News from the pinball sector continues to heat up and today we have more information on a new upstart based in the UK that is bringing a non-licensed table to the mix (finally).
Called Heighway Pinball, we’ve spoken of them briefly on the site before. Their first game would be considered something of a risk in pinball for the past 10 years or so – just about everything has used a license of some kind as a way to attract fans of a particular movie, band, game or TV show. I’ve spoken previously of how I don’t believe that this should be an absolute necessity in pinball. But doing that requires much more creativity to make an outstanding game.
Anyways, the first project by the company is called Full Throttle, which as the title implies has to do with cars. As we have touched on in a previous post, the game uses an LCD monitor but instead of putting it into the backbox, they opted to put it right into the playfield so your eyes don’t have to leave the playfield to see pertinent information. It also features multi-color LEDs and a modular design so that down the road an operator or collector can change out the playfield without too much trouble. Their second game plans on kicking it up a notch in the technology field by using one of those transparent displays built right into the glass, which should be quite a sight.
At the German Pinball Open which was held from the 12th-14th of April, Full Throttle made its first public appearance, after missing that chance in January this year at the EAG Expo 2013. The site Pinballnews.com was there to snap some pictures as well as get this video, which you can see below. The game is scheduled for a release in June, where they will have more than one version available – a Limited Edition, the standard model and some conversion kits. If those kits are compatible with Stern cabinets then that could certainly prove to be a good way to get into the market with their first game.