Big Scale Racing
Developer(s)BumbleBeast
Publisher(s)HD Interactive
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
  • NA: August 16, 2002
Genre(s)Racing

Big Scale Racing is a 2002 racing video game by BumbleBeast.

Development

The studio began as a subsidiary of digital company Virtual Environments Systems & Consultancy (VESC), which was spun-off to create PC CD-ROM games on April 1, 2001. The company consisted of seven employees, which created scale models of racing cars (90 cm long) for the racing game.[1] The company anticipated an Autumn 2002 launch date, and aimed to distribute the game to big retailers and entertainment shops over the world, while accepting online orders over the Internet.[1]

The company started production on February 9, 2001.[2] In Spring of that year, BumbleBeast signed license agreements with various race tracks to have the tracks featuring in current and future games.[2] The company hired cartoon artist Patrick Schoenmaker[3] on June 1, his debut video game.[2] An internal beta was released on August 2, followed by an internal demo on September 9.[2] The BumbleBeast website - premiering content about the game - was uploaded September 14.[2] Summitsoft (Omaha) signed a publishing/distribution deal for the North American continent on March 10, 2002.[2] On March 12, an August release date for retail was set.[2] Weather effects were added March 28.[2] In response to beta and demo testers regarding Multiplayer LAN, developers announced 8 player LAN gaming on April 1, 2002.[2] On April 11, Dutch company HD Interactive signed a publishing/distribution deal for Europe.[2] A public demo was released April 14.[2]

On April 18, Japanese company Aqua Systems signed a publishing/distribution deal for Japan.[2] On May 25, Summitsoft and HD-Interactive presented the game at E3.[2] By June 14, the US/Canada version of BSR was set for the second week of August 2002, the EU version was set for September 20, and the Japanese version was set for mid August.[2] On July 10 it was announced the game would have dedicated versions in Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, French, German and English.[2] On July 7, QVSoftware signed a distribution deal for release in Australia/New Zealand for early October 2002.[2] On July 28 it was announced that in the previous week 50 thousand demos were downloaded from various sites.[2] First screenshots were released on July 31.[4] On August 16, the game was released in the US, and in the online stores Navarre, EB Games, and Amazon.[2] An estimated 1,500,000 downloads of the demo occurred from August–October. A special edition of the game (Big Scale Racing Special Edition) was released in 2003.[2]

Gameplay

Players race with 1/5 scale RC racing cars. The game features weather, multiple tracks and cars, and internet competition.

Reception

Eurogamer thought in its hands-on preview that the game was a serious simulator but also fun and playable.[13] On release, the game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "VESC". Virtual Environments Systems & Consultancy. Archived from the original on February 8, 2004. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "BumbleBeast Game Development | News". BumbleBeast. Archived from the original on June 3, 2004. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Bumblebeast & Big Scale Racing". UKGamer. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  4. ↑ Calvert, Justin (July 31, 2002). "First look: Big Scale Racing". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Big Scale Racing for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Review: Big Scale Racing". Computer Games Magazine. No. 150. theGlobe.com. May 2003. p. 86.
  7. ↑ Osborne, Scott (August 29, 2002). "Big Scale Racing Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  8. ↑ Smolka, Rob (November 21, 2002). "GameSpy: Big Scale Racing". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  9. ↑ Ovaldog (September 10, 2002). "Big Scale Racing Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on September 13, 2008. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  10. ↑ Polak, Steve (July 24, 2003). "Big Scale Racing". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Big Scale Racing". PC Gamer UK. Future plc. December 2002.
  12. ↑ Smolka, Rob (November 2002). "Big Scale Racing". PC Gamer. Vol. 9, no. 11. Imagine Media. p. 126. Archived from the original on March 15, 2006. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  13. ↑ Bye, John "Gestalt" (September 3, 2002). "Big Scale Racing (Hands-on)". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on October 29, 2002. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
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