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Free Radical Design

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Image:Frd.gif

Free Radical Design is a video game developer, based in Nottingham, England.

1 Company Background
2 Current Work
3 Previous Games
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Company Background

Sometimes abbreviated FRD, the company is well known for their TimeSplitters video game series. Initially, most of FRD's employees previously worked for the game developer Rare. While at Rare, the future FRD team (which consisted of team leader Martin Hollis, David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton, Graeme Norgate and Lee Ray) worked on the Nintendo 64 titles GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. In late 1998 and early 1999 this team left Rare to form their own company. Free Radical Design was up and running by April 1999 with their first release being TimeSplitters for the PlayStation 2 in 2000. TimeSplitters attracted a lot of attention at the time, because much of the coverage associated with the game made sure to note that it was developed by former Rare employees who had worked on the critically acclaimed first person shooter GoldenEye 007.

[edit] Current Work

Haze for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC - Currently, the company is developing the game Haze which should be available in 2007. At one time, there was some speculation that Haze was just a code name for TimeSplitters 4, however this has been dis-proven as of May 10, 2006 when HAZE was announced as a new video game franchise.<ref>HAZE Press Release - as found on Free Radical Design's website</ref>
TimeSplitters 4 - According to Free Radical Design's website, a fourth installment of TimeSplitters is a possibility, however no official statement has been made.<ref>TimeSplitters 4 Statement - as found on Free Radical Design's FAQ</ref>
Unnamed Lucas Arts title - Speculation is that FRD may be designing the next installment of the Star Wars: Battlefront series for Lucasarts, however no official confirmation has been made by either company. This new Lucas Arts game will be released on at least one of the upcoming seventh generation video game consoles such as the Wii, XBOX 360 and the Playstation 3. <ref>GameSpot.com - an article over the upcoming Lucasarts and FRD title</ref> <ref>Free Radical scoops Battlefront - Computer and Videogames article</ref>