Left Field Productions, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Ventura, California. It is best known for developing the acclaimed Nintendo 64 game Excitebike 64.
History The company was founded in 1994 by industry veterans John Brandwood, Jeff Godfrey and Mike Lamb, both of whom were vetarans of the shrinking independent game developer Malibu Interactive, during the mass layoffs at the company.
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.
In April 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.
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 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, Wii2009Battle PokerWii, 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 in December 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.
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
External links Left Field Productions website (archive)