"New" info on LOTR pinball, no pics though :(
mrshow
game than I have read in previous posts. Still pisses me off that
there are no pictures online anywhere. C'mon, it's not like another
pinball company is going to appear from nothing and steal stern's
ideas. If I were stern, I would be promoting pinball at every
opportunity, not being secret, as those days have long since passed;
no more competition.
Pinball is a singular art 限 an interactive game played out in a
mechanical labyrinth that is ruled by tradition and yet constantly new
because the ball is truly wild. Soon, flipper fans will find what may
be the ultimate expression of this thrill when the game is paired with
an equally unique story, that of English fantasy novelist J.R.R.
Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilology. And the timing couldn't be
better.
Next month, New Line Cinema will release the third and final film in
the series, The Return of the King, which should boost this game into
the cultural spotlight, possibly even greater than the success enjoyed
by Stern's last piece, also a movie license, based on the film
Terminator 3.
"We really hope to see as many of these pieces on the street as
possible by Dec. 17 when the movie enjoys a simultaneous worldwide
release," said Stern president Gary Stern. The factory topper says he
believes the storyline is a good fit for the worldwide player base and
notes that game designers stressed their desire from the outset to
wait until the release of the third movie to produce the game, thus
allowing them full range of the story material.
The pinball factory's relationship with New Line is strong, extending
back even before their Austin Powers flipper game. Stern notes that
the studio's VP of licensing is also a pinball fanatic, boasting a
Manhattan office filled with pinball games including the
aforementioned groovy game. "They provided a lot of input for the game
and we were thrilled to be working with them again," added Stern.
Game designers and artists also worked closely with the studio in
designing the impressive art package 限 both for the back glass and
cabinet. In fact, the back glass art, a montage of characters from the
story, was hand-drawn and hand-painted expressly for this purpose by
L.A.-based artist Jerry Vandstelt, who was recommended by New Line.
The artist, in preparing the work, visited the movie sets and spent
time at the Melrose Park, Ill., pinball factory. He also produced the
cabinet artwork using a four-color process and adding a fifth color, a
painted gold frame, giving the game a truly epic feel suitable for the
material. The cabinet sides feature still photos from the movie that
have been appropriately stylized for this use, while the back box
cabinet offers images of each of the two Twin Towers on their
respective sides, one in red and the other in blue.
"I believe this is going to be one of the most sophisticated pieces,
from an artwork standpoint, that we have done," said Stern marketing
whiz Marc Schoenberg.
The Tournament Pinball System-compatible game also features original
custom speech from Elijah Wood, the actor who plays the main character
Frodo, and John Rhyes Davies, who portrays Gimli the Dwarf. The Lord
of the Rings also features dialogue from the first two movies: The
Fellowship of the Rings and The Two Towers. When RePlay visited Stern
to research this story in late October, factory engineers were still
scrambling to obtain speech from the third and final movies. Keith
Johnson was responsible for software design, while Chris Granner
oversaw game sound.
In both the novels and the movies, Frodo is on a quest to destroy the
One Ring of Power in order to keep Sauron the Dark Lord from ruling
Middle-Earth. This narrative plays out beautifully on the pinball
playfield as the player attempts to gather the other Rings of Power 限
the Elven rings, the Dwarf rings, and the Human rings. The playfield,
which was decorated by pinball artist Kevin O'Connor, makes liberal
use of the storyline from each of the three movies.
There is a magnetic ring at the back of the field that catches the
silver ball, a ball-lock ramp that looks like a sword, the upper level
Path of the Dead that lets the player win souls (or points), a cast of
toy figures representing characters from the story situated in
strategic spots, two towers (built and designed in-house at Stern),
including one that falls over when destroyed by the player, and the
Balrog character that protects the jump ramp where the ball jumps to
the ring 限 players must bash motorized Balrog to have it turn away
from the ramp.
The game offers three multi-ball opportunities, each related to one of
the three movies. Additionally, there are six modes, representing two
apiece from each film. Players must achieve various goals along the
way, making the experience fun for novices but enticing for more
experienced flipper fanatics as well. A Wizard multi-ball is initiated
when the player has defeated all the modes and collected the "Gifts of
the Elves" awards. This leads to a final Jackpot mode when all of the
game's features light up.
LEDs lit in a ring shape under the playfield indicate to players their
ring status, letting them know just how far they have progressed in
the quest to make all the right shots and destroy the One Ring of
Power. Along the way, they must face flashing pop bumpers and many
other classic flipper challenges, all to the sounds of the movie score
rendered crisply on the factory's built-in sound system.
Players familiar with the Lord of the Rings books and movies will know
the characters and instinctively know how to play the pinball, say
game designers. Casual players who don't know the story will still
have lots of fun bashing the Balrog, shooting the ring, getting in the
towers, etc. That's what makes this title so exciting, says Stern 限
it will attract Lord enthusiasts as well as those not so familiar.
Most important, they add, the game is "mechanical action pinball at
its best and sure to have a great resale value."
"The Lord of the Rings is really a great fit for a pin game,"
concluded Gary Stern. "You have all of these great elements of
conflict and the need for player participation in solving the
conflict. Plus, the tone set by the story offers the perfect element
of high drama to keep the player interested in what's happening on the
playfield."
Games began shipping late last month to Europe, and should be reaching
U.S. distributors by mid-November. For more information or a
distributor referral, contact Stern Pinball at 708/345-7700; website
www.sternpinball.com.
Lloyd Olson
LTG :)
"mrshow" <girb...@hailmail.net> wrote in message
news:8a559dc7.03110...@posting.google.com...
scott
Aside from the licensing possibility, there are many other factors to
consider, such as due to the lead time in getting the publication press
shots, a fully working playfield with complete artwork most likely
wasn't available.
To say that Stern does not promote pinball just because of a few jumpy
RGP geeks want pictures of a game that isn't even known to be on test
yet shows just how idiotic these people are. Revealing playfield pics of
their next game has NOTHING to do with promoting pinball; it only feeds
the sad fantasies of those who feel their life is complete because they
were the first to post links to that picture.
Get a real life, guys. Enjoy Stern's latest offering. Hope that for
every next game that the game earn more than the last since having a few
people rush out and buy game NIB isn't going to keep Stern alive; the
bread and butter of pinball is selling to the (ever-shrinking)coin-op
market, not the home, and if your only market is the home, then pinball
is truly dead.
Ron Lyons
It's not like they're going to have somebody run into the factory with a
polaroid. Everybody's so impatient on these things.
Ron
"scott" <sc...@ledgaming.com> wrote in message
news:vqn8hr5...@corp.supernews.com...
Joe Martz
> > pinball company is going to appear from nothing and steal stern's
> > ideas. If I were stern, I would be promoting pinball at every
> > opportunity, not being secret, as those days have long since passed;
> > no more competition.
Once the details and theme of the next game are widely known - and
enthusiasm about the title is generated - it tends to stall sales of
previous titles (such as T3). Hence, Stern is indeed competiting - against
themselves. I would guess Stern manages the timing of releases,
information, etc. to their best advantage to optimize sales of all their
products. Us r.g.p. stallwarts are probably not their target audience for
large orders. It's the operator market they have to satisfy.
Joe M.
The Power
"Lloyd Olson" <l...@ssbilliards.com> wrote in message
news:zUGqb.30581$Ec1.2...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
The Power
pictures. LTG :)
Bingo!
Mike