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''Buzz!'' is a series of
video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed by
Relentless Software Relentless Software was a British video game developer based in Brighton. Founded in 2003, the company was best known for developing most games in Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony's ''Buzz!'' series from 2005 to 2010. Relentless released its ...
and published by
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...
for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
,
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
and
PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...
consoles. It was conceptualized by restaurant owner Stewart Jones, who sold the concept to Sony. They are
quiz A quiz is a form of mind sport in which people attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief Educational assessment, assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abil ...
games that see the players answering trivia questions while competing in the fictional game show ''Buzz!''. Created specifically with multi-player party gaming in mind, the series launched in October 2005 and to date comprises 18 games; including 13 in the ''Buzz!'' series and five ''Buzz! Junior'' titles. The series made the transition to the PlayStation 3 with '' Buzz!: Quiz TV'' in 2008. In 2006 the second game in the Buzz series, ''Buzz!: The BIG Quiz'', won the
BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
award for ''Best Casual and Social'' game. ''Buzz!: Quiz TV'' has been nominated in the ''Best Social Game'' and ''Best Multiplayer Game'' categories for the 2009 BAFTA video game awards. The series has sold over 10 million copies. As with most TV quiz shows the winner of the game is the player with the most points. The show uses a multi-round format with most games in the series featuring eight individual rounds. The exact rounds vary from game-to-game and more information about the rounds can be found in the individual articles. Each game is hosted by the titular Buzz (voiced by
Jason Donovan Jason Sean Donovan (born 1 June 1968) is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap ''Neighbours'', playing Scott Robinson, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 millio ...
in the English versions). The games are played with buzzers – a set of four simple controllers that consist of four coloured answer buttons and a red buzzer. These are intended to replicate the buzzers often seen on TV quiz shows. The buzzers plug into a USB port and the game allows use of either one or two sets of buzzers allowing up to eight players in certain games. The games are usually marketed in two versions, a pack containing both game and buzzers for new purchasers or a game only version for players who already own a set of buzzers. In January 2008 California-based Buzztime Entertainment filed a legal suit, in the Southern District of California, against Sony Computer Entertainment Europe alleging that Sony had violated several of its trademarks. The suit accused Sony of a "malicious, fraudulent, knowing, wilful, and deliberate" violation of its trademarks. In the suit Buzztime is seeking the recall and destruction of all infringing products and is asking the court for actual damages, punitive damages, legal fees and an order to the US Patent and Trademark Office not to register Sony's pending Buzz trademarks. The case was eventually settled out of court in favour of Sony.


Buzz! series

The series was launched in October 2005 with '' Buzz!: The Music Quiz'', which was followed by a general knowledge version '' Buzz!: The BIG Quiz''. The alternation between specialist subject and general knowledge continued for the next three games in the series; the sports based '' Buzz!: The Sports Quiz'' was followed by another general knowledge edition, '' Buzz!: The Mega Quiz'', and then another single subject edition based around films, '' Buzz!: The Hollywood Quiz''. The sequence was broken with the March 2008 release of '' Buzz!: The Pop Quiz''. ''Buzz!: Quiz TV'' is a general knowledge quiz but allows players the option of quizzes on a single specific subject. ''Buzz!: Master Quiz'' is a general knowledge quiz with the addition of single subject rounds. In 2009 ''Buzz!: Quiz World'', expanded on ''Quiz TV'' by adding profiles to remember player's character & buzzer sounds, if players won or lost the previous game and call them by name. ''Quiz World'' includes both a PS3 & PSP version of the game. ''Buzz!: Quiz Player'' is a free downloadable game, and is essentially a Quiz World demo. Quiz Player can also play the PS3 downloadable quiz packs, and can be played with the buzzers or with a controller.


Buzz! Junior series

In October 2006 a
spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...
series of games designed for children started with the release of '' Buzz! Junior: Jungle Party'' with 40 mini games (but 25 in The United States version). The second game, '' Buzz! Junior: Robo Jam'', was released in May 2007, was the first game to be created by Cohort Studios for both PlayStation 2 & PlayStation 3, and has 25 mini games ( but 24 in North America). Buzz! Junior: Robo Jam uses
robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...
s as players. Then, a third, '' Buzz! Junior: Monster Rumble'' was released in November 2007 and has 25 mini games. The fourth game in the series, '' Buzz! Junior: Dino Den'', is based around
dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...
s and was the second Buzz game to be developed by Cohort Studios and released in February 2008. The fifth Buzz! Junior game, '' Buzz! Junior: Ace Racers'', again developed by Cohort Studios, was released in October 2008. ''Buzz! Junior: Ace Racers'' is a racing game where players race cars, boats and planes using their Buzz! buzzer. All the games in the ''Buzz! Junior'' series have been developed by
Magenta Software Magenta Software was a video game developer based in Liverpool, England. History It was founded in 1994. The company specializes in developing family friendly video games based on various films as well as the ''Buzz! Junior'' and ''Invizimals'' ...
, FreeStyleGames, and
Cohort Studios Cohort Studios was a Scottish video game developer based in Dundee. It closed down in 2011. Formed in 2006, by Lol Scragg, Darran Thomas and Bruce McNeish, Cohort's first project involved being contracted by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe ...
.


Buzz! buzzers

The Buzz! Buzzer is a special controller designed specifically for the ''Buzz!'' game series. The controller handset has a large red buzzer button and four smaller coloured buttons for selecting the answer from the on-screen options. The buzzer set is a
USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
device, and connects to the USB ports on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. ''Buzz!: Quiz TV'' saw the release of a wireless version of the buzzers. They connect to the PS2 or PS3 system via a USB dongle. Each dongle can support up to 4 wireless buzzers so this means another dongle is required for 8 player play with 8 wireless buzzers. The wireless buzzers can be used with both the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 and all previous Buzz! games.


Games


Buzz! series


Buzz! Junior series


Other versions

On 24 November 2006, Eidos released ''Who Wants to be a Millionaire – Party Edition''. This was the first
third party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...
game to support the use of Buzz! buzzers. The game features a single player game closely modeled on the original UK version of the TV show and a multi-player version with various modes, such as Multi-Millionaire where players take turns answering questions, with elimination being the penalty for a wrong answer. The winner is the last player left standing. Millionaire Party allows players to steal questions from rivals. On 7 November 2008,
Disney Interactive Studios Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and inter ...
released '' Disney Think Fast'' for the PlayStation 2. The game came in a box with four Buzz controllers without the Buzz branding.


PlayStation Home

Relentless Software released a ''Buzz!'' themed
space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...
for the PlayStation 3's online social gaming network,
PlayStation Home PlayStation Home was a virtual 3D social networking, social gaming platform developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) on the PlayStation Network (PSN). It was accessible from the PS3's XrossMediaBar (XM ...
in the European and North American versions. The space is called "Buzz!: HQ". Buzz!: HQ is a lounge with seats for the user's avatars. It includes "Buzz!: Studio", a "64 Player Buzz! Quizzing" where players can win
T-shirts A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...
for their avatars. There are four categories to choose from which change each game and a series of eight questions for each category. To answer the question correctly, the user must stand on the colored area that represents the correct answer. The original release date was 4 June 2009. Due to some technical problems of the Buzz!: Studio, the space was removed for fixing. The relaunch of the space happened on 16 July 2009. Another unique feature about the space is that the quizzes used for Buzz!: Studio are quizzes made by PlayStation Network users who have submitted their quiz via the MyBuzz! website. As of 10 September 2009, ''Buzz!: Quiz TV'' fully supports game launching. Game launching is a feature that allows users to set up multi-player games in Home and launch directly into the game from Home. ''Buzz!: Quiz World'' supports PlayStation Home rewards by winning the quiz rounds in the game. From 27 August 2009 to 24 September 2009, an event for ''Buzz!'' took place in a special PlayStation Events Space. The event was called the "''Buzz!'' Tomato Challenge" and used the space, Events Landing. Exclusive footage from the ''Buzz!'' World Championships grand final at La Tomatina festival in
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
was shown during the event. Users were able to take part in a virtual version of the real world event via the ''Buzz!'' Tomato Challenge pod in the re-dressed Events Landing. Users threw tomatoes at the enormous Buzz by answering quiz questions correctly. If they successfully hit Buzz ten times within the time limit, they were rewarded a ''Buzz!'' Tomato Head for their avatar. This event was only available to the European Home.


Cameos

''
Pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sense, sensory and emotional experience associated with, or res ...
'' – Buzz is a downloadable add-on characters for the game, and he has 2 different costumes to wear. ''
LittleBigPlanet ''LittleBigPlanet'' (''LBP''; stylised as ''LittleBIGPlanet'') is a Puzzle video game, puzzle platform video game series created and produced by British developer Media Molecule and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Most games in th ...
'' – Buzz is an add-on costume for the game's Sackboy character. It features a Buzz skin (for his red suit), Buzz hair, Buzz glasses, and a Buzz tie. '' PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale'' – Buzz is featured in the PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale level, Dreamscape, based on
LittleBigPlanet ''LittleBigPlanet'' (''LBP''; stylised as ''LittleBIGPlanet'') is a Puzzle video game, puzzle platform video game series created and produced by British developer Media Molecule and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Most games in th ...
which eventually gets invaded by Buzz!. As the level progresses Buzz appears standing in the background. Buzz occasionally asks questions about PlayStation Trivia with the four answers being split up and attached onto four platforms on the level on which players must stand to indicate their choice, an incorrect answer results in a punishment such as a Cream-pie being thrown at the incorrect players. '' Astro's Playroom'' – The Buzz peripheral is featured as an unlockable item for the 'Labo' room, an area used to display digital collectables from Playstation's history. The Buzz collectible is unlocked by finding it hidden within the SSD Speedway level. '' Astro Bot'' – A V.I.P. Bot wearing a Buzz outfit can be rescued from the level 'Shocking Behavior'. The bot is referred to as Quiz Master in-game. A Buzz! Buzzer (referred to as Trivia Testers) can be won inside the 'Gatcha Lab' and given to the Buzz V.I.P. Bot once awarded.


References


External links


Buzz! official site
{{Buzz! video games Party video games Sony Interactive Entertainment franchises Video game franchises Video games developed in the United Kingdom Lua (programming language)-scripted video games Video game franchises introduced in 2005