PC Gamer Podcast #299.5: Interview with Bioware’s Lead Writer Daniel Erickson
Christmas is canceled: there will be no podcast this week as we’re busy decking the halls of our magazine to get the latest issue to Santa’s printers in time. Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer for Star Wars: the Old Republic, swung by the office to cheer us on and chat about TOR on its launch day. We chat about his favorite light and dark side moments, which classes are just plain evil, and why faction changes just don’t make sense in the Star Wars universe.
We hope you’ll have a fantastic holiday season full of wonder-frags and epic loots. Look for podcast #300 in the new year. It’ll be the cat’s meow.
Behind-the-scenes with Songhammer, the epic band that rocked BlizzCon’s music contest
You might not have noticed, but there was another band (on top of the Foo Fighters and Blizzard’s own Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain) worthy of your praise at BlizzCon last month: the almighty Songhammer. We sat down with the two gamers that formed the army of epic rock, wicked guitars, and WoW-centric lyrics that won third place in the Original Song Contest at this year’s BlizzCon. Between bursts of guitar riffs and giant dragons breathing fire, they told us their tale and talked about some their top songs, like “We are the Horde” and “Armies of the Light.”
Read on to learn more about this rocktastic duo and grab free MP3s of their premier songs at the end of the interview.
Heroes of Newerth director talks about mentoring
As action-RTS Heroes of Newerth prepares to introduce new features and a few surprises at Dreamhack, Director of Operations Brad Bower talked to us about how S2 is developing the game by providing more effective teaching tools for new players.
He explained how HoN’s mentoring system mimics the way we tend to learn games from friends in real-life, and how HoN’s updates will make the client itself a learning resource for new players.
GOG director explains the distributor’s new direction, how “good old” principles still apply
Last week, Good Old Games announced a shift toward games that are not quite so old. I asked Good Old Games’ Managing Director, Guillaume Rambourg, what this means for the core of the business, classic PC games, and exactly how GOG.com is going to balance its ideals and identity with the business of newer games.
He laid some fears to rest, and explained how “newer” games should not be confused with “brand new.”
Bring back the gank: How Mists of Pandaria will return old-school PvP to World of Warcraft
We had a chance to sit down with World of Warcraft’s Senior Game Producer, John Lagrave, at this year’s BlizzCon to talk about what Blizzard wants to do with PvP in Mists of Pandaria. And they’ve got some big plans to bring back the memorable chaos of huge open-world fights and group ganking alongside the ultra-serene Pandaren race.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Todd Howard Interview
This interview originally appeared in PC Gamer UK issue 232. Alongside our Skyrim preview.
Playing Skyrim made me realise just how huge, fresh and exciting it really is. I asked game director Todd Howard how far it’s come from Oblivion, and what some of his favourite discoveries have been.
Gabe Newell on his Dota 2 obsession, Half-Life protests and EA’s Origin
This interview originally appeared in PC Gamer UK issue 232. Alternatively you can watch the video interview.
Valve are constantly surprising. One month they’re making one of their most popular games, Team Fortress 2, free to play, and the next they’re running a $1 million tournament for the upcoming Dota 2.
That makes any chance to speak to company co-founder Gabe Newell a pleasure, because you never know what you’re going to get. I sat down with him during the Dota 2 tournament to talk about his obsession with his company’s new game, his thoughts on EA’s Steam-rival Origin, and what motivates him to come into work each day.
Introversion’s Chris Delay on shifting from Subversion to Prison Architect: “I wanted to build Alcatraz”
One week ago, Introversion dramatically announced that they have shifted development away from their procedural bank-heist sim, Subversion to work a completely new game for submission to the Independent Games Festival. Their new game is called Prison Architect. It lets players construct and maintain high security prisons. We got in touch with Introversion’s Chris Delay to find out why the team decided to put Subversion on hold, how they made the decision to drop a game that they’ve been working on for years, and what inspired them to make Prison Architect instead.
Exclusive Core Blaze interview reveals MMO platforming and secret boss encounters
Nobody likes a mindless grind in their MMOs, following in the footsteps of the countless players who have already optimized all the content. One upcoming MMO hoping to shatter the mold is Core Blaze, the Unreal 3-powered hack-’n'-slash from Gamania. We asked Jacky Chu, chief operating officer at developer RedGate Studios, how Core Blaze will differentiate itself from the pack. Check out his responses, translated into English.
RUSE developer Eugen explains upcoming Wargame: European Escalation
RUSE might be my favorite RTS of the past several years, and one reason for that is because developer Eugen Systems seemed to design it with wargamers in mind. It could be frantic, but it also felt a bit like what would happen if you turned Panzer General into an RTS.
So it’s fitting that their next game is explicitly called Wargame: European Escalation, and I got in touch with Eugen CEO Alexis Le Dressay to learn just how this would differ from RUSE. It turns out that Wargame will be very different, throwing out Ruse’s deception mechanics as well as a lot of RTS conventions. The result could be an even more interesting real-time wargame set in the late Cold War.
CCP chief on layoffs, mistakes: “We had the mindset that we could achieve anything.”
Last week, CCP announced major layoffs and a significant shift in priorities away from Vampire: The Masquerade-themed MMO World of Darkness and back toward EVE Online.
We had a long chat with CEO Hilmar Petursson about the changes, and where they leave CCP. He explains why CCP is narrowing its focus, and says that it was “hubris” that led CCP astray.
More Damn Kharacters – Overhaul Games’ Trent Oster on putting the HD into MDK2 HD
Before Bioware became the RPG juggernaut it is today, it made a couple of action games – the mech combat sim Shattered Steel, and MDK2, the sequel to Shiny’s surreal, phenomenally punishing shooter. A decade later, former Bioware man Trent Oster is returning to update the world of Max, Doctor Fluke Hawkins and Kurt… one of many backronyms created in those dark days when everyone thought games really could teach children to murder instead of merely making it look fricking awesome… and he’s even started a brand new digital distribution service, Beamdog, to distribute it. Digitally!
I caught up with him to ask about both his two new companies – Overhaul Games and IdeaSpark – and why now is the time to bring MDK2′s bizarre mix of comedy and shooting back to the world.
How one WoW fan is memorializing the big bad bosses of yesteryear
Cataclysm might’ve saved Azeroth, but Andrew Kuhar believes that the old world deserved a proper send off. We talked with the longtime World of Warcraft player and PCG reader about the vintage posters themed after old school bosses he’s making, and what the heck that really abstract one is all about. Best of all, you can download these gorgeous posters with the click of your mouse—just click which ones you want (we recommend all of them) and you’ll be downloading the 50MB original file in no time. We wouldn’t be offended if you took ‘em to the printers to be made into actual posters; there’s no doubt that your end-game experience will be enhanced as you reflect on bosses past, staring at your from your wall, while you raid the newest content.
WoW patch 4.3 Dragon Soul interview, part one: Downing Deathwing
Yesterday, we gave you a look at Dragon Soul, the upcoming Patch 4.3 for World of Warcraft that’ll finally let you face off against Catacylsm’s biggest baddie: Deathwing. We had the pleasure of speaking to WoW’s Lead Designer, Tom “Kalgan” Chilton, and picked his brain about what’s coming up in the lore-riffic patch and just how crazy the big boss of this expansion will be. Be warned: if you want to encounter Deathwing entirely spoiler-free, you’ll need to cover your eyes for some bits. But if you want a leg up on how to take down the colossal black dragon, read on.
Guild Wars 2 meets Mech Warrior in the Asura battle suit
As the small guy on the block, you occassionally need to hire some muscle to get things done on time. The Asura of Guild Wars 2 are doing just that–except they’re building their muscle. The newly announced Asura Battle Suit racial skill will put the players in the husk of a golem, allowing you to feel as mighty as the Norn without losing that cute physique we’ve come to love. It’s only a matter of time until one of the tinkering Asura figure out how to mount some rockets launchers on those shoulders. We squeezed Guild Wars 2 game designer Jon Peters for all the extra info he’d give on these magical mech warriors.
