Rumour: Team Bondi has no friends left and so is running away to make dancing penguin cartoons

So how exactly do you follow a massive global success like L.A. Noire? Just howdoes onebuild upon such widespread critical kudos and commercial accomplishment? Well if rumours are to be believed, you findyou've pissed everyone off to the point where no-one will work with you any more, then jack it all in to join a team that makes cartoons about dancing penguins.

Seems a sound business proposal to me, and surely exactly the sort of plan Team Bondi drafted up when going to the bank for that initial start-up loan all those years ago. The details of this tumbling ball of madness? Why read on, and I shall explain them further.

Word is that following sizeable allegations of working practices akin to those in a soot-crusted Victorian workhouse, not to mention a nowrather public falling outwith publisher Rockstar - which in this industry, let's face it, is not dissimilar to having the great Zeus himself as a personal bodyguard, before turning around, kicking him in thenuts, and telling him that lightning is for ponces - Team Bondi is finding it impossible to secure support for its next project, and so is selling out to theproductioncompanybehind Happy Feet 2.

Sydney's Dr. D Studios - owned by weirdly eclecticdirector of Mad Max, Babe and Happy Feet, George Miller - is currently spurting out a whole mess offresh, steaming rumours, mainly relating to first-hand accounts from multiple employee sources that Team Bondi is hitting a major case of Kim Jong Il syndrome. necessitating its buy-out and the loss of its now rather tarnished name.

Several Team Bondi members - including studio head Brendan McNamara - have apparently been spotted visiting the studio, a sight which reportedly struck fear into the hearts and flushed tears to the eyes of several Dr. D employees. A bunch of them, you see, jumped ship from Bondi a while ago, and according to one source at the studio, did so "due to the abusive work conditions". Yikes, must have been like Darth Vader turning up at an Alderaan escapee's birthday party.

Word is that Team Bondi is going to be folded into Miller's KMM Studios, though it's current unclear in what capacity. Could be as part of the games division (which was previously working on a Mad Max game to tie into the now-postponed new film), could be as part of digital production studio Dr. D. Could well be a bit of both, given L.A. Noire's blending of the cinematic and the playable. What's slightly worrying though, is that Miller is reportedly interested in Team Bondi after being impressed with McNamara's approach to deadlines. There are rumours that Happy Feet 2 is currently hitting a fair bit of crunch itself, you see.

Hmmm, could be like Darth Vader storming the party with a whole legion of troopers and squashing the cake with a Star Destroyer then... We'll keep you posted as this one develops. Just don;t be surprised if the upcoming penguin film's title changes to Happye Feete 2e somewhere aling the line. Becayse, you know, jokes about Team Bondi not being able to spell 'noir', and stuff.

August 04, 2011

Seems a sound business proposal to me, and surely exactly the sort of plan Team Bondi drafted up when going to the bank for that initial start-up loan all those years ago. The details of this tumbling ball of madness? Why read on, and I shall explain them further.

Word is that following sizeable allegations of working practices akin to those in a soot-crusted Victorian workhouse, not to mention a nowrather public falling outwith publisher Rockstar - which in this industry, let's face it, is not dissimilar to having the great Zeus himself as a personal bodyguard, before turning around, kicking him in thenuts, and telling him that lightning is for ponces - Team Bondi is finding it impossible to secure support for its next project, and so is selling out to theproductioncompanybehind Happy Feet 2.

Sydney's Dr. D Studios - owned by weirdly eclecticdirector of Mad Max, Babe and Happy Feet, George Miller - is currently spurting out a whole mess offresh, steaming rumours, mainly relating to first-hand accounts from multiple employee sources that Team Bondi is hitting a major case of Kim Jong Il syndrome. necessitating its buy-out and the loss of its now rather tarnished name.

Several Team Bondi members - including studio head Brendan McNamara - have apparently been spotted visiting the studio, a sight which reportedly struck fear into the hearts and flushed tears to the eyes of several Dr. D employees. A bunch of them, you see, jumped ship from Bondi a while ago, and according to one source at the studio, did so "due to the abusive work conditions". Yikes, must have been like Darth Vader turning up at an Alderaan escapee's birthday party.

Word is that Team Bondi is going to be folded into Miller's KMM Studios, though it's current unclear in what capacity. Could be as part of the games division (which was previously working on a Mad Max game to tie into the now-postponed new film), could be as part of digital production studio Dr. D. Could well be a bit of both, given L.A. Noire's blending of the cinematic and the playable. What's slightly worrying though, is that Miller is reportedly interested in Team Bondi after being impressed with McNamara's approach to deadlines. There are rumours that Happy Feet 2 is currently hitting a fair bit of crunch itself, you see.

Hmmm, could be like Darth Vader storming the party with a whole legion of troopers and squashing the cake with a Star Destroyer then... We'll keep you posted as this one develops. Just don;t be surprised if the upcoming penguin film's title changes to Happye Feete 2e somewhere aling the line. Becayse, you know, jokes about Team Bondi not being able to spell 'noir', and stuff.

August 04, 2011