Developer Bizarre Creations has recently announced that they will no longer be developing downloadable content for their Project Gotham Racing 4 title on the Xbox 360. Wondering who will now be handling the game's DLC? Visit the full article for the rest of the details.

Activision has just sent out a press wire announcing their recent purchase of UK video game developer Bizarre Creations. As some may be speculating, could the purchase be a sign that the studio's in some sort of financial trouble? That doesn't seem to be the case, based on a complementing announcement made by Bizarre's Ben Ward over at the studio's official site.

Ward explained that the move was made so that the studio could push for the development of even better games in the near future. In light of the sale, Ward also explained how the arrangement between Bizarre and Activision was going to play out, specifically regarding their ongoing work on Project Gotham Racing 4 and The Club:

• Bizarre Creations continues to exist as is. We won't become Activision Liverpool or anything like that.
• We will have absolutely no redundancies.
• All of our teams continue to exist exactly how they are at the moment. Amax team (PGR4) and Shitstorm team (The Club) will move onto new games, whilst our Shared Technology team will use this opportunity to take our experience and tech to new levels and new formats.
• The Activision way of running things is "hands off". Bizarre continue to have creative control over what we do, we still run the studio how we see fit, and we still get to run our own web site and do all sorts of fun community things! :)

So, could this new relationship mean we'll be looking at a multi-platform port of PGR4 in the near future? We're not too sure, although Ward noted that the the aforementioned Amax and Shitstorm teams would each be working on two new titles for Activision - one a racing game, the other a character game. And while there weren't any exact details on these new projects (much less a name), Ward did state that more information will be unveiled in the near future. And in case you're wondering, here's what Ward said about how their Bizarre's current titles will be handled:

What about the now? Firstly, Geometry Wars will remain unaffected; we'll continue to expand and advance the series just as we were going to do before. The Club will still be released with SEGA, Geometry Wars Galaxies will still be released with Sierra, and PGR4 will continue to be supported after its launch in October. No massive changes here then...

PGR4 for the Xbox 360 is currently scheduled for an October 12 release in the UK, while The Club for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC is expected early next year. We'll let you know if this news bit picks up any further updates - especially regarding Bizarre Creations' two new mystery projects.

Project Gotham Racing 4's enhanced weather simulation features have definitely raised eyebrows and made people wonder what's in store for the upcoming PGR game. Fortunately, IGN along with Team Xbox were able to put Bizarre Creations Community and Web Lead Ben Ward on the hot seat to reveal some sweet details.

There will be 10 different types of weather. These include:

• Clear: A normal, sunny day. Your cornering will be sharp, assuming you have the skills.
• Overcast: There will be lots of cloud cover, but no change to your vehicle dynamics.
• Light Rain: A little drizzle, but nothing to change your driving style too much. The track surface will be slightly slippery, and you’ll find that too much gas will lead to your backend sliding around more than usual.
• Heavy Rain: Lots and lots of the wet stuff. Your visibility will be reduced, and you’ll be peering between frantic windscreen wipers when using in-car view. Deep puddles form around the track, and should be avoided at all costs.
• Wet: The aftermath of a heavy rainfall. Clouds are still brooding in the sky. The track is wet, but the puddles are dissipating and everything is slowly drying up.
• Storm: Danger time. Rain, clouds, thunder, lightning. The sky is black, and your chase camera will be obscured by heavy rainfall. Keeping your car on the track will be difficult… but racking up the sliding Kudos won’t be!
• Light fog: A slight haze rests over the city, giving a slight reduction in visibility. It does not affect vehicle dynamics, but stay on your toes and don’t let any corners creep up on you.
• Heavy fog: A huge cloud descends over the track. Visibility is severely reduced, and finding your way is difficult. On some tracks you can drive uphill and rise above the fog, so use this opportunity to scout out the route below.
• Icy: A really, really cold day. Puddles are starting to freeze over, so watch out for them. You’d be silly to go out without wearing a bobble hat.
• Snow: The track is icy and slippery, snow is falling from the sky, and all the puddles have completely frozen over. You’ll need to drive slower and avoid the icy patches; even if it means straying from the racing line.

Weather transition will happen dramatically, which means a blizzard won't come out on a clearly sunny day. When they do change, however, we'll see tropical storms and the like.

Tracks won't change even if weather does, aside from puddles forming up and causing your wheels to slide a bit more. Ward stated that races will still be reasonably consistent even if the day starts clear followed by rain shower.

AI will respond to the weather accordingly. Vehicle selection, driving style, and judgement will differ depending on the situation. For the first time, PGR gets a dedicated AI programmer so we can expect good things.

Find the full interview by clicking on the Read link below.

If Bizarre's community and web lead Ben Ward is right on the mark, then we just might be seeing Boom Boom Rocket land on Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade real soon. Yep, they are now tagging it as being "close to launch".

What brought about this assurance? Well, Boom Boom Rocket's now up on the Xbox 360's "Partnernet" service, which could only mean that the developers are just about done tinkering with it, so we could all have a go at it at least. In Ward's express statement, "As you can no doubt guess, this means we're close to launch."

Hooray, hooray! And we're just about to set off the fireworks for that, too. But then, we guess we'll just have to wait for the game to really come out. In it, there's definitely a truckload of rockets and fireworks in store for us.

Additionally, Ward reveals that they're "...hoping to make the easy levels simple enough for a newbie to pick up and have fun with it. The game should scale to accommodate all skill levels, going from super easy to fiendishly difficult. That's been one of the toughest things to get right... but hopefully we've nailed it."

Fiendishly difficult, eh? Now if only for that, a newbie definitely should pick it up.

This is a little follow up to our report on Bizarre Creations' Ben Ward and Xbox 360 downloadable game Geometry Wars. The last time around, we learned that Ward wanted the video game to be free, somewhat like a treat to all hardcore gamers out there. But as we all know, Geometry Wars costs 400 MS points (around US$ 5) over at Xbox Live.

Ward now claims that he, and the rest of Bizarre, are rather happy that Microsoft convinced them to charge for the game. The community and web lead even said that MS was totally on the right wavelength:

Charging for the game was the only way to ensure that future downloadable content could have any kind of credibility. I mean, imagine the public reaction to a game like Boom Boom Rocket if we had put out Geometry Wars for free. It wouldn't have been good, and thus games which require larger teams probably wouldn't have been made or at least not as soon as this.

Boom Boom Rocket is going to be the next Live Arcade video game from Bizarre. It is being developed with the help of Electronic Arts (EA) and will be priced for 800 MS points. Geometry Wars, on the other hand, is one of the most successful arcade titles for the Xbox 360. It is currently the all-time 4th most downloaded title at the Marketplace.

IGN caught up with Bizarre's community and web lead, Ben Ward, to talk about Boom Boom Rocket, an upcoming game for the Xbox Live Arcade, and Geometry Wars, one of the most played Live games on the Xbox 360 console.

Ben says that EA's Pogo Studio approached the Bizarre Geometry Wars team with a bare bones concept on BBR. Pogo was keen on working with Bizarre, especially after their Geometry Wars pedigree. Bizarre was also excited with the new concept, namely, BBR. And so, Pogo has been involved with Bizarre with nearly every step of the development process.

Although BBR has been compared to Fantavision, Ben says that the only likes those two have is fireworks. BBR is more like DDR or Guitar Hero, says Ben. It's a really fast and frantic game, and Ben adds that Bizarre is willing to make more tracks for downloadable content if the fans ask for it.

The team also looked at the possibility that the fans might want to create their own custom sound track, but Ben says it didn't work out. This is because the level needs to be specifically designed to ensure that the gameplay matches the music. He also says that although there's already a high bar to set from the success of Geometry Wars, BBR is a different game altogether and the challenges are different.

Now that Microsoft has increased the size limit of XBLA games, IGN asked Ben if BBR would exceed the previous size limit of 50MB, but Ben remains mum on the specs of the game, assuring only that every bit of space needed will be used to make BBR the game that it deserves to be.

When asked if Bizarre is also thinking of making games for the Playstation Network, after having produced games only for the XBLA, Ben promisingly replied that he sees no reason why they can't produce for Sony, being an independent studio that they are. But, having seen huge success from having produced for the XBLA, Ben says Bizarre might still continue down this road.

It seems that Bizarre Creations">Ben Ward, Community and Web lead at Bizarre Creations, wants Geometric Wars: Retro Evolved to be free for all hardcore gamers out there. While in a perfect world this would be the case, certain restrictions have forced Bizarre to charge for the game, so they did. It's on the Xbox Live Arcade at the lowest bracket of the XBLA price range: 400 MS Points.

The game itself is a tribute to all the shooter classics that have made their marks on retro gamers. In what was described by some as a mix of Robotron: 2084, Asteroids, and Tempest, you will control a ship which will have to shoot its way through various geometric formations to survive.

As in most retro games, you begin with the traditional three lives and standard weapon. The farther you get, the more weapons and lives you can accumulate. You get the new weapon and the ability to switch between your two weapons at the 10,000 mark.

For the 400 MS points (about US$ 5), you will get both Geometry Wars Retro and Geometry Wars Evolved.