Buzz! Games had a time when they took over the gaming world. They were amongst the most popular PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. The series was so popular throughout the years that it sold over 10 million copies. But, unfortunately, the game series never made it past the PlayStation 3. Now, fans of the game series want Buzz! to be reintroduced or reproduced (retroduced?) for the PS5, and have come up with some really great ideas to make it possible.
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Buzz! Games
For those who might have yet to own a PS2, PS3 or PS Portable, Buzz! was a series of quiz games initiated by Sleepydog Ltd, developed by Restless Software, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game was a TV quiz show-type game where players answered trivia questions while competing in Buzz!, a fictional game show hosted by the titular game show host, Buzz (voiced by Jason Donovan in the English versions of the games). The game was created with multiplayer party gaming in mind, like most trivia games.
How the game works are that it uses a multi-round format for each game, most of the series featured eight individual rounds, but not all of them. The winner of each game is, of course, the player with the most points. The game set came with four simple controllers with four variously coloured buttons and a red buzzer on the top made to replicate the famous buzzers on TV quiz shows. The buzzers could plug into the USB ports, and the later versions came out with Bluetooth modes. The PS3 allowed up to 8 buzzer controllers to be connected at a particular time. When the games were still being sold, they could be bought as a game pack with the buzzer controllers or as the game-only version for the players that already owned a set of buzzers.
Sony PlayStation Should Bring Back The Quiz Game
Many PS5 users have been lamenting the eventual dying out of the Buzz! Games as they remain confined to the PS2 and the PS3. Reddit users have been saying they would love to see Buzz! for a while now (Remastered or just released on the PS5). After joining the many other Sony Intellectual Properties in the game graveyard, gamers have come up with ideas on how Sony could make a revival for the game series work.
There are a few fun trivia or party games in the world that brilliantly make use of smartphones or tablets as the controllers for the game, allowing players to draw, choose different options, type in quickly etc. Because the PS5 can only support four controllers simultaneously connected via Bluetooth, using mobile support for a Buzz! game would be a genius workaround.
There is a demand for the game to come back, as a loving community still remembers the games. Perhaps the love is from a bit of nostalgia, but the game is still loved nonetheless. There are a few games that achieve a similar effect that the Buzz! games did, but many who tried them still wish Sony would remaster or reproduce them.
The available options are games like The Jackbox Party Packs 7 and 9. One that many have compared to the feeling is MONOPOLY Madness. The Jackbox Party Packs are famous for their fun party games that use phones or tablets as controllers, allow you to play with up to 8 players, and even allow an audience of up to 10,000 people to watch and sometimes weigh in on the games. There are party games like Quiplash, The Devils and the Details, Champ’d Up, Talking Points, and Blather ‘Round. Similarly, but different, in MONOPOLY Madness, a famous and well-loved board game, you get to roam the streets of Monopoly Town, collecting money, water, and electricity while competing with up to 6 players online or locally.
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Buzz! Series
The series was launched in October 2005 and has been nominated for several BAFTA categories throughout its reign. One of the games, Buzz!: The BIG Quiz won the BAFTA award for Best Casual and Social game in 2006. The series transitioned from PlayStation 2 to PlayStation 3 in 2008 with Buzz!: Quiz TV. The series was also nominated for Best Social Game and Best Multiplayer Game categories for the 2009 BAFTA video game awards.
The series comprises eighteen games, thirteen of which are part of the Buzz! Series, five of which are part of the Buzz! Junior series. The last game of the series, Buzz!: The Ultimate Music Quiz was released in 2010, and this is the first time we have seen a title from this series.
The series includes genres like Music Quiz, BIG Quiz, Sports Quiz, Mega Quiz, Hollywood Quiz, Schools Quiz, Pop Quiz, Quiz TV, Master Quiz, Brain Bender, Brain of the World, Quiz World, The Ultimate Music Quiz in the main series and Jungle party, Robo Jam, Monster Rumble, Dino Den, and Ace Racers in the Junior series. There is also Buzz!: Quiz Player, a free downloadable game on PlayStation Network for the PS3, included 90 questions in the sample pack and other packs available for purchase. This game also offers single-player and local multiplayer, allowing up to four players to play. This edition of the game even offered a Facebook implementation which allowed players to publish the results of their scores for all of their friends to see.
Sony might have to seriously pull something out of its hat if they are going to remaster or reproduce Buzz! for the PS5. Usually, when a game is remastered, the original developers are involved in the project. Unfortunately, the developers of the Buzz! games series, Relentless Software, ended up closing in 2016, meaning this is no longer an option. This being said, a company as big as Sony could find a healthy workaround for this unfortunate situation. The solution may be as simple as finding some developers who worked on the original games and hiring them as a development team specifically to bring the Buzz! games to the PS5.
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