Bizarre PGR Developer ShowdownFrom across the pond, Bizarre Creations developers Gareth Wilson and Ben Ward picked up the proverbial gauntlet and participated in the Developer Showdown. Wilson and Ward took on over 400 Project Gotham Racing® contenders for a fun evening of racing, thrashing, bantering, and general smack talking. Find out their take on how the evening went, as well as how they hand-selected some finalists to compete in the upcoming European PGR 100 event.
To find out more about Gareth, Ben, and the other fabulous people of the Bizarre Creations crew, visit http://www.bizarreonline.net.
Gareth, you previously mentioned that you and Ben would have to brush up on your PGR skills prior to the Developer Showdown. Did you have any real anxiety, unease, or pressure to perform well in the Developer Showdown?
 Wilson: Well we were pretty much expecting to get thrashed, as we haven’t really played much PGR 3 at Bizarre in weeks! However, we wanted to give the guys a bit of a race, and I almost finished “not last ” in a couple of events! ☺ All the pressure seemed to go away once we actually started chatting and racing… I played a bunch of really cool people who had some great questions and gave me a real challenge!
Ben, you and Gareth were tasked with handpicking a select few of the elite gamers from the Developer Showdown to compete in the PGR 100. When you first heard this news, did you feel it was more of an onus, or a bonus? For instance, did you feel a sort of demi-god power, or was it more of a burden to you in that you didn’t want to disappoint the PGR fans?
 Ward: I thought it was excellent that we had been given this opportunity, but then again it was difficult to try and pick winners from the 400+ gamers who wanted to try and kick our asses in a two hour timeframe! At one point I had 50 unread messages, and 70 friends online… and that was just one Gamertag! I don’t know how many we got around to playing in the end, but it was tough to pick a set of winners out of everyone we raced.
In making your final decisions for the PGR 100 selection, were you looking for particular style moves and skills, or were you simply seeking out the drivers who caught your eye with their maneuvers and panache?
Wilson: The aim was not just pick the best players, but rather those who showed the most style and personality—either through their racing, or their chit-chat and trash talk. Fortunately there are a bunch of really good guys and gals in the PGR 3 community, so it was a pleasure to meet and race most everybody over Xbox Live®. We saw a few gamers who stood out above the rest, so we’ve put their Gamertags forward to become members of the PGR 100!
How did you choose who would race on PGR 2 or PGR 3 and why?
Ward: Well to tell you the truth, we both did a bit on both games. We switched around part way through; I think I did slightly more racing on PGR 3 than PGR 2 myself, but Gareth was about 50/50. It’s a shame it was only a two hour session, as I would have loved to have carried on racing all night!
The long-awaited Leaderboards and Tournament features are on the imminent PGR 3 horizon. Is there a lot of excitement at Bizarre Creations surrounding this aspect? What types of Tournament events do you envision for the near future?
Wilson: Yeah, everybody is really looking forward to getting the tournaments up and running. It’s a technical challenge at the moment to get everything operating perfectly, but we hope the tournaments and other planned features will really give the game a surge of popularity. Watch this space. ☺
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