Feels like I should kick this off with Metallica: Remastered ($12,999 LE, $9,699 Premium, does not appear yet there is a pro version being offered). The image above is from the All-Access, which I did pay for and have (and is up for renewal soon). Today it will officially be revealed.
It’s the elephant in the pinball room, after all. The teaser trailer, similar to The Uncanny X-Men basically tells us … nothing — except it’s ol’ sparky:
The rumor and speculation is over, it’s confirmed, but not a surprise. Neither was The Uncanny X-Men. What the rumors were totally wrong, however, that this would be Stern’s first Spike 3. Nope, it’s a Spike 2, at least according to one distro:
We’ve already been asked if we’re interested in buying one. And I’m asking you, pinball buyer readers, will you buy, play on location or pass?
I try to play all new pinball, regardless of theme, whenever first seeing and having the opportunity to play, so there are no new pinball of any type — real, virtual — I’ll pass on playing.
As for buying, well, that’s a much higher bar. Most folks simply can’t buy too many pinball machines due to space and cost (while writing this, fully realizing we’ve bought three new in box pinballs in 2024). So, it’s at best very unlikely — yet not impossible — buy from me. With any new pin announced have to see and play it (not only see it) to determine how much it tickles the wallet. I do like playing the original Metallica pin, but a remastered one that isn’t even using the newest technology (Spike 3) seems like a miscalculated move. I’m guessing Spike 3 is still not … ready? Yes, no?
And why is this coming out so darn close to The Uncanny X-Men? Didn’t we just get a brand new Stern pin a month ago or so?
Almost like Stern wanted to have something else to add to their newest pin offerings at the 40th annual Pinbal Expo that starts this weekend.
My son said he has no interest in owning Metallica: Remastered, but would like to play, and the most desirable thing I would have wanted to check this out for — that it was the first Spike 3 — is not happening.
So, when will be the first Spike 3?
In 2025? Guessing that’s the case. I’ve heard other theme rumors: Dungeons & Dragons, Pokemon, King Kong, with the latter, especially if that’s an Elwin monster pin, being the most interesting to me, at least as far as possibly buying for home. Then again, Dungeons & Dragons is a cool theme. I’ve also heard some other themes being kicked around and Stern even sent out a survey on themes recently. I went through the options with my son, but didn’t fill it out myself. Maybe I’ll fill it out on the stream today, that seems like something fun to go over on the stream.
Anyway, Metallica, Metallica, Metallica. They are a great band and have a ton of fans, but personally, I like playing Stern’s Iron Maiden pinball machine more than the original Metallica, anyway. And, well, since I just bought one of those, I’m likely out as a customer for this one. I do look forward with curiosity to see how the DMD to LCD transformation has been handled and some other things we’ll find out for certain in the future.
Here are just a few of my Metallica: Remastered questions:
- Will they do all new LCD animations? Live concert footage?
- Will there be any new, exclusive Metallica music not offered in the original game?
- What about new callouts? Any new Metallica voice work done and offered?
- New playfield art package? Assuming it’s the same game, but maybe something like they did with Jurassic Park? Or maybe the Godzilla treatment, only not in black and white, but some other color scheme?
- Will there be any new playfield items?
- Insider Connected is a certainty, what sorts of unique Metallica badges and achievements will be offered?
Humpday Wednesday Show #65 – new FX Tournament + playing games at our PGM Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/playgamesmoredotcom LIVE streaming from 6am – 11am PST (GMT-8). We get you over the hump of the week and have as much fun as we can in the process.
- Last weekend bought NIB James Bond (Stern Pro 2022) and will share how and why this purchase came to be – our family’s third NIB pinball purchase in 2024 and my second within the last month
- Iron Maiden pinball I bought less than a month ago has a bad CPU, Stern is sending a replacement + going to the Iron Maiden concert tonight in Tacoma, WA
- New FX Tournament launch + recap of last week’s leaderboard high scores + play in tournaments created by others
- Update on my Stern Iron Maiden Pinball Facebook group, you can join here: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/EdRaFjuhotAgKK64/ – if you like Iron Maiden and are on Facebook, come on in!
- Joined the Facebook Stern James Bond 007 pinball owner’s group
- Pinball-related news, views and pinball happenings
- When will we see a Spike 3 release? 2025? What will be the theme? Who will be the designer?
- Pinball Expo is this coming weekend, what new and exciting pinball will be announced? What are YOU looking forward to seeing?
- Tony Hawk homebrew looks interesting, what about other homebrew pins?
- More on Turner’s Ninja Eclipse? They should have these at the show to play
Virtual Pinball
PGM Weekly FX Tournament #45: Pinball Noir
Available in this Steam/PC DLC:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2351798/Pinball_FX__Secrets__Shadows_Pack/
Password: Open/no password
Search ID#: to be updated after created
3 minutes timed / 7 attempts
Note: this tournament table will be launched live during the Twitch stream Wednesday 10/16/2024 and the tournament will end Wednesday 10/23/2024 during the Humpday Wednesday Twitch stream around 6am PST.
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You can search for “Humpday” here at PGM and find details on all 24 episodes of Season 1 Pinball (virtual) + play and enter scores for any/all of the virtual pinball games we played on stream (and several not featured)
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In addition to what’s mentioned above, YOU can play, too. Some of our virtual pinball require Visual Pinball and Future Pinball software as well as the table files which are all free to download.
There is a spreadsheet where we share where to acquire the necessary pinball table files linked on every page at this blog and also here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iRcwa4znh8FL-0DdME5XNcQCM-CTjeTdPnfNcTrh9-E/edit?usp=sharing. Be sure to use default settings for all tables, unless otherwise noted and make sure you’re playing the version listed in the yellow highlight at the top of our iScored leaderboard page. Then, simply, play the game and try and beat your personal best. Once you’ve done so, share the score.
You can share on our PGM iScored here: https://www.iscored.info/?mode=public&user=Playgamesmore. Once we see some scores and activity one of our PGM members will add you to our semi-private Discord (if we don’t, then contact us and ask) where we score chase all kinds of different games: arcade games, modern Steam games, we stream games, play co-op and more. As of this writing we’re also score chasing arcade games and recapping them on Saturday mornings.
We are a friendly group, open to all adult gamers at least 18 years of age and look forward to seeing your scores!