Press Release: 1999-11-07: Climax Group announces link-up with new development studio Pixel Planet

This is an unaltered copy of a press release, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below. Language: English Original source: www.climax.co.uk (archived)

Tony Beckwith & Greg Michael to join Climax Group


7th November 1999, Brighton, W. Sussex, UK

After a whirlwind romance, Climax Group and Pixel Planet today announced a partnership that creates a powerful new force in the interactive entertainment industry. The union of the two companies establishes an additional division, Climax Brighton, within the long-established Climax Group. It's a link-up that marks the continuation of an aggressive and ongoing expansion plan at the company, and Pixel Planet joins an impressive roster of in-house development talent. Alongside existing Climax subsidiaries, PC Studio and GameBoy World, Climax Group now boasts skills and expertise on all major gaming formats, including: Nintendo 64, GameBoy Color, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Sega Dreamcast and PC.

"With the expertise of Tony Beckwith and Greg Michael, we can only enhance our position at the cutting edge of interactive entertainment," says Karl Jeffery, President of Climax Group. "Our aim has always been to deliver the highest quality gaming experiences to the games player on a wide variety of formats. And with the next generation technologies we've developed, we have no doubt
that Climax Group can be as successful on tomorrow's gaming platforms as it has been on today's consoles and computers. We were particularly impressed by Pixel Planet's proprietary 3D engine, some incredible technology that forms the core of an original PC and next-generation console racing title, Stunt Driver."

The creation of Climax Brighton completes a dizzying first few months for co-founders Tony Beckwith and Greg Michael who take on the roles of Managing Director and Technical Director respectively at the new studio. The duo formed Pixel Planet in September with the aim of developing new technologies in anticipation of the next wave of consoles and 3D Accelerator cards. The Stunt Driver 3D system (which includes high-level vehicle dynamics and advanced Bezier patch technology) has been under development for a year. It gives its name to a revolutionary new motorsport game that is currently the focus of a bidding war from several major publishers. Stunt Driver (working title) is due for release in 2001 on PC and PlayStation 2.

"We're excited about trading our own knowledge and skills with the experience that Climax Group has to offer," comments Tony Beckwith. "This move gives us the stability and the resources that we need to continue work on Stunt Driver, while Climax gains exclusive access to our technologies which can then be used in other titles within the group. We get what we want, Climax Group get what they want. We're also delighted that, with the clout of a large company behind us, we can now look to expand our
own internal development team much quicker than we had anticipated. Brighton is a young, vibrant and creative part of the country, and we're planning to tap into the area's development and multimedia talent in order to add to our existing staff."

Climax Brighton will be based in prestigious offices in the centre of Brighton and will be looking to significantly add to its core team of 12 and follow the rapid expansion seen this year at the company's Fareham headquarters, which currently employs around 100 staff. President Karl Jeffery reveals that
new development talent will be actively sought for both locations to continue and enhance 
the company's reputation as a producer of top-quality, cutting-edge interactive entertainment.

Pixel Planet was founded in September 1999 by industry veterans Tony Beckwith and Greg Michael. Tony Beckwith began his career programming games on the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum, before moving to BT Telecomsoft in the late 1980s, Millennium Interactive and Mirrorsoft. From the early 1990's to 1999, Tony was Development Director at Probe Entertainment Ltd. Greg Michael is a veteran of The Sales Curve Ltd. and Probe Entertainment Ltd., where he worked as Lead Programmer on the PlayStation versions of Alien Trilogy and Forsaken.