RUMOR: George Gomez James Bond May Be Stern Pinball's Next Game

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·May 30, 2022

Analysis

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TL;DR

Rumor: George Gomez developing new Stern James Bond pinball after Ritchie's departure.

Summary

A blog post from Knapp Arcade reports a rumor from the Eclectic Gamers Podcast (EGP) that George Gomez has taken over a James Bond pinball license from Steve Ritchie and is designing a completely new three-flipper layout. The post notes this could be Stern's final cornerstone game of 2022, though the author expresses skepticism about EGP's track record for accurate rumors.

Key Claims

George Gomez took over the James Bond license that Steve Ritchie was working on when he left Stern for Jersey Jack
medium confidence · From Eclectic Gamers Podcast via Knapp Arcade blog; author notes EGP's reliability is mixed
Gomez is developing a completely new, three-flipper layout for the Bond game from scratch
medium confidence · EGP rumor as reported by Knapp Arcade
The Gomez-Bond pinball machine may be Stern's final cornerstone game of 2022
low confidence · EGP host Dennis stated this according to the blog; author notes this is speculative
There have been prior rumblings about a Bond pinball in Stern's queue
medium confidence · Author's general industry knowledge; not attributed to specific source

Notable Quotes

“George Gomez took over the license for the game that Steve Ritchie was working on when he left Stern Pinball for Jersey Jack and is he developing a completely new, three-flipper layout for it from scratch.”
Knapp Arcade (summarizing EGP) — Core claim about Gomez's takeover of Bond project
“a Gomez-007 pinball machine 'may very well be' Stern's final cornerstone game of 2022”
Dennis (EGP host) — Prediction about release timing and positioning
“Dennis' batting average for the beloved Rumor Corner segment is the equivalent of a light-hitting, defense-first shortstop”
Knapp Arcade — Author expressing skepticism about rumor source credibility

Entities

George Gomezperson Steve RitchiepersonStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack Pinballcompany James BondgameEclectic Gamers Podcast (EGP)organizationDennispersonKnapp Arcadeorganization

Signals

?
design_philosophy: George Gomez designing three-flipper layout from scratch for Bond, representing departure from standard configuration
medium · EGP rumor; specificity suggests some basis but unconfirmed
?
licensing_signal: Bond pinball licensing complexity regarding incorporation of multiple Bond actors (Connery, Moore, Craig) and film IP rights
medium · Author speculating on licensing challenges; reasonable industry knowledge inference
?
personnel_signal: Steve Ritchie departed Stern Pinball for Jersey Jack, leading to license handoff to George Gomez
high · Confirmed in referenced prior blog post; widely known industry fact
?
rumor_hype: Eclectic Gamers Podcast reports George Gomez has taken over James Bond license from departing Steve Ritchie; rumored to be final cornerstone game of 2022
low · EGP host Dennis stated this; Knapp Arcade author notes EGP's track record for accuracy is mixed ('light-hitting, defense-first shortstop')

Topics

Upcoming Stern Pinball releasesprimaryJames Bond pinball machine developmentprimaryPersonnel moves: Ritchie to Jersey Jack, Gomez takeoverprimaryGame design: three-flipper layout innovationsecondaryLicensing and IP scope for Bond across multiple actors/filmssecondaryPodcast rumor accuracy and source credibilitymentioned

Sentiment

neutral(0.5)— Author is intrigued by the rumor but explicitly skeptical of the source's track record. Tone is conversational and speculative rather than assertive. No strong negative or positive positioning.

Transcript

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Years ago when I was starting to get much more into the hobby and had just really begun to listen to podcasts, Dennis and Tony's Eclectic Gamers Podcast (EGP) was the first podcast about pinball that I ever listened to. I was listening to the newest episode of the show this morning and heard an interesting rumor about Stern Pinball's upcoming release. As In wrote here last week (Link: https://www.knapparcade.org/post/george-gomez-replaced-steve-ritchie-as-designer-on-upcoming-stern-pinball-machine ) George Gomez took over the license for the game that Steve Ritchie was working on when he left Stern Pinball for Jersey Jack and is he developing a completely new, three-flipper layout for it from scratch. According to EGP, the license that George Gomez is working on is...James Bond. Taking the rumor one step further, in the episode, Dennis stated that a Gomez-007 pinball machine "may very well be" Stern's final cornerstone game of 2022. There's been rumblings that a Bond pin is in Stern's queue for some time, so this rumor certainly isn't completely out of left field. However, to use another baseball analogy, Dennis' batting average for the beloved Rumor Corner segment is the equivalent of a light-hitting, defense-first shortstop. So will a Gomez-Bond pin really be Stern's next game? I guess that we'll all see this summer. If a Stern James Bond pin is coming, I wonder how they would do it? Would it just be based on the newest Daniel Craig Bond movie? Or would it be based upon older films? When I was young, I used to LOVE the Roger Moore and Sean Connery Bond films. It would be cool if Stern somehow incorporated all of the bonds (or at least the good ones LOL) into the machine. The licensing to do that might be tricky though depending upon what intellectual property the studio does and doesn't own. Here's a link to the Eclectic Gamers episode that I referenced in this post: https://eclecticgamerspodcast.wordpress.com/ P.S. The new "Rumor Corner" theme song is fantastic LOL