FULL THROTTLE: |
Date: 21st August, 2013 As you may have seen in our UK Pinball Party report, the Heighway Pinball team held a presentation at the show to update guests on their progress, and to let them play the latest prototype of their Full Throttle game. The event was introduced by Pinball News Editor, Martin Ayub, who asked Andrew to bring the audience up-to-date with developments which have taken place in the months since the game's previous showing at the German Pinball Open.
Andrew announced two new members of the Heighway Pinball team - who we'll be talking more about shortly - spoke about the changes made to the artwork package, described the new cabinet design they will be showing shortly, and explained how the rules have been developed on a virtual system and are now being ported to the physical machine.
He then revealed the game and invited the audience to come up and experience it for themselves.
Before the presentation though, Andrew took time out for an exclusive video interview with Pinball News, where he expanded on all these topics and revealed who those two new team members are. You can watch our interview below: So the two new members are revealed as famed pinball artist Doug Watson, and renowned pinball designer Dennis Nordman. The translite and cabinet side art are Doug's new designs, but they are still works-in-progress and will be refined before production of the game begins.
Dennis Nordman has also joined the team and will be designing Heighway Pinball's third title, which is anticipated to reach production in the summer of 2014. Dennis's game along with the second title, will both feature licensed themes.
Due to the timing of the show, the machine unveiled during the presentation at the UK Pinball Party didn't feature the final cabinet design, but there were promotional banners placed around the bar area to show how it will look.
But we can bring you more detail with three computer renderings of the cabinets. The first shows the black and chrome design used on the regular Full Throttle model.
Then we have the two options available for the 250 Limited Edition models - red trim on a black cabinet, or black trim on a red cabinet. It will be up to the buyers to choose which version they prefer for their game.
The Heighway Pinball team will have a busy October this year as they will be showing their game - including the new cabinet design - at a number of shows throughout the month. They plan to hold a launch party in central London, and will follow that up with an appearance at the Play Expo show in Manchester, UK as part of the Northern Lights Pinball event. Pinball News will be at both these shows, and we will be running a PinGolf tournament at Play Expo. Subscribers to our Pinball News Update scheme have an exclusive opportunity to win free tickets to Play Expo, so if you haven't signed up for our free Update newsletter, do it quickly to be in with a chance of winning. After Play Expo, both Heighway Pinball and Pinball News will be heading to Chicago for Pinball Expo where Andrew will be making a presentation to show the team's progress and future direction. Four complete preproduction units are being built for these events. All the playfields will be built at the company's facility in South Wales, but two of the four cabinets will be constructed in the US. That means only the playfields need to be shipped across the Atlantic for Pinball Expo, saving time, shipping costs and red tape. The weekend after Pinball Expo, the game gets its final showing of the season at the FestiFlip pinball event held in Saint-Étienne near Lyon in south-east France. Full details of the launch party in London along with global pricing for Full Throttle will be announced in a couple of weeks, and you'll be able to read all about both right here at Pinball News.
© Pinball News 2013 |