Saturday, March 18, 2006

Developers of STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT interested in Revolution

IGN Revolution interviewed the developers at Pandemic Studios recently, check out what they say about the Revolution:

IGN Revolution: What do you think of Nintendo's Revolution controller?

Greg Borrud: Everyone around here is pretty excited about it. We've just started thinking about how we could use it with our games and there are a lot of interesting ideas that are coming up. I think the new controller has huge potential to push games in more exciting directions than just having better graphics. That said - I'm hoping the controller will prove more than a novelty. It remains to be seen if it can play like a traditional controller while offering all the unique aspects that make it so attractive. I think it will need to be able to do both well or else it could become regarded as a niche product.

IGN Revolution: How important is horsepower for the next generation consoles? Or in other words, do you think Revolution can be successful even if it is less powerful?

Borrud: I think horsepower is pretty important. That said - there are a lot of great looking (and playing) games on the current generation of consoles. I think everyone can agree that games like Resident Evil 4 are not only great looking but are a lot of fun as well. But I think a lot of Revolution's potential success is tied to the unique game experiences made possible by the new controller.

IGN Revolution: What types of games do you think will flourish on Revolution?

Borrud: I think there could be a pretty good cross section of games. It seems to us that we could make action games (our bread and butter at Pandemic) work pretty well with the Revolution. The thing that makes me the most excited though is the new games and genres that might be able to evolve out of the Revolution. Game designers will be forced to think about games in a different way, which often leads to innovation. It will be interesting to see what developers come up with and if they can truly deliver on the promise of original game experiences.

IGN Revolution: Are you interested in making a game on Revolution?

Borrud: We are very interested in making games for the Revolution. The challenge will be in our approach to these games. As we think about the Xbox 360 and the PS3 we see a lot of similarities between the systems so it will be relatively easy to have a game ship on both platforms. We don't necessarily see those kinds of similarities with the Revolution. Games that are made for the Revolution will really have to be re-conceived for that platform and can't simply be a port. While on the one hand that could mean fewer games for the Revolution, the games that do ship on the platform will probably be crafted with a lot more thought and care than would go into your average port. So yes, we are interested in developing entertainment for the Revolution - but only for the select group of games that really make sense.

IGN Revolution: Who do you think will be the console market leader in five years and why?

Borrud: Obviously it's a little hard to say right now. If you had asked me six months ago, I would have said that the PS3 would probably be a lock. I still think they will do very well, but I have also been very impressed with the 360; I love the connectivity of it. I think you can start to see how the vision of the continually-connected game system can really be something cool and different. And I think the jury will be out on the Revolution until we get to see some of the innovative games that are made. The Revolution (as with all the systems) will only be as good as the games that are developed for it. I know we are very excited at Pandemic to be moving into this next round of consoles.

Link to interview

Battlefront with the Revolution controller would work wonders, lets hope they have a game ready for it soon.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If they make Mercenaries 2 for next-gen systems, I hope they can make onto the Rev.

Pandemic has shown to be competent developers, and I can't wait to see what' they're brewing next.