Knight
10-17-2002, 09:36 PM
Interview with Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk of Bioware
1 – Why choose Xbox for the platform for KotoR?
Greg: We chose the Xbox for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic because we believe it provides the optimal RPG experience for our audience. We want to supply our players with the best gaming experience possible and the Xbox is the machine to do it thanks to its impressive hardware and features.
2 – What has been the coolest thing you've done with the Xbox so far?
Ray: The Xbox is a very good system and frankly, there are too many great features to list all of them. Certainly the graphics are great – visuals on the Xbox look better than any other next generation system – and the inclusion of a hard drive and broadband connection in the Xbox create a tremendous number of possibilities as well. As to what the coolest thing we’ve done with the Xbox…tricky question…I’d probably have to say that we’ve made a strategic decision as a company to create some amazing roleplaying games on the Xbox – both Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (to be published by LucasArts) and also the as-yet-still-secret RPG (set in a new BioWare-created IP, to be published by Microsoft exclusively for Xbox) are going to be amazing games – some of the very best RPGs out for *any* console when they come out!
3 – We see you have experience developing for PC, DreamCast, and PS2. Why the Xbox for the Star Wars title?
Greg: As I mention above we believe the Xbox is simply the best system for the game. Because RPGs are so detailed and require such depth of hardware you want worry as little as possible about your implementation of technology. The Xbox solves a number of issues for us because of its processing power, graphics pipeline and hard drive. For example, the hard drive allows us to pack more content into the game and create richer environments player. The Xbox is the perfect platform for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
4 – What can you tell us about your 'untitled' Xbox title and any future titles in this Bioware-Microsoft contract?
Ray: The untitled Xbox roleplaying game title is extremely cool! – it’s in a genre/setting that may surprise people a bit, but which will really appeal to console gamers. It’s a game that Greg and I and many others at BioWare have wanted to develop for a long time – so we’re really excited by the new BioWare-created world that the game is set in, as well as by the innovative gameplay that the game will feature. We haven’t released a lot of information about the title yet and probably should wait to reveal anything more than that until we release information together with our publishing partner Microsoft.
5 – What is great about developing on the Xbox, vs the other platforms?
Ray: Thus far everything about the system has been pure pleasure – the hardware is straightforward to develop for, and exceptionally powerful, and the technical support from both 1st and 3rd party support from Microsoft has been very good. We’re also excited by the opportunity to create some landmark games in the roleplaying genre for a 1st generation console.
http://www.xboxgamers.com/interviews/bioware/index.shtml
1 – Why choose Xbox for the platform for KotoR?
Greg: We chose the Xbox for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic because we believe it provides the optimal RPG experience for our audience. We want to supply our players with the best gaming experience possible and the Xbox is the machine to do it thanks to its impressive hardware and features.
2 – What has been the coolest thing you've done with the Xbox so far?
Ray: The Xbox is a very good system and frankly, there are too many great features to list all of them. Certainly the graphics are great – visuals on the Xbox look better than any other next generation system – and the inclusion of a hard drive and broadband connection in the Xbox create a tremendous number of possibilities as well. As to what the coolest thing we’ve done with the Xbox…tricky question…I’d probably have to say that we’ve made a strategic decision as a company to create some amazing roleplaying games on the Xbox – both Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (to be published by LucasArts) and also the as-yet-still-secret RPG (set in a new BioWare-created IP, to be published by Microsoft exclusively for Xbox) are going to be amazing games – some of the very best RPGs out for *any* console when they come out!
3 – We see you have experience developing for PC, DreamCast, and PS2. Why the Xbox for the Star Wars title?
Greg: As I mention above we believe the Xbox is simply the best system for the game. Because RPGs are so detailed and require such depth of hardware you want worry as little as possible about your implementation of technology. The Xbox solves a number of issues for us because of its processing power, graphics pipeline and hard drive. For example, the hard drive allows us to pack more content into the game and create richer environments player. The Xbox is the perfect platform for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
4 – What can you tell us about your 'untitled' Xbox title and any future titles in this Bioware-Microsoft contract?
Ray: The untitled Xbox roleplaying game title is extremely cool! – it’s in a genre/setting that may surprise people a bit, but which will really appeal to console gamers. It’s a game that Greg and I and many others at BioWare have wanted to develop for a long time – so we’re really excited by the new BioWare-created world that the game is set in, as well as by the innovative gameplay that the game will feature. We haven’t released a lot of information about the title yet and probably should wait to reveal anything more than that until we release information together with our publishing partner Microsoft.
5 – What is great about developing on the Xbox, vs the other platforms?
Ray: Thus far everything about the system has been pure pleasure – the hardware is straightforward to develop for, and exceptionally powerful, and the technical support from both 1st and 3rd party support from Microsoft has been very good. We’re also excited by the opportunity to create some landmark games in the roleplaying genre for a 1st generation console.
http://www.xboxgamers.com/interviews/bioware/index.shtml