Now that's funny. I used to coordinate special events on occasion for a company I worked for years ago (guest speakers and such), and it was always funny to see the guest in person after all of the promotional materials, headshots, etc. they provided ahead of time. While the ladies weren't usually too bad, then men had a propensity to provide photos of themselves from about 20 years prior in their lives - slim, full head of hair, youthful looking, etc.

Not being as hard core as I may be coming off, but plenty of honesty in my statements.

Absolutely nothin’…..say it again!

Why do people like this picture so much? It looks odd and nonsensical to me.
And what the hell kind of shoe is he wearing? Are those Croc's with the Kung Fu toe grip?
ebfd6d6393e4e6096a144cbc91f8ea5a405f67eb (resized).pngefbfd6d6393e4e6096a144cbc91f8ea5a405f67eb 1 (resized).png

When Pinside downvotes, it generally means you're doing something right.

so conflicted ... do I up or downvote this???

After reading +600 posts.. no new pictures today ?
The London show was open today, no real visitors that are on pinside ?

It's interesting to see them centering on these Bond films which aren't really the most well known or iconic.

(ETA for clarity - I mean the cabinet packages)

Add me to the list of poo'ing on that Dr No translite.. and I'm someone who uses Bond names for all my test account and project names.

I do love the idea of so many different ball paths.. but man, the very first two photos seen and it screamed DE/Sega art direction. I really want to see this thing playing though. Translites are easily replaced.

The games were removed from the floor. Doubt we will see more pics from that source.

This game includes all 6 official Sean Connery James Bond movies. Those are not iconic? Goldfinger is not iconic?

Edit: Roger Moore is my favorite Bond but you obviously cannot ignore these 6 movies and Connery's contributions to the franchise.

Just goes to show you'll never make everybody happy.

Every single one of those movies is "iconic" in one way or another for fans of the series.

God, this is like Wednesday in the NFL thread. Gonna be a rough week until the official reveal.

You kids crack me up. Every single Connery film represented. He *is* Bond, full stop. No Connery, no Bond.

Yes.

See? Not all noobs are bad!

I was referring to the cabinet art packages and the translite.

Trust me, I love Dr No... but I would never take a 50+yr old ad style as the most visible portion of my game. I'm thinking about how this game will work in the lineup trying to grab people aged 45 and younger and kids 6-12.

Not even marketing 'this is the newest pinball!' works.. they still put in quarters based on what their eyeballs draw them to.

As far as I’m concerned, all of Pinside qualifies for noob status. I spent almost 2 decades on rgp. Now, those were the days…

The pinball isn't going to draw fans of the series out to play it. When it's lined up along side GOTG, Deadpool, Mandalorian, etc I fear people won't give it a try.

Playing off Bond's name or the iconic 007 would have been better than 'Dr No' taking up 40% of the screen and being the sole attempt at name/label recognition.

I wasn't kidding.. these are accounts in my test orgs..
Screen Shot 2022-09-13 at 2.11.04 PM.png

Connery is my favorite Bond.. the style and formula of the films like Thunderball are immortal to me... but I still would not have gone with a translite like that.

Excited about Bond and looking forward to the launch next week.

Seth was a nice guy and he says they will move on from this and they have a few other plans for 007 events!

Wow, that's some new fingerpointing by them. Upset over spy photos just 24hrs from reveal? That likely just stuffed the distributor lists even more? And didn't make noise outside of pinball circles?

Some serious butthurt going on there... or desperate excuse making.

Ok, trying to log in to Flynn's Pinside account lol

Blofed?...no..
LotusEsprit...that's not it either...

Game pulled due to leaked photos? There are always leaked photos - interesting decision if that was the reason.

Just quoting what I was told.

The Kanadafication of the hobby hasn't helped anybody.

Any glory you get from leaking a shitty photo you know you aren't supposed to take lasts about 20 minutes, and beyond that nobody even remembers you did it.

We all know by this point that Stern doesn't want people doing this shit. But they keep doing it.

Actions have consequences.

That being said, the Queen is still dead, right? I buy their cover story! It's plausible!

That makes no sense….pull the game for a week Bc of leak and let crappy low quality photos be the only thing out there.

Maybe, lots of people in the decision making process, licensor, Stern, Distro, not sure who made the call; but I feel a little bit for Stern and EC - they trusted someone with access who screwed them - Could be the leak tipped over the Licensor (who are a British organisation) and they played it safe.

I think you need to read the previous page or so of posts.

The UK is your “closest ally”???
We have to put up with your constant shenanigans and you consider the UK your closest ally?
F U!

-Canada
(Sorry for the harsh language. Please accept our most sincere apologies)

Bleh... the leaks and whispers have been going on forever. Difference here is only the commoditization of access to the whispers. It's freaking Stern themselves who talk to all their buddies and strategically leak stuff anyway. The podcaster doofus has nothing to do with the rise or fall of this stuff. He's been manipulated by these folks for their benefit even.

That’s pretty rich.
I mean, at least it’s not “Aliens” bad.

I can understand if the licensor had feathers ruffled and they have to do damage control in some way... but sure still sounds like a goofy PR move. Best way to squash undesirable info is to steamroll it with a wave of desirable information. As Levi said, once the onslaught of 'good' details and info is available, the leak stuff is always forgotten. It's not like it's early prototypes, etc.

I could understand more if it's promotion by people NOT STERN that is actually the real conflict. Trying to do a media push from those companies during this period.. that to me is far more convincing.

I mean, lets be real.. one week isn't enough time to actually change anything and have it be included in all the media that has already been staged. Video shoots, etc. So I don't believe there is much weight to delays being tied to needing to react to something.

So Stern used the Queen’s passing as camouflage for their real reason for postponement - a dummy spit over some leaked photos - not exactly a new phenomenon? And they were intending to go ahead with the reveal/event despite the cancellations/postponements being the respected norm, not the exception? Here I was giving Stern credit for their cultural sensitivity.

The show floor BEFORE THE SHOW OPENS is supposed to be secure and people are not supposed to leak out information. It's obviously a topic that is tough to manage given the environment, but it should not in anyway be considered a voluntary reveal.

I mean we see in the photos the person is wearing a hi-viz vest. But we also see people working on the games, so whomever Stern had onsite to setup the games could have been more assertive about keeping the games from being photographed to that detail.

I won’t forget the look on John’s (CEO of electrocoin) face he was so upset and he is normally an up beat person - he has taken this very personally.

I'm sorry, Neil, but there is absolutely nothing you or anyone else can say to convince me the leaked photos were the reason for pulling the games. There is no way on god's green earth Stern couldn't have foreseen photos being taken. This is far from their first rodeo. And even if it WAS their first, they are very familiar with the community and it's clamoring for even the slightest hint of early info. It's kept tightly under lock and key for months for a reason. That was 100% done purposely. We may just never know why.

There is a pretty easy way to fix this now, and in the future: Stop being complete ASS at game reveals. You have every opportunity in the world, as the company producing the game, to be out front of ANY other reveals/"leaks"/etc. Stern's marketing department needs a serious dose of 'how to do our jobs 101'.

Well I know the distro and he is a straight up guy so I believe him. I can’t argue your points also.

well if Stern stayed on schedule as they promised an August release this would be a non issue as the pictures would not have been leaked and the Queen would still have been amongst the living !

shame too see this go this route , but what's an other week !

The timing does lend credence to idea it was the leak…the Queen passed several days ago and they were proceeding as normal, literally outing the game on a convention floor. The delay came out within a few hours of the photos. I just don’t get how it benefits them to let the only images out there be amateur pics.

When I was across the pond in Merry Ole 5 years back, and somehow chanced upon an early Star Wars "reveal" at a distributor in Wembley, I was pretty chuffed! Here I was on vacation, dragging my knackered bird to a UK distributor to be the first civilian Yank in the world to have a go at the newest pinball sensation from the blokes at Stern.

And yes, I nicked a few minutes of video footage. But then someone came by and said "wot's all this then?" It was a geezer who worked at the distro, and he begged me..."Mate, we aren't supposed to be shooting video and posting this stuff. At the end of the day, it's not official yet!"

So you know what I did? I just played the game, ate some free food, got pissed on free cheap wine, and fucked off back to the Tube and the rest of my holiday.

Yeah, I would have been famous for 5 minutes if I'd posted all that video on youtube, but I would have pissed off a lot of people who trusted me to not do what they'd kindly and explicitly asked me not to.

I just don't see the point. Stop being dicks for 5 minutes of internet glory. We don't need it. We'd all be happier right now if the actual planned reveal were happening, right?

(excuse for fun rant. I still buy the official Queen cover!)

Now Confirmed.. the queen's preview of Stern's Bond killed her.

The quality of those photos certainly does not lend itself to "Whomever took them didn't think he was doing anything wrong." They were obviously taken incognito/in secret by somebody who knows better.

Just couldn't help himself!

+1 - when I’m at any event where there is merchandise I always ask for permission to take photos / video. 9/10 they say ok and you have a chat with them and get some info. Sometimes - it’s hold off please - and that’s ok. it’s basic courtesy.

No, the opposite. This is not something unique to Stern or pinball... but every trade show. It's limited access and people are not supposed to disclose what is seen. It's hundreds of companies and thousands of people, so it's not like each person sits down and signs a NDA each.. but it's part of your agreement with the show as being a vendor/etc. And as an attendee at the show, you regulate yourself because you don't want the same thing done to you.

Everyone looks around, everyone takes notice in what's in booths, but you don't go and post online about it.

Ha ha, sorry brother, it was a mindless, in the moment writing error.
As a young man I visited and played a lot of hockey in your country and loved every moment there.

Should Stern ever snub you guys, please give me a shout and I've got your back.

This made my day! Thank you for the laugh!!

Seriously guys - nobody outside of this forum gives a shit about the newest pinball machine. Even without the internet they could unload 5,000 of these things. Delaying the release is a sales gimmick.

You’ll forget all about it in 4 months when the next company releases the next pinball machine.

"Can I see the new pin? I hear its bonkers."

"No, your majesty. See, I could show you, but then I'd have to kill you".

...

You can’t unbox a game in public and not expect “leaks”. And there’s no way they cancelled the launch because of those “leaks”.

I think it’s partially out of respect but mostly it’s a bad time to launch anything in the UK. You’re trying to get the attention of media/news/anyone and there is literally no room left for anything other than the Queen. Just unfortunate timing.