REVIEW
OF THE YEAR
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Story dated 28th December, 2001 Welcome to this, our second annual review of the past year in pinball - and what a year it's been. We started with January's launch of Stern's third game - High Roller Casino. The game premiered at the IMA show in Neurenberg, Germany and appeared again a few days later at the ATEI show in London. Naturally, we had the first full review of the game. We were happy to report that the game shows a continuing improvement over the earlier Striker Xtreme and Sharkey's Shootout in terms of game play, construction and enjoyment. Although HRC was still at the prototype stage in January, when it started production some important and welcome changes were made to improve the rules and game operation.
The second new game of the year appeared first in the US and then very soon after in the UK. Austin Powers was the first game to follow Gary Stern's intention to use licensed themes for future games. "Our strategy is to stick with long-term, classic licences, rather than ones that come and go." he said. Based on the eponymous British spy created by Mike Myers, the game was well received by operators and players alike. This was Stern's breakthrough game. It showed how a popular theme can not only boost sales but attract the fickle player to a familiar and welcoming game. The game sold well and may yet reappear when the third movie in the series hits the screens in Summer 2002.
So what was to become of that deal with Pat Lawlor Design? It was announced back in November 2000 that they would be producing a game for Stern and finally we received the first pictures of the resulting game. Monopoly made a big splash when it first appeared, and once again we had the first full review of the game. The game had to be popular for so many reasons. The reputations and strategies of both PLD and Stern were riding on this. Fortunately for all concerned the game proved very popular with many home sales adding to the order books. There was much anticipation when the PLD deal was announced, just as there was when Pat revealed at Expo that the company has agreed to make another pinball game for Stern. We can expect that around October 2002.
What can we expect from 2002? For a start we should get Stern's latest game early in the year, possibly at IMA/ATEI but perhaps Monopoly is holding up the next game? Rumours suggest it will be a Playboy themed game and that the next game will be another Simpsons game. We should also get Pat Lawlor Design's new game. Will that be the Simpsons game? As ever in pinball, speculation as to the next game will be plentiful and some of it will be wrong. We'll continue to filter out the rumour and bring you the facts, the reviews and the reports. In
the meantime, Pinball News wishes you a very happy and prosperous
2002. |
© Pinball News 2002 |