I have not been able to escape The Club — a game I thought no one played.

For those who are among that crowd of non-players, all you need to know is that Bizarre Creations created this game for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Sega released it two Februarys ago. It was a third-person shooter designed to be played for high scores — with consecutive kills adding to score multipliers like consecutive tricks racked points in a Tony Hawk. Trick shots and the shooting of various hidden signs and icons further boosted scores. The idea was for players to re-play enough so they could make the perfect run through the game's levels, to play the third-person shooter not for macho gunning glory but for arcade scoring thrills.

For a year I heard almost no one discuss the game, but then...

Rapper Ice-T goes on Jimmy Fallon's show last month, gives out his Gamertag, I look it up and discovered that he's been playing... The Club.

I go to a demo for the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Game, which, on the higher-end consoles allows players to take missions set in a globe-spanning theater of free-range levels. The game is full of scoring opportunities. The producer showing me the game points to icons hidden throughout the level and says they can be shot at for points and score modifiers. It's like that other game, he says... The Club.

Some time close to these events I play through 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, a game that is a third-person score-based shooter, exactly like... The Club. (Whole lot of good that did it.)

Earlier this week, we cover the Edge cover story about Bizarre's next project, Blur, which we notice is a racing game constantly being compared to a shooter. A commenter notes that that is the inverse of the hype for Bizarre's last original game, which was sometimes described as a shooter influenced by a racing game. That game was... The Club.

When the chapter for this console generation is written in the history books, it will surely include the obligatory sidebar that notes that heavyweight Gears of War owes much of its cover-mechanics innovation to the unsung Kill.Switch.

If recent rampant references to another game are any indication, there may be a second sidebar for another unsung innovator... The Club.

The Club (PC, PS3, X360)
It's mercenary madness!

Need for Speed ProStreet (PSP)
When speed is what you need.

Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3, X360)
Carrying on the Dynasty Warriors tradition.

FIFA Street 3 (X360, PS3, DS)
Take your soccer to the streets.

Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (WII)
Dragon Quest Swords: The Extremely Overly Long Title

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS)
Ace Attorney is back with a new attorney.

History Channel: Battle for the Pacific (PS3)
Historically accurate World War II battles.

CABAL Online (PC)
Use the power of Force Power.

MX vs. ATV Untamed (WII)
Off road racing rally.

The downside is that GameStrata registration is currently using a token system, requiring you to sign up in hopes of receiving an invite (similar to the moderate pain it was to first join Gmail). But we tested the service and received an invite with no problem after our registration. Here's the full list of games that GameStrata will be supporting at launch:

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) Battlefield 2 (PC) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC) Universe at War (PC, Xbox 360) The Club (Xbox 360) - Coming February 19th

SEGA to Release Exclusive "Renwick" version of Demo for Intense Action-Packed Shooter, The Club, on Xbox LIVE Marketplace

LONDON (January 7th, 2008) - SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced that from 9 a.m. GMT on Tuesday 8th January, an exclusive demo for the exciting new shooter, The Club™ will be available via download across Europe and Australia on the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

Developed by industry revered development studio, Bizarre Creations, The Club™ mixes cutting edge high definition visuals with hyper-addictive score based challenges to deliver the most intriguing and innovative shooter of early 2008.

The demo features:

* The Prison environment; a disused crumbling, tomb-like Federal Penitentiary, lying in a remote region of one of the less glamorous Rustbelt states.
* One playable character exclusive to the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace version of the demo (Renwick, a tough, no nonsense, NYPD Detective whose investigations brought him too close to The Club™).
* Single player modes 'Sprint' and 'Time Attack'.
* Multiplayer split-screen.

As one of eight misfit gladiators players must fight in a shadowy underground blood-sport run by a secret group of sick millionaires. Each character has their own reasons for being in The Club™ - some are there against their will, others to experience the ultimate high. Whatever their reasons what unites them is the need to kill quickly and skilfully - a challenge those who download this demo will experience first hand.

UK Official Xbox 360 Magazine - "The rules of The Club are simple: you cannot break your stride. You cannot stop. You must be the perfect killing machine. This is Space Invaders for the Quentin Tarantino generation. Welcome to heaven."

I love the concept of a thinking shooter, a game that rewards for both thoughtful murderous mayhem and artful kills. I hope The Club lives up to my expectations.

Even after reading a bit more about Bizarre Creations' The Club, I couldn't quite wrap my mind around the concept. Maybe it's the purposefully vague-therefore-hip name that's thrown my lame-therefore-specific head into a pile of misunderstanding. This clip, featuring the "rules" of The Club, does a lot to smooth out my melon. And I'm really interested in this kill combo system that looks absolutely as addictive as hell. We really need combo meters in our life HUD—but not for killing. Really.

On a somewhat related note, does anyone believe ship dates when they're more than 2 months out? Because I sure don't. My heart's been broken too many times as I've sat alone at my TV with an empty bottle of wine and a plate of cold quail, settling for XBLA ports in the dark.

Sega Announces Ship Date for "The Club" [gamingtoday]

In fact, my first play through of the game on normal difficulty, I scored a meager 218,000 points in a below ten minute period. That's just shy of the 220,000 point target score. The Sega employee sitting on his ass instead of helping attendees demo the game, however, really knew his stuff. He finished the round with a score of 4 million, clearly illustrating his focus on playing during E3, not his skill at PR.

The Bizarre Creations developed shooter draws on the best of the Project Gotham Racing series, Gears of War, Smash TV and Manhunt. The thrill kill shooter won't put up much of a fight in the way of AI or powerful enemies, but based on my impressions, it will challenge your speed, level familiarity and aim.

In addition to taking out scores of enemies in the fastest time possible, there are a number of bonuses one can nab throughout each level. Extra credit is given for things like headshots, weapon pickups and shooting elective targets called Skull Shots. Stringing together multiple kills and avoiding "combo bleed" is key to score improvement.

So how's it look? Hard to say, as I didn't have a second to blink, let alone survey the texturing, modeling and lighting work. The Club, from what I can remember between kills, looks serviceable, even good, possibly gorgeous—but graphics aren't really the focus. The official screenshots look pretty solid, but they're not indicative of what you'll see when actually playing. I do remember that the frame rate was solid, something that should be expected given Bizarre's racing game prowess and the frenetic nature of the game.

The combo-based gameplay is a welcome mechanic in the overcrowded shooter genre, but we'll need more time with The Club to get a better impression of how it plays as a whole.

The Club is Bizarre Creations' take on shooters, so, as you would expect from the creators of games like Geometry Wars and Project Gotham Racing, it's all about speed. It is, as Andy Davis put it, an anti-stealth game.

The arcade -like gritty shooter features three modes, multiplayer, tournament and gunplay, but we only saw run throughs of two levels in tournament mode.

You start the game by selecting a character on a screen that looks an awful lot like something you would typically see in a fighter. When you scroll through the characters you see each person's speed, strength and stamina.

The game has eight locations, like a steel mill, an ocean liner and prison cells. The first run through was through the prison cells. The game plays in third-person and there's a lot of running involved because, like in PGR, its all about achieving a high score by chaining kills together in a set time.

As Davis played, he would run through the map and then slow down when he met someone and zoom in to a Gears of War like shoulders-and-up view by pulling the left trigger and shoot the guy. The game also lets your roll and interact with chunks of the map by doing things like leaping over low walls.

While each character has 20 different weapons he can use, during Davis' play I only saw his character holding three at a time. Though he also had grenades.

Davis said they wanted to get rid of a player's instinct to duck-and-cover, so there's a big emphasis placed on racking up kill combos but shooting people in short periods of time or with "style."

The levels Davis played through had the occasional skull placard located in it that he could shoot, this, he said, let him extend the length of time he could wait to shoot another person and still earn points in the same combo kill.

The game looks like it's going to be a fun take on shooters, something you spend a lot of time playing fast, short matches in. I can't wait for it to hit. Brian Crecente

Those charitable donations went to the Marie Curie Cancer Care organization which provides free nursing care for terminally ill patients. So, don't let that horrid pounds-to-dollars exchange rate get you down, people are doing good things out there! Kudos to the participants. Michael McWhertor

Bizarre folk raise 4,000 for Marie Curie [Bizarre Online]

Bizarre namechecks Street Fighter, Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars when describing the gameplay, if you can believe that, so they seem to have quite a bit of faith in their console game.

Taking the kudos combo system from their own Project Gotham Racing series, The Club will be a fast-paced kill or be killed game with point multipliers and frantic watch-the-clock battles. God, I'm getting a little palm sweat just reading about it.

Check out the screens over at Bizarre and tell us what you think. Michael McWhertor

Studio Update 24 - Gamers, meet The Club. The Club, gamers. [Bizarre Creations]

New images of The Club [Xboxygen]

While no screens or in-game video has leaked yet, Bizarre did give members of the press a look at the tech behind the game, as well as a quick hands-off playthrough. So what's so great about The Club that'll put your surround sound system to the test? EXPLOSIONS! Duh. But how about some attention to detail?

The final demo is with Mathias Grundwalt (Lead Sound Designer), who squeezed the group into his specially designed audio studio. He then proceeds to demonstrate all the different types of surfaces we have in the game, and how these affect the soundscape. For example, shooting a fabric sofa will sound much different to shooting a hollow metal container. But what if the bullet first passes through the sofa, and then hits the container at a slower rate? This demonstration really needs to be heard to be believed.

Neat. There's a promise of media and impressions to come, so hit up Bizarre's forums for further details. Michael McWhertor

Studio Update 22 [Bizarre Creations]

Bizarre Creations' third-person shooter The Club is getting an 8-page spread in the upcoming issue of UK mag 360 (Hey, I write for them!). Bizarre says the spread will explain the game's overall concept, the scoring system, the characters and some other little bits and pieces including new screens, concept art, wireframes and peoplespeak, aka interviews.

Also, there's a section on upcoming Live Arcade title Boom Boom Rocket.

I'll have to talk to my guys about getting yous guys some scans from the mag when it hits. Brian Crecente

Club UK First Look [Bizarre Online]