Two thousand days ago, after a calls to arms in The Eagle pub, we set up Relentless Software. At the time all we had was £2,000 to bribe a landlord and a promise from Sony that if we delivered our milestones on time then there'd be money in the bank to pay the rent.

Twelve games later, things have worked out well for everyone: the landlord got the money he was owed, Sony got a multi-million selling franchise and we got a healthy videogame company that seems well poised for the next two thousand days. And we did it without killing ourselves in the process. That seems worthy of a news update.

Easter sees the release of our Buzz!™: Brain of the UK, or Buzz!™: Le Plus Malin Des Français, or Buzz!™: Deutschlands Superquiz or any one of the other 18 countries depending on where you're reading this. We always try and tailor our games to suit each country but in this one we've really pulled out the stops to find out who has most local knowledge. We've also added leaderboards for each country so that you can prove that you're the biggest brain of your domain.

Available on PlayStation3 and PlayStation2. Our localisation team have never worked so hard!

We were interested to read about a comprehensive Finnish study that looked at the results of working long hours. Although the study doesn't have answers as to why, it concluded that those people working more than 55 hours a week had poorer mental skills than those who worked a standard working week.

We've always questioned the merits of long hours whether driving trucks, working in a bank or making videogames. We've stuck to 9-5 and we've seen great results. It's interesting to see that the relative merits of working hours are still being fiercely debated in places such as the IGDA Leadership Forum.

Next Thursday (26th February) we'll be exhibiting at the Wired Sussex Digital Media Jobs and Skills Fair in the Corn Exchange, Brighton from 12 noon to 8pm. Come and find out more about our current vacancies and hear why we're the best independent games developer around.

For more information and to register for a free ticket please visit BrightonJobFair.co.uk

Last week it was the annual DiMAS (Digital Media Awards South) hosted by our friends at Wired Sussex. We had a great night, especially as Relentless won the People's Choice Award for Buzz!™.

According to the blurb the award is "to recognise the coolest, most inspirational individual agency/ business/ content/ thing in digital" so thanks to everyone who voted - we really appreciate it.

Want to know more about what it would be like working for Relentless?  We'll be at the career fair at the Eurogamer Expo this week, so come and say hello, play some of our games and find out more about why we're the best games developer around.

At Relentless, we don't only read the tabloids. Sometimes we read the broadsheets too. Hot on the heels of a great write up in the Guardian Guide, The Independent has put Buzz!™: Quiz TV in it's Top 50 Best Video Games.

The Independent's list includes Space Invaders and Mario Kart so we're pleased to be in such illustrious company.

Digging around a digital camera we came across this shot of the Buzz!™ taxi which ferried people around Leipzig last month.

As ever, Buzz!™ had a big presence at Leipzig Game Convention. We had a floor-space which was only rivalled by Little Big Planet. Live eight-player games were always in progress while others played on bean bags or in a camper van(!).

For us, the Game Convention is a a reminder of what a big franchise Buzz!™ has become and, judging by their happy German faces, how much people enjoy playing it.

Caspar Field, who oversees all the Buzz!™ games at Relentless, was recently on the Gamespot podcast. Tune in to hear about how he got to Relentless via Edge Magazine and China, what he thinks of videogame university courses and what the future of Buzz!™ might hold.
The page is currently here but it doesn't look like a permalink. In the event that it moves, the podcast date is 28/08/08. A direct iTunes link is here.

It's the week of the Develop Conference here in Brighton, bringing with it plenty of 'networking' in any number of guises. First up was The Guardian's 'Have I Got Games News For You' pub quiz, in which Relentless finished a very commendable second.
Games-related answers included Zero Wing, Pauline, Nissan GTR and Computer Space; our geek credentials know no bounds. Rhod's attempt at creating an Olympic mascot however...well, never mind.
Plenty more activities including poker, parties and yet another pub quiz, to come this week, not to mention all the lectures...

While Relentless is best known for Buzz!™, you may appreciate that it's not all we think about. Hence what we call 'Project Bottom Drawer'. (Things are always better if they have codenames.)
Project Bottom Drawer is an opportunity for everyone in Relentless to get together and talk about games we could make in the future. So with the help of our friends at CENTRIM, University of Sussex, we spent a couple of days with giant post-it notes and markers, coming up with ideas.
A wide range of games, from sensible to stupid, were discussed, dissected and demonstrated and the best ones will be taken into the early design stages.

Last Friday, Tux, Rhod, Paul, Jez and Tom spent an enjoyable morning collecting invisible, giant oranges on and around Hove lawns. Strange but true. Thanks to the work of Richard Vahrman and his team at Locomatrix, anyone with a mobile phone can get involved with what we think is a great new development in gaming.
Thanks for the invite, Richard! See more at Locomatrix.com

At the recent PlayStation day Sony released some nice pictures of the wireless buzzers. They use RF technology rather than Infrared, which means you don't have any line of sight headaches and they're backward compatible which means you'll be able to use them on your PS2 with any of the previous Buzz!™ games. The PS3 game will also accept the old PS2 wired buzzers meaning you'll be able to play eight player mode in Buzz!™: Quiz TV without needing to buy a second wireless set.
Batteries included, which give the buzzers a nice weighty feel.

Don't know if you've heard, but the Brighton Fringe Festival starts on the 3rd May and this year we've decided to have a break from looking at computer monitors to show you our lovely art. There are 11 of us showing work that includes painting, animation, sound, sculpture/ 3D and photography.
The Relentless Art Show starts 3rd May and runs till the 11th, is free to get in, and easy to find right in the heart of Brighton at Imperial Arcade (with Starbucks at one end). There's no excuse to miss out!

Buzz!™ has a nice six page article in the latest Edge magazine. Inside is an exclusive preview of Buzz!™: Master Quiz on PSP. There was always some scepticism that a handheld version of Buzz!™ would work, so it's nice that it was well received. Kudos to our producer, Jez, and our development partners over at Curve Studios.
Buzz!™: Quiz TV is put through its paces with Caspar and Dan talking about the online modes and user-generated-content features.
Best of all, and warranting the cover price on its own, is our guide to buzzer grips which will give you a critical edge in your games of Buzz!™. It was also an opportunity for Andy to showcase his talents as a hand model.

Wednesdays don't get much better than this. An oversized mystery box arrived at Relentless Towers all the way from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Inside? Rock Band!
Look at Pete, Ben and Caspar... Living the dream.
Harmonix, you'll be on our Christmas card list forever!

What with all the excitement of Christmas and Buzz!™ PS3's sprint to final we almost forgot about the release of Buzz!™: The Schools Quiz. It's the fruit of our affair with the Department for Education and Skills and we're really pleased Sony felt it should see life outside of the classroom.
Buzz!™: The Schools Quiz is similar to the Buzz!™ games you know and love, but with one important difference: since the questions are designed for 7-11 year olds, these are questions you really should know. Ask yourself: Which of the following words is not a homophone? A) Reign, B) Rain, C) Rane, D) Rein.
Don't let the kids show you up.

For the first year since Relentless' inception we have failed to receive a BAFTA nomination. It looks like it might be a year for Wii Sports, Crackdown, Gears of War, Okami and God of War 2. The silverware gets handed out on October 23rd and we begrudgingly wish them well.
Presumably normality will have been restored by next year when we will have released Buzz!™: Quiz TV, and it will be a travesty if we don't sweep the board for Secret Project #1 in 2009.

David joined Colin Campbell, Gary Whitta and Jeremy Williams for their GameTheory podcast this week and talked about Buzz!™ heading to the US and Relentless working practices. The hosts are all industry veterans and the show is a continuation of their old Next Generation podcast, so it's well worth an addition to your iTunes setup.
On the subject of podcasts, also take a listen to Insomniac Games Full Moon Show. Whether you're in the industry or not, it's interesting to hear a developer talk about how AAA games such as Resistance: Fall of Man and Ratchet & Clank are made.

Never one to be intimidated by looming Alpha dates, Relentless headed to Alton Towers for some high velocity 'coaster action. Perudo was played late into the night and the coach journey home afforded us a four hour, eight player Mario Kart mega-session that might have left us overdosed forever.
To the right you can see a beautiful moment of Chris showing his appreciation to Ben for fixing that last bug in Buzz!™: The Hollywood Quiz.

Tomorrow we head South East to Leipzig for Game Convention, where we're talking to press about forthcoming titles. Leipzig is a great event because it's attended by people that love games, unlike (the old) E3 where the suits would barely glance at the game you put your heart and soul into over the last year. You'll find us either buried behind closed doors in the Sony press area or somewhere on Sony's curious booth area. 200,000 German gamers? Bring it on!

We're hiring again. We are looking for a Japanese and American producer to join the existing producer team. We're also hiring Artists and Programmers to help with a new project which we can't say too much about until we wait for a couple of announcements from Sony.

At Relentless we love the Antipodeans - they've always been big Buzz!™ players. In the Australian all format charts (as tracked by GFK) we occupy both the #2 spot for Buzz!™: The Mega Quiz Solus and the #3 slot for Buzz!™: The Mega Quiz with Buzzers. With both combined surely we'd occupy the #1 spot.

After months of picking carpet tiles and re-configuring air conditioning systems, we've moved into our new office. With confidence that we can say that we have the most central office in Brighton since we're about 20 foot from the clock tower.