XGRA Interview

[The Former DMiller]

Yet another interview. If you have any questions about Acclaim's next Extreme G game post them here.

[Weltall]

Dear Acclaim:

When will you guys just kill yourselves and stop making what you think passes for games?

Thanks.

Anonymous

[A Black Falcon]

Oh come on... this game looks good! All of the XG games have been very fun... XG2 is definitely my favorite, but all are good. And as for XGRA, those four Designer's Diaries at IGN are quite interesting... I didn't realize they analyzed those things so much... those diaries go into extreme depth on things like how to design interface, characters, etc, etc. Quite an interesting read, IMO.

Hmm, questions.

Will the Mirror mode be back in the game (like XG2)? Or Reverse? Or multiple track variations like XG2? That'd be great... XG3 suffered from just 10 tracks after XG2 had 72 variations on its 12 tracks...

Oh, how many tracks?

Are difficulty levels in the game? They added some life to the first few games.

How many races in the main campaign? XG3 had only 27... it should be much longer (XG2 had 50).

Is the sense of speed from XG3 completly intact, or was it (max speed) lowered like it was rumored? It should be kept...

How exactly does this new weapon system work? Can you have multiple weapons at the same time (like normal gun and special weapon), or just one special weapon that you change with those powerups?

How will it compare to F-Zero GX...

How will the new philosophy of "make it like a real racing circuit" affect the in-race gameplay (other than sponsor signs on the tracks)?

What else... hmm. Oh, why not more bike variety? XG3 had just one model! I've heard XGRA has three models, but XG1 and 2 had a whole bunch of racers each with unique bikes... or is there more to it than just 'choose one of these three bikes' for the gameplay (customization of settings or parts or something?)?

That's probably good for questions.

I'd ask "why don't you make it more like XG2, with track variations, mirror mode (and maybe even a new reverse mode), that games' weapon system (though this new one does sound a lot better than XG3's... I'm interetested to see how it turns out...), a long campaign (XG2 has 50 races! And its really hard! Though admittedly it would be a LOT, LOT easier without its evil save system that only saves after every 4 races... Oh yeah, I wouldn't want that save system back. :) ), the battle multiplayer mode, etc" (and "where did the team that made XG1 and 2 go? They should be making XG games, not the new Cheltenham developer!", but it just doesn't sound nice... or productive. :)

I know it seems like everyone preferred XG3... so I guess they succeeded for many people. I just don't. I know why... not many people played the PC version of XG2... so they suffered those horrendous framerates that really killed the game on the N64... and XG1 just wasn't as good as 2 or 3.

I know they are making the bike and racer selection matter again... which is a nice change. It was so dumb in XG3 that all the bikes were identical...

[The Former DMiller]

Wow, nice questions ABF. Thanks for the help.

[A Black Falcon]

The only problem with my questions is some of them assume that people have read those Designer Diaries at IGN (details of my questions)... I'd assume you know what I'm talking about though?

Those have detail I haven't seen in other articles of the kind... pages on how they decided how to design the interface, evolution of the character design, the new weapon system, this "make it like a real world racing circuit" thing, etc...

Its why I didn't ask questions I would have... like

Will the characters/bikes actually have a impact on gameplay like in XG1 or 2 again?

How will you make the weapons work better at fast speeds?

What is the game's idea/theme?

Any major new features?

How many racers to choose from?

Destructible environments?

and some more.

[OB1]

Hey Derek, do you think you could sneak in a question regarding whether or not they're going to make another Turok game in the forseeable future, hopefully one not as buggy and horribly rushed as the last one? I'd really, really appreciate it if you could ask them that.

And XGRA looks pretty cool. I'll think of some q's in a little bit.

[The Former DMiller]

Well, I don't think that would really fly since we usually stick to the games we're talking about, but I can run it past the guy holding the interview.

[lazyfatbum]

Include Turok riding on an Extreme-G Bike that's made of dinosaur bones.

Include Shadowman riding on Mama Nettie.

Make a remake of Shadowman for Gamecube.

Make another Turok Game for Gamecube that doesn't suck.

How's the frame rate of XGRA? In 1 - 4 players?

In the in-game camera, did you include a cockpit mode?

How many Acclaim execs does it take to screw up a good game?

From a developers standpoint, why do you think most developers are ignoring the Gamecube Hardware and not fully exploiting it?

What system has been the easiest to develop for in your experience?

Since you answered "Gamecube", why doesn't someone at your FUCKING COMPANY get off their GOD DAMN ASSES and start developing some FUCKING GAMES FOR IT EXCLUSIVELY and make them as GOOD as you CAN so I dont have to hear from my WHITE RAPPER FRIENDS that the XBox has the best looking games when its YOUR FAULT for not EXPLOITING THE HARDWARE LIKE A RICH HANDICAPPED OLD MAN

no further questions

[big guy]

lazy is hilarious

and he asks good questions

and i like his demands

cheers

[OB1]

Yeah ask them if they plan on making another Shadowman game that makes up for the last one.