Company:Left Field Productions

From HandWiki
Left Field Productions
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FateClosed
FoundedJanuary 5, 1994[1]
Defunct2011
HeadquartersVentura County, California, US
ProductsConsole and personal computer games

Left Field Productions, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Ventura, California. Founded in 1994 by industry veterans John Brandwood, Jeff Godfrey and Mike Lamb, both of them were vetarans of the shrinking independent game developer Malibu Interactive, during the mass layoffs at the company.[2] Left Field is best known for developing the critically acclaimed Nintendo 64 game Excitebike 64 for Nintendo.

The company's first game they developed was the Slam 'n Jam basketball games from Crystal Dynamics,[3] but interest soon built enough attraction from Nintendo to develop a basketball game for Nintendo 64.[4]

On April 23, 1998, Nintendo announced the purchase of a minority interest in Left Field Productions, allowing them to expand operations and ensuring a steady flow of exclusive content from the developer.[5] In 1999, the company expanded to develop games for the Game Boy Color handheld.[6][7] In 2000, the company designed its pinball game engine, used for Software:The Little Mermaid II: Pinball Frenzy,[8] and the Game Boy Color version of 3-D Ultra Pinball: Thrillride.[9] Also that year, the company became an early adopter of Nintendo GameCube's development tools.[10]

In September 2002, after months of speculation, Left Field bought out Nintendo's stake in the company, once again becoming a fully independent third-party developer.[11][12] The company then made its multi-platform debut after being third-party with MTX Mototrax for Activision.[13]

The studio closed in 2011, shortly after releasing Mayhem to mixed reviews.

Games developed

Year Title Platforms
1995 Slam 'N Jam '95 3DO
1996 Slam 'N Jam '96 Featuring Magic & Kareem PlayStation, Saturn
Slam 'N Jam MS-DOS
1998 Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside Nintendo 64
1999 Disney's Beauty and the Beast: A Board Game Adventure Game Boy Color
NBA 3 on 3 featuring Kobe Bryant
Software:NBA Courtside 2: Featuring Kobe Bryant Nintendo 64
2000 3-D Ultra Pinball: Thrillride Game Boy Color
Disney's The Little Mermaid II: Pinball Frenzy
Excitebike 64 Nintendo 64 (iQue)
2002 Backyard Football GameCube
NBA Courtside 2002
2004 MTX Mototrax PS2, Xbox, Windows, Mac
2005 World Series of Poker GameCube, PS2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox
2006 MTX Mototrax PlayStation Portable
Software:World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions PS2, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, Wii
Dave Mirra BMX Challenge PlayStation Portable
2007 Dave Mirra BMX Challenge Wii
World Series of Poker: Battle for the Bracelets PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable
Nitrobike Wii, PS2
2008 SCORE International Baja 1000 Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
2009 Battle Poker Wii, PlayStation Portable
2011 Mayhem Xbox 360, PS3

Canceled projects

A GameCube version of MTX Mototrax was in the works but was later canceled as publisher Activision scaled back support for the platform.

A sequel to the Nintendo 64 game 1080° Snowboarding was in development at Left Field at one time. Development originated on the Nintendo 64 platform but was later shifted to the GameCube once Nintendo began phasing out the Nintendo 64. When Left Field separated with Nintendo in early 2002, Nintendo Software Technology took over development of the game, releasing 1080° Avalanche on December 1, 2003. It is unknown how far into production the game was when Left Field left the project, or just how much, if any, of Left Field's work is present in the final game.[14]

Awards

  • Best Extreme Sports Game – MTX Mototrax (2004, Play Magazine)
  • IGN Editor's Choice Award – Excitebike 64 (2000, IGN)
  • IGN Editor's Choice Award – MTX Mototrax (2004, IGN)
  • IGN Editor's Choice Award – NBA Courtside 2: Featuring Kobe Bryant (1999, IGN)

References

  1. ↑ "Articles of Incorporation of Left Field Productions, Inc.". California Secretary of State. 1994-01-05. https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=01736883-4416244. 
  2. ↑ "Left Field Productions". http://www.left.com/about.htm. 
  3. ↑ Jon Winding, David (June 1995). "They be slammin' & jammin'". Dimension 3: pp. 40. https://archive.org/details/dimension-3-1995-06/page/n39/mode/2up. 
  4. ↑ "NBA Basketball". N64 Magazine: pp. 60. January 1998. https://archive.org/details/n64magazineukcollection/N64%20Magazine%2011%20-%20january%201998%20%28UK%29%20%28Max-Rez%20version%29/page/n59/mode/2up. 
  5. ↑ "Nintendo Covers Left Field". IGN. 1998-04-23. https://www.ign.com/articles/1998/04/24/nintendo-covers-left-field. 
  6. ↑ Staff, I. G. N. (1999-09-15). "NBA 3 on 3 Featuring Kobe Bryant" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/09/15/nba-3-on-3-featuring-kobe-bryant-2. 
  7. ↑ Harris, Craig (1999-12-10). "NBA 3 on 3 Featuring Kobe Bryant" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/12/10/nba-3-on-3-featuring-kobe-bryant. 
  8. ↑ Harris, Craig (2000-09-29). "Disney's The Little Mermaid II: Pinball Frenzy" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/09/29/disneys-the-little-mermaid-ii-pinball-frenzy. 
  9. ↑ Nix (2001-02-03). "3D Ultra Pinball: Thrill Ride" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/02/03/3d-ultra-pinball-thrill-ride-2. 
  10. ↑ Staff, I. G. N. (2000-11-04). "Left Field on Cube" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/11/04/left-field-on-cube. 
  11. ↑ "Left Field Officially Third Party". IGN. 2002-09-11. https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/09/11/left-field-officially-third-party. 
  12. ↑ "Left Field buys out Nintendo investment" (in en-US). https://www.gamespot.com/articles/left-field-buys-out-nintendo-investment/1100-2879947/. 
  13. ↑ Perry, Douglass C. (2003-12-13). "MTX Mototrax" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/12/13/mtx-mototrax. 
  14. ↑ Desmarais, Guy (2018-12-04). "25 N64 Games That Were Canceled For Ridiculous Reasons (And It’s So Unfair)" (in en). https://www.thegamer.com/n64-video-games-canceled-reasons-unfair/. 



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