I have a couple of items for everyone this morning. First up, a couple of minutes ago, Stern Pinball shared the first official gameplay video of its new game that was revealed on Wednesday, Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye. The stream consists of the game's design team, the designer - Elliot Eismin, lead coder - Elizabeth Gieske, Mike Kyzivat and Jack Danger.
They never specifically mentioned what version of the game they used in the stream, at lease I didn't hear them say it, but I believe that it's a Premium. The game's code is very far along at launch, probably more so than most recent Stern releases. According to the team, the only major pieces not available at launch are the final Wizard Mode and the Challenge Modes. Everything originally designed for the main game IS in the code now — Five main missions and three side missions, two in-lane modes, mini-wizards, Tech Spec Mania, Combiner Multiball, and Rescue Optimus.
The four challenge modes coming in a future update will be accessible through the game menu and will include:
- Prime Training — solo skill-building objectives
- Optimus vs. Megatron — split-flipper two-player versus mode
- Topper Mode — unlocked via the accessory topper
- 40th Anniversary Movie Mode — "The Mode" or "Transformers The Mode" (a callback to the 1986 animated film), using 1986 movie assets and music by Knights of Unicron and the iconic song "The Touch" by Stan Bush.
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Next up, I have a quick pinball rumor. I am still very early in my process of investigating this, but word on the street is that a pinball machine based on the band The Grateful Dead is in the works. This is a real rumor based on human intelligence, not a random search of web domains where distributors have already registered every single possible potential pinball theme already. I literally know nothing more than Grateful Dead is supposedly in development by a manufacturer at this point.
In terms of pure speculation, I wonder what company would make a Grateful Dead pin? This doesn't really seem like a Stern or a Jersey Jack theme to me, buts both are rumored to have games based on other bands already in the works, a brand new AC/DC and a Remastered KISS at Stern and Van Halen at Jersey Jack. American Pinball is rumored to have a music pin amongst its first games in development. I wonder if this is a theme that the new management at that company would take on? We don't have any history there to guide us there, other than the fact that its first game is now confirmed to be a remake of Cirqus Voltaire.
Has anyone else out there heard about a potential Grateful Dead pinball machine? The band isn't my cup of tea, but there definitely seems to be demand for one from a decent number of people based on the message boards. A virtual pinball Grateful Dead table has existed for years (images below). I have no idea if this rumor is true, but it's one to keep an eye on.
