Bizarre Creations

Background

Bizarre Creations was a British game developer based in Liverpool, originally founded in 1988 by Martyn Chudley as "Raising Hell Software", developing titles initially for the 8-bit and 16-bit computer market, including The Killing Game Show for the Amiga and Atari ST and later for the Sega Mega Drive (known as "Genesis" in the US) as Fatal Rewind. At the time, Sega pressured them over the use of "Hell", so the company went nameless for a while. During that time, the company developed Wiz 'n Liz for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and later for the Amiga.

In 1994, a submission from fellow game studio Psygnosis suggested the company to change its name. The founder initially put "Weird Concepts" on a submission documentation. Then a staff member used Microsoft Word's thesaurus and as a result, it was renamed to "Bizarre Creations". The company's first title under this name was Formula 1 for PlayStation, which became the top-selling PS1 game in Europe.

On September 26, 2007, Bizarre Creations was acquired by Activision. By then, the studio was best known for the Project Gotham Racing series (the spiritual successor to Metropolis Street Racer for Dreamcast), Fur Fighters (and its PS2 remake, Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge), Geometry Wars (which was first seen as a hidden game in PGR2), Blur, and James Bond 007: Blood Stone. In November 2010, Activision regarded a future of the studio being bought by another publisher. On January 20, 2011, since Activision couldn't find another publisher, it announced that it would be closing the studio, which was confirmed on February 18, 2011.

Contents

1st Logo (September 1, 1996-March 14, 2002)	2nd Logo (November 12, 2002-November 28, 2003)	3rd Logo (November 18, 2003-July 30, 2008)	4th Logo (Blur variant) (June 12, 2009-May 28, 2010)	5th Logo (James Bond 007: Blood Stone variant) (November 2, 2010)

1st Logo (September 1, 1996-March 14, 2002)

Visuals: There is a purple person with a pumpkin for a head with glowing purple eyes, green hands and bat-like wings, wearing silver armor and brown boots, flying over a purple planet with his shadow on it. Over the planet is the word "BIZARRe" with a stylized texture and a gold outline in a strange font with spikes; its shadow is on the planet as well. Below the planet is the word "• CREATIONS •" in another strange font.

Trivia: The original version of the logo, seen on the USA, Japan and early UK PlayStation versions of Formula 1, was designed by Rodney Matthews, who also did the 1995 Traveller's Tales logo.

Variants:

In 1999, a later variant was introduced where "BIZARRe" is on the middle of the planet and the flying pumpkin man is at the very top of the planet and angled right a little. Also, "• CREATIONS •" is on the planet instead of under the planet and is white, and the text has shadows behind it. Also, sometimes the "TM" symbol is added.
On Formula 1, the logo appears on the opening intro background.
- On the USA, Japan and early UK PlayStation versions, the planet has a very different texture and the pumpkin man has red eyes. Also, the shadow parts of the pumpkin man and "BIZARRe" are absent. Plus, "• CREATIONS •" is very small.
- On the later UK PlayStation and PC versions, "BIZARRe" has a spotlight-like effect and "• CREATIONS •" is a bit smaller.
At the end of the Formula 1 demo (found on Interactive CD Sampler Vol. 3 for PS1), the standard variant is seen on the left along with the 1996 Psygnosis logo on the right. Also, "• CREATIONS •" is a bit smaller and "BIZARRe" has a spotlight-like effect. Above and below the logos are "A Bizarre Creations Production" and "Published by Psygnosis" in a Franklin Gothic font, respectively. This also appears on the PC demo version of said title, but "• CREATIONS •" is in a normal size and "BIZARRe" is normal.
On Formula 1: Championship Edition (aka Formula 1 '97 in the UK) during the game's intro, "a" in a lowercase Palladio font appears zooming out while the words "BIZARRE CREATIONS" zoom in one-by-one like in the Psygnosis logo. As the text fades out, the standard logo variant fades in zooming back on the game's opening intro background and the word "production" appears spaced and stretched below the logo. Also, "• CREATIONS •" has a white embossed outline around it and is a bit smaller.
There is another variant that appears on Formula 1: Championship Edition before the game's demo. The standard variant is on a white background with its shadow behind it on the left, along with the 1996 Psygnosis logo on the right, which also has its shadow behind it. Also, the screen wipes in from the top to reveal the logos. On the Japanese version, the Psygnosis logo is omitted.
On Fur Fighters and its enhanced PS2 remake, Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge, the standard variant is on a white background with its shadow behind the logo and "• CREATIONS •" is black. The "TM" symbol is added in the Dreamcast and PS2 versions.
On Metropolis Street Racer and Project Gotham Racing, the words "A Bizarre Creations Game" are below the later variant of the logo. On the latter game, the logo is smaller and the text is a bit bigger and in a different font.
On a "Rolling Demo" version of Metropolis Street Racer (found on Dream On Collection Vol. 2 for Sega Dreamcast), the later variant of the logo is on a white background with its shadow behind it. Under it is "A BIZARRE CREATIONS GAME".

Technique: Depends on the game, but usually none.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: First appeared on Formula 1 for PS1 as well as the PC version. It also appears on other Bizarre games through the era such as Fur Fighters (known as Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge for PS2), Metropolis Street Racer for Dreamcast (the former title is also on PC), and Project Gotham Racing for Xbox.

2nd Logo (November 12, 2002-November 28, 2003)

Visuals: On a purple starfield background, there is a CGI pink planet (which looks like Mars, but in a pink tone), rotating with "BIZARRe" and "• CREATIONS •" in their same styled respective fonts from before, over the planet with the "TM" symbol intact. Then, the flying pumpkin man from the first logo (this time, his eyes are plain black and his shoes are gold instead of brown), appears from the top-right flapping his wings, looking at the logo. Then he flies to the left looking in front of the logo and he goes to the top-left area. As he reaches that spot, he flaps his wings faster and lands on the "BIZARRe" text. The text tilts down, making him dizzy for a second. The "BIZARRe" text stops tilting and he stands still. Then he turns to the right at the text, itching his head. He then turns back to us and jumps off the text, causing it to tilt again while he dives off the text and down through the bottom-right. Two seconds later, he flies through the screen making the transition into a black screen.

Trivia: This is actually a 3D variant of the later variant of the first logo. The logo was modeled, animated, rendered and composited in Softimage by Jeff Powell, who was also the lead animator on Fur Fighters.

Variants:

On Project Gotham Racing 2, the background is plain black and the planet's texture is different and is a bit brighter. Plus, when the pumpkin man flies through the screen at the end, he makes a transition wipe into the 3rd logo (see below).
On the Game Boy Advance version of Disney's Treasure Planet, there is a still version of the logo where it shows him in the forgetting about pose and he's already standing on "BIZARRe". Also, the "TM" symbol is gone.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A low windy sound with the sounds of flapping and tilting, which were done by the people at the company. On the still variant, it's silent.

Availability: Appears on Disney's Treasure Planet for PS2. The black background variant (along with the 3rd logo) appears on Project Gotham Racing 2 for Xbox. The still variant appears on Disney's Treasure Planet for Game Boy Advance.

3rd Logo (November 18, 2003-July 30, 2008)

Visuals: On a black background, there is a white abstract picture of a pumpkin head (looking suspiciously similar to the one from the previous logos) on a black square with a white outline. Under it is "BIZARRE CREATIONS" stacked in the Arial font.

Variants:

The later version of this logo has a glass button effect on the black square shape and the pumpkin head. Also, the "TM" symbol is added next to the top-right of the logo.
On Project Gotham Racing 3, the logo is on the ground with some cars driving through it during the game's intro. Also, it looks grungy.
Sometimes, the logo appears on a white background.
On Project Gotham Racing 4, a red Ford GT drives through the logo on the ground during the game's intro.
On The Club, the words "A" and "PRODUCTION" are above and below the logo respectively.
On Geometry Wars Retro Evolved, the logo is in a green tone and has a TV-like effect. Also, "BIZARRE CREATIONS" is in a futuristic font and is not stacked. Under the logo is an ESRB notice.
On Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2, the logo is once again in a green tone and has the TV-like effect. This time, it also has a green glow effect as well. Also, the words "BIZARRE CREATIONS" are stacked like in the standard variant and in a similar font as the GWRE variant. Like before, an ESRB notice is under the logo. Also, the logo appears from a stretch warp effect. On the trailer for said game, the ESRB notice is absent.

Technique: Depends on the game, but usually none.

Audio: Silent or the opening theme of the game. On Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2, it's the the sound effect that plays when you start a new game in the Geometry Wars games.

Availability: First appeared on Project Gotham Racing 2 for Xbox at the end of the 2nd logo (see above). It also appears on other Bizarre games such as Project Gotham Racing 3 and 4 for Xbox 360, The Club for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 1 and 2 for Xbox Live Arcade.

4th Logo (Blur variant) (June 12, 2009-May 28, 2010)

Visuals: On a black background, a light brown line and a green line fly in from the left and right sides of the screen respectively and start drawing the previous logo (the green line draws the pumpkin head and the light brown line draws the square outline). Once the lines finish drawing the logo, a "TM" symbol appears next to the top-right of the logo, the logo turns white, and the words "BIZARRE CREATIONS", in the same font as the previous logo, appear below.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: It was seen on trailers for Blur and in the game itself.

5th Logo (James Bond 007: Blood Stone variant) (November 2, 2010)

Visuals: Against a black background with a red spotlight, there are eight metal swirly lines, drawing the pumpkin head in a similar style from before as the pumpkin head fills up with a blood-red color. Then, the white color along with the square wipes in and fills the pumpkin head as the red spotlight fades out. Then, the glass button effect from the 3rd logo wipes in on the logo. Two white lines appear through a blur-like wipe from the left and right respectively and wipe down to reveal the words "BIZARRE CREATIONS" in the same font from the 3rd logo. Then, the "TM" symbol appears next to the top-right of the logo.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Appears on James Bond 007: Blood Stone for PS3 and Xbox 360.

◄	Raising Hell Software

Bizarre Creations