Bizarre-Creations
Latest
Xbox Live Deal of the Week: PGR4 Challenge Pack DLC
In solidarity with the embattled auto industry's ongoing fire sale, Project Gotham Racing 4's Premium Challenge Pack DLC is now available for purchase on the XBLM for 240 as part of Microsoft's Deal of the Week program.The discount begins today and will be offered through Sunday, March 15. As always, Deal of the Week offers are only available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers.
Activision delays James Bond title to 2010
Someone must have stirred Bond's martini, because he's livid and won't make his appointment with retail shelves this year, Activision confirmed during its recent financial earnings report. The PP7-wielding British spy will instead arrive in "calendar 2010," CFO Thomas Tippl said, "to avoid head to head competition" with 2009's soon-to-be-blockbuster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Many of you may think this is the same James Bond racing game that Bizarre has said it's working on, and we're right there, wondering with you. Activision is unlikely to push back a racing game because of its FPS franchise, so this suggests a different, action-based Bond game altogether.
Activision Blizzard talks 2009 lineup, including Modern Warfare 2, Singularity
Activision Blizzard has a lot on its plate for 2009. Other than completely burying you in Guitar Hero games, the company plans to unleash its set of unique IPs this year, as detailed during its recent conference call. Let's go over them!First up, we should all expect Prototype sometime during this year (June!). The head of Activision publishing also confirmed that "first-person action game" Singularity would see release in 2009, as would Bizarre Creations' unannounced, "Mario Kart meets Forza" racing title. Don't want any of that new stuff? Fear not, a little game called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is releasing this year, too! So, there you have it! All of the fun stuff from a financial earnings call, without those pesky numbers getting in your way.
Economy Wars: Galaxies
We fear that this deal will sell out in the time it takes for us to get the post up, but it's a risk we're going to have to take! Geometry Wars: Galaxies is Amazon's Deal of the Day, dropping for today only to ten damn dollars. In these harsh times, we understand that some of us can't drop even ten dollars on unexpected impulse purchases. If you are safely in possession of enough disposable income to bring some awesome shooty action home -- and if you've got plenty saved up -- you could do a lot worse than to throw a little bit of money towards some awesome portable shooty action! Our post image is an encore from a previous Geo Wars sale post. Eric's image was just so perfect that we wanted to highlight it once again! %Gallery-11043%
GeoWars 2 muzzak Remix'd
As a special bonus to fans, Bizarre Creations has released a special Geometry Wars 2 music remix developed by Chris Chudley of Audio Antics. The 13-minute-long track is titled, "46860 Choices," and includes some of the music from the entire Geometry Wars series. Our friends at GamerTagRadio have the free 13-minute long special remix available for download. Download it today.
Beefwatch: Totilo beats Soulja Boy! ... at Geometry Wars 2
Sure, our favorite game journalist, Stephen Totilo, may have promptly lost the last two games he played against the Braid-loving rap auteur in Gears of War 2 and Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix. But for one glorious moment, Soulja Boy's lunch had been eaten, and Totilo's face was covered in crumbs. If you've got the notion, you can watch the full battle over on MTV's site. On a side note, we think we may have turned the corner on Soulja Boy. We think ... we think maybe we're totally into him.
Bizarre working on new Bond and racer projects
Industry rumors either turn out to be true or false and in the case of Bizarre Creations' future projects, every racing and Bond rumor you heard over the last year has turned out to be ... well, true. As part of Activision's Massive upfront (the same one that announced Modern Warfare 2), we learn that Bizarre is hard at word on an original James Bond game as well as an original racer IP that's being described as a "Mario Kart meets Forza." As is the norm, release details and game specifics were not given. All said, we're glad to see Bizarre hard at work on new projects, but would like to see some fresh Geometry in 2009. We're proud Geometry addicts.
Bizarre making Bond title for '09, new racing IP is 'Mario Kart meets Forza'
At a summit held by Massive for in-game advertising, Activision confirmed that Bizarre Creations is working on a new third-person Bond title for release in 2009. According to the Twitter feed of Newsweek's N'Gai Croal (trust us, he's legit), the game is being touted as "racing and driving focused." The executive also mentioned Bizarre's new racing IP, describing it as "Mario Kart meets Forza." It's not much (in fact, it's somewhat paradoxical), but it does hint at a departure from Project Gotham Racing's realism -- relative to Mario Kart! The executive also reportedly said the next Call of Duty Modern Warfare is due out Fall 2009. We're uncertain if that's confirmation of the next COD's setting or just a glib way of saying "Infinity Ward's COD series." We're reaching out to Activision for clarification on all these statements.
Geometry Wars sucks in 1 million players
If you have yet to try Bizarre Creations' classic Geometry Wars or their latest Geometry Wars 2 on the 360, then you're in the minority and should be ashamed. Ashamed not only because you're missing out on two great games, but because 1 million gamers have already experienced the visual love that GeoWars brings. No joke, Bizarre just revealed that over 1 million players (how unique, we're not sure) have logged GeoWars scores since November 2005. It's an amazing accomplishment and something YOU should be a part of. Grab the XBLA good here and here.
Gaming to Go: Geometry Wars: Galaxies
Who knew Bizarre Creations had a hit on its hands when it created the original Geometry Wars so many moons ago? I certainly didn't, though that might be due in part to my complete lack of one of those other consoles. Since its original inception on Microsoft soil, the Geometry Wars series has seen a number of different incarnations, a particularly enjoyable one of which is available for everyone's favorite handheld. Geometry Wars: Galaxies also saw a release on Nintendo's white waggle box, though the infinitely more portable version is what I'll be covering in this week's edition of Gaming to Go. Haven't experienced the geometrical madness yet? Come along and see why playing with shapes on a two-dimensional grid is far more entertaining than it sounds. %Gallery-11043%
Joystiq Interview: A Bizarre interview about Geometry Wars 2
It's no secret: You love Geometry Wars 2, we love Geometry Wars 2, everybody loves it. We recently talked with Bizarre Creation's Stephen Cakebread, Senior Coder, and Craig Howard, Games Manager, to find out how they crafted the game that won our hearts. It would seem to the layman that, with as popular as Geometry Wars was, a sequel would be pretty easy to crap out. Why wait so long? Howard: Because the first one was so well received, it would have cheapened the game if we just knocked something out and not given it a lot of thought. We wanted something to make sure it was something we'd be really proud of. Cakebread: Our inital plan was to get it our a year later and then the plan was to ship it when Gotham 4 shipped and that didn't work out either. It really was a case that we weren't going to ship it until we were ready to ship it. It might seem silly, but it took us quite a while to figure out a graphical style that still looked like the original. One of our big things was when people came to our stations we wanted them to say "Oh, is that a sequel to Geometry Wars?" rather than "Is that Geometry Wars?" It took us quite a while to come up with something that really worked. We tried some mad stuff. Like what?: Howard: What didn't we do? [laughs] Gallery: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
Geometry Wars song eases the pain
Bizarre Creations, hire this man. His name is Matthew McCarthy and he has done something wonderful. Specifically, he's taken his frustrations with Geometry Wars 2 and channeled them into something creative: a song. Entitled "Geometry Wars Will Be the Death of Me," we think that most gamers can relate. So, the next time Geometry Wars 2 gets you down, turn up the volume, listen to the song, and remember that you're not alone. Seriously, this song is awesome though, and not the new, watered-down version of awesome either. No, this is the original awesome in that it actually inspires awe. This is like Grand Canyon awesome. Watch out Johnathan Coulton. [Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]
Can Geometry Wars make you mad enough to sing?
When we get really frustrated by Geometry Wars 2 (and we do) we deal with our anger the only way we know how: We become physically abusive towards loved ones and pets. But not Matthew McCarthy. No, Matthew McCarthy just picks up a guitar and channels the rage into a song about why he hates all those stupid, cruel shapes. We tried to ape McCarthy's far healthier anger management, but after picking up our guitar we just used that to be physically abusive to loved ones and pets, which really isn't much better, when you think about it. [Via ToaRG]
Show the internets your Geometry Wars 2 'talent'
Morgon over at MyGamerCard.net just sent word that they've released a new Geometry Wars 2 scorecard to their ever growing list of generated scorecard images, which means you can now gloat about your crazy high GeoWars2 scores on every forum, personal website or comment thread across the internets. That, or how absolutely embarrassing your GeoWars2 "skills" are. Whichever it is, this scorecard (which showcases your high scores and rank for all six gametypes) is rather nifty and something we'll constantly use to keep us motivated to get better at our XBLA geometry crack. Enjoy.
Fanswag: Win Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 [update]
Update: This giveaway has since expired. Congratulations goes out to Mat, DiddlyKong and Dustin for winning Geometry Wars 2 goodness and a giant sad face to those who didn't win. :(Today, thanks to the crew over at Bizarre Creations, we're bringing you a later than usual Fanswag giveaways where we're handing out three copies of Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2. Yes, you can haz Geometry Wars 2! Today's giveaway is going to be quick (entry ends tonight at 11:00PM eastern) and simple (just comment below to enter), because it's Friday and we wanna give out the Geometry Wars 2 goods without all the hassle. To enter, simply: Bizarre did a mighty fine job at making Geometry Wars look so darn colorful and beautiful. It's like an intensely lucid acid trip, but without all the bad acid side-effects. So, to enter today's giveaway, simply comment on this post telling us what your favorite color is. Easy! Only one comment per person will be accepted. Posters of multiple comments will be disqualified. We'll accept entries until 11:00PM eastern time today, August 15th, 2008. You must be at least 18 years old to enter. This giveaway is open only to residents of the U.S. and Canada (excluding Quebec). Later today, we'll pick three winners via a random drawing. Three winners will receive an Xbox Live redemption code to download Geometry Wars 2 worth $10. Complete giveaway rules can be found here
View Geometry Wars 2 leaderboards online
Bizarre just sent word that the Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 leaderboards are now live over on the official GeoWars website allowing you (or anyone else) to search for where a Gamertag's score ranks in the grand scheme of leaderboard life. All six gametype leaderboards are searchable where you can also browse the all-time highest ranking scorers in the world. Viewing the record setting scores (1.6 billion in Pacifism, jeebuz!) is, of course, an extremely sobering realization that you really aren't that talented at Geometry Wars. That's why we've posted the record setting high scores after the break. Seeing such crazy high scores is sad, sort of depressing really. But we'll cover up our hurt and lack of confidence by playing the "at least I have a life" card.
Today's timesink: Geometry Wars 2 leaderboard site live
Hey gang, terrible, terrible news: You can now check your status on the Geometry Wars 2 leaderboards at any moment of the day, thanks to a Bizarre Creations application that's just gone live. While you can't check your status as it compares to your friends, you can see, in real-time, how you stack up against the rest of the world. It's not just the time you'll spend plugging gamertags into the site to see how everyone ranks that's so troubling. It's watching your status slipping while you toil at the office, debating if it's worth faking food poisoning to get back in the Pacifism top 10,000 that's really going to mess with you. (Spoiler alert: It's totally worth it.) [Via CVG]
Bizarre promises to continue Geo Wars franchise
Chatting with MTV Multiplayer, developers Stephen Cakebread and Craig Howard from Bizarre Creations discussed everything Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2, from their design decisions all the way through the little 3D debug view that was left in the game. But most interesting is Bizarre's commitment to Geometry Wars in the future, telling MTV Multiplayer that "Geometry Wars is definitely a franchise," and that "we have enough game ideas to do Geometry Wars for probably about 10 games. It depends on what will work." Currently, there's a small team at Bizarre actively working on future Geometry iterations, but specifics regarding what games and on which platforms is very hush-hush. We say, crank out the GeoWars! We want at least ten more games. All exclusive to the 360.
Geometry Wars is 'not going to stop'
Much like the endless assault of the franchise's squirrely squares, devious diamonds and annoying arrows, Geometry Wars is sure to keep gamers frantically twiddling their thumbsticks for some time to come. Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, geometric warlord Stephen Cakebread has assured fans that the creative team hasn't run out of ideas yet. "We have enough game ideas to do 'Geometry Wars' for probably about 10 games," said Cakebread. "It depends on what will work." Things that didn't work and ended up being removed from Geometry Wars 2: Gimmicky multiplayer modes, such as a a soccer/football-style game that had players shooting objects into gravity-well goals. Things that might work in the future: Developer Bizarre Creations isn't saying, as it might "use them in the future for god knows what." Things that work in today's industry: Good franchises! "Geometry Wars is definitely a franchise," noted Bizarre manager Craig Howard. "It's not going to stop." Well, not unless you release a bomb.
How to get Geometry Wars 2's 'Smile' achievement
The "Smile" achievement in Geometry Wars 2 seems to giving people a run for their 800 MS points. Rooster Teeth's new achievement site, Achievement Hunter, has produced a spiffy little walkthrough vid of how to painlessly get attempt to get the 25 gamer point reward. Nobody says it's going to be easy, but then the best rewards in life (that leave you feeling alone and used at the end of the day) never are. [Via X3F]
