Development

FiringSquad: The Xbox on the other hand is far more secure. It's not completely warez-proof, but Microsoft has a decided advantage over the PS2, never mind the oh-so-open PC, with Xbox Live! In fact, there are many advantages to a closed platform - security, cost, uniform hardware, closed-system unique ID features for Xbox Live, and easy of use. Can these benefits be overcome by the PC's openness and necessary ubiquity because of business uses?

Greg Zeschuk: Both systems (PC and console) definitely have their advantages, and we plan to develop both for PC as well as console in the future. The Xbox Live features have caught on at a higher rate than the corresponding features on PS2, and the fact that the broadband capability is built into the Xbox probably helped a lot with this. Given the closed nature of the Xbox, it would be very hard to create a game like Neverwinter Nights on the system, where a huge amount of content is developed by the community and traded among various players. The PC can certainly do some very interesting things with connecting people – that’s the benefit of the open system, but it certainly comes at a significant cost.



FiringSquad: There are rumors than Xbox 2 won't have a hard drive, and in fact none of the upcoming consoles will. From a developer's perspective, do you think it's wise for a console manufacturer to remove such a source of large, permanent storage?

Ray Muzyka: Developers would figure out how to make great titles on almost any system given time, but removal of the Xbox hard drive would certainly make creation of large-content games like RPGs more challenging. BioWare would certainly be up for the challenge to make even better games in the future though!

Greg Zeschuk: It’s also worth noting that the cost-to-size ratio for other sources of data storage has been rapidly dropping over the years thanks to devices like digital cameras and PDAs. It’s hard to tell what the future might hold for data storage on the next generation of consoles, but they’ll certainly have a number of options at their disposal.



FiringSquad: BioWare makes RPGs, and crafts them well - arguably better than anyone. MDK2 was not the financial success one could have hoped despite being well-received by critics. Has this soured BioWare permanently on non-RPGs? Do you believe that specializing in RPGs leaves the company more open to financial hardship due to unexpected turns in gamer tastes? Are you concerned that BioWare might go the way of SSI after RPGs and turn-based strategy games slumped?

Ray Muzyka: We’re quite interested in merging some of the features of different genres in with those of “traditional” RPGs. For example, the upcoming Jade Empire martial arts action-RPG includes features which will appeal to RPG fans, action-RPG fans, and action-adventure fans. We think that by including features of different genres in our games, we’ll broaden our fan base and continue to appeal to a large group of both hard-core and mainstream game fans.