Oh well, it might turn out OK anyway. I wouldn’t know, since I didn’t even have the courage to get more than halfways through Silent Hill II before chicken out on it. Gah, I hate these kinds of games. >_<

(the game is going to be released for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. release date: tba)

“All we want to concentrate on is making great games, rather than the pressures of running a pretty large development studio, searching out deals, spending months and months on legal and due diligence procedures that are the norm for signing up a game nowadays.

“We want to be doing what we love, in the way that we enjoy, without having to think about being big business people. It was a long and hard path coming to this decision, but we were driven by our desire to continue being able to deliver great games, and to enjoy doing it,” Sarah says to GamesIndustry.biz.

Also, the deciding factor for choosing Activision (from what I’ve heard, unofficially, a couple of other offers from other publishers were rejected rather quick) seems to be their rather relaxed company policy that still allows their developers a good amount of freedom in their work:

“They have a hands-off approach to game development, meaning we’re left to do what we’re good at, and can ask for support from their strong development network should we need it. One of the most important reasons from our point of view is that Activision has an independent studio model, meaning that we can continue to be Bizarre,” she continues.

In other news, this interview also gives us some new information regarding the studios popular Project Gotham Racing series. It seems that Bizarre will leave the PGR franchise rights to Microsoft, and instead focus on working on two new IPs to be released in 2009. While no more information about these new projects were discussed (PROTIP: they’re racing games…), we’re no doubt going to hear more about them as they’re getting closer to completion.

Xbox 360-exclusive Project Gotham Racing 4 (to be released next month) will likely be the last PGR game developed by Bizarre, and it will be interesting to see in which direction they will go in the future.

I’ve just started the game, playing as a retarded half-ogre, but I can already see that it got potential. If you’re into computer RPG’s, then this should be right up your alley! Even though it looks veeery dated compared to newer releases, of course. Anyway, playing as a half-ogre with less intelligence than a door, at least makes for some funny conversations.

I might be writing something more about this game later on, if I have the time and motivation to finish it.

“Activision continues to grow and drive greater value for our shareholders by broadening our portfolio and entering new gaming categories with strong global appeal. Bizarre Creations is the leading independent developer with a proven track record in developing highly successful and influential original properties, especially in the racing field. They are one of the most innovative and creative studios in the industry, and we are very excited to welcome this talented creative team to Activision.”

Apparently, the developer will still maintain the ability to make key decisions in-house and not just follow their new owner like a blind dog, reports GamesIndustry.biz:

“Activision’s independent studio model will continue giving us creative freedom to build exciting new brands. Their financial support and marketing prowess will also enable us to build upon the commercial success that we currently enjoy, and take the company – and our games – to an even higher level.”

It’s going to be interesting to see what the next big thing coming out from Bizarre Creations will be… another Project Gotham or more low budget titles for the Playstation Network or the Xbox Live Arcade service, perhaps?

Following a revealing magazine scan, Sega has now officially confirmed to website 1up
that a new Samba de Amigo game is, in fact, on its way to the Wii. The original Dreamcast game featured motion-sensing maracas but sadly never did get the appreciation it truly deserved.

Still, here’s hoping that a new maraca-swinging game for the Wii will make gamers more aware of one of the best music games ever created. (Nothing will ever beat Ouendan, though).

1. Never deny the Holocaust (doing so will give you a 100+ jail sentence with lots of buttsecks to follow)

2. Never, ever, make games with violent content (the Germans are especially concerned with this since violent games serve as a constant remainder of they having started, and lost, TWO World Wars. That’s pretty impressive.)

So, when publisher Codemasters sent their upcoming PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 game, Jericho, for classification, the German ratings board, USK, declined to give the game a rating in the country. This means, in shortness, that Codemasters is prohibited to do any kind of marketing campaign for the game and that few people (outside the hardcore gaming circles) will ever come to know about the game’s existence.

Codemasters have therefore decided to only release the PC version of the game in the region. This is what they had to say about the USK’s decision (taken from an official statement):

“Codemasters respects Mr Barker’s creative ideas, despite the German distribution and marketing consequences for the title. Therefore Codemasters will release only the PC version of Clive Barker’s Jericho in its original form for adult gamers and Clive Barker fans,” said the company.

That’s right. No”we’re gonna cut out all inappropiate violence” or “green blod” nonsense. The Codies instead opted for the only obvious solution: to release the game uncut, if only for the PC. That’s nice, and shows Codemasters got some balls by not giving in to people who wish to limit the developers right to artistic freedoom. Too bad about all our German friends though that will have to import this game if they wish to play it on the PS3 or Xbox 360. :(

Clive Barker’s Jericho is due for release in the UK on October 26. It might be worth checking out.

“You can’t assume it is going to be like the other platforms, because you are going to have Nintendo taking most of the sales. And if Nintendo really sees you as a threat, they will take the moves to wipe you out. They are not going to let you win.”

While it’s clear to see that, yes, most of the software sales on Nintendo platforms INDEED come from Nintendo developed titles, it’s still pretty weird that he points out Nintendo as a business company with highly unethical business principles. He continues:

“Meaning, if you sell your game and you are charging USD 60 or 50, or whatever price you choose, they will sell their games at USD 39.99 and they will kick your ass. So, the bottom line is, whatever you thought your business plan was, they can shake your world at a moment’s notice and they have a track record of doing that. So I would be very concerned with wanting to bet the farm on a Nintendo platform.”

All this Nintendo-negativism of late coming from David Perry… it really makes you wonder if he has some particular reason to be angry about Nintendo being the top dog in the console race for the first time in, like, an eternity.

To be fair, he actually continues later on in the interview to praise Nintendo for their innovation and great thinking — but positive stuff doesn’t make for entertaining reading, no?

“Games are all about accuracy. If you request something it better happen. The Wii controller adds some slop to the system, and that in turn goes against the golden rule that controls should be tight and perfect, something that Nintendo has lived off for years. I’m surprised how unimportant these things seem to be to people, that a slight inaccuracy is acceptable,” he said to UK online lifestyle magazine Disposable Media.

Aside from whining about the Wii’s waggle controls, he also continued to complain about all “new” games only being sequels to sequels despite (if I recall correctly) he himself have actually made his fair bit of sequels too…

Oh well, I guess he’s still just bitter since Enter the Matrix turned out so shitty. And the fact that he hasn’t contributed anything noteworthy to the games industry since… what, Messiah, perhaps?

In short, Microsoft (for some retarded reason — probably the $$$) decided to go with a shitty tin case with a plastic nub that won’t keep the disc in place. Microsoft has now acknowledged the problem and says they will replace eventual scratched games through their Disc Replacement Program at no extra charge.

Well, that’s nice. But how about doing an expensive limited edition thingy that’s actually not WORSE than the regular edition next time? Thank you.

That Sony has no plans whatsoever to lower the price of the expensive machine, is of course a letdown to all European gamers, but shouldn’t come as a surprise considering Sony JP boss Kaz Hirai’s TGS keynote speech earlier this month, where he stated there’s currently no plans for a EU price reduction similar to what Sony have done in the US and Japan.

Instead, the vision is that SCEE should focus on “delivering quality software titles” that will justify us Euros paying a helluva lot more than our American friends. Phaah. Such nonsense.