Brothers in Arms: HH Q&A

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• Tuesday, September 30, 2008 | 12:54 PM
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Ubisoft's and Gearbox's Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway was released last week in both Europe and the US, and here's a new Q&A provided by XCN. As before, the interview consists of questions submitted by different sites and members, so it's a big mix of different stuff. I remember some of these from our forums, and this one covers everything from delays, multiplayer, physics to demos and much more. With some luck we'll have a copy of the game this week and the First 10 Minutes online.

Answers by: Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox and producer of Hell's Highway.

· The online multiplayer sections of games such as this seem to almost play a more important role that the offline mode, how do you balance the two to keep everyone happy?
Randy Pitchford: With Brothers in Arms, most players are in for the single player narrative game, so we invest most of our attention there. Our mission is to put you in the boots of a squad leader so you can experience what he experienced and be tested where he was tested. In terms of authenticity, squad combat and the sense of brotherhood between soldiers, our goal is to make sure that Brothers in Arms leads the way. When we think about multiplayer design, we carry our promise through there. Brothers in Arms offers a unique game on-line – unlike all of the rest of the games you might play. The game is about squad combat, so team work *really* matters. The game is about tactics, so you won’t be slogging through 20 or 30 minute deathmatch games, rather you’ll execute towards an objective and everything will be over in two or three minutes, then you’ll start another round and adjust your tactics each time. Rounds are strung together quickly into a game and you iterate fast and learn and adapt each time – just like real combat. Brothers in Arms is about leadership, so that plays a role in the on-line game, too. There’s a squad leader on each side and that squad leader has the ability to issue orders and call in artillery support and such to the team’s benefit. It’s great fun, but it’s very different than what people are playing right now, so it’s something we’re really interested to see what happens with. We can take that kind of risk and do something that’s not radical, but certainly different and innovative because, as I said, most people don’t play on-line. Even with games where you wouldn’t expect it, like Halo, most people who played Halo played it off-line.

· When creating this game did you use any other for inspiration?
Randy Pitchford: Awhile back, Gearbox worked with Valve on the PC on-line shooter, Counter-Strike. Counter-Strike is really interesting because it is round based, each round is fast and in each round, death is final. The combat loop was very compelling and very tactical with lots of moments of extreme tension in each interaction. Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway multiplayer draws a bit from that. The single player game is inspired by true history and by our fantasies of wondering what it must have been like to be one of those guys that fought in WW2 Europe. We wanted it to be authentic and we wanted it to be about squad combat. When we started, we felt the state of the art with respect to working with AI squadmates was pretty terrible. So we invented a whole new way of issuing orders and leading squad mates and this system has become a hallmark of the quality and fun in Brothers in Arms. If you haven’t played it yet, you’ll be in for a really interesting and great game play experience with Hell’s Highway.

· Since the WWII genre is already crowded what will Brothers in Arms: HH do that is different?
Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms is the most authentic, but a huge margin, so if you’re interested in actually experiencing what it was like and being in a virtual representation of where it all took place, Brothers in Arms is your first pick without question. It’s also the only big game in the category to really offer something new in the shooter game play. It isn’t just a run-and-gun rail shooter, but the game puts you in the role of a squad leader that can issue orders to a squad of soldiers and you can use your own weapons and your team to beat the enemy using authentic fire and maneuver tactics. Anyway, I didn’t realize that the genre was crowded. As I write this, it’s been over a year since we had a chance to play a big budget WW2 game and the fundamental design of the game wasn’t that great, to be fair. I think genre’s like fantasy and science fiction tend to be more saturated because some of those games don’t succeed. Meanwhile, anyone who has brought a high quality war game and has made a great promise and delivered on it has been really successful.

· The BIAs games have offered a more tactical slant on WWII first person shooters, how have you retained this element in Hell’s Highway?
Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway doesn’t just retain the tactical element, it pushes it even farther. The game now supports a lot more tactics in order to win. If you play very aggressively and are a run-and-gun oriented game, you can find a way to win. If you want to play very carefully and thoughtfully, you can find a way to win. It’s possible to win most encounters by being a perfect squad leader and not firing a single shot. The addition of features such as being able to command a third team and the addition of machinegun crews and bazooka teams that can actually either shred or destroy soft and hard cover that the enemy might be using creates even more options for you. But you do have to play and you do have to play well given the situation and the approach. If you make big mistakes, you will be killed or get your squad killed (or both). The best is when you can set up a perfect plan – keep a team suppressing an enemy and holding them in place while you maneuver another team around to one side and maybe you even hit them yourself from a third or fourth side and when everything opens up on the enemy at once, the enemy has no choice but to die. That’s total domination. That’s an unfair fight. That’s what you want – that’s how to win.

· Have you made any changes to the control interface; is the game going to be easy to get into for newcomers to the series?
Randy Pitchford: If you’ve played a Brothers in Arms game before, you’ll be really comfortable. There are a few new controls and some new options, so you might want to accept the training the game offers you as you go. You take it as you play, so it’s really convenient and entertaining, too. If you’ve never played a Brothers in Arms game before, the training for each skill is built into the missions and the story, so you’re really helped along. It’s not complicated, so we find that most new players have no real difficulty. Also, if you play other shooters and have a favourite configuration, you can find pre-set configurations that make that a lot easier. For example, if you’ve played Halo 3, you may want to go into the options menu and pick the “RingWorld” pre-set which sets you up so that every function that exists in Halo is on the same button.

· There's some impressive physics used in Hell’s Highway, other than for spot effects, will the physics have an impact on gameplay in any way?
Randy Pitchford: Physics simulation really adds to the immersiveness of the game and the sense of authenticity, but unlike most games where physics are there mostly for show, it also plays a role in the game design. For example, the enemy might be hiding behind a wooden fence. In most games, that fence is invulnerable and at most you’ll see a little decal when you shoot at it. In Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway, your bullet weapons can tear that fence apart splinter by splinter. It’s really cool to see and it presents some important tactical options. Of course, your bullets won’t do anything against harder cover, like sandbags. For sandbags, you’re going to need explosives – like a bazooka team or grenades. With explosives, you can throw those sandbags all over the place.

· The BIAs games have seemingly been less well recieved than games such as Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six, how will BIAs Hell’s Highway break the mold? Are you aiming for a specific audience or going for wider appeal this time?
Randy Pitchford: I love the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon games. I just went on gamerankings.com to quickly check and I averaged the scores of Rainbow Six Vegas and Vegas 2 on the three main platforms and I found they got an average score of 83.81%. For Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 1 and 2 the average was 83.86%. For averages, those are amazing scores. For the versions of Brothers in Arms 1 and 2 Gearbox made, our average scores were 86.05%. So, in terms of critical acclaim, I think we’re all around the same league with a slight edge for Brothers in Arms there. I think our sales were extremely competitive, too. I haven’t looked lately, but when we last came with Brothers in Arms games on 2005, Gearbox was all over the Ubisoft top selling games list and probably was the best selling brand for them that year (with the possible exception of King Kong because they came on seven different platforms along side a huge blockbuster movie). But they also had Tom Clancy games in that same year, too, and I think Brothers in Arms performed amazingly and in sum outperformed the sum of the Clancy brand new entries – which was quite an accomplishment considering it was an original brand. So, I think in sales and in quality, Brothers in Arms of the past has a lot to be proud of. I think Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six also have a lot to be proud of. They are great games and are also market leaders. I think Ubisoft must be really proud of all of it. Reading this back, it’s like comparing the top three marathon runners in the Olympics and debating about the meaning of the tenths of a second differences in their lap-times. We should be impressed with all of these racers! Regardless of how you want to compare things, Brothers in Arms has a really interesting and unique promise and Hell’s Highway makes our last games look like they were made in the stone ages.

· BIA introduced some sort of “emotionality” in the WW II shooter genre. What degree of realism have you achieved with the latest game?
Randy Pitchford: It’s impossible to speak to that without experiencing it, but I can say that we spent a lot of time and care and love in the area of storytelling and emotion and from my seat, from which it’s impossible to be objective, it feels like we’ve really got something special - something that is along that vector that is pushing story telling forward in games. When I look at some of the other things that have come out recently, both in what they’re trying to accomplish and how they’re presenting it, I can’t help but feel a lot of pride about what the team here has done and I hope others care enough about those emotional aspects to see and understand the difference.

· With the first person shooter genre being evolved in significant ways since your first entry with BIA, how have you adapted your combat to fullfil the modern gamer’s needs?
Randy Pitchford: The design is informed by the promise, about being a squad leader in these vitally important battles in history. The combat is very accessible in that any one who plays shooters can pick it up and have fun, but the challenges and presentation is, by far, the most authentic you find in this genre. There are great new features and touches that exist to benefit the design and the presentation

· Some developers have dropped the WWII theme to explore new horizons. Why has there never been a significant World War One (WWI) game based on THE most dramatic military conflict the western world has ever witnessed? Maybe there’s a gap in the market there for you?
Randy Pitchford: Yeah, maybe! I’ve studied so many amazing war stories and I think it would be wonderful to dig into more and more of them. Sometimes we’ll discover something that actually happened that puts to shame the things we do in video games that we don’t even believe. We focused on Operation Market Garden for Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway because it was the largest airborne invasion in the history of the world and it was also the last German victory of the war. It was a dramatic moment and it was a turning point where the war could’ve gone either way. Going in, you had the victors of D-Day landing under blue skies in green fields with the feeling that what they were doing was going to end the world. Rapidly, the plan broke apart as the enemy pushed back and crushed the corridor they created. To put things in perspective, more American’s were killed in the first five days of Operation Market Garden than have been lost in the five *years* they have been in Iraq. We just can’t imagine the scale. These men, trapped in the crushed corridor that became known as Hell’s Highway, had to find a way to survive and hold on. What started as a march to victory turned into a rescue and survival mission. It is a very tough situation – a very dramatic backdrop for a story and for a game. When you play, you’re going to get into some serious shit.

· Team work and squad control have always been a major focus for the series, so could you please explain why we haven't seen the ability to play the campaign co-operatively yet in any Brothers in Arms game?
Randy Pitchford: Untrue! In Brothers in Arms Earned in Blood, there were two cooperative campaigns and you could play them over the internet or via split screen on the consoles. They were fun, but if you go back and play them you can see how the situations and the presentation had to be affected in order to support coop. Our #1 desire is to offer the very best in the core game play and coop design compromised that for what we were going for. When I play other games, I find that too often there are games that try to do too much or try to throw in features just for the sake of it and it actually ends up injuring the experience. We know how to do coop, we did coop in an earlier BiA game and we’re going coop in some of our other games where coop makes sense. For Hell’s Highway, coop would’ve been a mistake and when you play the game and get immersed in it, if you play as many games as I do and you think about design as deeply as we do, you’ll be able to see why the game does what it does and you might find that you respect the decisions that were made to preserve the integrity of the experience that’s being offered.

· Every Brothers in Arms game had an online multiplayer component, but with each passing sequel it has been altered. How will it work in Hell’s Highway and can we look forward to a multiplayer where numerous players can control their own squad?
Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms games are mostly played and loved for the single player narrative experience, so we’ve always been able to look at our multiplayer game as a place to try something new and innovative. Once again, the multiplayer game is completely different from anything you’re playing with other games. Yes, it’s a shooter, but tactics are really important and team work is extremely important. It’s round based and very competitive. 20 people can play, so these are bigger skirmishes. It’s fun. It’s different. I think people that want to take the squad combat experience on-line will enjoy the breath of fresh air that it offers. I don’t have any illusions that what people are generally really going to want from Brothers in Arms and find the most value in is the single player narrative game, though.

· Compared to the Brothers In Arms titles on Xbox how do you feel Hell’s Highway has progressed with regards graphical fidelity, immersion and historical accuracy?
Randy Pitchford: No contest, Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway makes everything we’ve ever done look like it was built in the stone ages.

· What are you must proud of in Hell’s Highway?
Randy Pitchford: I’m proud of how the new game design improvements and innovations speak to the core hallmarks of the game in terms of squad combat and authenticity. I’m proud of the fact that the game is more accessible and that there are many, many different play styles that can have fun and find ways to win. I’m proud of the story telling and the production values and think we’ve really pushed the bar up a bit there.

· Explain in more detail the Squad Based system, what can we expect from it?
Randy Pitchford: When you play Sgt. Baker, you’re playing a squad leader and you can lead your AI squad mates. Your interface is as simple as shooting your gun. Just look at something and use the squad command button. If you’re looking at the ground, your order is “Move there!” If you’re looking at an enemy, your order it “Attack!” There are a number of other orders, but it’s all context sensitive and it’s all very easy to do. If you hold down the squad command button, a ring with an icon will appear that tells you what’s going to happen before it happens. The whole system was something we had to invent because the state-of-the-art with squad command was pathetic when we started. We’ve been iterating on the system since and it’s really accessible and fun and authentic. Using the system, you can not just out shoot your enemy, but out smart him. You can use your fire team to shoot at and suppress an enemy that’s behind some cover. When your team is shooting in their direction and bullets are hitting the stuff they’re hiding behind, they get terrified. They know they can’t get up and run or they’ll get hit. So basically, they’re stuck there until the fire lets up or the conditions change. If you can use that opportunity to get around on a flank (side), you can totally dominate that enemy and take them down without risk. You can lead from the front or you can lead from the rear or you can switch off. You can do most or all of the shooting and killing yourself, or if you’re really good you can win the game just by being an effective tactician and lead your men to kill the enemy for you. The AI allies in BiA are effective and they behave like a real squad and they are under your command and this is a BIG difference between BiA and the other games.

· Are there any new multiplayer gametypes in Hell’s Highway that weren't in previous titles?
Randy Pitchford: Multiplayer is all new. It’s really different and really neat. Try it!

· Will there be any differences between the X360 & PS3 Versions?
Randy Pitchford: There are the differences you’d expect. Some people say they like the vibrancy of the colors better on the PS3 version. Others say they like the fidelity of the materials and atmospheric effects with the 360 version. I think players are going to like the version that’s on the platform they prefer to play games on.

· Story gives us the opportunity to take part in the Operation Market Garden. Are you going to truly present all historical events? What can you tell us about the main character?
Randy Pitchford: We take you through the experiences of Sgt. Baker, who is a Recon squad leader in the 101st Airborne Division. The experiences are the most authentic and accurate ever presented in a game of this kind. I say that without hesitation.

· What are the new gameplay features in Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway? What are you trying to improve on with this instalment?
Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway is about squad combat, authenticity and it is about the brotherhood between soldiers. There are dozens of new features and they all speak to those hall marks. My favourites include the destructible cover system where you can use a bullet weapon, like a machinegun, to shred something like a wooden fence splinter by splinter. You’ll find tons of new features and improvements over the previous games throughout and I think the story telling and production values there really raise the bar. I can’t be objective, of course, but it sure feels that way from my seat and I play a LOT of games.

· Why did you decide to make another World War II shooter?
Randy Pitchford: Because they history is real, the stories are unbelievable and their outcomes were so important to how everything in the world played out after words. When you’ve learned as much as I have about war and soldiers and what actually happened and happens, everything else feels cheap and wrong and just like hack material. If you’ve ever seen a movie that’s about something you know a LOT about and it just totally doesn’t work for you because you can see how fake and wrong it is, that’s how we feel about a lot of other games based in history and what we’re trying to improve upon with Brothers in Arms.

· Can you finally tell us something about multiplayer mode?
Randy Pitchford: The multiplayer mode is really different than what you’re seeing out there with other games. It’s tactical, squad based, round based and you have different roles on each squad with over 20 players total in the game. We know that most people play Brothers in Arms for the single player narrative experience. That’s what the series is known for and that’s what it’s been honoured for. So we always tend to look at multiplayer as this interesting place where we can take a bit of a risk and try something different. We’re having fun with it and we hope others do to. Whether you personally enjoy it or not, I hope you respect that we’re not just trying to offer you the same thing you get everywhere else. The design really speaks to the promise of the squad combat and the tactical combat that is such an important part of the Brothers in Arms series.

· How does Ubisoft help you guys to develop the best shooter?
Randy Pitchford: Ubisoft is a great partner. They have been so supportive of our goals and our intent and have been flexible with us as we’ve worked hard to achieve our goals. They are very hands-off for the most part because we ask them to be, but I imagine if we asked them to get more involved they would be really happy to do so. I think Ubisoft is an amazing partner and I’ve grown to have such incredible respect for them and their process and I hope to work with them for many years to come.

· How many players can join an online game?
Randy Pitchford: 20 – A bit bigger skirmishes than you’re used to. The matches aren’t these twenty to thirty minute deathmatch slog fests either. The games are played in rounds that play out in just a few minutes, so you’re repeating tactical decisions frequently and testing different strategies and skills and team play styles. It’s pretty fun and very different than anything you’re playing right now.

· Will you release a playable demo?
Randy Pitchford: Yes. I would start looking for that soon.

· What´s your favourite Arcade Game?
Randy Pitchford: Look up my Gamercard. My GamerTag is “DuvalMagic”. Cheers!

· What do you think of other war games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor? Do you still feel like you can compete with bestsellers like CoD? And what sets BiA appart from games like CoD and MoH?
Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms competes. I think Medal of Honor has the most to worry about right now because for gamers that want the most authentic experience or want something more tactical where squad combat and leadership matters, Brothers in Arms is the clear winner. Meanwhile, if you like something more run-and-gun and more of a linear corridor shooter, well, Call of Duty dominates there. So Medal of Honor is sort of stuck in this pinch between these two great franchise and doesn’t know what to do. The whole gimmick they tried with Airborne didn’t really work and I think they’re sort of struggling to figure out what to do next. They’ll probably just copy Call of Duty or something... It’s a shame because I think there are some really talented people that have been involved with Medal of Honor and I know how difficult and challenging it is to actually do the work and realize these visions. In any case, Brothers in Arms will continue to stand out in terms of authenticity, squad combat and these emotional aspects that we sum up by thinking about the brotherhood between soldiers... The fantasy and the promise is to be one of those guys in the squad in things like Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan. Better than anything else, Brothers in Arms delivers that promise.

· What kind of gamemodes can we expect for the multiplayer?
Randy Pitchford: Multiplayer is different from what you’re playing in other games right now. It focuses on team play and squad based game play. Tactics are really important. 20 people can play, so they are bigger skirmishes. Games contain a series of rounds and rounds are played quickly – just a few minutes per round. So there is a lot of action and a lot of turnover so you can try a new strategy or tactic quickly. It’s fun, but it’s very different. We know most people play and respect Brothers in Arms for its single player narrative game, so multiplayer is this place where we can take some risks and offer something you can’t get anywhere else.

· We’ve noticed that there will be dynamic enviroments, how far will this go in the multiplayer?
Randy Pitchford: Yeah – there’s some destructible cover in the on-line game. It really changes the dynamic.

· The developing has suffered from some delays, can you say why this was?
Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway is now completed. It’s in certification. We never really announced a launch date definitively, because we wanted to make the game we wanted to make and there was some invention that wasn’t totally predictable in our ambition. As we continued to commit to our vision, we continued to talk about the game and showed people where we were and where we were going. We’re finished now and we’re really proud of it. We can’t wait for it to launch!

· Are destructible environments still in the game? When, for instance, the bazooka hits the sandbags nothing happens in the latest trailer.
Randy Pitchford: Destructible cover is all over the game and a big deal. With some of the public videos, and this is a shame really, there has been a bit of self-censorship because some of the places in the world are really sensitive to violence. The game is really violent – especially with the destructible cover with guys getting limbs ripped off or pieces of their heads and skulls broken apart. So, when making some of the videos that are going to be shared all over the world I think there has been some tweaking of some of the destruction parameters or selection of footage that really holds back. Don’t worry – if you hit a sand bag emplacement with a bazooka, you’re going to knock sandbags everywhere.

· How big of a role will the physics play into gameplay?
Randy Pitchford: It’s a big deal. When you can have the weapons that can take down soft things, you can create flanks for yourself or hit the enemy head on. It’s a big deal.

· Is the length similar to the previous games?
Randy Pitchford: I think Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway is a bit bigger of a game. We actually wanted it to be a little shorter, but the game is really high quality so it doesn’t feel too long.

· What makes this game different from the other WW2 games out on the market?
Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms stands alone and above all others in terms of authenticity, squad combat and emotional story telling. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to *be* one of the guys in the squad in Saving Private Ryan or in Band of Brothers then you want to look at Brothers in Arms because it delivers on that promise better than any other game in the world.

· Call of Duty 4 has really set up a high level regarding the multiplayer part. Are you scheduling to reach or raise this level or are you more concentrated on the single player and maybe some new multiplayer modes?
Randy Pitchford: We’re not trying to compete with Call of Duty in multiplayer. Brothers in Arms multiplayer is completely different. It’s 20 players (bigger skirmishes), it’s tactical, it’s round based with *fast* rounds, there are roles including a squad leader position that can issue orders and call in air strikes. It’s very different. We know that most people love Brothers in Arms for the single player narrative game and we compete with everyone there. Because of that, the multiplayer game is a place where we can have some fun and take some risks and offer something that you can’t get anywhere else. I think Call of Duty is fun, but I would be very, very sad if that was the only type of game anyone tried to make.

· A lot of games out of the Shooter Genre have made its way to the Xbox 360. If we have a look at Battlefield or Call of Duty: How will Brothers in Arms: Hell´s Highway differ from such games and what will be the specialised skills of BiAHH?
Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms stands alone above everyone else with respect to authenticity, squad combat and storytelling. Each big, great game has the thing they care about the most. Where Brothers in Arms cares, it stands above.

· You are trying to be as "historic correct" as possible, do you think there is still potential for a WWII Shooter especially after the success of CoD4?
Randy Pitchford: Yes. Of course WW2 is awesome and interesting and important and relevant and something that we want and others want and we think so and we know that millions of people think so. Apparently, the Call of Duty people think so too...

· On Ubidays in Paris the Multiplayer was a big secret. Something extraordinary should be announced, can you tell us now more about?
Randy Pitchford: I think it’s something we haven’t talked about because we don’t want to make the message too noise. We know that most people who play Brothers in Arms love it for the single player game. So multiplayer is a place where we can take a few risks and try something a little different. We don’t want to hype it up – we want to see what happens when people discover it and play it.

· What is the Minimum Bandwith you recommend for a lagfree Gameplay?
Randy Pitchford: We expect you to have a broad band connection. You might be able to get away with something less, but the game does support 20 players – so these are bigger battles.

· What are the special qualities of BiA HH?
Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms stands alone and above all others in terms of authenticity, squad combat and emotional story telling. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to *be* one of the guys in the squad in Saving Private Ryan or in Band of Brothers then you want to look at Brothers in Arms because it delivers on that promise better than any other game in the world.

· How does the new cover system affect the classic BiA gameplay?
Randy Pitchford: It does a lot, actually, because it affords you a lot of new ways to see the battlefield and make decisions about it as you interact with cover. You can also destroy cover with tools like machineguns and bazookas and grenades and tanks, so it’s a really interesting new level of decision making and options for the combat.

· Will we be seeing any form of co-op in BiA?
Randy Pitchford: In Brothers in Arms Earned in Blood, there were two cooperative campaigns and you could play them over the internet or via split screen on the consoles. They were fun, but if you go back and play them you can see how the situations and the presentation had to be affected in order to support coop. Our #1 desire is to offer the very best in the core game play and coop design compromised that for what we were going for. When I play other games, I find that too often there are games that try to do too much or try to throw in features just for the sake of it and it actually ends up injuring the experience. We know how to do coop, we did coop in an earlier BiA game and we’re going coop in some of our other games where coop makes sense. For Hell’s Highway, coop would’ve been a mistake and when you play the game and get immersed in it, if you play as many games as I do and you think about design as deeply as we do, you’ll be able to see why the game does what it does and you might find that you respect the decisions that were made to preserve the integrity of the experience that’s being offered.

· You have been hinting at a great online, is there anything you can tell us about it yet?
Randy Pitchford: I think I’ve been avoiding talking about it because I know that most BiA players love the game for the single player narrative game and I want to make sure I use as much of my opportunity to speak to gamers about the game to focus on that. But because of that, we always take an opportunity with multiplayer to do something really different – something you can’t get anywhere else. It’s tactical, team oriented, squad based, big skirmishes with objectives and the game takes place in rounds that play really fast – just a few minutes per round. It’s interesting and refreshing in that it’s different than what you’re playing else where.

· Will the theme of fighting alongside the same AI throughout the campaign and becoming emotionally attatched to them from previous titles, play a more emminent role in the latest BiA?
Randy Pitchford: I think we’re pushing the story telling forward tremendously. I can’t be objective, of course. I can’t wait to see what people think.

· How long will the campaign be for an average gamer?
Randy Pitchford: A little longer than our previous games, but not so long that it feels too long for most. About what you expect for an FPS. Certainly longer than the last Call of Duty, which was way too short.

· How close does the new game follow the cinematic and emotional impact of the game's characters?
Randy Pitchford: If you’ve played the earlier games and care about the story telling and the characters, you’re going to be really excited by what we’ve done. We’ve invested heavily there, both in budget and in our love and attention. I think we’ve pushed the bar up a little – certainly pushed it up a lot for ourselves and I think for a lot of other developers as well. I can’t be objective, of course, so we shall see.

· Is the multiplayer the same as the original game, or has been big changes to the multiplayer structure?
Randy Pitchford: Multiplayer is totally different. Because most fans of Brothers in Arms love it for the single player narrative game, we look at multiplayer as a chance to take some risks and do something a little different and perhaps innovative. It speaks to the core principles of the game in that it’s about squad combat and it’s authentic. But it’s game design is different than anything else you’re playing right now. It’s still a shooter, but it’s played in fast round, has 20 player skirmishes with each player taking a role and there are lots of details that you’re probably best discovering on your own.

Thanks for your time!