John Wick: From Big Screen
To the Playfield
Pingame Introduces Stern Pinball’s New AI Combat System
Created in collaboration with the entertainment company Lionsgate, Stern Pinball has revealed that John Wick – based on the hit film franchise – is their newest pingame.
“Inspired by one of the most iconic and thrilling film franchises of our time, we’re releasing John Wick pinball games with the most advanced technology we’ve ever created,” said CEO and president Seth Davis. “We can’t wait for players to try out our new combat system and experience the action.”
In the game, players step into the John Wick assassin role to engage in high-speed car chases and fast-action drifting across the playfield, which includes models and artwork inspired by iconic locations from the film franchise, such as the New York Continental Hotel and Red Circle Club. Players can also open Wick’s weapons crate to reveal a hidden shot target path to retrieve a variety of weapons.
In addition to film and audio assets woven into the gameplay, there’s also custom narration by Ian McShane as Winston and an original score by Charlie Benante of Anthrax and Pantera fame. Neo-noir style paintings illustrated by Randy Martinez are featured, too.
As for that new combat system, that’s Stern’s all-new dynamic AI combat system that “brings the frenetic combat of the legendary films to the game.”
The company said: “The Stern team has created a primitive video game AI system to control the enemy lights on the playfield, setting the John Wick pinball games apart from prior pinball machines, where all lights were controlled by player actions, timers and random number generations. In this new AI combat system, enemy icons are responsive to player behavior and will illuminate dynamically around the playfield to challenge the player. The enemies move tactically with this dynamic software to counter player objectives, creating a unique challenge in each game session.”
The system also features a new action video player that reflects player action. As they defeat three enemies, players will see video clips of John Wick doing the same in the films.
The cabinet comes in three models, Pro (pictured above) and Premium (both shipping now) and Limited-Edition (shipping before this month is out), and comes pre-installed with the award-winning Insider Connected.
For the Limited-Edition models, pieces of John Wick’s iconic suits used in connection with the production of the films will be included as a franchise artifact, courtesy of Lionsgate.
Through Insider Connected, players can track progress, earn game-specific achievements and take on special John Wick quests, completing “faction contracts” to increase their assassin ranking.
Visit www.sternpinball.com to learn more.