around me, and some nice friends that have 30+ games in their collections that are close by. Point is that until you get to test something out for awhile you don’t really get a good feel for the rules and gameplay. Even on location sometimes games don’t work correctly, or the sound is turned down and you can’t experience it. If you don’t have access to a new game in a home how are you supposed to know if you want to buy it or not? Especially when these games cost $5-8k a piece. Look at the mobile platform for example, a lot of devs offer a “free” version to try before you buy. They are trying to convince you their app is worth the 2 bucks they want you to spend. With pinball, you’re expected to drop $8k if you don’t have access to one locally, and then pray that you like the rules and gameplay? That’s a ridiculous model.
At least with VP we can test the new tables, and I would argue that it promotes sales for Stern rather than hinder them. If I put 100 games on Metallica and decide I like the rules, and gameplay, then I’d consider buying one.
Finally, let’s be honest VP will never replace the real world experience. Not to detract from all of the hard work everyone has put into the software and table development, but it will never be like playing the real thing. That argument is silly too. It’s like saying playing Need for Speed is the same experience as driving a real Lamborghini. There is no comparison. What VP allows us all to do though is get 90% of the experience. You can fire up a shiny new table and SEE what it’s supposed to look like in real life, you can HEAR the proper sound emulation, and you can play and enjoy the tables. I think it’s a good tool to help learn tables, and make an educated decision about what games to purchase next. Thanks to VP I had the opportunity to play Indiana Jones, and Scared Stiff for the first time. I loved them so much I bought them both, and put money back into the hobby, and kept it going for someone else too. New table releases will only help the community, and new Stern sales. That’s my 2 cents.
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