Topic: Red Steel 2 Interview with Jason Vandenberghe

[NWR_Neal]

We had the opportunity to interview Jason Vandenberghe, the creative director of Ubisoft's upcoming Wii first-person shooter Red Steel 2. He's been in the industry for more than a decade with stints at both EA and Activision, and he has previously worked on 007: Everything or Nothing, The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, and X-Men: The Official Game.
Red Steel 2 is his current project, and it is a sequel to the Wii launch title Red Steel. The second entry starts over with a new story, and a whole new control scheme that uses Wii MotionPlus. It is due out on March 23 exclusively for the Wii.

Nintendo World Report (NWR): In other interviews you have said that the success of Red Steel 2 is critical to your team if you want to keep the franchise going. What do you feel this game has over its predecessor that will really make people want to buy it?

Jason Vandenberghe (JV): Its sheer awesomeness.


Actually, that’s not a joke. When you pick up the Wii Motion Plus for the first time, and take a strong WHACK at a few of the first close-combat enemies in the game, it quickly becomes clear what makes this game different: the sword-fighting works. And, as you play, you’ll really start to feel like that bad-ass swordsman at the middle of the melee… Yep.


Also, of course, nearly everything has been improved: the movement and shooting controls have been polished to a fine sheen, the look of the game has been completely re-done, and everything has been taken up one or two notches. It's a new experience, top to bottom, and almost everything is better.


For more of the interview, go here

[BlackNMild2k1]

There was no forum question submission for this interview..... why!!??

I'll read it later though.

[NWR_Neal]

There was no forum question submission for this interview..... why!!??

I'll read it later though.

Sometimes we aim to get a quicker turnaround. It really depends on the window in which we have to get the interview sent over.


Also, we were limited in the amount of questions this time around, which is why each question has like two or three in them.

[BeautifulShy]

Why were you limited in questions? That doesn't make sense to me.
You should get like a set time and you should be able to ask as many questions in that time frame.

[NWR_Neal]

Why were you limited in questions? That doesn't make sense to me.
You should get like a set time and you should be able to ask as many questions in that time frame.

Well, games journalism is a PR-run industry. If we want to get coverage in a timely fashion, we need to jump through hoops sometimes, especially with something a bit higher profile like Red Steel 2. I know Vandenberghe is doing interviews left and right, and it's not like he is a PR rep; he's a designer.

I try to get forum-produced questions when I can, but sometimes it is better to either run with staff questions if we want to get a quick turnaround.

If anyone wants to talk about this further, please take it out of this thread. Either DM me or start a new one. This thread is for this Red Steel 2 Interview and the pretty great responses we got. Let's focus on that.

[ShyGuy]

Awesome interview, Jason Vandenberghe is a silver tongued flatterer.

Six string Samurai is indeed a great film!

[BlackNMild2k1]

Actually I meant to look that one up on Netflix when it was mentioned. added.

[NWR_Neal]

Awesome interview, Jason Vandenberghe is a silver tongued flatterer.

Six string Samurai is indeed a great film!

Yo ShyGuy, we're new best friends. That's really all I could think about during early video of this game.

I'm a big fan of this guy, and not just because he loves our questions. From reading his other interviews since he became known as "that dude with the beard and the cane" at E3, he just seems to have a passion about this game that is somewhat contagious. I really hope Red Steel 2 delivers on that passion and enthusiasm. We'll find out in about two and a half weeks.

[vudu]

NWR: What are the pros and cons of using a first-person perspective in a game like this? Does the viewpoint lend itself as naturally to swordplay as it does to shooting?

JV: It doesn't! Not even close! Man, you've got some insightful questions! Who the hell are you guys, anyway?

LOL

I love it.