Leaked James Bond Pinball Art Sucks?!

Cary Hardy·video·14m 26s·analyzed·Sep 14, 2022

Analysis

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TL;DR

Leaked Bond pinball art criticized as safe/derivative but playable via licensing limits

Summary

Cary Hardy analyzes leaked James Bond pinball cabinet artwork from Stern following the game's delay due to Queen Elizabeth II's passing. He examines the premium and pro cabinet art, backglass, and playfield imagery, concluding that while the art is serviceable, it relies heavily on existing movie assets rather than original custom artwork, likely due to licensing constraints. Hardy speculates this is the weakest aspect of the release but expects strong gameplay to be the primary selling point.

Key Claims

Stern has not released a game for at least eight months, making James Bond their longest gap between releases
medium confidence · Cary Hardy noting the delay's impact: 'it's been eight months at least since their last release and this is the longest they've gone without making a game'
The cabinet art was constrained by the Bond license holder and possibly the Sean Connery estate, forcing Stern to use existing assets rather than create custom artwork
medium confidence · Hardy's speculation: 'they have talent there...I think it was definitely their hands were tied when it came to the aesthetics of this machine...They had to probably use current assets. They could not recreate Sean Connery'
The pro cabinet's backglass features Dr. No and is dominated by yellow coloring
medium confidence · Hardy's image analysis: 'on the left side of the pro it looks like it's going to be dominated by the dr no movie completely on that side so i hope you like yellow'
The cabinet art reuses existing movie poster imagery in a similar manner to the Led Zeppelin pinball machine approach
high confidence · Hardy's direct comparison: 'this is like very similar to what they did with led zeppelin where they took an album cover blew it up slapped it on the side and called it done'
George Gomez is the designer of James Bond pinball
high confidence · Hardy references: 'being Gomez design and for what I'm seeing on here it looks like it's going to be a really cool shooter'

Notable Quotes

“it's been eight months at least since their last release and this is the longest they've gone without making a game”
Cary Hardy@ 1:39 — Establishes production gap and urgency for Stern to launch James Bond
“I think it was definitely their hands were tied when it came to the aesthetics of this machine guys...They had to probably use current assets. They could not recreate Sean Connery”
Cary Hardy@ 4:19 — Core thesis explaining art quality via licensing constraints rather than design capability
“this is once again the issue we have with taking current assets blowing it up putting it up there call it done and that's kind of what they've done here”
Cary Hardy@ 7:26 — Criticism of derivative approach to backglass design
“when I look at a pinball machine, the back glass should tell me what game I'm playing. And I thought for sure this was going to be a 007 James Bond game, but now this looks like this game is going to be Dr. No”
Cary Hardy@ 8:03 — Key design criticism: backglass identity confusion between franchise and specific film
“what i think not myself as well as a lot of you out there care about is how does this game play and i feel like that is going to be the point that's going to be selling this machine”
Cary Hardy@ 12:16 — Reframes discussion: gameplay will determine success despite art concerns

Entities

James BondgameStern PinballcompanyCary Hardyperson George Gomezperson Christopher Franchiperson Sean Conneryperson Led Zeppelingame

Signals

?
business_signal: Stern's longest gap between game releases (8+ months) suggests production constraints or market pressures
medium · Hardy: 'it's been eight months at least since their last release and this is the longest they've gone without making a game'
?
competitive_signal: Premium and pro tiers show different aesthetic and mechanical configurations; premium more visually appealing but pro focused on playability
medium · Hardy: 'the premium obviously aesthetically is more pleasing to the eye but it looks like when it comes to how the game is going to play...the premium is going to be the way to go'
?
design_philosophy: Cabinet art relies heavily on existing movie posters and assets rather than original custom design, similar to Led Zeppelin approach
high · Hardy: 'this is like very similar to what they did with led zeppelin where they took an album cover blew it up slapped it on the side and called it done'
?
design_philosophy: Pro cabinet backglass featuring Dr. No criticized as identity-confused; should communicate 'James Bond' rather than a specific film title
medium · Hardy: 'when I look at a pinball machine, the back glass should tell me what game I'm playing...but now this looks like this game is going to be Dr. No. Not 007 or James Bond, it's Dr. No'
?
product_concern: Leaked images are low resolution and may not accurately represent final appearance; playfield and backglass could improve significantly when viewed in person and fully lit
high · Hardy repeatedly emphasizes: 'these images are not high quality they are not the true representation of the game' and 'once you stand in front of the game...it may look a lot better'

Transcript

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0:00

I mean, I was ready. I even had my wife's carry ready to go. It's similar to the James Bond gun. It's definitely not a Walther PP7, but it looked like it, felt like it, so that's why I bought it for her.

0:20

What's up guys and welcome back to my channel where I talk and do everything pinball. So if that sounds interesting to you, then hit that subscribe button down below. We were supposed to be getting the James Bond reveal from Stern today, but late yesterday we received this message. On behalf of everyone at Stern Pinball, and out of respect to the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, we will be postponing our webinar and delaying the launch of our James Bond pinball machines. We will send updated details for timing and registration once available. Now we've already got leaked images of their Bond game, at least the premium and the pro. They got sent out yesterday. It spread like wildfire like they always do. and I wasn't going to go over these pictures. I wasn't going to do a video about these pictures because I knew that they were going to be releasing the game literally within hours. And I knew that by the time that I was even able to do a recording and video and by the time you even saw the video, then they would be releasing the game. So I was like, not even going to worry about it. But then we get notified that the game is going to be delayed for who knows how long. then I was like screw it let's talk about it now this has got to suck for start because it's been eight months at least since their last release and this is the longest they've gone without making a game and I don't know how long so you've got to know that they were wanting to bring this thing out red carpet and all and show it off to everybody and for it to come out like this gotta suck so with that being said obviously these images are not high quality they are not the true representation of the game so everything that i'm about to say everything that you're going to see take with a grain of salt let's just go through every image and we'll just discuss what we see So the first image I have here is the right side of the premium cabinet. This is very similar to the art style of it. We can remember from its earliest point, Guns N' Roses, where they show different album covers on the side. This is basically five, one, two, three, four, five different movies that Sean Connery was in for James Bond. Now, some of these are a little bit difficult to see, and I still cannot pinpoint what movie is in the bottom right-hand corner on that back leg. But I'm going to assume that it's got to be Thunderball. But you have From Russia With Love, Diamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger, and Dr. No, for sure. I can definitely pinpoint those titles out, but I cannot see that back one back there very well. Now, looking at the left side of the premium cabinet, we have the movie poster for You Only Live Twice.

5:10

They've done well. This looks great. I like this art style. It looks good. Obviously, if they had the ability to do custom and more original and recreations, then they probably should have reeled in Christopher Franchi to really give this property what it deserves. And this art that's on the left side of the premium wraps around to the front where the coin door is at. Now, we can't see the back box for the premium, so the sides of the back box or anything, but I feel like if they don't have this image of Sean Connery on the back box, and I know they're not going to but I feel like if they could have like changed the helmet from what it is to a pinball I feel like that's a missed opportunity I don't know I feel like that would look pretty damn cool if they could have it to where he's holding a giant pinball instead of the helmet but that's just mine what the hell do I know now I'm not going to move on to what we see inside the game yet but I'm moving on to this image because this gives us a closer shot of what the pro cabinet looks like and on the left side of the pro it looks like it's going to be dominated by the dr no movie completely on that side so i hope you like yellow because this game is going to be yellow and if it's going to be just like it was on the premium meaning it's going to wrap the entire left side as well as the coin door it's a good amount of yellow right there and i'm wondering if the right side of the cabinet is going to be just like the premium meaning it's going to have the you know collage of all the different types of movies that sean connery was in so that might be what the right side of the pro looks like we don't know for sure so as far as right now we can speculate but all i can say is that there's going to be a lot of yellow on this pro then you had the back glass for the pro the doctor no now this is where i feel like how about no i do want to say no on this so so it oddly enough it doctor no but i'm i look at this and i go no this is once again the issue we have with taking current assets blowing it up putting it up there call it done and that's kind of what they've done here with this and this is the i hate to use the word worst but this is definitely my least favorite of what i'm currently seeing with the art on this i mean because i don't even think that enhancing the quality of this image to show me the full color range is going to improve this because when I look at a pinball machine, the back glass should tell me what game I'm playing.

8:10

And I thought for sure this was going to be a 007 James Bond game, but now this looks like this game is going to be Dr. No. Not 007 or James Bond, it's Dr. No. I have studied this, merely just staring at it, and I cannot find myself thoroughly enjoying this being the back glass of a pinball machine. this is obviously my least favorite and I feel like if they're aiming for the pros to really attract people to come play it this is not the back glass to put up there to attract people to come play it that's just me so I don't know what the premium back glass looks like or the LE or the uh rumored 60th edition it could improve once we get higher quality imaging and see what it looks like all lit up from behind i that would definitely be a surprise to me if it changed my mind we'll just say that so let's look at the play field image and see what we think about what the play field looks like when it comes to art so i'm looking at this image of the premium with the guy reaching in to make an adjustment on something and i almost don't even want to comment on this guys it's like it would nowhere near be the representation of what we're seeing from this shot i feel like i think this is going to look really good honestly but the images that we've currently got are really not doing it any justice and maybe i'm thinking way too positive here but i feel like this is going to look really good once we get some uh better idea of it and we look down at it because i think that's what the issue is is that a lot of us are looking at images and it's not putting us into the world that we're putting ourself into when we're standing in front of the game so when we're standing outside you're looking at everything else and it just looks off-putting but once you stand in front of the game and your eyes are within the machine i feel like that's going to change the way you look at the art because you're going to be essentially in a different world underneath the glass so to speak and it may look a lot better so looking at this i don't hate it i'm not in love with it i'm merely saying that i think that there's definitely potential here and i cannot wait to see what it looks like in action i mean looking at the playfield art there is a lot going on here when it comes to uh profile images of all these different characters in these movies all the different bond villains as well as the bond females and it like looks like this game is gonna have a lot going for it when it comes to things to do because there's a lot of inserts on this damn game good lord i feel like i have spent more time than i thought i would discussing just the art so I'm going to end up breaking this into two videos one about art and one about what we are seeing inside of the games as well as the premium versus the pro but going just by these images the premium obviously aesthetically is more pleasing to the eye but it looks like when it comes to how the game is going to play and what it interacts with the ball the premium is going to be the way to go again so in a nutshell for what i'm seeing on the art does the james bond pinball cabinet art suck no could it have been better yes is it more than likely the weak point for this release yes i think that this is definitely going to be the weak point on this game release and the thing is art is very subjective and that is one thing it may be one of those games that you know we may not like the cabinet art we'll just slide it in a lineup where we're not going to see it anyways what i think not myself as well as a lot of you out there care about is how does this game play and i feel like that is going to be the point that's going to be selling this machine is we're going to see how this game shoots and being Gomez design and for what I'm seeing on here it looks like it's going to be a really cool shooter but to reiterate these images are low quality and we could see this at reveal and be completely blown away by how awesome it looks which I wouldn't be surprised guys because like I said I love the art style this is right up my alley when it comes to just aesthetically pleasing but i definitely agree if anybody out there says that this is you know probably easy copy paste or whatever it's like okay you took an image that already exists blew it up slapped it on the side of the cabinet called it done but i don't think it was because what's the best and easiest way to go about doing this i'm sure it had to have been a license holder decision and i've seen people make i'm not even going to call an argument. It's merely a comment stating that this side of the cabinet reminded them of Thunderbirds. What, because it has a blue sky and some clouds? Thunderbirds. Guys, come on. But that's gonna wrap it up, I think, for the art discussion on the leaked images for Stern's next title of James Bond. Let me know what you think about the premium and pro artwork in the comments section down below thumbs up subscribe button ding my dong and until next time guys peace out