Interesting Facts About Euro Pinball Corp.; Pinball Brothers Update on Predator Video; Games of the Day

Over the weekend while researching that interesting new pinball machine that Pedretti Gaming built for the Italian musical artist Luciano Ligabue (see below for link if you missed it), I also came across an interesting article about Euro Pinball Corp. (EPC), the joint venture factory between Pedretti and Pinball Brothers. The article, which was published in the Italian publication L'Eco Di Bergamo, contained a lot of interesting facts that I don't think I've seen anywhere before. I have included the highlights, translated to English below.

• "Currently, the company based in Bagnatica has a turnover of 4 million euros per year"

• EPC "exports 50% [of its games] to the United States, 30% to Europe and 20% to Australia."

• "A team of very young people Euro Pinball employs mostly very young people, as the owner confirms: «I [Pedretti] am the oldest and I am 45 years old, all the others are between 25 and 28»."

• There are about twenty employees, who are responsible for designing the models, organizing production, obtaining the necessary licenses, assembling and shipping each of the approximately 700 pinball machines produced each year to distributors.

• There are two people in charge of research and development, who collaborate with a series of international consultants, true experts in the game with whom they can design ever new and complex interactions and effects.

From Bagnatica the pinball machines towards the United States that do not fear duties

https://www.ecodibergamo.it/stories/premium/Economia/da-bagnatica-flipper-verso-stati-uniti-che-non-temono-dazi-o_3088751_11/

The First Ever Music Pinball Machine for an Italian Artist

https://www.knapparcade.org/post/the-first-ever-music-pinball-machine-for-an-italian-artist

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Over the weekend, Pinball Brothers posted a message on its Facebook account, giving an update on the game and addressing the initial leaked gameplay video that was published by the distributor Nitro Pinball.

"A million DMs about Predator, and we love to see it. Thanks for the massive interest in the game!

That leaked internal clip? Yeah, it raised more questions than answers, the opposite of what our official gameplay videos are meant to do.

We’re working on several gameplay clips that show off the assets, features, and feel of the game, and actually answer your questions. But first, we must address the leak and the confusion it caused.

Here’s what you would’ve learned from our official gameplay:

We have all team member clips, assets, and voices, except Billy. The license holder is firm on that. No one’s getting Billy. You either leave Predator ’87 alone or work around it, and we chose to work around it. That said, we can use all of Billy’s original quotes.

Arnold is in the game, but we don’t have close-ups on his face, at least for now. You’ll see him from the side, the back, full-body, etc. And it works: you play as Dutch, assembling your team, gearing up, taking on missions, and going up against the Predator. We have all of Arnold’s quotes, performed by a voice actor. Get to da choppa? It sounds just right.

There are no other restrictions, not on clips, sounds, blood, gore, or guns. The game’s packed with original movie moments and call-outs from the best goddamn rescue team in cinema history.

Thanks for your pinball passion and & see you in the jungle!"

The Predator reacts as you play, tracking your progress and unleashing chaos when you least expect it. One wrong move, and you're the trophy.

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Game(s) of the Day:

The two Bally pinball - video game hybrid machines, 1982 Baby Pac-Man and the much more rare 1984 Granny and the Gators 🐊.

Both games were designed by Claude Fernandez, who designed other better-known pins such as Flash Gordon, Blackout and Skateball.

The art on both machines was done by Margaret Hudson and Pat McMahon.

Exact production numbers for these games are unknown, but Bally is purported to have made around 7,000 Baby Pac-man machines and only 500 to 800 Grannys.

As seen in a private collection.