Buzz! Quiz TV (PS3) - Relentless Interview

Brain straining takes on a new dimension as Buzz! for PS3 brings gamers into the creative process. We chat with Relentless about its new game.

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By Adam Doree & Alex Wollenschlaeger

With shows like Deal or No Deal and Are You Smarter Than a 10 Year Old? breaking out and going global and several old favourites still cranking out episodes, the game show genre is certainly not slowing down. There is, however, one question producers of all these quiz shows should be asking themselves: What are we going to do about Buzz?

The loud, almost obnoxious, presenter of the Buzz! games is already a star on PlayStation 2, where his handful of quiz titles covering music, sports, movies and much more have been a hit for both Sony and Brighton-based developer Relentless Software. But the pair is about to upend the tables, with Buzz! Quiz TV, the first game in the series for PlayStation 3.

The high-tech innards of Sony's curvaceous system are a boon to developers looking for graphical spectacle, but for Relentless, it's the always-online aspects of the console that will have the most transformative effect, says Relentless director David Amor.

"We've been doing Buzz games for the PS2 for quite a while now and we stored up the ideas that we'd do when the PlayStation 3 came over and more specifically when you get to go online," Amor tells Kikizo. "It's only now that we can do the online features that we really wanted to do."

And what the team really wants to do is share its vision of the game show with the world.

That vision is typified by interaction - a timely focal point in an age where people are becoming more and more hooked on social network technologies such as Facebook and Twitter. Taking a familiar experience online is at the heart of Buzz! for PS3, and the repercussions of the move will be felt in several areas in the game. Most obvious is that competition, once relegated to your immediate location, is now something you'll be able to bring to the person next door or the person on the next continent.

"Buzz traditionally has been a game about you versus the people on your sofa, and I still think it's about the fun that you're having on your sofa," says Amor. In the new sofa-versus-sofa mode you'll be able to go online and challenge other PS3 owners, working with the people around you to take down your competition.

"It's still really about spending a lot of time making it about the entertainment you have in the living room, but we turned it around a bit so you're working cooperatively."

Unlike the previous games, which relied on different versions for new questions, Relentless is thinking broader for Buzz! on PS3. Thanks to the roomy accommodation offered by Blu-ray discs, the team has been able to create a game that caters to just about everyone, with questions broken down in separate categories that can be combined as you wish.

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