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Hogrocket's Ben Ward speaks out on Bizarre closure

by Griffin McElroy on Mar 30th 2011 10:00PM

Bizarre Creations community manager-turned-Hogrocket co-founder Ben Ward recently spoke to Eurogamer about the steps that led to his change of employ. The most important query -- what the hell is a Hogrocket? -- goes sadly unanswered. However, Ward explained how his former studio changed with its Activision acquisition, explaining, "for better or worse Bizarre became more 'corporate'."

Ward explained he wasn't hurt by the closure, saying, "Those guys wouldn't be top of their game if they didn't make difficult decisions." He added his former publishing partner "has strived to redistribute Bizarre peeps to other Activision studios throughout the world." As for the future of Hogrocket, Ward shot down the obvious answer for the studio's indie game debut: "It's not Geometry Wars," Ward said. "What Hogrocket is working on now is a completely new IP."

Trigonometry Battles? We can only hope.

Source: Eurogamer

Tags: activision, ben-ward, bizarre-creations, hogrocket, indie

Reader Comments (13)

Yes, I hope Hogrocket will be able to COBBLE together an infectious new game.

ALGEBRA ASSAULT

Geometry Wars and Number Munchers crossover. You know you want to...

Let's hope it better then the "Meh" Bizarre was known for.

@Shinobi13 bitch best be trollin'!

@The Wicker Man
Not to be hurtful, but there's a reason they went under.

@Shinobi13

Ya, the same reason Clover went under - The market doesn't appreciate genuinely good products, just repeated releases of a franchise. Blur and Geometry Wars were amazingly good times. The online lobby for Blur could have been optimized a bit more, but minor complaint.

@Punkrawk Bbob
Blur tried to mimic the arcade feel of Mario kart with realistic driving controls. So you take away the arcade controls of an arcade game, and think it makes it better? Or even as good?
Imagine Hydro Thunder Hurricane with Gran Turismo controls, it would be abysmal, much like Blur was, and was the reason it didn't sell well.
Plus with Blood Stone, they forgot one of the most important Bond features, a badass villain that you'd want to work for. Why they decided to work on a Bond game and forget to implement one of the best things about the series is why it didn't sell.
They made poor decisions two times in a row, and when you're aiming for AAA status and fail twice, you should be thankful you even got a second chance.

Hog in a rocket wars confirmed.

I could go for another Geometry Wars type game. That's probably my most played arcade game.

I was just playing Blur. Made me :(

They've already said their upcoming game isn't going to be like Geometry Wars. It's also launching for iOS first, so if it was then it wouldn't control well.

I'm still interested in what they're making, but I hope they go back to the genre soon. Geometry Wars is one of my favorite franchises, and the best in the genre in my opinion.

Well, I'll go the opposite route of everyone here since I actually didn't play much Geo Wars. I hope they eventually put their racing skills to work. Either way, BC games always had a nice level of polish, a work ethic I don't doubt these guys will be keeping. So I'm on board for whatever it is they make. Just need to go out and buy a new phone that's better for gaming (the OG Droid just aint cuttin it) because all these small indie teams are going to mobile platforms and its annoying to not be able to play their games.

Breaking News

Hogrocket's Ben Ward speaks out on Bizarre closure

Reader Comments (13)

Posted: Mar 30th 2011 10:04PM rTwelve said

Posted: Mar 30th 2011 10:26PM Typhonic said

Posted: Mar 30th 2011 10:43PM Rentaro said

Posted: Mar 30th 2011 10:55PM Shinobi13 said

Posted: Mar 31st 2011 12:17AM The Wicker Man said

Posted: Mar 31st 2011 12:39AM Shinobi13 said

Posted: Mar 31st 2011 6:59AM Punkrawk Bbob said

Posted: Mar 31st 2011 9:38PM Shinobi13 said

Posted: Mar 30th 2011 10:55PM The Wicker Man said

Posted: Mar 30th 2011 11:26PM HissingNewt said

Posted: Mar 31st 2011 12:44AM QuePasa87 said

Posted: Mar 31st 2011 1:39AM CaramelZappa said

Posted: Mar 31st 2011 8:17AM smidget said

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