EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: bizarrecreations
Bizarre Creations, creator of classic franchises like Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars, as well as the excellent Blur, is shutting down today.
The company was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2007, and after sales of Blur and James Bond 007: Blood Stone failed to meet projections, and with no new properties in the pipeline, the publisher decided to close the studio after a number of other options were explored, including selling the Liverpool-based developer.
In mid-November last year, news emerged that Activision was ‘considering its options’ as far as the future of internal Bizarre Creations was concerned, following the release of a pair of poorly-performing titles created at the studio, namely Blur and James Bond 007: Blood Stone.
At the time, Activision was looking to either sell the developer, consolidate the talent within the studio, or close the company outright.
Now, over two months later and with no serious potential buyers, Activision may be forced to close Bizarre.
Severe rumours have begun blustering around the tubes that veteran videogame developer Bizarre Creations (Geometry Wars, Project Gotham Racing, Blur) faces closure following a string of poorly performing titles, while the last game developed at the studio, James Bond 007: Blood Stone, received anything but stellar critical and commercial success.
Now Activision Publishing, the owners of Bizarre for over three years, is considering what it can do to make use of the obvious talent within the studio, while the option to either sell or close the developer is also on the cards.
Speaking to Kotaku, an Activision spokesperson commented:
For fans of James Bond, this week must be pretty special with the release of the first-person shooter Wii title, GoldenEye: 007, as well as this other action title, James Bond 007: Blood Stone.
Blood Stone eschews the first-person side of things seen in Activision’s previous James Bond game, Quantum of Solace, and goes all out with the third-person action as you snap, crack, pop and break enemy’s arms, necks and collar bones with reckless abandon.
Naturally, you’ll get to shoot a weapon or two, and drive very fast cars very fast, thanks to developer Bizarre Creations’ racing pedigree.
Watch the launch trailer for James Bond 007: Blood Stone below, and see some hectic action sequences transpire:
When was the first time you heard the term ‘CQC’? C’mon, don’t be embarrassed if Metal Gear Solid taught you about ‘Close Quarters Combat!’ Videogames teach us all a thing or two, like about the realities of nuclear war and private military companies.
Hang on a bit… those were also in Metal Gear Solid! What does this mean?
I know what it doesn’t mean: It doesn’t mean we’ll be free from thinking about Metal Gear Solid while playing the next James Bond game, Blood Stone.
Activision has released a batch of new screenshots for the new James Bond game currently in development at Bizarre Creations.
If you’ve seen any of the trailers (like the Istanbul one we posted earlier), you’ll notice that James Bond 007: Blood Stone features the same brand of action we’ve come to expect after the previous Bond game, Quantum of Solace. Only this time Bizarre has drawn on their talents as a racing game studio to add a few racing sequences to the mix.
One of the trailers to come out of the recently held gamescom in Cologne, Germany was a new Istanbul trailer for James Bond 007: Blood Stone.
Watch below to see Bond in action as he’s authorised to do whatever he has to, by any means necessary, to get the job done, resulting in explosions, gunfire, car chases and lots of action. You can also browse through our previous coverage of the title and look forward to our hands-on impressions of the game very soon.
A new James Bond game is currently in development at Bizarre Creations, and seems to feature the same brand of action found in the previous Bond game, Quantum of Solace, only this time infused with a few racing sequences to mix up the experience (and make use of Bizarre’s talents as a racing game studio).
The game also features an all-star cast of voice talent, including current Bond guy Daniel Craig, as well as Judi Dench (as ‘M’) and music artist Joss Stone.
The opening credits sequence for James Bond 007: Blood Stone was recently released and features a song written and performed by Joss Stone, with visuals that faithfully follow the ‘fine’ tradition of the James Bond series of films (and previous games), culminating in an altogether theatrical sequence.
Watch below:
Activision has officially taken the lid off of its next James Bond game, titled ‘James Bond 007: Blood Stone’ and currently in development at Bizarre Creations for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, with a DS version of the game in the works at n-Space.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone is set to be an action epic featuring cover-mechanic based firefights, hand-to-hand combat and “explosive adrenaline-fuelled” driving sequences, all while travelling to exotic locales around the world, visiting places like Athens, Istanbul, Monaco and Bangkok on a “global chase” to unravel an international conspiracy.
Activision has popped a multiplayer demo for their recently released arcade racing game, Blur, on the PlayStation Network.
And according to Dan Amrich, Social Media Manager at Activision, ‘Pools of lightning bolts, explosive mines, bursts of nitro speed, and big glowing red balls of homing-missile danger” come standard. Yes!
Bizarre Creations has unleashed a new pumping trailer for Blur, the studio’s recently released arcade racing game. The new ‘Freeze’ trailer shows a moment of the race, frame by frame in slow-motion. It’s pretty awesome but you can see that for yourself below:
Activision and Bizarre Creation’s hybrid action racing game Blur raced on to shelves across North America yesterday, and an explosive launch trailer has been released to celebrate the launch. The game will be available across Europe, the UK and South Africa on the 28th of May (this Friday!) on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
Developers at Bizarre Creations have stated on numerous occasions that they don’t mind that their latest action racing game, Blur, is being compared to Nintendo’s power-up infused Mario Kart series of racing games. They’re even honoured that Blur can measure up to such a distinguished and long-running franchise.
It seems as though Blur’s marketing team has other ideas.
While this latest trailer for Blur is rather funny, it’s always a little worrying when one game needs to belittle another ‘competing’ game to get ahead. Can’t Blur stand on its own features?
It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt:
As a result of the enormous response to the closed multiplayer beta for Activision and Bizarre Creation’s arcade racer, Blur, the pair have put the beta demo up on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for all to download and enjoy.
Bizarre Creations has released a new documentary for their upcoming racing game Blur in which the developers discuss the effects of the power-ups in the game.
Watch the first Under the Hood documentary below to find out a little more about what power-ups will be available in the game (hint: nitro and barge are on the list), and how they will affect gameplay. For more information about Blur, don’t miss our previous coverage for trailers, screenshots and a hands-on preview of the game.
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