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007: Blood Stone will infiltrate retail without a demo
Look, we're all curious what a Bizarre-crafted Bond game is going to look like -- but we're going to have to wait just a little longer than we expected to satisfy that curiosity. When asked during an interview with VG247 whether a 007: Blood Stone demo would arrive on PSN and Xbox Live before the game's release, director Jeff Lewis replied, "unfortunately not." Sure, it's kind of a bummer that we have to wait until the game's November 2 release date to try our hand at it, but we understand why Bizarre would want to keep a trial version of the game tabled. After all, it would be difficult for the demo to hide the major plot twist that Joss Stone is the Blood Stone, and is actually made of diamonds. Whoops!
Bond behind the wheel in new Blood Stone trailer
In the words of designer Sandy Lockie, Bizarre Creations has "a fantastic pedigree" when it comes to racing games -- "just such a good fit for a Bond game." Lockie himself also has a fantastic pedigree for rad hair. Scraggly chin beard? That too.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone trailer highlights henchmen woes
We've never actually met a "henchman" before, but we sure hope they get a good health plan. If this James Bond 007: Blood Stone trailer is any indication, they're going to need a good doctor ... and an even better dentist.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone dev diary shakes (not stirs) things up
It's an odd sensation for us to feel excited about a James Bond development these days, but it's hard for us not to get moderately pumped by this dev diary for Blood Stone. It's got shooting, punching and stunt driving? That's like a delicious salsa, only with awesome things instead of vegetables.
James Bond: Blood Stone preview: 20 percent driving, 80 percent combat
With veteran racing game developer Bizarre Creations at the helm of James Bond 007: Blood Stone, you might think there would be a heavy emphasis on driving in the next Bond adventure. Not so -- only about 20 percent of the game is played behind a steering wheel, Activision associate producer Michael O'Donnell told me during a recent preview event for the game. Most of Blood Stone is devoted to cover-based shooting and stealthy takedowns. "This is the Bond event, if you will, of the year," O'Donnell proclaimed, perhaps as a friendly challenge to his Activision colleagues developing the GoldenEye remake (also due out this year). O'Donnell's words were backed up by the highly polished build of the game on hand at the event. I wasn't permitted to play the first area of the demo -- a jungle infiltration mission where Bond must gain entry to a massive base on the side of a steep cliff -- but I was almost grateful because, damn, there was a lot to just see. %Gallery-101952%
Watch this James Bond 007: Blood Stone trailer by any means necessary
Your task isn't nearly as daunting as the one facing Bizarre's Bond in Blood Stone. The iconic spy is sent to Istanbul to intercept the sale of "mission-critical biotechnology," and is granted inevitably catastrophic permission to do so "by any means necessary." The only thing in Istanbul we don't feel sorry for is the drill on loan from Total Recall.
European Blur demo comes with a chance to win a BMW
It's rare that playing a video game will actually bring you closer to performing those in-game activities in the real world. A successful Madden career won't earn you a spot on the Bengals' bench. Skills in Final Fantasy won't make hoisting comically large swords above your head any easier. However, Activision's offering folks who download and play the Blur demo from the European PlayStation Store a chance to drive a fast car for driving fast cars. The fast car in question is a BMW 125i coupé, which Activision and Sony will reward to one random player who downloads the European demo and reaches the rank of level 5. Three runners-up will receive copies of Blur, which is ... roughly the same, right? Yeah, not much disparity there. For full rules and regulations for the contest, check out PlayStation Blog.
Watch the James Bond 007: Blood Stone opening credits
With Bond 23 canceled, Activision's James Bond 007: Blood Stone may be your only dose of Bond for some time. It's a good thing they're going all out with the production then, with Daniel Craig in the starring role (sorry, EastEnder) and siren Joss Stone stepping into the appropriately fancy shoes of Bond Girl. You can hear her pipes in the non-titular title song "I'll Take it All" in the trailer here, and see her doing her best Bond Girl impersonation in the gallery below. %Gallery-98001%
Preview: James Bond 007: Blood Stone
Bond is back in Bizarre Creations' James Bond 007: Blood Stone. I got a first look at the game's opening act during an Activision media event in San Diego yesterday, where I also spoke with designer Sandy Lockie about the development of this original Bond adventure. Primarily a third-person shooter, Blood Stone immediately drew comparisons to Bizarre's other shooter, The Club, when it was announced last week. Indeed, Lockie confirms that the new Bond game has its roots in the studio's previous effort. "It's basically the Club team," he tells me. "We rolled off on The Club and started working on this straight away." But while The Club was all about scoring points and more points, Bizarre is designing Blood Stone to be "a much deeper shooting experience." %Gallery-97612%
James Bond 007: Blood Stone trailer is for your eyes only
James Bond is a man of action. Mere screenshots can't do his daring justice. But a trailer? Now we're talking. See Bond run, gun and generally blow things up good in the first trailer for James Bond 007: Blood Stone, which you'll find after the break. It's the kind of stuff that will leave fans of Her Majesty's top super-spy shaken and stirred.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone hurled through holiday release window, courtesy of Bizarre
Assassinating months of speculation, Activision has finally announced its new James Bond game, helmed by Project Gotham Racing and Blur developer Bizarre Creations. Featuring an original story by Bruce Feirstein (who penned the screenplay for GoldenEye and the script for 2003's Bond game, Everything or Nothing), James Bond 007: Blood Stone features a mix of third-person cover-based shooting, hand-to-hand combat and "adrenaline-fuelled driving sequences" on land and sea -- and air, if there are enough exploding ramps. Daniel Craig will reprise his role as suave spy guy (it's not like they need him for a movie right now) alongside Judi Dench, who once again plays stern boss lady "M." Grammy award-winning singer Joss Stone will be playing Blood Stone's obligatory gun-toting temptress, presumably because Oliver Stone couldn't quite pull off the evening gowns. Stone -- that's Joss -- will also provide the game's original theme song, "I'll Take it All," with the aid of Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics. Bizarre's James Bond 007: Blood Stone is set to launch on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this holiday season. N-Space is developing a DS version for the same time frame. You can watch the trailer for the console version here. %Gallery-97612%
Activision studios head brings development strategy into focus
"It doesn't make sense anymore," Activision executive VP of worldwide studios Dave Stohl declared to us in a small office, hidden away from the noisy E3 show floor. "You've really got to focus." The executive, who oversees every development studio that Activision owns, was reflecting on the old business model that encouraged studios to take on multiple projects at once. Today, the industry's leading third-party publisher has a new mantra: one game per studio. "People want the freedom to put all their resources against the big opportunity, and that's what we're trying to do," Stohl explained during our conversation at last month's show. We wondered if the shift in strategy was less ingenuity and more a sign of the times. Last year's holiday season was headlined by two major events: the slowdown of music game sales and the ridiculous success of Modern Warfare 2.
ModNation Racers' top 15 finish sets slow pace for May racing game sales
Despite three high-profile launches in May, the racing genre got lapped that month, according to NPD sales data. Sony's PS3-exclusive ModNation Racers, Activision's Bizarre-developed Blur and Disney's excellent Split/Second all fared poorly on the retail circuit with ModNation squeezing its way into the top 15 (on just one platform, mind you), while the other two multiplatform titles didn't crack the top 30. Analyst Michael Pachter told IGN that he "thought the ModNation number was respectable, since the game came out only on May 25." Blur came out on the same day, so, relatively, its sales were disappointing. While sales figures weren't provided for any of the above games, Pachter writes in his monthly NPD analysis that Blur "sold well below our estimate of 100,000 units," giving us some insight into how both it and Split/Second performed. However, Split/Second was released a week earlier than ModNation and Blur. With two much higher-profile racing games coming out this fall, in Gran Turismo 5 and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, it remains to be seen if the racing genre itself is toxic at the checkout counter or if gamers have simply passed over May's hybrid concepts, content to wait for the new models of their favorite makes.
Blur marked down $30 for Amazon Deal of the Day
Amazon's current Deal of the Day is on Bizarre Creations' grown-up kart racer, Blur, which is temporarily available for $29.99 on PS3 and 360, and $19.99 on PC. We suggest spending the extra $30 you save on this transaction on a few sessions with a grief counselor -- you'll need it after the tenth time you get Shunted one centimeter from the finish line. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Review: Blur
Blur is a great proof of concept. Bizarre Creations set out to update Mario Kart's tried and true formula with real cars in a "mature" setting -- and for the most part, the developer succeeded. Racing has a great sense of speed, enemy AI isn't nearly as elastic (even in the harder levels) as in Nintendo's kart racer and the power-up mechanics offer a balanced selection of weapons, making gameplay more tactical than dependent on dumb luck. However, between a poorly paced campaign, a small handful of available race modes and an uninspired sense of style (from the announcer to the menu layouts), I found myself wanting much more from the single-player campaign. The best part of the game is its plain-Jane racing but, unfortunately, Blur forces you to complete its two lesser modes (Destruction and Checkpoint) in order to get to all of it. Combine that with an exponentially increasing difficulty level in the game's later competitions and you've got Blur: a fun, interesting racing game with terrible structure. %Gallery-63796%
Red Dead Redemption tops UK charts again; Blur loses out to Split/Second
Rockstar's western opus, Red Dead Redemption, has saddled up and rode for first once again in the GFK Chart-Track derby. Even though it's suffered a 40% drop in sales -- likely a byproduct of those shortages -- it was enough to best UFC Undisputed 2010, which debuted at second place. Also of note is the debut of Blur at the 14th spot -- well below Black Rock Studio's previously released arcade racing rival Split/Second (6th) and United Front Games' ModNation Racers (12th). Source - Top 40 Entertainment Software, Week Ending May 29 2010 Source - Red Dead Redemption Still Riding High at No. 1
Try Blur at Best Buy to Blur your wall at home
Sure, there's a Blur demo on Xbox Live, but if you'd rather try out the Bizarre racer in a more public place -- or if you don't have an Xbox on which to test drive it -- select Best Buy stores will host in-store demos this Saturday and Sunday. You can check here to see if your local store is among the illustrious 200 to play host to these demos. For your trouble, you'll get -- not only the chance to play the arcade-style racing game but also -- a Blur poster. You can tell your non-gamer friends that it's a poster for the band, who just happens to really like cars. %Gallery-63796%
Metareview: Blur
Reviews have begun to inch out for Bizarre's new arcadey racer Blur and, at the risk of spoiling the metareview in the first sentence, they're pretty darn good! Maybe not "change your life" good, but at least "put this in your game box and fun will come out" good. What? That's not specific enough for you? OK, fine, here: Telegraph (9/10): "Every inch of Blur feels like it's crafted with the player in mind, offering them a huge, slick and exciting racing package. While it can frustrate, with the balance of powerups occasionally off-kilter, it only serves to push you onto the next race, to undo the injustice, to mete out your revenge." GameInformer (8.5/10): "Blur is a game built on versatility. Power-ups aren't simply offensive or defensive; they are tools you can use in different ways depending on the situation. A Barge blast is always handy to disrupt any cars in your immediate vicinity, but it can also be deployed as a momentary shield. Likewise, most power-ups come with an alternate fire option. For instance, your garden-variety Nitro boost can alternately be used to slow you down – useful for those really tight corners." Eurogamer (8/10): "Handling is rich and dramatic. Acceleration and drifting are sympathetic enough to correct the rear if you're showing your inexperience, but the relationship between gas, brake, traction and apex remains complex. And it's fast."
Blur's French TV spots are far from feminist
Look, we're not experts in the way of marketing things to the French, but we're pretty sure the advertising for Blur is all kinds of wrong. Seemingly tapping the region's most beautiful women to represent in-game power-ups, arguing their superiority over their peers, each spot concludes with the ladies throwing down in a faux race -- which is more an excuse for them to show off skin than to show off the game. Have you ever had to hit so many buttons while playing a racing game before? Yeah, we didn't think so. Head past the break to check out the two commercials. Bonus points if you can spot the exact moment where feminism has been set back 30 years. [Via VG247 and UK:Resistance]
Pre-order Blur on Steam, get Geometry Wars Retro Evolved free
From what we've heard from folks who got in on the game's multiplayer beta, Bizarre Creations' Blur has some surprisingly potent addictive properties. That's why we find this Steam deal so unashamedly sinister: If you pre-order the PC version of the racing title on the popular digital distribution platform, you'll get an equally (if not more) addictive game for free: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. Blur goes on sale this Tuesday, so if you're hoping to grab Bizarre's twin-stick time sink at no charge, you should probably pre-order the game ASAP. [Via Big Download]
