James Schmalz, lead designer at Digital Extremes, has spoken about the lengths the company will go to in order to ensure that Unreal Championship emerges as the Xbox’s killer app.
“UC will have just as heavy a focus on the single player experience as it does on the multiplayer,” said Schmalz. “We have a full time writer developing the characters, story and background and the bots and their AI are getting a huge amount of attention. The obvious goal is to make them as human as possible. They are already pretty good and we plan to make them a lot better. We want it to be extremely difficult to tell the difference between a bot and a human. So, the solution is not to make them more difficult, but act more like a human.”
He also believes, contrary to everyone else, that Microsoft will have the online infrastructure in place to enable the latest Unreal to reach its full potential. “Microsoft's online service is going to be spectacular. Simply an incredible experience for gamers and UC will take advantage of all of the elements of the service that make sense for the game. We can't reveal all the details yet, but it's going to be amazing.”
Next, one of the most important issues for any console-based first-person shooter: The dreaded controller set-up. “We are continually experimenting with controller configurations and there are always many refinements that can be made. It's amazing how much time can be spent on perfecting this and it's worth it because it's so important to the gameplay. So, we are definitely trying new things to make it as solid as possible, and we are certain the final configuration will be ideal.” Feel convinced? No, neither do we.
If you have had the chance to get your paws on an Xbox pad you will know what we mean. It totally fills the hands, kind of like holding a large sandwich. It is widely recognized that smaller controllers enable a higher level of dexterity for the player. With easier to reach buttons at your fingertips, more options are open to you as the player. The game will be compatible with a keyboard and mouse set-up, thank God.
Unreal Championship is likely to launch with Xbox in all territories.
“UC will have just as heavy a focus on the single player experience as it does on the multiplayer,” said Schmalz. “We have a full time writer developing the characters, story and background and the bots and their AI are getting a huge amount of attention. The obvious goal is to make them as human as possible. They are already pretty good and we plan to make them a lot better. We want it to be extremely difficult to tell the difference between a bot and a human. So, the solution is not to make them more difficult, but act more like a human.”
He also believes, contrary to everyone else, that Microsoft will have the online infrastructure in place to enable the latest Unreal to reach its full potential. “Microsoft's online service is going to be spectacular. Simply an incredible experience for gamers and UC will take advantage of all of the elements of the service that make sense for the game. We can't reveal all the details yet, but it's going to be amazing.”
Next, one of the most important issues for any console-based first-person shooter: The dreaded controller set-up. “We are continually experimenting with controller configurations and there are always many refinements that can be made. It's amazing how much time can be spent on perfecting this and it's worth it because it's so important to the gameplay. So, we are definitely trying new things to make it as solid as possible, and we are certain the final configuration will be ideal.” Feel convinced? No, neither do we.
If you have had the chance to get your paws on an Xbox pad you will know what we mean. It totally fills the hands, kind of like holding a large sandwich. It is widely recognized that smaller controllers enable a higher level of dexterity for the player. With easier to reach buttons at your fingertips, more options are open to you as the player. The game will be compatible with a keyboard and mouse set-up, thank God.
Unreal Championship is likely to launch with Xbox in all territories.
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