Stern?

[Ze_ro]

So, what ever happened to Stern anyways? They had some winners back in the 80's with Berzerk and Frenzy... but where are they now? I assume some company (Midway?) bought them out, so they now only exist as intellectual property (sorta like Atari)...

 

--Zero

[Raccoon Lad]

I don't really know the history of Stern, but from what little info I've aquired, they were a pinball company who started making arcade games, and then switched back to just making pinball games. I think they are still making pinball games, but I'm not certain.

[liquid_sky]

Stern Pinball is alive and well. They are the only pinball manufacturer i know of, as Goliteb (sp) folded a few months back best I remember.

 

Stern Pinball

[Ze_ro]

Well, it's nice to see that they're still around! I've never been much of a pinball fan since they starting charging $0.50 to play it... for $0.50, there's much better games in the arcades.

 

--Zero

[Retro Rogue]

quote:

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Originally posted by Ze_ro:

So, what ever happened to Stern anyways? They had some winners back in the 80's with Berzerk and Frenzy... but where are they now? I assume some company (Midway?) bought them out, so they now only exist as intellectual property (sorta like Atari)...

 

--Zero

---

 

Stern sold off it's video game section back in the 80's, was bought out by Sega in '93, and bought back by the Stern's in 2000. They also aquired the Williams properties as well when Midway got out of pinball.

 

They are currently the only pinball manufacturer.

[Albert]

quote:

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Originally posted by Marty Goldberg:

They are currently the only pinball manufacturer.

---

 

It was a terrible day when Williams announced they'd be getting out of the Pinball business. To think that only Stern is still actively developing pins is a crying shame. I love pinball machines and the fact that we're sitting on the edge of pinball extinction is terrible. In twenty years pinball machines may just be a distant memory for everyone but collectors..

 

..Al

[Retro Rogue]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Albert:

It was a terrible day when Williams announced they'd be getting out of the Pinball business. To think that only Stern is still actively developing pins is a crying shame. I love pinball machines and the fact that we're sitting on the edge of pinball extinction is terrible. In twenty years pinball machines may just be a distant memory for everyone but collectors..

 

..Al

---

 

 

I certainly agree. I have a Stern pinball machine from the early 70's, and am glad to have at least something. But, I don't think all will ever be lost. Stern is adamant he'll never stop making pinballs. And even if he does, I don't think the art will be lost.

 

Personally, I'd like to start seeing pinball and coin-ops go back to their respective early days. When anyone could make them and release them. Sort of a homebrew effort. They may not be the elaborate money tour-deforces we know now, but you may see more creativity when the bottom dollar isn't the bottom line.

 

Look at the first pong for example - a custom board hooked up to an off the shelf TV, with a milk carton for the coin catcher.

There's no reason someone with enough startup cash couldn't throw a custom PC (perhaps running freebsd or something for stability) with a monitor inside a cabinet and release their own games. Even just locally.

[Ze_ro]

So does Stern still own the rights to their video games? Or did they not buy back the rights, since they weren't planning on doing anything with them?

 

--Zero

[AtariKee]

There are two interviews- one with Tony Miller and one with Chris Oberth, both whom worked at Stern in the 80s. You can find both of these at http://www.arcadehistory.com

[liveinabin]

I can't help but think Pinball machines (of some variety) are in for an eventual comeback. As console technology gets better and it becomes less and less desirable to pump money into an arcade machine when you have something equal or better at home, (Crazy Taxi for instance) there will be a need for Arcades to provide something that can't be experienced on a home TV.

Screen based machines will have more moving parts and Pinball will make a return (in some modified form - I can see current tables looking like old bagattelle machines in a few years).

 

I didn't know all these companies got bought out. As for Stern - good on him for getting his indipendance back (though if you're going to be bought out by anybody, Sega's not a bad way to go )