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Stern Pinball Announces New Star Wars™ Comic Art Pin™ Affordable Pinball Machine for the Home

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News provided by: Stern Pinball, Inc.

Stern Pinball announced today the availability of the Star Wars™ Comic Art Pin™, a new stylish, affordable, and fun pinball machine designed and engineered for the home.

Based upon the highly successful Star Wars™ Original Consumer Pin™, Stern’s new Star Wars™ Comic Art Pin™ celebrates the iconic comic artwork from the Star Wars galaxy.  Star Wars™ Comic Art Pin™ immerses players in the dynamic Star Wars™ universe.  The Pin™ is packed with features that provide players with an irresistible game experience including select speech and footage from the original Star Wars™ trilogy, color-changing playfield inserts, a custom sculpted Death Star, and a custom sculpted and interactive TIE fighter. 

Star Wars™ Comic Art Pin™ pinball machines feature the artwork of famed comic artist, Randy Martinez. Randy has been illustrating for over 30 years receiving countless accolades for his work.  Randy has been creating cartoons, caricatures, illustrations, paintings, and 3D art for Lucasfilm since 1999.

The easy-to-setup Star Wars™Comic Art Pin™ is reliable, built to last, and engineered with genuine Stern commercial-quality parts.  The playfield is housed in a stylish cabinet with dynamic, high definition artwork.  The all-LED playfield lighting provides optimal colour and brilliant light shows. 

“The Star Wars™ Comic Art Pin™ is designed to provide quality family entertainment and bring pinball fun to homes everywhere,” said Gary Stern, Chairman, and CEO of Stern Pinball, Inc. “We are pleased to bring these pinball machines celebrating the Star Wars™ galaxy and adventures to our fans with beautiful new comic artwork.” 

Complementing the immersive theme and exciting gameplay experience, Stern Pinball’s powerful SPIKE™ electronics hardware system enables high-definition graphics and innovative animations.  SPIKE™ reduces system complexity and energy usage, resulting in enhanced reliability and simplified servicing. 

Pricing and Availability: 

  • Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (“MSRP”)*: $US 4,499 / $AU 6,950^^

*MSRP for sales to USA end-users, before any VAT, GST, Sales Tax, Duties, or other taxes.
^^Available in February 2021 in Australia. Contact the Australian distributor for more details. 

Visit the official Star Wars™ Comic Art Pin™ game page for more details!

 

The Mandalorian Virtual Pinball is coming to Pinball FX3 – We have spoken!

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You guys know that we are huge STAR WARS fans yeah? And we hope you know by now that we are also massive PINBALL fans, be it the real or virtual kind.

With the news that Zen Studios’ Pinball FX3 will add The Mandalorian pinball machine to the platform is darn awesome news! The Mandalorian will be their 20th Star Wars themed pinball machine, featuring story-based missions following events of the first season from the hit Disney+ series.

Before you ask (or if you’ve already seen the above pic), of course cute baby Yoda will be featured! Now roll on Spring (aka: Autumn for us!) 2021!

As the great Kuiil said, “I have spoken”!


source: Zen Studios

 

The Great Classic Gaming Magnets Giveaway!

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**** GIVEAWAY ****

** GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED! **

Whoa, our friends at Magnetism Creations have given us some of their awesome video games and pinball related magnets to giveaway to our readers! Yep, this is a giveaway!

So what do you have to do to be in the running for 1 of the 3 mystery magnet packs? Relax, you don’t have to do anything stressful like run a marathon under 2 hours – all you have to do is ensure you like Magnetism Creations and Ausretrogamer on Facebook (and don’t forget to like and share the post for more chances!). For an extra chance to win, make sure you follow us in Twitter! See, that wasn’t too painful now, was it?!

The giveaway will finish at 6:00pm on Friday September 18, 2020! Winners will be notified by us shortly after the conclusion of the giveaway, so stay tuned and good luck!

PS: To get you motivated for this easy giveaway, check out a few of Magnetism Creations’ awesome magnets below…

 

Talking Retro Gaming, Pinball and Toy Collecting with Cause and Effect Gamers

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I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed during the Tech Games Fest event (TGF 2020) by our good friend Andrew Owen from Cause and Effect Gamers – Andrew is also the co-ordinator of TGF.

We talk all things retro gaming, our involvement with PAX Aus, the lure of pinball, toys – especially Masters Of The Universe, and of course, movies we love to watch!

Grab some popcorn and enjoy 🙂


source: Cause and Effect Gamers

 

Star Wars Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back: 40 Year Anniversary Stamp Pack

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Listen up Star Wars fans and stamp collectors, Australia Post has something really cool for you all!

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the theatrical release of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Australia Post has a released a commemorative (licensed) The Empire Strike Back 40 Years stamp pack! This awesome stamp pack contains 20 $1.10 Map of Australia stamps from their Joyful Occasions stamp issue, as well as action-packed The Empire Strike Back graphics in the stamp tabs!

Oh yeah, they also have the Rise of Skywalker stamp pack too!

image source: Australia Post

 

STAR WARS Comic Art Pinball: May The Force Be With You

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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far too close to home, I was excited when Stern Pinball announced their Star Wars pinball machine. I was so excited by this news, I almost bought one without playing it!

But there was a disturbance in the (pinball) FORCE in mid 2017! Bear with me here, as this story delves into the depths of the dark side before I see the light.

Cooler heads prevailed and I took Ms. ausretrogamer’s advice to play the pinball machine before making a decision to buy it or not. Well, on that fateful day in mid 2017, my initial impression of Stern’s Star Wars pinball wasn’t at all positive. I played the Pro model of the game, and let’s just say that it didn’t inspire me to press the start button to play it again. The FORCE just wasn’t strong enough to engage me. I was gutted! I felt that the machine did not capture the theme and universe of my all-time favourite movie franchise. I buried my disappointment and forgot about the machine. As the great Jedi Master, Yoda once said, “Disappointment is the path to the dark side. Disappointment leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Welllll, he didn’t say that exactly, but you get my drift.

Luckily I did not give in to the disappointment, no matter how tempting the dark side of the force was. At the time, I found solace in another pinball machine, Chicago Gaming Company’s Attack From Mars Remake. My pinball mojo was back to peak level and the disappointment of the Star Wars pinball machine was all but a distant memory.

source: Stern Pinball Inc.

Then in mid 2019, there was a flicker in the FORCE. My brother-in-law, who got the silverball bug after playing our machines, went hunting for his first pinball game and settled for a Stern Star Wars Premium pinball machine. I remember thinking to myself, I hope he loves the game. Well, to my surprise, he did. What surprised me even more was my reaction to the game – once I pressed the start button and started flipping, I was immediately grabbed by the FORCE, just like Darth Vader’s force choke. Taking Yoda’s advice to heart, we had to unlearn what we learned about this game.

Wow, what a difference two years had made! The updated code and of course, this being the Premium model of the game, it felt like I was in the middle of the (original) Star Wars universe! I found that my excitement for the machine was at the same level as when Stern first announced that they were making a Star Wars pinball game. I knew then that I had to hunt down a machine to fulfil my wish of owning my pinball dream theme.

Just like all Star Wars stories, starting with a struggle and then ending on a positive note, so has this musing. I finally saw the light side of the FORCE and procured my pinball dream theme, a Stern Star Wars Comic Art Premium machine, beautifully presented by Star Wars comic artist, Randy Martinez – it’s so eye-poppingly beautiful. It was a long time coming to get to this point, but I am glad I went on this journey and reached my destination. The moral of my story is, never judge a book by its cover and always come back to a pinball game you haven’t played in a while, it may surprise you.

Thanks to the folks at Zax Amusements for fulfilling my wish – they made this Padawan very happy. May the FORCE be with you!

A lightsaber is required to bust open this beauty!

The Ausretrogamer Fun Factory is READY!

The machine is (almost) in its position – love the right side cabinet art!

Love the left side art cabinet too!

And we are upright!

We have the keys to the Millennium Falcon

Time to play and defeat the evil Empire!

Always Use The Force!

Love the LCD – it integrates the theme with visual Star Wars eye-candy

The comic art is eye-poppingly gorgeous on this machine

Taking in the comic art with the glass off!

Randy Martinez should be commended for his brilliant art work on this machine

Let’s blow up the Death Star

Making the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs

The magnets on this machine whiz the balls around on the hyperspace loop at breakneck speeds!

And we are on, like Donkey K… Ah, never mind!

Who doesn’t like seeing their name on the high score table

Just enjoying the view

A handsome threesome in the Fun Factory

 

May The 4th Be With You – Happy Star Wars Day

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It’s STAR WARS DAY peeps! May the 4th be with you!

As huge Star Wars fans, we can’t go past celebrating this day. Since Star Wars Day almost coincides with our birthday, it makes it that little bit extra special.

We are celebrating this day with our new cool and very special gift, a Star Wars – Han Solo Limited Edition Invicta watch. We love everything about this awesome watch, from Han encased in carbonite sharing the watch-face with his beloved Millennium Falcon, his heavy blaster on the second hand, to the leather strap depicting his attire, and of course, the Millennium Falcon side plate and the see-through automatic watch movement. Do you have any special Star Wars items celebrating this occasion?

From all of us at ausretrogamer, have yourselves a great Star Wars Day, and May The 4th Be With You!

 

 

 

Retro Gaming Graffiti

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Let’s start by saying we don’t condone illegal graffiti. However, when graffiti is welcomed as street art and makes a societal impact, we definitely take note.

The /r/Graffiti Reddit thread is one place that is full of great graffiti, some topical with recent events, and some tugging on our nostalgic heartstrings.

Here are a few that caught our eye, even the freight train carriage with the three-button NES controller! Check out the rest on Reddit.

image source: reddit – /r/Graffiti

 

Star Wars Premium Pinball You Are Like Cinnamon!

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Following on from the Diary Of A First Time Pinball Buyer feature, Nick has put pen to paper (Ed: shouldn’t that be fingers to keys?) to give us his take on owning Stern’s Star Wars Premium pinball machine.

We have now had our Stern Star Wars Premium pinball machine for 3 and a half months and have already clocked up playing over 6,400 balls or over 2100 total plays! The whole family has loved it, from my wife to our 11 and 7 year old sons. Although I still classify myself as a novice player, I have found it a really rewarding and enjoyable pin to play. Having the four different Star Wars characters and all the different missions, means it is an incredibly deep game to really engross yourself in, or just have a bash and see what happens!

As a huge fan of Star Wars, this is a very special pin to me. The artwork, playfield, excerpts from the films and the game itself, is just a terrific homage to the original Star Wars trilogy (which are arguably the best films of them all!). Stern have done a great job of making the playfield pop out and use of the screens without detracting from the mechanical elements of the game.  I also love the ramps and the hyperdrive loop, they are so satisfying to hit again and again! While playing this machine over and over again, I find new details, scenes or features that I haven’t seen before.

I still haven’t managed to blow up the Death Star – through Death Star or Endor missions, but have been one shot away (hitting the hyperdrive loop) from doing so. I have adjusted the settings to easy, so as to encourage longer play and obviously some bigger scores. Also, playing the game at night with only the pinball lighting up is really cool – the Escape from Bobba Fett mission looks pulsating and amazing when you get to it.

Except for an occasional stuck ball, the machine has been trouble free. I have also bought a cover for the machine it doesn’t get affected by UV in our gaming shed. Since I do not have the official topper, I came up with one of my own – decorating it with Return Of The Jedi themed bobble-heads! It is an evolving collection!

Star Wars Premium Pinball, you are like cinnamon!

PS: For those that don’t get the you are like cinnamon reference, check this out 😉

 

CES 2020 Unveiled – Cool Retro Tech You’ll Want To Play With

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Before the big CES 2020 event kicks off, the CES Unveiled event showcases the latest products and trends leading up to the main event.

Three products caught our attention from Arcade1Up, iiRcade and My Arcade which we thought we’d share with you all below.

We can’t wait to find out more about these hot items, so stay tuned!

1. Arcade1Up 3/4 Scale Digital Pinball Machines

Arcade1Up has teamed up with our friends at Zen Studios to bring you a couple of pretty awesome three-quarter size pinball machines which include titles from Bally/Williams and other yet to be announced, big names in the pinball space! We love both the Star Wars and Attack From Mars machines and can’t wait to hear more about them.

image source: northvibe via pinside

2. iiRcade – The Ultimate Home Arcade

This new ultimate home arcade, iiRcade, with online capabilities, enables gamers to legally download and play their favourite officially licensed arcade games – no more shady arcade ROM sites! Gamers who want to enjoy their favourite retro arcade games or play modern games in the arcade environment can now have the full arcade experience in their homes, either in a full size stand-up or bartop guise, it is up to you. With iiRcade, gamers can select and purchase a game they want on iiRcade’s app store, which is then automatically downloaded and installed on their iiRcade machine.

image source: iiRcade

3. My Arcade Super Retro Champ Console

The Super Retro Champ console is the successor to My Arcade’s award-winning Retro Champ and enables retro gamers to enjoy their SNES, Super Famicom, and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges from a single console. The Super Retro Champ features a 7-inch screen and a built-in rechargeable battery that offers up to 5 hours of play time. Retro gamers can play the Super Retro Champ in handheld mode or use the 2 included wireless gamepads to play in tabletop and TV mode. An HDMI® output allows users to enjoy their classic games from the comfort of their couch.

image source: Games Press