PGC: We already know that Eternal Darkness is sticking with one disc, and I know that you guys have a ton of compressed video in there along with the gameplay, and some of the images and cinematics. Was there ever the temptation to go to two discs, especially since Capcom is already doing it with Resident Evil?
DD: No. No. Not really. We were always confident that we could get it on one disc. We’re gonna fill the disc, but we were confident that we could get it on one. One of the things that’s significantly different … I’m a big Resident Evil fan, so, I love Resident Evil. But Resident Evil has the pre-rendered backgrounds. That takes significant amounts of space. Because Eternal Darkness is all real-time, we’re allowed to quickly change camera angles, and not take up nearly as much disc space with the locations as what they’re doing.
More of the 3D stuff was more for gameplay, just the smooth flowing, really making the person feel that they’re in a 3D space, and that they really have control over their environment, and their environments are interactive. So that’s one of the reasons, mostly for that. But it just happened to be that going in that direction means less disc space, so that was great.
PGC: At E3, you said something along the lines of “If it doesn’t come out at launch, Nintendo will have my head.” *Denis laughs* Obviously you’ve still got your head …
DD: Do I look like a zombie? *Rick laughs* The thing with the delay, and I know many delays in the industry are looked upon as negative … We were on schedule, and I think it would have been very possible for us to make launch, but through discussions with Nintendo and us, we just basically looked at it, and the confidence was high in the product and in the game, and we thought that if spent more time we can make it … bring it to this next level of what I would consider Triple-A Nintendo quality. They worked very closely with us together. We’re a team, and I kind of view us as inseparable. That comment was made in jest, because I was very confident that we were going to make the deadline, and we could have, but the bottom line was that the delay itself was a mutual decision. I think everyone’s happy with that delay. Also, when you’re thinking about delays, and I know a lot of people out there get annoyed with them, is not really to think about the delay itself, but look at the results of the delay. I think that the results of the delay for Eternal Darkness have turned into something that makes it worth the wait.
Certainly when games are made, we have to be as responsible as possible to make them, get them out as soon as possible and to keep to schedules. But at the end of the day, this is just a reinforcement of “The Nintendo Difference”, where if the games aren’t as good as they can be, we’ll make them better. I think you’ll see a profound difference … and you’re already starting to it with the other platforms where one platform might have 50 or 60 games that are, you know, not very good … where Nintendo will have fewer but much higher caliber. I think what’s really going to happen in the next few years with those other platforms, is it’s going to be like finding a needle in a haystack, where one good game is like one in a thousand. At least on the Nintendo platform, there will be lots of games. It’s only a matter of time. But all those games will be significantly of higher caliber than what everyone else has to offer. And that’s when the consumer is really going to win, ‘cause they’re going to be able to go over to the shelf, and say, “Hey, they might have delayed this product, but I know this one’s good.” And then pick it up and be confident, have their enjoyment, be confident that it’s of Nintendo quality.
PGC: Is there any apprehension at all about launching the game smack-dab in the middle of summer, which tends to be a really slow period for game sales?
DD: Not really. I think that if a game is good, it’s gonna sell. For example, I think Goldeneye released right around the same time period. I think Nintendo doesn’t shy away from release dates like that. The bottom line is that when the game is ready, it’s ready to go, and people will buy a good game regardless of the time of the year, so I’m not really too concerned.
PGC: How much compressed video is in ED, not in terms of space but in terms of time players will spend watching a movie?
DD: Cutscenes … I’m being conservative, but we’re very confident that it’s over five hours. Probably more. That’s not even including everything either. There’s a lot of stuff there. The amount of content compared to anything else that we’ve done, this is much, much more than anything else. So over five hours is safe. You won’t see all that with one play through, you’ll have to see some of that through multiple play throughs. So if a player is going to finish the game, it’s probably north of two hours or so.
PGC: I’ll skip the next question, since this was asked before we found out that the E3 demo would again be knocked down into demo form.
DD: That’s right, it will be crippled, so this is the only chance to see the full game.
PGC: Will it basically be the same characters and environments that we saw in the previous demos, but updated to the new engine, or …
DD: No, I think that we’ll probably show a couple of new characters, but it hasn’t been fully decided yet. They’re not going to be ones that late in the levels, they’ll be earlier ones, so if you play far enough here today, you’ll probably see those and understand all those.
PGC: Are you happy with your relationship with Nintendo?
DD: Absolutely.
PGC: Has there ever been any time where you’ve reconsidered going back to a Sony (or Microsoft) platform?
DD: No. I know that our experience has been nothing but positive, and we really value working with Nintendo. Nintendo has been a strong supporter of Silicon Knights, we get along great with everyone and we get tremendous support and we feel (like) part of the family. Silicon Knights has no intention whatsoever of ever making a game for any other platform besides Nintendo. We’re very happy. I’ll tell you, working with Nintendo is like working with the great masters, with Aristotle. When Miyamoto-san says something, it’s always very detailed and always very insightful and always very knowledgeable. Some of the people there with the least experience at Nintendo have more experience than anyone else in North America on making games. So this is not something to be taking lightly … we consider it a great opportunity, and we just can’t say enough good things and we’re very, very happy.
Nintendo PR: He would have said all that whether I was here or not. *Rick laughs*
PGC: What does it feel like to be finally wrapping up something that’s taken up so much of your life?
DD: Well, it’s funny, ‘cause it’s not really like that yet. With the way it usually works, is when you’re finished with the game, it’ll be one day you’re really, really busy, and the next day it’s over. We’re still really, really busy. Right now, it’s kind of like the eye of the hurricane for me. Coming down here is a nice break, getting to talk to you guys is great, and just getting the feedback is so good, because we’ve done a lot of internal testing, focus testing, but we haven’t seen any external. It seems to have paid off, so it’s very … that’s a great relief and it’ll be great to go back home and tell everyone what the reaction was, but as soon as we get back home, we just gotta work and get this game done. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, and we’re on schedule, but we want to make sure that we don’t miss. We’re not there yet, so that feeling hasn’t hit. I’ll call you when it does hit. *laughing*
PGC: And you’re not ready to talk about anything else upcoming for GameCube yet … are you actually regretting having shown any of Too Human, considering you’ve got a game you’re working really hard at, it’s looking great, and people just keep asking, “What about Too Human?”
DD: I don’t think we ever regret showing anything, however, certainly I think we might be more prudent in the future about showing things before we know they’re ready to go. I think we’re going to be a little bit more concerned so that this doesn’t happen. I get e-mails often about Too Human. I get a lot about Eternal Darnkess, but there’s always a follow-up, “So, what’s going on with Too Human?” We’re just not ready to talk about that yet. There will be announcements in the future, but this is not the time. We’re really concentrating on Eternal Darkness and making it the best it can be. And then … next time, after E3 this year we’ll probably have something to talk about then.
