There's so many amazing free pinball podcasts out there these days that I barely have time to listen to them all. This morning I finished listening to the the second half of the latest Don's Pinball Podcast and I flipped over to The Pinball Network's Pinball Party show. Pinball Party's host, Jason and his guests Cale and Rachel of Arizona's awesome Electric Bat arcade started off the episode talking about the upcoming Venom machine from Stern Pinball. I know for a fact that this game has been complete for over a year and I'm pretty sure that its launch was supposed to be at last year's San Diego Comic-Con but it was bumped to make sure that Stern's James Bond game was released in conjunction with Bond's 60th Anniversary celebration.
I'm also positive that the new Venom game is based on Todd MacFarlane's comics. We also know for a fact that Stern is revealing a new pinball machine at this year's Comic-Con (7/20 - 7/23). So naturally myself and many others have assumed that after missing last year's show, Stern Pinball would just reveal Venom at this year's event. But what if that wasn't the case?
During the Pinball Party episode, Jason and friends discussed a new mysterious series of posts in the Reddit Pinball message boards from someone who seems somewhat credible and claims that the game that Stern is revealing next month is not Venom. Here's specifically what was said in the thread:
"OP: I do know what's coming next from Stern, and it's not Venom. It's a re-release title that will be announced soon-ish. I have not seen any news on this yet, but .... it's coming. Venom/Spider-Man after that, then a Kapow/Studio type game from Stern could drop before JAWS as well...
OP: ...Lets say, this game has a lot of teeth on it, and it will be expensive...
RE: You already said Jaws was after everything so its not that? Any other hints?
OP: It’s an anniversary game
RE: I need another hint.
Could this actually be? Would Stern really kick the Venom can down the road...again? The folks on the Pinball Party show put their heads together and tried to figure out what the release could be if it wasn't Venom. Cale and Jason speculated that Stern could be releasing a special version of its Keith Elwin-designed Jurassic Park pinball machine. This ties in nicely with the "teeth" comment and Jurassic Park is actually going to have a big presence at the event in honor of its 30th Anniversary (see below for pictures and an article on that).
The whole Jurassic Park guess doesn't really make a lot of sense to me personally though. Stern has been cranking Jurassic Parks out at the factory on and off for the past several months. Why would Stern continue to build the original Jurassic Park (JP) if a new variant was coming soon? Plus the market is fairly saturated with JPs. The only thing that would make sense to me about Stern's Jurassic Park would be some sort of new or expanded code. People love the bootleg movie code so much for the game that they actually look for machines that do not have Insider Connected on them. Could Stern have reached an agreement with the Jurassic Park folks to release movie code for the game, perhaps as paid DLC? I have no idea. This is pure speculation on my part, but a new version of the machine itself like the Elvira 40th Edition pinball machine doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
The other potential non-Venom title that the Pinball Party people floated out there was a remake of Stern Pinball's Metallica. There has been rumblings about a Metallica remake for a while now. The mystery poster said that the game is a re-release, not a Vault and Metallica would be a Vault.
EDIT: Someone on Facebook suggested that the machine being brought back might be Stern's Stranger Things. Stranger Things would probably qualify as a re-release rather than a Vault and the Demogorgons have a lot of teeth. It's not really the Anniversary of the show that I'm aware of though. Stranger Things and Jurassic Park with actual movie assets are the two leading guesses from people...if this no Venom thing is actually true.
EDIT 2: I'm leaning towards thinking that this Reddit person is full of !@#$ and that Venom is indeed the upcoming reveal LOL.
Is this mysterious Reddit poster full of it or are we in for a big surprise? Whatever is happening at San Diego Comic-Con, we're going to see very soon, only a couple of weeks to go.
Below is a link to the episode of Pinball Party that inspired this post. The discussion about the mystery post starts at around the 30 minute mark:
Pinball Party Podcast Ep 33: Tool Time
The Jurassic Park Comic-Con display:
Jurassic Park Comic-Con experience will recreate classic moments — including that toilet scene
Steven Spielberg's classic dinosaur tale will be brought to life for fans of the 30-year-old movie.