Left Field Productions
Former American video game developer
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. 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, but interest soon built enough attraction from Nintendo to develop a basketball game for Nintendo 64.
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. In 1999, the company expanded to develop games for the Game Boy Color handheld. In 2000, the company designed its pinball game engine, used for The Little Mermaid II: Pinball Frenzy, and the Game Boy Color version of 3-D Ultra Pinball: Thrillride. Also that year, the company became an early adopter of Nintendo GameCube's development tools.
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. The company then made its multi-platform debut after being third-party with MTX Mototrax for Activision.
The studio closed in 2011, shortly after releasing Mayhem to mixed reviews.
01Games 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 | ||
| 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 |
| 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.
02Awards
- 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)
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Left Field Productions”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Left Field Productions Logo.jpeg by Unknown author, Fair use
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