Interviews// Epic's VP, Mark Rein, Part 2

SPOnG: Speaking of sequels, do you guys have any more Unreal Tournament in the pipeline at the moment?

Mark Rein: Nothing in development at the moment, no.

Will there be more Unreal Tournament? Gosh I hope so! It'd be silly not to but there's no one on the docket today.

... Have you seen Bulletstorm?

SPOnG: I've seen bits of it. Haven't played it yet.

Mark Rein: Oh my God. Bulletstorm is awesome! It's already won a bunch of E3 awards. It's a brand new IP from the guys at People Can Fly. They've just done a fantastic job. The thing I love about Bulletstorm is, in the same way Gears had its core gameplay elements that were fun to play over and over again, Bulletstorm has the whole concept of this leash and these great weapons and these skill kills. It's just an unbelieveably fun game.

So, I'm really proud of that. And it looks spectacular. So I'm just really proud of those guys and I think EA is happier and happier every day, as they see the public starting to now get the game and understand it, and journalists clearly enjoyed it at E3 - like I say, it won a bunch of awards and Gears 3 won some. It's pretty exciting to have a new franchise out there. A new IP! Let's not call it a franchise yet... But I think it will be. It's just so much fun to play.


SPOnG: So, what's the timeline for Bulletstorm? When was it you guys acquired People Can Fly again?

Mark Rein: Oh, it's a while back. I think a couple of years ago. They initially worked on Gears of War PC for us. Then we said, 'let's come up with something for you guys to do - your own idea'. They basically worked with our guys and came up with Bulletstorm, and it's just been fantastic. We took our time announcing it and telling people about it. It's still not coming until early next year, but it's so much fun. I'm so excited about that game.


SPOnG: It looks quite different in tone from Gears. Was that a conscious thing?

Mark Rein: You know, not really. Nobody said it should look like Gears or shouldn't look like Gears. I hear that all the time - 'oh, those Unreal Engine games all look the same.' It's the most ridiculous argument ever. Did you see that Dungeon Defenders game? Really, does that look like Gears of War to you? Does Leisure Suit Larry look like Gears? Does Shadow Complex?

People make so many different-looking games with out technology. You know, Borderlands was cel-shaded... it's just such a silly thing. If two games have the same look it's intentional, because two designers have the same feel for what they want their visuals to be like and Bulletstorm, it's just different. I don't think anyone told them, 'it has to be different'. I think that was just what they wanted to do, and they're a great team.