Introduction

After fighting off fantasy monsters in two Dungeon Siege games for Microsoft, developer Gas Powered Games is getting ready to hit the RTS genre with Supreme Commander, a sci-fi themed game that already has a ton of buzz surrounding it. FiringSquad got a chance to chat with Gas Powered Games founder and head man Chris Taylor about the game, the PC and video game industry, and even that Dungeon Siege movie that's being directed by He Who Must Not Be Named (oh, what the heck..it's Uwe Boll)

FiringSquad: First, Dungeon Siege II has been out for several months now. Overall are you happy with the way the game turned out?

Chris Taylor: Yes I am, but it's one of the painful things about game development, there are a lot of things I would have liked to have done differently. Luckily a lot of those things are probably not noticeable to most players.

FiringSquad: Why did you decide to move the Dunegeon Siege franchise from Microsoft to 2K Games?

Chris Taylor: We are all very excited to be working with 2K on these new Dungeon Siege games, and to continue to expand the DS universe.

FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the now officially announced Dungeon Siege II expansion pack?

Chris Taylor: The Dungeon Siege II expansion pack, Broken World will add a new Act and completes the original story from Dungeon Siege II. The pack includes new monsters, boss fights, sets and unique items, and of course the two new classes Blood Assassin and Fist of Stone, each with new skills and powers. We also made numerous enhancements to the game including the addition of the Dwarves as a playable race and more pets to train. We really pushed the pack to jam in as much as we could, so everyone would get tons more gameplay, regardless of their skill level and whether they played the original or not.

FiringSquad: Supreme Commander is your next game and your "spiritual successor" to the game you are best known for Total Annihilation. How hard is it to create a game that you must know will be compared to your earlier title at Cavedog?

Chris Taylor: It's definitely a challenge to fill those shoes, but so far we are feeling really good about where Supreme Commander is at and are very excited about showing it off at this year’s E3 show.

FiringSquad: Total Annihilation was one of the first games to have regular downloadable extra content for players. Now we are in 2006 where entire games are being downloaded for pay. Where do you see this trend going for PC games?

Chris Taylor: I definitely see the trend continuing, and it's funny, because just today I read someplace that consoles may start doing this for big premium titles, although I think it was just speculation... it's hard to imagine digital content of any kind not being downloaded directly to the customer in the future.

FiringSquad: We are hearing lots of stuff from Microsoft about how Windows Vista will revive PC gaming. What is your opinion on the status of PC game development and does it need any help from Microsoft and/or graphics card makers to improve?

Chris Taylor: PC gaming is huge and will likely go through many transformations over the next 10 years, but I am confident it will survive all these ups and downs, and any help that it gets during one of the down cycles is appreciated by those who love the platform.