Trash talk was spewed, victory dances were broken out, and a few tears might have been shed.

Just to start things off by cutting to the heart of the matter.

Can you describeBlurin a sentence?

Ged Talbot: Its racing, /powered up/.

Bizarre Creationsis not new to the videogame racing world.What was the thought process behind Blur?

GT: Really, we wanted something that was much more energetic, something much more action-based.

So we started off with that goal.

Chris Downey: We also wanted to make a racing game where it wasnt always about winning.

And that lets everyone have a good time, not just the guy whos winning.

GT: Weve found that racing games are very skill-based, and its almost an innate skill.

Weve also allowed players at the front to be skillful enough to be able to evade those tactics.

So, weve tried to make a game that is good for everybody.

CD: Good for hardcore gamers and casual gamers alike.

Thats good, and Ive certainly noticed that accessible approach.

Im not really a racing game fan.

Racing games in the past few years, theyre all starting to converge into the same design.

And everyones fine with that.

But really, people arent.

They want more out of racing games than that.

They want enjoyment, and they dont just want the realism.

Do we want to make a me too game?

Or do we want to make something that is a Bizarre Creations game?

Theres certainly a gap there, especially on the HD consoles.

I suppose the main action-centric racing game series isMario Kart, to whichBlurhas been compared.

And today youve been getting people to sit down and play split-screen.

Did you focus primarily on that local multiplayer side of the game, then?

CD: I think it comes back to trying to appeal to everybody.

GT: The thing is, its more than that.

We wanted to put as many different ways to play in the game as possible.

So we give them that experience.

So the players get to choose.

Its certainly a compelling experience.

Its thatCall Of Dutyapproach, with experience points and levelling up, unlocking new items as you go.

You just keep on playing…

GT: And thats a huge pull.

Its that one more track thing.

Weve even done it with when you’re free to vote on the next track.

And then you do it again!

Is that something that you expected, or planned?

GT: Its certainly something wed hoped for.

Wed worked on it for two years, and six months.

But in the last six months, the game just gone from strength to strength.

Were playing it like gamers.

Its got to that stage for us.

Which gives us the hope that everybody else will be experience that.

And with the beta, were finding that that is exactly the case.

People are coming back and saying theyre having the same experience as us!

Which is just amazing.

So were pleasantly surprised, and very happy.

And recently theres been an expansion to the beta, with extra cars added and the level cap raised.

Whats the thinking behind that?

GT: We did the beta, obviously, because we were still tuning parts of the game.

People wanted more cars, so weve given them that as well.

Just for the fact that people want that jot down of stuff is amazing.

Were getting people telling us how great the game is.

Whats your take on that?

GT: I think, in principle, its a good idea.

[laughs] And then we all went show me the money.

GT: And Britain, traditionally, has always been quite big in the games industry.

Much better than some of the other, continental countries.

So, it is good.

Its good that were stopping the leakage over to Canada, and bringing it back over here.

It might help out a lot of the smaller companies over here as well, the independents.

GT: Yeah, youll find that most of the British companies are the smaller and independent places.

But, if it helps us, then the mores the better.

As long as it doesnt help any other racing games!

[laughs]

Ged Talbotand Chris Downey, thank you very much!

Blur will be released on May 28th, for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.