A. The engine is our own. We have a separate technology department, who have developed the engine and tools that we work. Although we have a very capable physics engine of our own, it is not a feature of Stolen. The lighting and shadowing aspects of Stolen are pushing the hardware as it is. For the modest benefit that having proper physics would have given us in Stolen, we felt that it was not worth the performance hit. We like to pick the right tools for the job, and for our stealth/action game, realistic physics wasn’t high on the list of required features.

Q. Can you give us an example of the advanced AI that will be featured in the game?

A. The enemy A.I. for instance has had to reciprocate quite complex methods of locating and tracking the player. If you can take out a guard then they’ll regain consciousness in suspicious mode and search about for you. If they see you before they get taken out, then they’ll come round alarmed and immediately radio their control booth for backup.

Q. Can you tell us a bit about the high-tech gadgets and weaponry that will be featured in the game? And will they be similar to real-life counterparts?

A. There are a number of gadgets there will be familiar to gamers and those that will not.

Night vision:
This is an integral function of Anya’s goggles. It uses passive light detection across a broader spectrum than just the normal visible frequencies combined with digital video signal enhancement for the best possible image fidelity.

Digital camera:
This is a function of Anya’s goggles. Although the ArmPad transmits a real-time live video feed from Anya’s goggles to Louie Palmer all of the time, this is necessarily a low-resolution image for purposes of the bandwidth. When Anya specifically takes digital photos with her goggles, these images are much higher resolution and can be useful for photographing maps, blueprints or guard duty rosters for example, so that the information contained therein is still legible. The camera also benefits from the integral telephoto zoom function of Anya’s goggles.

Q. When you started designing Stolen was there anything that you wanted in the game that we won't see in the final version?

A. As is usually the case, the design was more ambitious in the beginning than is actually the case now. I don’t think we would want any of the features that have been trimmed over the course of the development. They were trimmed for a good reason, and the game wouldn’t be what it is if we had retained them.

Q. Will there be any noticeable differences between the PC, Xbox and PS2 versions of the game?

A. PC and Xbox will benefit from texture improvements and bump-mapping. The Xbox version will be Xbox Live aware.

A. There are a number of aspects that we will not divulge yet but I can say that we want there to be thought and strategy required and for it to not be mindless action. There will be thinking in terms of how to approach your enemies. Going in guns blazing will not always be the best method. Determining the strengths and weaknesses of each of your enemies will be key. Each enemy will be very different, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and when you encounter them in mixed groups they interact in ways that make them even more challenging to destroy. On top of that we have the already great Unreal AI that we have adapted to single player and enhanced, so the enemies are very human acting.

Q. Where did you get your inspiration for developing the futuristic look of the game, including the weapons, vehicles and clothing?

A. From our team! We really focus on a collaborative development process that draws from the abilities of everyone on the team. It can be tricky to coordinate at times, but it’s important to us to have every team member involved and have input.

Q. From my understanding Pariah utilizes the Unreal Championship 2 engine. Does this mean the game will play similar to an Unreal game in terms of feel and movement?

A. We have spent the last year and a half enhancing the Unreal engine, so the list is endless as to what we have done to the engine. We have huge improvements on the performance side of things. Some of the more notable things are bump mapping, post effects, vehicles and a very rich single player AI system, the integration of the Havok physics engine and some other things that will really surprise people when we start talking about them.

Q. What differences will there be between the PC, Xbox and PS2 version of the game?

A. The different skus (Xbox, PC and PS2) are being developed simultaneously and therefore each one will take full advantage of its hardware. One of the things we are striving for on the PC is to not have the requirements too high even with full detail on. I'm sure you have played a few games lately that have pretty crazy system specs. We really hope to please a lot of people by having a system spec that is realistic and not prohibitive.

Q. Pariah is said to include roughly 15 hours of gameplay. How have you optimized the single player game to ensure the action is kept consistent throughout each level?

A. We are doing that right now. All the content is done; everything now is about balancing and fine tuning.

Q. First Person Shooter games are often renowned for their repetitive and linear gameplay. What have you done to ensure that Pariah doesn’t conform to the same characteristics found in other First Person Shooter games?

A. The core of Pariah is an FPS. We want it to be a familiar experience, but different. So we have added things like upgradeable weapons, lots of outdoor and indoor areas, the vehicles, drop ships and tons of variety as well as the map editor and great multiplayer. And one other thing we are really trying to push is the story element. We are on our 5th draft of the story and have had 4 writers on it. So, we really hope it shines through and everyone loves it.

Q. What multiplayer modes have you been working on and what features are you looking to implement?

A. In multiplayer, we have Team Deathmatch, CTF which are old favourites that are now fresh and new because of vehicles and upgradeable weapons. We have also added in Siege and Frontline Assault. Frontline Assault is a gametype we have talked about for a few years that we have implemented and refined into something very exciting. The basic idea is to mimic the frontline in a war. It gets pushed back and forth until it eventually gets pushed to the other base where you can then destroy the objective and win.

Q. What mood are you aiming to set in terms of music for the game?

A. The music and sound is so important in making you feel more immersed in the game. We want the music to set a tone of suspense, adventure and give it an epic movie like feel. We have hired a top notch musician to compose and create the music in Pariah. We’re planning on announcing who we’ve chosen very soon.

Q. Finally is there anything else you would like to add about the game?

A. I think the biggest challenge has been the countless trying and retrying of new ideas to make sure they are fun. I cannot tell you how many times we have changed the weapons and vehicles to make them as fun as possible. And we will continue to do so until we go gold!

Pariah is set for release in 2005.

Once again one of the qualities we loved about Asobo was the fact they have worked across many platforms and understand how to ensure each format is created to its optimum. When we planned this title our aim was to work on next gen machines and also PC to create an extension of the brand and give players something special. All gamers are alike on one issue in that they love to play good, innovative games and we are sure that CT will appeal to PC, XBOX and PS2 gamers alike.

Q. Why did you decide to develop the game in third-person? And what would you have not been able to achieve if it had been a First Person game?

The game has been developed in 3rd person but it will be also be possible to play the game using the first person view. Depending on your choice and the way you like playing it will be possible to swap really easily between both. The interest aspect of playing 3rd person is that you can see all animations of your character, from sneaking moves, to jumps, to invisibility mode, to hiding movements, etc. Moreover, it is a more arcade experience - play. In FPS, your vision angle is more open and simulates human vision and you can also better visualize your weapons and zoom on targets. This is a more realistic way of playing the game. If the game was a full FPS we would have needed a totally new engine!

Q. What different types of vehicles will you be able to use within the game and how will they work towards your advantage?

There will be varied vehicles but to ensure the readers understand some of the background focuses of the game I shall mention that you, the player, can control two different CT characters. Stealth Owl is an expert in precision shooting, free fall and stealth. He can take enemies by surprise thanks to his optical camouflage. Raptor is an expert in heavy weapons and situations requiring close combat. The two characters offer two different progression paths, and the combination of their talents make up the force of the unit.
Back to your original question. Yes, you will get to drive vehicles but we do not want to unveil too much too early Still, I can tell you that in one specific level (a flooded European city) you will have to travel across the map and fight using a boat. We are trying to come up with some really innovative locations and vehicles and not just use old recipes.

Q. What differences will there be between the PC, Xbox and PS2 version of the game?

First of all, we have not gone for any kind of weak port across the platforms, for each machine will stand up on its own merits.

There will always be differences in screen resolution, and controls but that is standard.

A. I had more time on this film than I usually do because the film was in post-production for such a long time because of all the visual effects. So, I had about 4 months when I normally just have 2.

Q. For those who are not aware, what processes do you have to go through to develop a score to a film?

A. Every film has its unique set of challenges. The music obviously has to be attentive to and reflect the time period, characters, setting, arc of the story, and the specific requirements of the filmmakers. How all of these things are achieved differs greatly from film to film and from filmmaker to filmmaker. One of the main skills that a film composer must have is the ability interpret the ideas and words of the creative team he is working with and turn that into music.

Q. Would you say you enjoyed making this style of music most out of the previous films you have been involved with?

A. Each genre of film has its own rewards from a writer’s point of view. There were many parts of this film that were exciting to write music for and were a lot of fun. It would be hard to pick a favourite. There’s something different that I like about every project that I get involved with.

Q. Although Resident Evil: Apocalypse was enjoyed by consumers, it didn’t do too well in reviews. Did you anticipate this when making the score? Or would you agree that the majority of the press were merely unable to fully comprehend the temperament of the movie?

A. I don’t really concern myself very much about the reviews of any film I’m working on. I already have my hands full with my particular task and that’s what I focus on.

Q. Electronic instruments have obviously advanced over years. Do you think there will ever be a point where electronic instruments will completely replace orchestral music for films?

A. No I don’t think so because as long as you’re telling stories about people, in whatever situation or whatever walk of life, you need to support their humanity with music and the ultimate form of expressive music is the music played by humans. Even in places where there are very close sonic similarities between the electronic world and the acoustic world, there is an emotion in music that’s played by musicians and orchestras that can’t be replicated in an electronic setting.

Q. Have you played any of the Resident Evil games? And what did you think of them?

A. When I was working on this film, somebody brought in the game. It was the first time I had seen it and played it . . . we had a lot of fun with that.

Q. What projects are you currently working on or have planned for the future?

A. I’m working on a children’s animated project just to keep things different.

A. To depict the fluid, choreographed Wire-Fu combat the Matrix movies made famous, we had to develop a technology we call Interlock. Interlock is a system of tightly coupled animations that can depict individual hits for each punch, kick, and grab, all over normal modem internet connections.

Interlock allows us to depict combat that looks more like a fighting game than an MMORPG. When you grab your opponent, twist his arm, and throw him onto the concrete, you begin to appreciate the differences between Interlock and the more stilted “I hit, you hit” combat typical of other MMO’s.

Q. What element of cooperation will be in the game? Will players be able to help each other fight battles and how will this work?

A. Team play is a big part of any good MMO and The Matrix Online is no exception. Teams can be created and may include up to eight players. While you are part of a team, you all work together to complete missions and defeat opponents.

Depending on which abilities you character is loaded up with, certain strategies will become clear with an effective team. Martial Artists are great close-up fighter who can lock down opponents while Hackers call down viruses on the opposition, or upgrade programs to aid their team mates.

Spies can use stealth abilities to manoeuvre behind their opponents and deliver crippling sneak attacks, while Gunners stay alert for opportunities to pick off stragglers.

Q. The Matrix Online game is said to continue with the saga of the Matrix movie trilogy, but just how will you be achieving this? More specifically will the game cater for fans of the genre?

A. We’ve been working directly with the Wachowski brothers to continue the story where Matrix Revolutions leaves off. Players can participate in the story by completing missions that move the story arcs along. In addition, there will be regular cinematic updates that depict unfolding events in the Matrix.

But, like the Matrix movies, not everything is what it seems on the surface. NPC don’t always know the full story. Some may even lie to you. Its up to players to discover and root out what the real truth is, and even then, not everyone will agree. Just like there are multiple theories on what the Matrix really is, there will be an equal number of theories concerning the future and direction of the Matrix Online story.

Q. What engine is being used for Matrix Online? And what benefits will the technology deliver to the game?

A. The Lithtech engine is not being used. The technology behind The Matrix Online was developed internally at Monolith in order to meet the specific demands of an MMO game. There are five major components, each of which fulfill a specific need. A content tool pipeline allows artist and world designers to create content quickly and efficiently. A 3D graphics engine depicts the seamless world with dynamic loading. Networking software efficiently routes packets, while databases securely store character and account information. Finally, dynamically load balancing server clusters intelligently distribute server load across multiple processors.

Q. The Matrix Online level(s) will obviously have to be big enough to cater for thousands of online players. How will you be managing the environment to ensure that players do not get lost in the game and always have something new to encounter?

A. The various districts of the MegaCity are huge, but we’ve included a couple features to help keep players oriented. First, a compass depicts not only you facing, but also the direction and distance to your mission objective. Second, a map of the area allows you to easily navigate the neighbourhoods.

As you explore, you may find certain areas are off limits. If you enter them, a nearby pedestrian will morph into an agent and give chase. If you make it out, you’re fine, but don’t get caught. Just like the movie, when you see an Agent, you run!

If you can keep your distance from the Agents, you may find a device called an access node. This innocuous looking utility box is actually hackable. If you activate it, you can trick the agents into believing that you have legitimate access to that game space, and they’ll leave you alone in that area of the world.

As you find more access nodes, you increase the area of the game world you can safely explore, allowing to penetrate more deeply into the Matrix.

Q. Where do you see the future of MMOG’s heading?

A. I think there has been a trend to treat story in MMO’s as an unnecessary or unachievable feature. I’m hoping that as players become familiar with MxO, they’ll begin to appreciate that story and MMO’s do have a place together.

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with Games Fusion. We wish you the best of success for the games release.

Q. What research have you done to ensure the weapons are accurate to their real-life counterparts?

Randy Pitchford: Frankly, doing the weapons right is the easy part. You see, down here in Texas it’s not as hard as you may think it should be to get your hands on authentic fire arms and operate them. Even Col. Antal has several US and German rifles and pistols that were in use during the war.

Beyond dipping into the Col’s physical arsenal, several excursions have helped Gearbox increase its digital arsenal.

There are plenty of museums at military bases like Fort Knox, Kentucky and Fort Hood, Texas where one can climb all over real tanks and vehicles and do as much surveying and digital source gathering as one has the stamina for and when it comes to military equipment, the Gearbox team seems to have infinite stamina.

But perhaps the most valuable research trip for weapons was a visit to Aberdeen where Dr. Atwater, who is curator of the US. Ordnance Museum there, arranged for very complete access to all of the weapons in the theatre from all relevant armies in the D-Day invasion. We’ve got pictures of Stephen Bahl there carrying a Panzershrek in firing position, checking the sights. The Panzershrek is a very heavy bazooka like Anti Tank weapon designed for a team of two German soldiers to use against Allied armour. Stephen is a Gearbox artist who is responsible for creating most of the weapons in the game – he’s also an Army veteran.

Q. In the announcement of the game you said “Brothers in Arms will be the most realistic and authentic WWII shooter ever”. Just how will you be attempting to achieve this?

Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms is based on a true story.

Let me describe a moment in the story that helps illustrate how Brothers in Arms is the real deal.

In May, I demonstrated the game for thousands of people in a make-shift theatre built into the hollowed out shell of an airplane fuselage that a paratrooper would ride in before jumping into battle.

When the screen fades in, I am able to look around and see vast distances where battles are raging and the effects of warfare pervade the view in 360 degrees.

I happen to be in an area just a couple of kilometres North of a town known as Carentan and when I look to the South in the game, I can see the silhouettes of the buildings in the town. It’s not a picture painted onto a flat sky-like box as in other games, but an actual physical town – way out there in the distance. I can make out the distinctive church tower in the center of the town. If I were to look at a picture of Carentan, I would recognize where I am.

If you were to study the history of the D-Day invasion, you would learn that Carentan is the junction point between the Allied invasion beaches that were divided by the Douve river. You would learn that the invasion forces must be unified or be left too weak to defend against the German counter attack that is planning to drive the Allies back into the sea.

Carentan is probably the most valuable real estate in the world when what I am reliving took place almost exactly 60 years ago.

Nearby is a soldier studying a map. He bears a star on his helmet. His name is Lt. Col. Robert Cole. He is one of two soldiers in the entire 101st Airborne throughout all of WW2 who will be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He, as well as the other man to win the award, is in the unit that I, as Sgt. Baker, am in. These men are the best of the best, the heroes among heroes- and one of them is standing in front of me. He was a real soldier. Look him up.

If you were to study the history of Col. Cole, you would learn that just North of Carentan, he led a bayonet assault on the Germans entrenched around Carentan who know they must hold the town or lose the war.

If you were to study this history and look at the photos and maps, you’d soon realize that in the game you are standing right there – about to live history.

When I approach Lt. Col. Cole, he tells me about a tough job I have to do.

Nearby are my men. There are six of them, divided into two teams of three men. Each team has a role as a fire team or as an assault team. These men are under my command and I can use them to suppress and flank an enemy.

I order them to move up to a covered position behind some apple trees and apple barrels. The apple barrels are overturned and empty. It is June and the season is not right for ripe apples.

There is a stone wall in front of me that divides the orchard I am in from a dirt road. I hear someone from my team yell, “Contact!” and I see the tops of helmets duck behind cover as a few tracers from hastily fired rifles zip by overhead.

I have a contact. In front of me is a kill zone, an open dirt road. To my right are a few farm houses, amongst them there could be more enemy now that contact has been confirmed, but from the houses would be a perfectly covered flank to the enemy I now have located. To my left is the rest of the orchard and an opening into a crossroads that would offer a great flank angle on the enemy.

I understand tactics by this point. I know I must fire and move. I must use one team to pin the enemy in place and another team to circle around and hit him from the side or the rear.

Stone walls lining the road protect my team and the enemy.

I have to make a tactical decision. Assault across the road? Probably suicide… Which flank, then? The houses? The orchard cross road? For how long will the stone walls provide me cover? When will the enemy begin to fire and move on my position?

To help with my decision I can use something in Brothers in Arms called “Situational Awareness View”. This option lets me view the battlefield from overhead, as if I’m looking at one of those black and white aerial reconnaissance images that were taken by the spy planes so that the allied soldiers could memorize them and know the terrain they were fighting in. Only it’s not a photo. It’s the real scene, frozen in time. There are tracers halted in the air. There are pieces of debris breaking off of the stone wall where impacts from my fire team suppress the enemy that is hiding behind the cover preparing to make their move.

I didn’t need to look at this view to make my decision. I already knew what it would look like.

I knew this because I’ve held in my hands and studied the actual Aerial Recon Images captured in 1944. These very images from the US. National Archives were used by the Gearbox designers to recreate the battlefields very accurately.

I’ve seen the farm houses in the photo. I’ve seen the cross roads and the orchard and the stone walls.

They look exactly the same – except in Brothers in Arms it’s vivid. It’s not black and white. It’s alive. It’s real.

Q. The War undoubtedly created images of a very gruesome and bloody story. In my mind the only way to show a realistic depiction of the War is to attempt to recreate the same effect. Will Brothers in Arms attempt to show this?

Randy Pitchford: War is not for kids and Brothers in Arms will not sugar coat the experience. The weapons of war are designed to destroy a human body. Some of these weapons can literally tear a person to bits.

As a father and as a person who respects, admires and is in awe of the men who did this work, I almost find it offensive to affect reality in order to be able to market the title to an audience that really has no business with it.

In Brothers in Arms, violence is not gratuitous. But, violence is part of war and sometimes horrific things happen.

Q. Can you tell us about the physics of the game? Will there be rag doll technology for example?

Randy Pitchford: In line with the goal of creating an authentic, realistic portrayal of war comes a desire to physically simulate the effects of the weapons of war. There are now a couple of titles available that can give us a sense of what happens to a lifeless human as it collapses in a complex world. This kind of physics simulation may be a bit disturbing to some, but it is present in Brothers in Arms. So far, though, it is only in Brothers in Arms that I’ve seen this kind of simulation on not just humans and inanimate objects, but on animals as well.

There is something both disgusting and amazing about seeing a cow being struck directly by the 16 inch shells of Naval gunfire. In the game once I have seen such an event. It’s gross. You see, cows are large creatures that are filled with an awful lot of blood and guts. But, seeing a mess of that stuff blast into the air every which way is one thing. Another thing is when the dust settles and you approach the mess – then you are seeing the lifeless front half of a cow who’s suddenly empty body cavity, spine and gnarled legs are all realistically simulating physics as the mass rolls into the depth of the newly formed crater and you’re thinking, “I don’t know whether to stand here in awe or whether I should go throw up.”

Q. How will the squad-based combat mechanism work to provide a realistic combat simulation?

Randy Pitchford: Squad based combat in Brothers in Arms is amazingly easy to command, but very robust. At the point in the game where you’ve finally gathered your scattered squad, you’ll be equipped with two teams. One team is an assault team and is designed for closing on and killing the enemy. The other team is a fire team and is trained to suppress and pin the enemy so that the assault team can do its work. These two teams are dependant upon each other and their power is under your control.

Controlling them is simple. One button toggles between the teams. This is a lot like switching weapons, but you’re switching teams. Another button issues a command. It’s just one button to issue a command. You look at something and you press the command button and it’s all taken care of with the context sensitive system. If you’re looking at the ground, the command is, “Move to that position!” If you’re looking at an enemy, the command is “Attack!” You can hold the button down to see a little indicator that tells you exactly where you’ll be issuing your command.

It’s really fun and it’s really easy to do and, amazingly, it’s super authentic. Col. Antal has been leading combat soldiers for 30 years. He’s written books used by the military academy at West Point to train the US Army’s future officers. He taught the Gearbox team all about fire and move tactics and all about chain of command and the Gearbox team figured out that you don’t need a super complex man-by-man noun-verb system of command trees and complex options.

Squad combat should be about the idea of how you want to approach the combat problem. Not about how you’re going to fight through the interface to find the right command.

Simply pick the fire team and use the command button while looking at an enemy and you’ll issue the command. Baker will say something like, “Corrion, put some fire on that position!” And Corrion, the fire team leader, will say something like, “You heard Baker – Give it to ‘em.” And while he’s yelling to his men, you’ll see Corrion give the authentic hand signal for “Attack” directed at the enemy and his men will get the courage to lean out from behind the cover and start putting fire on the enemy. If you’ve got it right, they’ll be able to suppress that enemy and you can start to safely position yourself or your assault team for a good flanking kill.

Q. Can you tell us about the A.I. of the game? How will the characters react to enemy gun fire, fallen team-mates and the environment within the game?

Randy Pitchford: The soldiers behave like trained soldiers. They have standard operating procedures and they trained battle drills that are designed to help soldiers respond to any situation. This is all engineered into the characters. You don’t need to tell them exactly what to do, where to look and what they should do when someone starts shooting at them. They know what to do. Your job as their leader is to use the squad to fire and move on the enemy.

It’s pretty neat when you see guys who know how to use cover and corners all over the place. If guys are caught out in a field or something, you’ll even see them straighten up behind a tree in order to try to get any cover available to protect them. Then they’ll lean around the tree and return fire on the threat.

These guys know how to climb over walls and fire over obstacles – they know how to use the terrain for combat advantage.

Another neat thing is just watching one of your teams on a firing line, trying to suppress an enemy. While one guy is laying on some fire, another is reloading. Then the first guy will say, “I’m empty!” and the second guy will lean around and start putting fire on the target while the first guy ducks down to reload.

It’s all very dynamic and very authentic – our simulated intelligence programmers started with the standard operating procedures, then added the human elements. The decisions and the mistakes that make people what they are.

Q. During the War many soldiers, often young soldiers, had to combat the problem of fear and other emotions. Will any of this show in the game? And will you often get team-mates who can’t carry out orders?

Randy Pitchford: Baker’s team is pretty tough, so it won’t be very often that they won’t do something you ask them too. However, there are times where it’s simply impossible to follow orders and the men will tell you so and make their own decisions about using nearby cover and picking smart targets if there are any around.

Some of the German units you’ll encounter, especially the conscripted units – the Ost Battallions – are not necessarily as battle hardened as the better trained enemy such as Panzer Grenadiers or Fallshirmjager (German Paratroopers). It won’t be uncommon to be able to route a group of conscripts. One of the lessons Col. Antal reminds us, though is that “The slaughter is in the pursuit.” I tend to be pretty ruthless once I see some Nazi’s on the run…

Q. The storyline of Brothers in Arms is apparently meant to show the bond between the soldiers and the effects of losing men during battle. Will the player be able to control the fate of the men throughout the course of the game or is this something which will be scripted into the storyline? Meaning if the player accidentally unloaded a clip into his entire team at the start of the game, would he have to continue throughout the duration of the game on his own?

Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms strives to build meaningful, important characters. The game will never put you in a situation where you may have made some less than ideal decisions early on that make it impossible to succeed later. Likewise, in most cases, the game will not require keeping soldiers in your team from getting hit a mission critical condition. You’ll lose men. Sometimes you’ll lose men because it’s the right time for that to happen in the plot. Other times you’ll see your men go down because of a poor decision or a risky move that ended badly.

In all cases, if you accomplish a mission, you can be sure you’ll be able to accomplish the next.

But, if you lose men, such as the witty duo Allen and Garnett, they will not be with you to say what they may have said about a specific situation had they lived. There are some real trade offs there.

Q. From the early screenshots the game appears to offer some pretty lush environments. What graphics technologies have you taken advantage of to produce realistic environments within the game?

Randy Pitchford: The Gearbox team has invented several new technologies to render the battlefields with the kind of look that Art Director Brian Martel felt the game needed. I think it’s amazing what they’ve done and I think the results are stunning. Perhaps after the game comes out we’ll spend more time talking about how things were accomplished. For now it feels kind of like revealing the secret to a magic trick before you’ve had the opportunity to be entertained by ut.

Q. Can you tell us about the multiplayer aspect of the game? What game modes and Co-op features will be available to the player?

Randy Pitchford: The multiplayer game is super exciting to us. We’ll be talking a lot about multiplayer soon, so don’t be coy about asking about it again in a little while. For now let me just say that an exciting thing about multiplayer is that every human in the game has a squad of computer controlled allies under his command. The on-line game is about doing clever things with your squad. You can use your team to set up an ambush and when the enemy walks into it, you can jump out and nail them from the side. Of course, the enemy may have been purposely keeping his team in reserve so once you reveal yourself he issues an attack command on you and his entire team comes bearing down to kill you.

The on-line game in Brothers in Arms is as much a game of wits as it is a game of skill.

Soon I’m going to ask the multiplayer designer to do more public discussion about what to expect with the multiplayer game.

Q. How will music and audio effects play a part in producing an immersive environment within the game?

Randy Pitchford: All audio is full 6 channel surround sound. The effects are super authentic, using foley from real sources in most cases, but also having plenty of studio time to do some magic with these sounds to help the weapons and things seem to have personality. The goal has been realism, but at times we’ll toy with realism in some super subtle ways in order to evoke a response along the lines of how many veterans remember what they felt about these things.

The music is amazing. It’s a full orchestral score – the whole bit. I don’t think we’ve ever spent one tenth the budget and time on audio as Gearbox has spent on Brothers in Arms.

Q. Some may find a similarity between Brothers in Arms and Band of Brothers, a TV drama by Steven Spielberg’s and Tom Hanks which followed a very similar storyline. Would you say this is because the game also follows a very accurate portrayal of what went on or is there some connection?

Randy Pitchford: Ambrose’s book is a really great one. It tells the story of another group of paratroopers – E/506th. These guys are memorable because not only did they participate in each of the main engagements of the 101st Airborne in World War 2, but they also happened to be the first to reach Hitler’s eagles nest in Austria.

I thought Spielberg’s work on the HBO series was phenomenal. Sometimes I wonder if, had the book and/or the series come out *before* we started heading down the path of making this game if we wouldn’t have chosen to do the interactive version of this unit.

But, we studied the history and we paid particular attention to the actual After Action Reports written by Col. S.L.A. Marshall who was a US Army Historian and was there to document what took place during the D-Day invasion. Col. Marshall made it very clear which unit Brothers in Arms should be all about – the 502nd PIR.

Col. Marhsall wrote that an examination of the record and accomplishment of 502nd PIR, “weighed critically against all others in the American Army, warrants the estimate that on D Day, in point of fighting effectiveness and tactical scope, this was probably the outstanding [unit] of the Normandy operation.”

Reading the full accounts confirm this. If you are interested in not just the paratrooper unit, but the unit in the whole of the US Army that kicked the most ass on D-Day, then you are interested in the 502nd PIR.

It’s nearly universally agreed by countless historians that D-Day was not only the most important military battle in modern history, but it’s likely the most important single day, in war or peace, in shaping today’s modern world. We’re talking about the unit that the official History Section of the US Army ETO (Eastern Theater of Operations) concluded was the most outstanding unit in Normandy.

Brothers in Arms is based on their true story.

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with us we wish you the best of success for the games release.

A. Reviewers have reported leaps of up to 120% in next-generation titles. From a technical aspect GeForce 6800 offers the following improvements over GeForce FX 5950:

• 4-8x floating-point shader power
• 4x shadow processing power
• 4x occlusion culling efficiency
• 2x vertex processing power
• ~2x frame buffer bandwidth

Q. How have you managed to optimize anisotropic filtering and anti-antialiasing to perform well under high-resolutions?

A. The GeForce 6800 GPUs feature exceptional antialiasing (AA) capabilities and a new rotated grid-sampling pattern. NVIDIA uses a special algorithm to eliminate the annoying “jaggies” without degrading the texture quality.

Q. Can you give us an insight into what’s next for graphics cards after the GeForce 6 series? What technologies are you looking to implement to make games look even better and run faster in the future?

A. NVIDIA does not comment on announced projects.

Q. The graphics card industry appears to be accelerating at a phenomenal rate. What’s next after we get games looking like realistic depictions of movies? Can we expect to venture into the 3D reality era, where PC gamers are expected to wear over-sized headsets?

A. Let’s concentrate on the current range of graphic cards first 

Q. As we get closer to picture perfect real-time graphics in games, is there not a worry that future titles will be rejected by gamers? After all isn’t the prophetic look of a game what truly makes it a game?

A. Graphics will always get better, but we need to make sure that the developers incorporate compelling gameplay. A game can look great, but be a completely uninteresting experience because the gameplay is bad.

Q. The prices of graphics cards have appeared to sky-rocket over recent years. Can we expect an increase in prices or has the graphics card market reached a climax in terms of price wars between competing card manufacturers?

A. In fact we have kept our pricing the same for the last few years. High-end graphics cost £399 on first release, and then all other products are £299, £199 and £99 depending on the GPU used.

Q. Apart from Doom 3, what forth-coming games titles can we expect to see that use the latest improvements of the GeForce 6?

A. We are working with several developers to add 3.0 support to their current titles. Other titles in development include Lord of the Rings, Battle For Middle-earth, STALKER: Shadows of Chernobyl, Vampire: Bloodlines, Splinter Cell X, Tiger Woods 2005, Madden 2005, Driver 3, Grafan, Painkiller and many more.

A. The AI in Men of Valor is optimised for jungle combat, and emphasises cover and concealment more than any similar game. AIs are able to negotiate an extremely cluttered environment and identify cover, using trees, rocks, debris, and built up structures to protect them from fire. AIs will lean out of cover to engage and duck behind it when reloading or suppressed to hide. The AI makes combat very challenging and much more tactical than in similar games – the player will also need to use cover and manoeuvre to outflank his enemies to survive firefights.

Q. The uniforms, weapons, and vehicles are said to provide an accurate portrayal of their real-life counterparts. What research have you had to do to achieve this? And have you had to involve the military in any way?

A. For visual research we have relied most heavily upon period footage and photographs to get a sense of what both sides actually wore into the field, what uniforms and equipment looked like after time on the battlefield, how weapons were carried and employed, and all the other details that don’t come out in military manuals and the official accounts of the war. First person narratives, like the works of Mark Taylor and Wallace Terry, were also very helpful in getting the language and terminology right.

Q. How much research have you done into the opposite side of the war (the Viet Cong)?

A. As much as we could. There are a few first person accounts of the war from the Viet Cong and NVA in English, like Truong Nhu Tang’s A Vietcong Memoir, that gave us a lot of insight. For visual reference, photographer Tim Page’s Another Vietnam, which focuses on the VC and North Vietnamese, was indispensable.

Q. In a recent press release it was announced that the soundtrack to the game would be recorded at Clint Eastwood scoring stage, Warner Bros. Studios. How much of an importance is the sound aspect of the title to the atmosphere of the game?

A. Sound is absolutely essential, and we put a lot of work into the game’s sound and music. In addition to the licensed music present in the game (from James, Brown, The Mamas and the Poppas, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and the like), the Men of Valor soundtrack features a brilliant original score written by Inon Zur and performed by an outstanding orchestra in one of Hollywood’s finest facilities. The score is implemented with Men of Valor’s interactive music system, which weaves the game’s different themes together in response to the player’s actions. The overall effect is as intense and moving as any feature film.

Q. Can we expect to see a lot of teamwork between the player and the A.I. or should we expect to see many solo missions, similarly to how Medal of Honor was?

A. There are no solo missions in Men of Valor – the player is always working alongside other troops. Squadmates take their lead from the player – they will follow him through the map, laying down suppressive fire when the player rushes forward or engaging targets when the player suppresses them. Squadmates have the same ability to locate and use cover as the enemies do, and suffer the same bleeding damage as the player – if they are badly wounded, they will have to stop and bandage themselves. Squadmates will investigate enemy casualties and will sometimes pick up wounded comrades and carry them to cover. Working with your squadmates is essential – if you run out ahead of them or leave them wounded in the field, you will quickly find yourself outnumbered and outgunned.

Q. What exciting multiplayer features will be available in the game? And how have you improved upon the cooperation mode to enhance the player’s experience?

A. Men of Valor supports up to sixteen players over Xbox live and offers five different game modes, including objective based games where two teams refight scenarios based on historical encounters. There are fourteen different character classes from both sides of the war, ranging from a Marine Rifleman to a Viet Cong Guerrilla. Each class has its own weapon loadout and special abilities.

Co-op mode allows two players to play the single player campaign game together. The additional tactics you can employ with two players makes this mode a lot of fun.

Q. Have you had to do a lot of research for the game to ensure a certain degree of realism, such as real-world locations? Or have the team decided to keep specific locations to a fictional degree?

A. All of our missions are based on actual historical encounters, and we’ve tried to be as accurate as possible, using reference photos from the real-world locations wherever they were available. Of course, some locations need to have their geometry tweaked for gameplay or to make them run well on the Xbox, but I think we have created the most accurate versions of the battlefields of Vietnam yet seen in a game.

Q. How much of a challenge has it been to make a title based on an engine, which was otherwise created for a fast paced shooter? Have you been able to achieve everything you had imagined with the engine or have you encountered limitations?

A. It has certainly been very challenging, but hard work and a very smart, creative team have enabled us to overcome the limitations of the technology and deliver just about everything we had planned.

Q. Will there be any features of the game that you will be cutting out for the Xbox version?

A. The PC and Xbox versions are being developed by different teams and will look and play at the cutting edge for their respective platforms. The PC game will include some extra content, including several more multiplayer maps and game types to accommodate the additional players we can fit on a PC. Everything we have shown up to this point concerns the Xbox version only – you should be hearing more information on the PC game in coming months.

Q. Similarly to Medal of Honor: Allied Assault can we expect to see a franchise of games being released which are based on the Men of Valor title?

A. That would be a logical expectation.

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with Games Fusion. We wish you the best of success for the games release.

Q. Can you tell us a bit about the vehicles available in the game?

A. Most units are built out of various modules and materials. Besides some unique special units, the options involved in constructing vehicles are almost unlimited, or better, only limited by the player’s cash flow. Vehicles can be airborne. Alternatively, they could travel on caterpillar tracks, they might use conventional wheels or mechanical legs, or speed over liquid surfaces: water, being one possibility.

Q. What is your favourite vehicle and what special characteristics does it have?

A. I have not finally made my mind up about this. Currently I like a UCS Mech construction that I call "Chicken Mech", it walks with an amusing gait, it is fast and powerful. I used an expensive alloy of titanium and raherium for the armour and found a complicated modulation for the lasers, which makes it dangerous for all other units, even if they are equipped with shields. But as not all unit parts are complete, I am sure I will find something better within the next few months.

Q. How has the game evolved since we last saw it in Earth 2150? What new graphics, sound features and gameplay improvements can we expect to see?

A. Earth 2150 is 5 years old. You cannot really compare the two. It’s definitely a new generation of RTS. The graphics will be state of the art and physics and bio-chem. engines are present. The sound engine uses a new compression technology and supports 5.1. The method of mission design is new and allows several solutions for a quest.

Q. How many different types of buildings, infantry, vehicles and variations will be available in the game?

A. This question is not easy to answer, because of the modular construction system. Each fraction has a minimum of 13 basic buildings, which can be improved and upgraded depending on any completed research work and types of resource used in its construction. The variety of possibilities here is huge and there are in addition, various special structures. Regarding unit types, they are, as I mentioned earlier, as good as unlimited. They are constructed out of combinable units, including a number of different chassis, armour, shields, boosters and more. Some of these components can be made out of a combination of metals and alloys and weapons upgraded in five steps. The strength of shields can be controlled through modulation frequency and amplitude controls. Energy and particle weapons are included in the list of deadly hardware, as are intelligent weapons. Each new construction can be patented and used as a unit type. The strength of some units can depend very much on the skill levels of the pilots. So, in this game of choices, success is very much a question of the strategies used from the very first unit design to the last deciding battle. Included in this inventory of features, I dare not forget the infantry and cyborgs and above all our "Virtual Agents". There is more, but some things we still want to keep under wraps, meaning I have to be careful that I don’t talk too much in my excitement about this project.

Q. What exciting multiplayer features will be available? And have you worked on improving team play in online CO-OP games?

A. It will be possible to join running MP matches and to save and load MP games. CO-OP games and any combination of teams vs. AI, or teams vs. teams are possible. There will be also a variety of different game types.

Q. Earth 2160 is said to arrive with TRUE Dolby Digital 5.1 recorded audio. Whilst the reasons for incorporating this feature into a First Person game are clear, how is it beneficial for an RTS game? And what measures have you taken to ensure an enveloping 5.1 audio environment for the player?

A. To be exact, the soundtrack is recorded in Dolby surround, and the sound effects are placed in 5.1 – It was planned originally to play the soundtrack in 5.1 but we scrapped the idea because it would mean playing the music from audio tracks to achieve 5.1 and this is not comfortable for the player. But, there will be no noticeable difference, because the satellite speakers are used for SFX anyway. In the standard RTS isometric view there is not really much point in having 5.1, but who says that there is no first person “view” with the sounds of shooting and of moving machinery coming at you from all directions. Other camera positions are also possible in Earth 2160. In game cut scenes, especially, will have a lot of different camera positions and movements. The engine is capable of visualizing video realistic graphics rendered in realtime and we intend to make extensive use of this feature.

Q. From the few screenshots available, it is clear that the game will consist of high-tech rather than low-tech vehicles and weaponry. Is there anything in the game that will contain a similarity to modern day weaponry, such as the old-fashioned shell and bullet?

A. This depends on the fraction. ED uses more heavy armored vehicles with weapons that are not too futuristic. LC mostly uses particle, light and gravity based technologies. The USC has lots of mechs and the Aliens will have really weird and insane technology.

Q. What latest visual technologies will you be making use of in the game? Can we expect to see high use of pixel shaders and similar technologies in the game?

A. Earth 2160 will use per pixel shader 1.0, 1.2, 2.0 and 3.0 technology. Nearly all graphic calculations are made by the graphic card.

Q. How do you think RTS games have evolved over the years? Have you noticed big improvements made to the format or would you say that it’s a limited format in terms of what you can do with it?

A. More and more features from other genres are being integrated into RTS games. As long as the playability does not suffer, this is a trend I personally like very much. But beside this I see a lot of possibilities in improving the liberty of decision for the player. This is an issue we are focusing on in the design of 2160.

Q. Where do you see the RTS format heading? Can we soon expect to see an RTS game, which allows the player to seamlessly change from 3D open views straight into first person views, providing a mixture between First Person and 3D Strategy?

A. Yes, but this does not mean that the player is forced to switch always into a unit – you can expect first person views but not FPS gameplay.

Q. The recent trend in Hollywood appears to be turning games into movies. The Earth series appears to have a very gripping storyline, which could be made into a good potential Hollywood script. How does the notion of a film based on the Earth series grab you? And do you think it would work?

A. It would work for sure, but so far Hollywood has not invited us for dinner and negotiations. But then why Hollywood? Europe also has a very fine and lively film industry.

Q. I hear a possible sequel to Earth 2160 may be in discussion. Can you tell us anything about it? What’s the next step for the series?

A. After 2160 there will certainly be an additional mission pack, but a full sequel will take a few years. If you look at the technological jump between Earth 2140 and 2150 and the new milestones we have to offer in 2160, naming a title 2170 first has to wait for the next hardware developments to come along. That will also need some time. Do you want to make an interview appointment now, for let’s say April 2008?

Thank you for taking the time for this interview. We wish you the best of success for the game’s release!

A. Yes. There will be aircraft in BF2 that will increase the cooperation between the pilot and the gunners in the same aircraft.

Q. Will Battlefield 2 contain levels which are counterparts from real-world locations or have you kept the locations purely fictional?

A. We have always been more concerned with creating a sandbox for players to have a great experience in, rather then strict ‘real world’ fidelity. We have carried this over to the levels we are creating. All are inspired by settings in the real world, but none are meant to be them.

Q. How large will the levels be in Battlefield 2? Can we expect to see levels which are twice the size of those seen in BF: 1942 and BF: Vietnam?

A. We are still testing how large levels can be and still provide a fun experience. We are pushing the number of players much higher than in previous Battlefield games, but we want to insure that players will aways have combat close by.

Q. The aircraft in BF: 1942 and BF: Vietnam have pretty bland cockpits. Will you be incorporating moving dials and lights into the aircraft cockpits of Battlefield 2 to intensify realism?

A. We want to give the ‘feel’ of a modern aircraft, but we don’t want to sacrifice fun and simplicity to get it. We will strike a balance somewhere in between.

Q. Tell us a bit about the command mode. How will this work?

A. A player on each side will be able to become the commander for their side. They will be given special tools that allow them to direct their side and effect the outcome of the battle. They will only be rewarded for how their team does as a whole, not how they perform individually, so they will have an incentive to provide the best support to their side as possible.

Q. Will stealth play a bigger part in Battlefield 2? Will there be a Special Forces group and if so what weapons and gadgets will they have at their disposal?

A. We like to think of the Battlefield as more of all out war. There are a lot of moments within the Battlefield experience in which stealth is called for, but overall we are not aiming for a stealth environment found in some other shooters. We will have Special Forces type soldiers and they will have new, cool gadgets players will expect to find being carried by those soldiers today and in the near future.

Q. Where do you see the genre heading in the next few years? Can we soon expect to see a game which mixes elements of first person shooter and realistic flight simulation into one title?

A. I think that games like that will be developed, but realism also implies deep complexity and a lot of investment of the player’s time to learn the system. I recall the manual for a flight simulator, F-16 Falcon, which was about 300 pages long. You had to read at least 40 pages of detailed instructions just in order to start your engine and taxi down the runway. While this great fun for many people, we find that most people just don’t have that kind of time. They want to get into the game and start playing in a few minutes.

We see the genre heading to more of a persistent state, in which a player collects awards and builds a reputation within the gaming community over time. We see the genre going away from the single player experience and focusing more on online play.

Q. As processing power increases do you anticipate games developers will attempt to produce a game, which focuses on a massive multiplayer campaign? For example, instead of single battles based on individual servers a network that everyone can join to take part in a real-time virtual war? Obviously the player will be confined to a particular battle similarly to how the player is confined in a single player campaign. Additionally the player will also be able to choose his career path, such as Navy, Air force or Infantry forces and improve upon his ranking.

A. As bandwidth increases and becomes more available, we do see larger battle, along the lines of massive multiplayer campaigns. We also see clans, community support and online tournaments becoming more mainstream and important to the overall player experience. We also see DICE leading the charge in that arena :).

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. We wish you the best of success for the release of Battlefield 2. If it’s any more addictive than Battlefield: Vietnam is I am sure I will have to quit my job just to play it! =)

Battlefield 2 will come to the PC in spring 2005.