American Fusion release

[BurnHead]

I've just found this nice article on http://www,gamespydaily.com
It should be very interesting for North American WipEout fans!


Finally, this is the news I've been waiting to hear...Bam! Entertainment has signed an agreement with SCEA to publish both WipEout: Fusion and Dropship: United Peace Force in North America. For months the fate of these two titles has been languishing in uncertainty, but now North American PS2 owners can rejoice that these two Sony titles are headed to our fair shores.
"We are delighted to confirm that we are expanding our publishing deal with BAM! Entertainment, who have demonstrated focus, energy and commitment to driving the PS2 and its superb range of software titles to the North American market. The WipEout/ Dropship agreement underlines our confidence in BAM! Entertainment as a valued and trusted publishing partner and we look forward to working together with them," said Phil Harrison, Senior Vice President of Development, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

"Given the impact the WipEout series had on the original PlayStation, and the positive editorial reviews for Dropship, these titles are highly anticipated games on the PS2," said Bernard Stolar, President and Chief Operating Officer of BAM! Entertainment. "Once again the development team at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe offers the North American market superb content, stunning graphics and challenging gameplay."

Soooo... no more online petitions, I guess :wink:

[BurnHead]

On a side note: I'm now a proud owner of a brand new XBox...
Yeah, I know... maybe some people will remember my not so good posts about this console. But the software lineup convinced me to buy one.
And I didn't notice any slowdowns or crashes so far... :grin:

Now I can't wait for Quantum Redshift... it seems to become a cool game!

[infoxicated]

Obviously you haven't played Amped then - slowed down for me!

[BurnHead]

Nope... I am not into (realistic) sports games, you know (except driving simulations). :grin:
So far I've only played Munch's Odyssey (hope that is spelled right :grin:). But I plan to buy Halo and DOA3, too, the next few days.

So you also have a XBox then? Hmmmm... maybe when QR gets released (which hopefully has a multiplayer mode), we can organize a XBox LAN Party (should be easier as with the PS2, you only need normal network hubs).

If everyone here on the board ownes a XBox then... :grin:

[zone]

DOA3 is very sexy !! Full of so many sexy babes...

[infoxicated]

I wondered why you were running around kind of funny at five-a-side the other night.

Now I know. Ho-hum! :wink:

[BurnHead]

That's exactly the reason I want to buy it... :grin:

No, in fact I like the simple fighting engine - in this game my pals are willing to play against me, too. In other fighting games you always have to remember so much moves and for a non-console player this is very hard!

Okay, okay... the babes are cool, too... :grin:

[Lance]

hi Bernhard, this is the first time i've seen you here in a long while.

[the developers always spell it Oddysee, with 2 'd's.]

Bernie Stolar, the president of Bam! Entertainment used to president of Sega of America. very interesting bit of news. it's also interesting about Sony allowing some other publisher to handle one of the wipeout series. does this mean that they're eventually going to let go of it? since Sony owns the development group, it would mean that they would no longer work on it. there's no telling what that would mean if some other team eventually was allowed to produce their own version of the game. this is all wild speculation, but interesting to think about it.

[Spaceboy Gajo]

Lance, isn't Bam distributing it and not publishing it? Sony has already published it, they just did not have the interest to distribute it to North America.

All Bam would have to do is take the game that SCEE made and put their little logo on the box and they get a good profit out of it.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Spaceboy Gajo on 2002-03-22 19:57 ]</font>

[Lance]

Sony is the developer. it's my understanding that the distributor/marketer of a title is the publisher. which would be Bam! in this case. i could be wrong of course.

the logos we see on games are usually those of the publisher, but occasionally the developer gets credit on the package also. in the case of Sony games, they own some of the design studios. like Syphon Filter shows the 989 Studios logo, but Sony owns it and is actually both the developer and the publisher even though you don't see a Sony diamond on the cover. likewise for WO3; it shows the Psygnosis logo, but according to a history of Psygnosis, Sony has owned it since 1993.

What logo appears on the PAL version of Fusion? and also, is it a different one in Australia than it is in Europe?

P.S. this is the description from Bam!'s company profile:

''The company is a rapidly emerging developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software. We license properties from a wide variety of sources including entertainment and media companies and we publish software based on their motion picture, sports and television cartoon properties.''

and these are Bam's principal shareholders:

PAR Investment Partners, L.P.
Merchant Bankers, Inc.
Spyglass Entertainment Group, L.P.

i don't know who owns the shareholders.

*
this has been a typical case of overkill and possible wrongheadedness by Lance. thank you all for your participation and patience :wink:

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Lance on 2002-03-22 23:22 ]</font>

[vh5150]

http://www.bam4fun.com/pr-03-21-02a.html

Original press release from BAM! Entertainment

[BurnHead]

Hey Lance!

Yeah, I wasn't here for a long time. Unfortunately my job got harder, so I haven't got much time left visiting this forum. And this won't change the next few days.

Hopefully I can regulary check out the board and post a few things, but it won't be as much as it already was (weird sentence, huh?? :D)

Oh, btw: I know that it's spelled Oddysee (everything in this game is odd, hehe). But I thought that can't be true for the english version. Guess I was wrong...

[Lance]

my opinion is that mere work takes time away from doing the important stuff, such as wip3out, soul calibur, searching for the historical facts behind the legends of King Arthur, reading Batman comics, watching animated series on tv, etc.

[BurnHead]

that is too true man... :wink: