Pitbull Syndicate

Background
Pitbull Syndicate Ltd. was founded in 1996 in Newcastle, England. In 2005, it was purchased by Midway Games and was renamed to "Midway Studios Newcastle".

1st Logo (3 November 1997-23 October 2000)


Visuals: We see a circle divided into black and white sections, with the word "pitbull" attached to the right side. "SYNDICATE" is seen underneath. The head of a pitbull takes place inside the circle. The logo zooms in and flickers twice.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A pitbull's growling and barking sounds when the logo flickers. On Test Drive 4 (The first game to have this logo), it's silent.

Availability: Appeared on Demolition Racer, Blast Radius, Big Air and Test Drive 4-6. Even though Pitbull Syndicate developed it, this logo doesn't appear on Test Drive Off-Road 2/Test Drive 4X4, as it instead only has the Accolade logo.

2nd Logo (28 May-10 December 2002)


Visuals: We see a rectangle with an angry pitbull's muzzle inside and "PSL" written in a compressed font. The logo zooms out, and the name is already written below, reading "PITBULL SYNDICATE LIMITED".

Technique: Computer effects.

Audio: Same as before.

Availability: Only seen on TD Overdrive: The Brotherhood of Speed (or simply Test Drive in North America), following the Atari logo.

3rd Logo (10 October 2005-17 November 2006)


Visuals: We see an animated pitbull running on a surface. Then the view switches to a hanging tire with the studio's name written on it. The dog comes and tries jumping to the tire a few times. After a while, the dog grabs the tire, but the rope breaks and the tire falls down, ending the logo abruptly.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A loud rock tune which ends abruptly, like the animation.

Availability: Appeared on the demo of L.A. Rush and can be found on its final release. The studio was purchased by Midway while working on the game and it was released under the Midway Newcastle brand.