Bizarre Creations
 | |
Former type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video game industry |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Founded | 1988 (1988) |
| Defunct | 18 February 2011 (2011-02-18) |
| Headquarters | Liverpool, England |
| Products | Geometry Wars series Project Gotham Racing series |
| Parent | Activision |
| Website | www.bizarrecreations.com  |
Bizarre Creations Limited was a British video game development studio based in Liverpool, best known for their racing titles Metropolis Street Racer (Dreamcast) and the follow-up Project Gotham Racing series (Xbox, Xbox 360, Mobile Phone and Zune HD). The company has also developed games in other genres, including the Geometry Wars arcade series, plus third-person shooters Fur Fighters and The Club. Bizarre Creations was acquired by publisher Activision in 2007, and subsequently completed its racer Blur in May 2010.
On 20 January 2011, Activision announced Bizarre Creations would close, and later confirmed the date. Bizarre marked the closure by releasing a retrospective video of its life's work.[1]
Contents
1 History
2 Games developed
3 References
4 External links
History
A screen-shot taken from Metropolis Street Racer on the Dreamcast showing the Bizarre Creations logo used during the year 2000–2001.
Bizarre Creations started as Raising Hell Software, founded by Martyn Chudley. Sega scorned "Hell", and the company went nameless for a short time. In 1994, a pending submission to Psygnosis/Sony forced the decision of a new name. The founder tentatively left "Weird Concepts" on the submission documentation. Then a staff member used Microsoft Word's thesaurus, and "Bizarre Creations" stuck.
The Bizarre Creations team was initially five strong, and worked on a concept project called "Slaughter". After seeing the demo, Psygnosis signed the team onto Formula 1 (for PlayStation). Formula 1 went on to become the best-selling game in Europe in 1996.
On 26 September 2007, publisher Activision acquired Bizarre Creations.[2] for $107.4m; $67.4m immediately payable with a further $40m contingent hitting certain goals over a 5-year period.[3]
Activision announced that Project Gotham Racing 4 would be Bizarre Creations' last game for Microsoft Game Studios,[4] and Microsoft did retain the rights for the Project Gotham Racing franchise.
On 16 November 2010, Activision announced it was considering closing Bizarre and "exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business".[5] Activision later stated that no buyer could be found and that the studio would close.[6]
Games developed
| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| as Raising Hell Software | ||
| 1988 | Combat Crazy | Commodore 64 |
| 1990 | The Killing Game Show | Amiga, Atari ST, Sega Mega Drive |
| 1993 | Wiz 'n' Liz | Amiga, Sega Mega Drive |
| as Bizarre Creations | ||
| 1996 | Formula 1 | PlayStation, Microsoft Windows |
| 1997 | Formula 1 97 | PlayStation, Microsoft Windows |
| 2000 | Fur Fighters | Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 |
| 2000 | Metropolis Street Racer | Dreamcast |
| 2001 | Project Gotham Racing | Xbox |
| 2002 | Treasure Planet | Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2 |
| 2003 | Project Gotham Racing 2 | Xbox |
| 2005 | Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved | Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows |
| 2005 | Project Gotham Racing 3 | Xbox 360 |
| 2007 | Boom Boom Rocket | Xbox 360 |
| 2007 | Project Gotham Racing 4 | Xbox 360 |
| 2007 | Geometry Wars: Galaxies | Wii, Nintendo DS |
| 2008 | The Club | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |
| 2008 | Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 | Xbox 360 |
| 2010 | Geometry Wars: Touch | iOS |
| 2010 | Blur | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |
| 2010 | James Bond 007: Blood Stone[7][8] | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |
References
^ Wesley Yin-Poole (18 February 2011). "Bizarre says goodbye with farewell video News – - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 15 May 2011..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ Studio News – Bizarre Creations Archived 5 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
^ "Bizarre Creations for Activision_Blizzard (ATVI)". Wikinvest.com. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
^ "Activision buys Bizarre – News". www.developmag.com. 26 September 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
^ Rainier (16 November 2010). "Activision Looking To Close Or Sell Bizarre Creations". WorthPlaying. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
^ Fred Dutton (19 January 2011). "Activision finalises Bizarre closure News – - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
^ "James Bond 007: Blood Stone Leaks". IGN. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
^ "James Bond 007: Bloodstone confirmed". GameSpot. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
External links
"Official website". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2005.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
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