Buena entrevista a Bizarre (sobre la rivalidad con GT4 y demás)

INTERVIEW: BIZARRE CREATIONS ON GOTHAM 2


-The big draw this time around is the amazing online functionality; was this something you've wanted to do since Gotham 1? At want point did you start thinking about it?

Right from very early on with Gotham we'd always considered not so much just Live, but the whole competition element was crucial to the game. Once Live came along we saw it as a massive opportunity to exploit this. The competitive element in racing games particularly is incredible.

-What do you think of Live?

I think it's very, very smart - it just depends on whether people want to pay.

-From your point of view, what has it allowed you to do? Has it, for instance, made things possible you hadn't even thought of originally?

We've been able to do everything we wished from the outset.

-There are many more cities in Gotham 2 than the previous game, and you also had a number of cities that didn't make the cut into the final game. Can you give us an insight into the criteria involved in making your final selections?

We went through quite a few cycles with them; we obviously wanted a fairly broad base. We also understood that a big proportion of our users are based in North America so we had to make the game attractive to them. You won't find the cities are weighted towards the US, though - the choice is broad.

There are a few cities we would have liked to include, but the roads and the racing ability within these cities wasn't quite right.

-Can you give us any examples?

I wouldn't really like to mention any that missed the cut...

-We've been told Liverpool was one...

Well, we did some research on Liverpool, but we need to do some further research on the global demand for it. We went with Edinburgh because it's more famous, although Liverpool is getting there.

-You've got The Beatles...

Yes, and the Japanese in particular love that.

-Now you've built the game engine and it's performing so well, would these cities that didn't quite make the cut be the sort of things you'd expand it with, either through add-on discs or downloadable content?

That's really down to Microsoft; it's currently just considering strategy and where it wants to go with it.

-Would it be realistic to download entire areas via Xbox Live?

Technically it's possible, you'd just do it as an .exe file and it's something we'll definitely consider in the future. The only problem is, with cities that are great in size, the time involved in pulling all the data down. But it's definitely feasible.

Are you actually working on anything like this right now?

There's nothing concrete in the pipeline, but we're discussing our options and Microsoft is having big internal discussions as to what we should do next.

-It's about turning it into a franchise like Gran Turismo now, right?

Yeah, I hope so. I know Microsoft have put a lot of faith in the brand and invested a lot of money, so we don't see any reason why we can't keep expanding and growing the game, keeping people interested.

The strongest thing I think it's got going for it is I don't think there's another racing game which covers the same aspects. I wouldn't say it's the best racing game on the market, as that's not the way we do things, but I would say it's unique.

-Looking at other racing games, which do you admire?

We tend not to try an glean ideas directly from other games. Our unique feature is the kudos system and that stemmed from a desire to introduce a big element of competition. I like the Gran Turismo series, and I think anyone who says they don't would be lying, because that is the holy grail that everyone's going for. We're just thrilled that we're mentioned in the same breath as that series.

-Gotham 2 is the big online racer for Xbox; GT4 is the big one for Sony - how do you feel they measure up?

It's difficult to compare, as GT is stylistically very different. I think we're competing in slightly different areas. I like GT4 and could play it for hours on end, and I also like Gotham; it's not fair to compare the two directly. Obviously we have an advantage with the hardware.

-But consumers and owners of the respective consoles are going to compare them to a degree, especially with them both being online. What makes Gotham better?

I just think the fact that our leader board stuff and the slickness of the system have turned out so well.

-It seems that Gotham 2 is the first game that really delivers the Live stuff that Microsoft promised would become a reality...

I hope so. I hope people are really wowed by it. I think Live as a system takes games to the next level.

-Do you think there's much more you can do with the series on Xbox in terms of performance?

There's always room for improvement. If a new console comes along, the look of the game will improve, but there's still a lot of stuff you can do with Xbox. We'd love to include more detailed textures, but you're limited by the amount of memory you can use.

-What do you think will be the significant advancement offered by the next generation of console hardware?

The networking stuff will be amazing; and also getting a multi-use box into people's homes. Before we all start getting stuff down a pipe, it will be the one box under the TV which does everything. In the short-term it's all about the games, and whoever gets on board with the best developers and works with them will have a key advantage.

-Have you seen or been briefed on Xbox 2 dev kits yet?

No. [laughs] If I had, I'd tell you!

-Of course you would...

The game is astonishingly detailed, and one comment from one of the team that's stuck in our minds is: "Some of the detail probably won't ever be noticed by most people."

-So what's the point of going to the trouble of putting it in?

We shouldn't, is the straight answer. You should only deliver what the gamer can see; if the detail is down by the driver's legs and players can't really see it, I'd prefer to see that ripped out and used elsewhere - some of them are extremely anal! [laughs] It's all about using the memory in the right areas.