Remi-Racine
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Artificial Mind and Movement rebrands; (re)introducing Behaviour Interactive
You may not know the name "Artificial Mind and Movement" but its one of the oldest and largest independent game developers working today and also the oldest operating developer in gaming superhub Montreal. A2M, as it's been called, began work on original IP, creating Jersey Devil for the PlayStation in 1998. But back then it was known as Behaviour Interactive and, beginning today, it will be Behaviour Interactive once again. We spoke with CEO and founder Rémi Racine about the name change, what it means for his studio and its goal of becoming a consumer-facing developer instead of a business-facing work-for-hire studio. "We're trying to do more and more of our own IP," Racine told Joystiq. "Our name becomes more and more present to the game community when you do your own stuff, so that triggered the change" to Behaviour Interactive. "Because of Wet and Naughty Bear and the Wanako brand and Assault Heroes, we're moving more and more into our own IP."
Wet 2 and Naughty Bear 2 confirmed, in development at Behaviour
Good news for fans of Behaviour's rockabilly-rinsed, Eliza Dushku-infused grindhouse-em-up Wet: the recently rebranded studio (formerly A2M) is working on a sequel. "We're working on Wet 2 right now and Naughty Bear 2," Behaviour CEO Rémi Racine told Joystiq. When asked if the team began development of Wet 2 immediately following the original, Racine simply said, "The team is still at it, but that's all I can say." Racine is obviously proud of his team's work on Wet but was disappointed that it got caught up in the Activision Blizzard merger. Wet was originally scheduled to be published by Vivendi and didn't make it onto Activision's roster; instead, some six months after the merger Bethesda took over publishing duties. While Racine wouldn't confirm whether or not Bethesda would reprise its role as publisher, he did comment on the original's underperformance. "We were very happy with [Bethesda's] commitment," Racine told us. "But, in their defense, we probably signed them too late. We should have signed them probably six months prior so we had more time to market the game. I think they came in late. Still, they did a very good job of promoting the game in the community. In the time that they had they did a very good job." When asked whose decision it was to release Wet at the relatively budget price of $50, Racine said, "It was Bethesda's decision to decide the price. To be honest, you should ask them. I see the result and I won't comment; we get our fair share of the revenue. But it was their resonsibility to decide on the price." When asked if Wet 2 – and other future Behaviour titles – would be full-priced, Racine said, "I think there's a difference between Naughty Bear and a Wet title. Naughty Bear, I feel is more a $50 type of game. Wet I think deserved to be at full price." There's a lot of us at Joystiq who thought Wet was one of the best titles in 2009, so we're eager to see if a sequel can polish the promise the original had. Naughty Bear on the other hand ... let's just say there's no shortage of areas upon which to improve.
Developers frustrated with ESRB cheaters
Speaking at the Montreal International Game Summit, developers spoke out against the practice trying to scam the ESRB out of a lower rating. "They say to the ESRB that it's a Teen rating rather than a Mature to try and sell more; you can do this just by sending them a video that doesn't show the most violent stuff and then you'll get the rating that you want rather than the rating you should get," said Rémi Racine, the CEO of Wet developer A2M, according to Edge. "Maybe getting your game out at a certain rating will help that game, but it's really not going to help the industry as a whole." For its part, the ESRB says that it regularly checks up on games post-release, and those publishers who try to cheat their way into a lower rating could be slapped with a $1 million fine. So, while cheaters may never prosper, when it comes to those who try and cheat the ESRB, the axiom might more accurately be "Cheaters may prosper, but only for a little while, and not even really at all in the grand scheme of things." Yeah, you're right, it lacks some punch. But you get the idea.
