I have thrown Storm and Roto Grip balls for many years and have enjoyed just about every ball I've had the pleasure of owning (VG Nano Pearl notwithstanding).  I'm starting to wonder though about the direction of the company's products. It seems to me that Storm has become satisfied just recycling cores and covers. The spring releases this year seem to support this idea. We have the Lights Out (recycled R2S Hybrid+Turbine), Freaking Frantic (recycled 2 Fast/Fringe), Supernatural (Turbine + "new" U3S cover), and 2 new colors for the Tropical Breeze Pearl. Go back to the past year and the IQ Tours are reworkings of the Centripetal Core with the R2S thrown on them, the Reign of Power recycles the C.A.M core. Even the Sync's G7 core is a reworking of the Shape Lock which reared its head in 2007 with the NRG cover. Storm has done this in Asia for a while. Just today I saw the Marvel S on an Asian site (http://stormbowlingthailand.com/Balls.html although the data sheet link for this ball is broken) which is the Centripetal core with the NRG. It seems like the US Market is now getting the international treatment in turns of recycling.

Storm has renamed/recycled balls before and I know other companies have done it as well. The worst example is probably Ebonite's Endure/Persevere being released 3 months apart with only a slight surface change difference although Rising Star/Wrecker comes close. Anyway, has Storm cut down on R&D and just become satisfied with mixing and matching covers and cores to drive sales? Product drives sales but so does innovation. I won't be buying any of the new releases this Spring because I already own something similar that Storm has previously released. I don't think I'm the only one who isn't really excited about the Spring releases.  I'm curious to hear what other bowlers think on this topic.

I do not think there is much more they can do technology wise. They have tried to put out a stronger cover like PFT and R3X and the masses were not big fans. I think with what lanes conditioners that centers use, they are about maxxed out on surface friction they can go up to. USBC put limits on the RG/Diff as far as the low points and max differential, so they are getting pinned in by how strong they can make a core and be legal. The tweak to the IQ core that became the IQ Tour was something like what they did with the Tour Power in the early 2000's. Storm had a great market then but not the huge market share they have now. If they had the market share then, the Tour Power would have been that years IQ Tour in popularity. About all they can do is change up combos and covers to give something a little different.

There are a couple of things that have been occurring pretty regularly with Storm: About every 2 seasons, most of their lower entry balls change up. This gives the non-summer bowler the impression come fall that Storm has put out about 6-8 new balls to start the season.

And the Gas Mask core was in the Big Blue, Big Blue Pearl & The Big Deal also. The Big Blue came out in the fall of 2003. Hammer was still a small piece of Ebonites market back then so they kept pushing it out because it was grandfathered by USBC on specs and eventually they found the right cover for it to shine with.

Besides, I don't think ANY core has been "recycled" as much as the gas mask core used in the Black Widows and Taboo's, and then tweaked for the Vibes. Just sayin.

Rightycomplex (a/k/a James Jones), I enjoyed watching your bowling video. Slow and smooth with great results. Bravo!!!