rec.autos.simulators

http://www.***-age.com/cgi-bin/specials/special.pl?spec=brianeddy&...
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We caught up with Midway game designer, Brian Eddy, to ask him some
questions about Arctic Thunder. He was kind enough to give us tons of cool
new info about the game. But was he aware of the day of the incident? Find
out in our interview:

 Gavin: So Brian, what's your position in Midway?

Brian: I'm a Game Designer.

Gavin: Cool! So Arctic Thunder... Urm... Come on spill the beans.

Brian: Well Arctic Thunder firstly isn't the sequel to Hydro Thunder, but we
felt that we would share some similar attributes but include a whole lot
more. Like you have a whole host of weaponry like, you have an attack
button, a super attack, atomic snowballs, you even have health in there too.

Gavin: So tell me why did you decided to use Snow Mobiles as opposed to the
original water-based racing game?

Brian: Well once you have boats out there in market we have to provide
different interest rather than releasing the same thing. But we a lot added
a little more elements like you're actually racing on land as oppose on the
sea.

Gavin: So how many tracks are there in the game?

Brian: Well right now there are six or maybe eight, but when it comes to
home then we're going to have something like 12 or even 16. We want to make
sure that there's enough tracks to keep the gamer happy for when the game is
released at this fall.

Gavin: So you're really looking to keep the consumer happy by added
longetivity.

Brian: That's right we're really going to take care of them so we would have
something that would keep them busy for a very long time.

Gavin: Cool!

Brian: We also have different characters in the game with different
attributes and strength. Some punch harder, some shoot better.

Gavin: What arcade board are you running the game on?

Brian: We're using a PC board. Running on a Pentium 733.

Gavin: Huh?! Ok so what graphics card are you using?

Brian: We're using a Voodoo 3 graphics card.

Gavin: (Surprised!!!) Since you're using that kind of specs for the game,
can you see the PC format getting the title too?

Brian: We don't really do anything regarding the PC but it would be
interesting, but we're going to do this for the Xbox, Gamecube and PS2.

Gavin: But what about the Dreamcast...?

Brian: Probably not the Dreamcast because it's not doing so well right now.

Gavin: But wouldn't it be the prime console to do this game on, seeing as
Hydro Thunder did so well?

Brian: Well we're not doing much Dreamcast games now...

Gavin: How come?!

Brian: There's not enough market for it, they haven't sold that enough
units, but that decision was above mine.

Gavin: So what is your personal opinion of the machine?

Brian: Dreamcast, I LOVE the Dreamcast I really think that it's underrated,
with some of the games coming out. Even though the PS2 came out and some
people of the public are blown away by it, I really think the Dreamcast is
holding it's own.

Gavin: So the Dreamcast would be the machine to develop for, but it's just
that you have to think of it all in a business perspective.

Brian: Yeah I think that the PS2 got the public eye more with it's
e***ment and everything, but the Dreamcast is lost now unfortunately. It's
a shame really...

Gavin: That's pretty painful.

Brian: Yeah it really is....

Gavin: Because judging by the way Arctic Thunder is it looks like a perfect
Dreamcast game, especially with the internet access.

Brian: Yep, it would be. It's just the company itself they're not really
supportive to the Dreamcast right now. It seems to be the thing of nearly
all developers really, so...

Gavin: Since that you're going to be releasing Arctic Thunder on the PS2
wouldn't you think that 4 players would be appropriate for the game since
the internet access isn't available?

Brian: I think the most important thing is to get the game as perfect as
possible since the PS2 is quite hard to program for, but yes of course the
Dreamcast would easily cater for this field with the internet aspect but...
*sigh... It's going away.... Sony hasn't really finalised their internet
strategy yet.

Gavin: With a userbase of over 6 million Dreamcast don't you think that with
a massive userbase like that the Dreamcast should have the game?

Brian: The problem is that Midway don't see the market growing, but for the
other consoles they can see it growing. The thing is that you only have a
limited amount of resources, and with the Xbox and other consoles coming out
in the market sadly we can't cater for all of them. Sadly the Dreamcast has
to be the one that to be put aside.

Gavin: If you was Sega now and you had the power to make the decision for
the company, would you: A) Continue supporting the Dreamcast till the bitter
end? B) Become 3rd party like Electronic Arts and Eidos? C) Come out with a
new machine?

Brian: I think the first two would be the most likely to happen. Because
coming out with a new machine wouldn't do it, so I think that coming out of
the hardware industry would be the best option.

Gavin: Oh...

Brian: It's not nice really, personally I wished that Sega would be ok I
like Sega but... You have to see it business wise.

Gavin: Yeah, horrid but true. Brian thank you so much for the interview. Oh
are you aware of the day of the incident...?

Brian: Haha, the day of the incident? That day... Urm, no...

-- Gavin Matheson

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*snip*

So, are Gavin and Brian native English speakers? If yes: Don't game
designing and game designer interviewing require some sort of advanced
talking ability?

It's fun to do the time warp and all, and thanks for the link, but some
of that ugly verbiage is tough to get that for to through... at least
while sleepy.