The Unofficial Free Radical Design blog

20th of May we can use from now on. The game has been given a mature rating. We have a while to wait but it should be worth the wait.

The monkey has a house with access to the internet? http://www.frd.co.uk/blogs.php#id_14

“I’m still a Monkey. And it’s still funny, isn’t it.

Making games is fun because games themselves are fun to play. At least that’s the general perception. However, as some of the new kids are discovering, it can be quite taxing when crunch time rolls around. You see, a game is like a circus - it’s fun to watch, but behind the scenes, tightrope walkers are falling off and breaking their legs, horses are being whipped and beaten until they learn to prance just the way the audience likes, and big fat clowns are hiding their salty tears.

It’s the kind of experience that could make a person feel reluctant to be in the office. However, much like how one might dangle a carrot in front of a donkey’s face, or leave a trail of Skittles for E.T, I have taken the measure of finding ways to tempt myself into staying put. As soon as I get home in the evening, I get straight on the net and buy as much random crap as I can get my clicks on. I have it all shipped direct to the office and I try not to think about what I’m buying. That’s the point, you see - by forgetting what I have ordered, I know that there will be a random present waiting for me everyday in the mail, thereby encouraging me to come into the office in order to satisfy my curiosity about what I have bought myself.

This week started off extremely macho -

Monday: A collection of classic Schwarzenegger DVDs.
Tuesday: The soundtracks to Rocky Balboa, Conan the Barbarian and 300.
Wednesday: A collection of ‘Safari Meat’, including cuts of Ostrich, Boar and Goat.

And has descended into something significantly less masculine -

Thursday: Animal Slippers.
Friday: A box of heart-shaped chocolates.

The cruel irony of the juxtaposition between Wednesday’s and Thursday’s gifts has not escaped me. Nonetheless, the beasts were all delicious and the slippers are comfy. The goat was a bit tough, but I suppose that comes with the territory. No, that’s not a slipper-eating joke.

Oh, also, Haze is still being glammed up; the LucasArts project is looking even more spectacular by the hour; and TimeSplitters 4 is still a great swirling mass of brilliant ideas that no-one wants to thin out.

Goodbye.“

Expect it soon and with awesome improvements. Take a look at this quote from the ubisoft forums:

“Normally we have to be a bit careful about what we say on forums in case it incurs the wrath of Neko or Dr. Doak for giving too much info away, but this time I’m very safe in saying that Haze is coming.

While we can’t explicitly say what improvements we’ve made (I’d love to tell you all the cool stuff we’ve been putting in!…but I also love my job too lol) I can guarantee you that the extra bit of time has made a big difference for the better.

We understand the frustration caused by shifting things around a bit, but we just want to make sure things are right for the people who’ll be playing Haze *very* soon

Since we’re far more forthcoming with info to our fans here at FRD than other games companies, maybe once Haze is sat toasting away in your PS3’s we’ll be able to do some post mortem video’s/articles for you lot, and explain what’s gone in and what improved with the bit of extra time we had

I’ll see what I can do…well, unless you’re a Promise Hand Rebel, in which case you’ll get the business end of an assault rifle from me! “

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