Awaaz FM Playback

https://embedded.autopod.xyz/episodes/show/12474  The latest show should be at the top - see picture).  This 'deep link' seems to be working at the time of writing.

Alternatively this deep link is direct to the 6/8 show: https://player.autopod.xyz/1415907

These 'deep links' seem to be working at the time of writing.

Sega Web Visit Bizarre Creations (July 1999)

On Thursday (1 July 1999), Sega Web paid a visit to UK-based developers, and SOE's (Sega Europe's) most prolific 1.5 party developer, Bizarre Creations. The day was pretty incredible, and we've divided our coverage into three sections for your convenience: this day report, Metropolis impressions, and finally some Furballs impressions. Let's go!

For the uninitiated, Bizarre are developing a city-based racing game called Metropolis Street Racer - one of the most graphically impressive Dreamcast games ever - to be released in Europe and subsequently the rest of the world late this year. They also have another game in development - Furballs, an interesting mix of many genres, but best described as a cute, third-person shooting-puzzle adventure.

It's Sega Web versus Bizarre in the world's first playtest of MSR's two-player mode! Did we beat them at their own game? Er, no.

By far the most tangible thing about Bizarre is the friendliness of the team and the atmosphere in the office. Located in Liverpool on a fairly large computer development site, and on a one-floored, multi-roomed building, Bizarre are so passionate about what they do - hopefully by the end of this feature news you'll be convinced of that too.

Sarah Dixon is the Business Director at Bizarre, and welcomed us into their home, after a 'pick-up' from Office Coordinator Michelle. An initial, brief chat in the meeting room, and the proceedings were underway. We both had a fair bit to tell eachother, and we basically spoke about some of the industry in general, but after a while it was into the main office for some serious gamesplaying.

A couple of interesting side notes. While playing Furballs, we pointed out to Sarah that in the latest issue of FHM, Britain's leading bloke's mag, and just released that day, Metropolis was featured in the games section. It was just a small piece, but the fact was that it was featured in the most laddish mad around. She grabbed a copy and bounced into the MSR room, informing the team, "Guys, we've finally made it into the cool mags, no we know we're big-time!"

We asked the Furballs team what they thought of MSR and vice-versa. According to a Furballs programmer, MSR is "graphically breathtaking, what you'd really expect from a next-gen game." Furballs, however, is not one MSR member's type of game. Said Furballs programmer Paul, "we only go into their part of the office to call them names."

Metropolis Street Racer

It's been a long time since I've looked forward to playing a game this much. Believe me, Bizarre were as disappointed with the E3 demo as a lot of other people were, but that was just an unfortunate bit of bad luck, as the demo was extremely early. Our visit to Bizarre proved that MSR is going to be THE launch game for Europe.

The Metropolis Team in a precisely-organised photograph.

What Bizarre are not prepared to do is release an unfinished product. Said Lead Producer on the game, Brian Woodhouse, "We've put this much effort into it so far, we might as well get it as perfect as we can before releasing it. People don't want to see glitches, and neither do we!" The game is estimated to be at a "panicky" 50% complete stage, and when asked if they were confident they'd make the September deadline, they answered, "er, not really." Just as well, because SOE haven't announced the precise launch day titles yet.

Metropolis is basically stunning. Almost graphically complete, the gameplay needs to be worked on - nay, programmed in at all. But there can be little doubt that the combination or real cars with real cities will sell to every type of gamer by the bucketload.

Brian showed us several rolling demos and all of the street areas, and then we took a look at some of their research. You've already heard the statistics - some 35,000 photos, along with videos, and scaled-down yet huge satellite photos of the cities being worked on. Of particular interest to one Sega Web associate was the wall full of files containing information on all the sports cars they researched, right from the unincluded BMW Z3, to the incredible, just-included (and playtedted first by Sega Web) Honda S2000. More details on that in the MSR report...

Masses and masses of photos and research material. This is just one box. There were plenty more.

	The Honda file's contents exposed, with the other material looking on from the shelves behind.

We were introduced to the rest of the team. You've basically got your artists in one half of the room, and the programmers in the other. The artists showed us their research, their rendered artwork, texture maps, wireframe models; one programmer was even beavering away on the latest section of a London street as we watched.

The programmers were just as busy, and just as bizarre. Case in point: a VMS mini-game based on one programmer, Keith's, accompanying pin-up calendar of superstar Jordan, in which 'Jordan' basically appears on the screen - then goes. It is unlikely to make it into the final game. Roger was preparing for his birthday the nest day, and the all-programming MD was, er, programming.

This designer agreed to show us several impressive renders on his screen. Our camera was too crap to capture them
This artist ended up in one of my photos somehow, I didn't take it and I ain't captioning it. He did have a nice Z3 model though.

To give you some idea as to how fast they're working, the day before we visited, the Honda S2000 simply didn't exist - in any form - in the game. We were there and played fully functional, stunning-looking silver and yellow models hours later. A new GD ROM is written at the end of each day, each with less bugs and more features than the last

FURBALLS (RELEASED AS 'FUR FIGHTERS')

In development for just over a year on both Dreamcast and PC, Furballs is Bizarre's second project, and also looks very promising indeed. The concept being the game is very well-designed, and the range of characters superlative.

The Furballs Team with some of the stars. I don't know how Sarah got them off their asses for the photos, but we got there in the end. They look thrilled as you can see. 

Furballs was actually the game we played first. A smaller team in a smaller part of the office, consisting of about eight people (MSR has about 14 people working on it) the pressure isn't quite as severe as it is in MSR's domain. We were first shown an impressive opening sequence to the game, with characters running around carrying out various in-game activities. We talk more about the game itself in our full playtest.

An enthusiastic artist on the project showed us a book full of highly impressive character designs and ideas. From all of the main characters, to the enemies and the final bosses, they all looked incredible. But the essence of the design goes further than that. Each character has unique attributes, and a bizarre plot synopsis is evident throughout. But it really works.

The Furballs part of the office. Just as tidy as the MSR bit, only with animal junk replacing the car junk.

Next we were shown the level editor and the principles it runs on. The team have basically got all of the levels designed in one way or another, but have a lot of work to do getting them all edited in, fully-tweaked and functional. The team are really working on structure before the graphics, a sensible tactic as the structure is to be pretty damn impressive.

The level editor was built by the programmers themselves, and a user-friendly method of level construction is now employed. We then tried our hand at a couple of levels - again, impressions in the playtest. Needless to day, it's good. Very good.

So They Know What They're Doing Then?

Without a doubt. Bizarre are awesome. They sold millions of copies with their Formula 1 PlayStation title, and they're looking to break all records with Metropolis. Furballs has yet to be assigned to a publisher, although Bizarre say they've spoken to all major developers around the world already. MSR might miss the launch, but when we get it it will be perfect.

The Bizarre office contains a range of diverse personalities, but everybody has at least some things in common: pure enthusiasm and dedication to their work, and a love of games. You don't need a degree to work there, you need the passion. They don't have some poncey board meeting if something in the game needs to be changed. It's more like, "try putting that there - yeah that's more like it - sorted." Even the Office Coordinator, Michelle, took pleasure in kicking everybody's ass at Soul Calibur at E3. It's a pretty unique group of individuals.

As for future projects, it depends on the success of MSR. A sequel would be financially logical, but that doesn't mean there'll be nothing new. There were otherwise few surprises. Metropolis was breathtaking, Furballs was cute, the office was messy, and yes, Michelle was fit. To top things off, and proving that Bizarre is the developer that needs no PR company, Brian even paid for our meal before the journey home.

Original archived SegaWeb page: https://web.archive.org/web/20000820173852/http://www.segaweb.com:80/news/0799/01.html

Registration Type (PAL & US)

 * When driving in the PAL version, your car will have UK plates regardless of the city.  If you're doing Time Attack/Time Trial/Test Drive modes, the unsaved ghost will also have UK plates until you quit.

* CPU cars will have the plates of the city in question.  However CPU Lawnmowers have no number plates in Tokyo or San Francisco.

* If you save a ghost and then replay it (or quit and go back to the exact same course), the ghost car will have the plates from the city in question.

* The car showroom and current car display (before an event) will have the plates that are nearest to the manufacturer's headquarters.  For example, Fiat, Audi and Renault will show UK number plates and Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi have Tokyo plates.  Ford Mustang and the Mazda MX-5 Miata variation have California plates.  However the bonus vehicles all display UK numberplates  

The same applies to the US version except the first point which is now: when driving, your car will have California plates regardless of the city.  If you're doing Time Attack/Time Trial/Test Drive modes, the unsaved ghost will also have California plates until you quit.  However there is no registration visible when you drive the Lawnmower although if you save its ghost on a London course, the ghost will show a back UK registration.

MSR's US Chart Performance (January - February 2001)

 

US Weekly Dreamcast Chart ending 14 January 2001 (they may have meant 21 Janaury as MSR wasn't released stateside until 15 January 2001; a Monday)

1.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer
2.  NBA 2K1
3.  NFL 2K1
4.  Crazy Taxi
5.  Sonic Adventure
6.  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
7.  Shenmue, Sega
8.  Sega Rally Championship 2
9.  Grandia II
10. NHL 2K


Week ending 30 January 2001

1.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer

2.  NBA 2K1

3.  NFL 2K1

4.  Crazy Taxi

5.  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

6.  Shenmue

7.  Sonic Adventure

8.  Ready 2 Rumble Boxing 2

9.  Grandia II

10. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation

Week ending 6 February 2001

1.  NBA 2K1

2.  Crazy Taxi

3.  NFL 2K1

4.  Metropolis Street Racer

5.  Speed Devils

6.  Sonic Adventure

7.  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

8.  Shenmue

9.  Tomb Raider: The Next Revelation

10. Evolution

While I have charts for the next 2 weeks, the dates seem to overlap so they may not be accurate.  However I can say that MSR dropped to No. 7 and then No.9 over the next two weeks.  It had left the Top 10 by the end of February. 

Early MSR: 'Metropolis' poster

 

Early MSR: Gang Mode (Pictures)

"The Gang Battle mode is a four player Olympic-like event that consists of players battling it out in several different games to see who the ultimate driver is. The idea is very innovative and could be a deciding factor in how well Metropolis does." 

Statement taken from the old Sega Zone website: https://web.archive.org/web/20000831030938/http://www.sega-zone.com:80/previews/dreamcast/metropolis.html

Pictures originate from the old 'Segaweb' site and 'Videogames.com' (predecessor of Gamespot).

MSR's UK Chart Performance (4 November 2000 - 23 November 2002)

I managed to find some news articles in the old Segaweb.com archives (a US based site) and a chart archive archive (https://retrogamecharts.blogspot.com/) that cover the UK chart performance of MSR during November 2000 and December 2002.  The first three dates include the all-format chart because those are the only time MSR makes an appearance.  All the other dates show Dreamcast charts only.      

Week ending 4 November 2000.  MSR had only been on sale for 1/2 days selling just over 13,000 units

All Format Chart

1.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - PSone, PC, Dreamcast
2.  Championship Manager: Season 00/01 - PC
3.  FIFA 2001 - PSone, PC (New Entry)
4.  Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - PC
5.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer - Dreamcast (New Entry)
6.  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - PSone
7.  Pokemon Yellow - Game Boy
8.  Pokemon Pinball - Game Boy Color
9.  Gran Turismo 2 - PSone
10. Tomorrow Never Dies - PSone

Dreamcast Chart

1.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (New Entry)
2.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
3.  Sonic Adventure
4.  F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa
5.  Virtua Tennis
6.  WWF: Royal Rumble
7.  Hidden & Dangerous
8.  Sega Bass Fishing
9.  Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
10. UEFA Striker

5-11 November 2000 

All-Format

1.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - PSone, PC, Dreamcast
2.  FIFA 2001 - PSone, PC
3.  Championship Manager: Season 00/01 - PC
4.  Pokemon Pinball - Game Boy Color
5.  Pokemon Yellow - Game Boy
6.  Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - PC
7.  Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 - PSone
8.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer - Dreamcast
9.  Rayman - PSone, Game Boy Color
10. Gran Turismo 2 - PSone

Dreamcast Chart

1.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer
2.  Sonic Adventure
3.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
4.  Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 [New Entry]
5.  Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
6.  Virtua Tennis
7.  WWF: Royal Rumble
8.  UEFA Striker
9.  Rayman 2: The Great Escape
10. F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa


12 - 18 November 2000

All Format Chart

1. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - PSOne / Dreamcast / PC
2. Driver 2 - PSOne [New Entry]
3. FIFA 2001 - PSOne / PC
4. Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask - N64 [New Entry]
5. Pokemon Pinball - Game Boy Color
6. Pokemon Yellow - Game Boy
7. Championship Manager: Season 00/01 - PC
8. Tomb Raider Chronicles - PSOne [New Entry]
9. The World Is Not Enough - PSOne [New Entry]
10. Rayman - PSOne
11. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - PSOne
12. Spyro: Year Of The Dragon - PSOne
13. Toy Story 2 - PSOne / Game Boy Color
14. Rugrats: Search For Reptar - PSOne
15. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - PC
16. Tomorrow Never Dies - PSOne
17. Gran Turismo 2 - PSOne
18. Pokemon Blue - Game Boy
19. Pokemon Red - Game Boy
20. Driver - PSOne
21. Escape From Monkey Island - PC [New Entry]
22. Disney's Dinosaur - PSOne / Game Boy Color
23. Spiderman - PSOne / Game Boy Color
24. Tarzan Action Game - PSOne
25. Rayman 2: The Great Escape - PSOne / Dreamcast / N64 / PC
26. Super Mario Bros - Game Boy Color
27. Army Men: Land, Sea, Air - PSOne
28. Metropolis Street Racer - Dreamcast (previous No. 8)
29. Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace - PSOne / PC
30. Theme Park World - PSOne / PC

Dreamcast Chart

1.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  Silent Scope (Konami) [New Entry]
4.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (Eidos Interactive)
5.  Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 (Sega) 
6.  Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (Eidos Interactive)
7.  Soul Fighter (Mindscape)
8.  Virtua Tennis (Sega)
9.  Le Mans 24 Hours (Infogrames) [New Entry]
10. WWF: Royal Rumble (THQ)


26 November - 2 December 2000

MSR had dropped out of the All-Format Top 40 by this point.  You can see that particular chart for this week here: https://web.archive.org/web/20011222121349/http://www.segaweb.com/news/1200/019.html.  So UK charts from this point onwards are Dreamcast only.

1.  Shenmue (Sega) [New Entry]
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
4.  Jet Set Radio (Sega)
5.  Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (Eidos Interactive)
6.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (Eidos Interactive)
7.  Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
8.  Sega GT (Sega) [New Entry]
9.  Soul Fighter (Mindscape)
10. Silent Scope (Konami)

3-9 December 2000

1.  Shenmue - Sega
2.  Quake III: Arena - Sega [New Entry]
3.  Sonic Adventure - Sega
4.  Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation - Eidos
5.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer - Sega
6.  Sega Bass Fishing - Sega
7.  Who Want To Be A Millionaire - Eidos
8.  Ultimate Fighting Championship - Ubi Soft
9.  Jet Set Radio - Sega
10. UEFA Dream Soccer - Sega


10 - 16 December 2000

1. Shenmue (Sega)
2. Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3. Quake III: Arena (Sega)
4. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (Eidos Interactive)
5. Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
6. MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
7. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (Eidos Interactive)
8. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (Activision) [New Entry]
9. Ultimate Fighting Championship (Ubi Soft)
10. Jet Set Radio (Sega)

17-23 December 2000

1.  Shenmue (Sega)
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  Toy Racer Sega [New Entry] (Sega Europe)
4.  Tomb Raider 4: The Last Revelation (Eidos)
5.  Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
6.  Quake III: Arena (Sega)
7.   Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (Eidos Interactive)
8.   MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
9.   Tony Hawk'S Pro Skater 2 (Activision)
10. Jet Set Radio (Sega)

24 - 30 December 2000

1. Toy Racer (Sega Europe)
2. Shenmue (Sega)
3. Sonic Adventure (Sega)
4. Quake III Arena (Sega)
5. MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
6. Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
7. Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation (Eidos)
8. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2 (Midway)
9. Tony Hawk'S Pro Skater 2 (Activision)
10. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (Eidos)

31 December 2000 - 6 January 2001

1. Toy Racer (Sega Europe)
2  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3. Shenmue (Sega)
4. Quake III Arena (Sega)
5. Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation (Eidos)
6. Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
7. Sega Rally 2 (Sega)
8. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2 (Midway)
9. MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
10. Hidden & Dangerous (Take 2)

7- 13 January 2001

1.  Toy Racer (Sega)
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation (Eidos Interactive)
4.  Sega Rally 2 (Sega)
5.  Shenmue (Sega)
6.  Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
7.  Tony Hawk'S Pro Skater 2 (Activision)
8.  Quake III Arena (Sega)
9.  F355 Challenge (Acclaim)
10. MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)

14- 20 January 2001

1.   Toy Racer (Sega Europe)
2.   Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.   Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation (Eidos)
4.   Sega Rally 2 (Sega)
5.   Shenmue (Sega)
6.   Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
7.   Quake III Arena (Sega)
8.   Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (Activision)
9.   MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
10. WWF Attitude (Acclaim) 

21 - 27 Jan 2001

1.  Toy Racer (Sega Europe)
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  Shenmue (Sega)
4.  Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (Eidos Interactive)
5.  Sega Rally 2 (Sega)
6.  Virtua Tennis (Sega)
7.  Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
8.  Tony Hawk'S Pro Skater 2 (Activision)
9.  Quake III: Arena (Sega)
10. MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega)

Week ending 3 February 2001: No. 11

Week ending 10 February 2001: No. 15

Week ending 17 February 2001: No info but not in Top 10

Week ending  24 February 2001: No. 19

Week ending 10 March 2001: No. 10

Week ending 17 March 2001: No. 5

Week ending 24 March 2001: No. 5

Week ending 31 March 2001: No.  5 

Week ending 7 April 2001: No. 8

Week ending 14 April 2001: No info but not in Top 10

Week ending 21 April 2001: No. 7

Week ending 29 April 2001: No. 10

Week ending 5 May 2001: No. 6

Week ending 12 May 2001: No info but not in Top 10

Week ending 19 May 2001: No. 12 

Week ending 26 May 2001: No. 12

There are no Top 20 charts until October, only Top 10.  MSR is not in the Top 10 during this period.

Week ending 6 October 2001: No. 16

Limited info between 7 October - 24 November 2001 however MSR is not in the Top 10 during this period.

Week ending 24 November 2001: No.10

Week ending 1 December 2001: No. 12

Limited info between 2 December - 16 February however MSR is not in the Top 10.

Week ending 23 February 2002: No. 8

Limited info between 17 February - 7 September 2002 however MSR is not in the Top 10.

Week ending 14 September 2002: No. 8 

Week ending 21 September 2002: No. 5

No info for week ending 29 September 2002

Week ending 5 October 2002: No. 6

Week ending 12 October 2002: No. 3

Week ending 19 October 2002: No. 10

Week ending 26 October 2002: No. 10

Week ending 2 November 2002: No. 8

Week ending 9 November 2002: No. 8

Week ending 16 November 2002: No. 6

Week ending 23 November 2002: No. 6