The Next Big Thing [Wii - Cancelled]

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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by monokoma In: NINTENDO|wii

4 Aug 2009

The Next Big Thing, also know as “No Limits Racing” is a cancelled Wii game, that was in development by Pandemic Studios Brisbane in 2008 / 2009. The gameplay was a mix between a racing game, a party game and a sandbox game, in which the player would have been able to race in a parody of L.A. streets, to jump on building rooftops, to fly in elicopters to collect items, to make crazy stunts and to raise more NPC “fans”. In July 2009, AustralianGamer released a video of the game in their YT channel.

The project was canned when Brisbane studio was closed down after being dropped by EA. As we can read on Tsumea:

Reports have come in confirming that the remaining employees at Pandemic Studios Brisbane have been let go after losing their bid in getting publisher interest for their Wii game called “The Next Big Thing” in the hope of finishing its development.

The open world reality show game was in production for the Wii by the second team at Pandemic Studios Brisbane before owner and publisher Electronic Arts let many staff go and cut loose the studio in early January. The final dozen or so remaining staff at Pandemic Brisbane were notified today that all avenues have been exhausted and were let go.

Thanks to Hey Hey, Robert Seddon and Dark ViVi for the contributions!

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Tags: mini games, pandemic studios, racing game, sandbox game

5 Responses to The Next Big Thing [Wii - Cancelled]

Matt Ditton

August 10th, 2009 at 6:02 am

The name “No limits racing” came very late in development. For about a year it was just “The Next Big Thing” or TNBT. The video that was leaked (and later removed by EA) was made after we knew Pandemic Brisbane was getting cut lose. At that time there were a lot of plans to spin the studio off. This is why the start listed a temp “New Co” logo. The original video had some extra voice over and a couple of extra shots.

Team Alpha, TNBT and Pandemic Brisbane was at the end of some really unfortunate choices. It’s a pity really, the decision to kill the studio came a week before EA marketing published an internal report stating that TNBT was one of the best recieved wii titles in development at the time. But the end of 2008 start of 2009 was a real blood bath for the industry and for EA. We were just another piece of collateral damage.

Matt Ditton

August 10th, 2009 at 6:04 am

Sorry that should gave said a week before the report. But I can’t edit the post.

Refurs

August 10th, 2009 at 4:05 pm

Thank you very much for your contribution! I always thought TNBT was started after Batman (which didn’t look bad either) was cancelled. May I add it to the entry?

When Pandemic Brisbane was shut down, there already were those rumours that Team Alpha would set up a new company. Why didn’t it work out? Was there no publisher/investor or did EA not want you take the the project?
Pretty sad after all, the concept was looking intriguing and I don’t think that the Wii has many satisfying open-world games…