Warren Spector talks Deus Ex: Invisible War

By Kieron Gillen Published 14 November, 2003

Sequel? Yes. Demo? Yes. Blah? Blah. KG asks some better questions.

'Warren Spector talks Deus Ex: Invisible War' Screenshot 1

Warren Spector is a black woman.

This, I wasn't expecting. He's demoing the latest Ion Storm in a London Hotel to a room of the usual suspects, and he's just selected his avatar from a list of six, cross-gender and cross-race, selections. He's gone for the black woman.

It's a tiny detail: The ability to choose your race and sex. But it sums up the experience that Deus Ex offers you so well: Freedom to create your game experience in your own image or - frankly - any image you choose. And it's why Deus Ex: Invisible War is perhaps the most exciting prospect on the gaming calendar.

After the demonstration, the assorted nefarious beings that populate this event got their chance for an audience with the famous studio head. We decided that asking how many discs it came on was a waste of the opportunity and tried to get beneath the surface of the game. We know what they're putting in Invisible War - but why are they doing it?

Kieron Gillen: From what I've seen, Deus Ex: Invisible War is very much about streamlining. Some people before they sit down and play it don't really understand. They go "They've lost the skills... so it's not as deep". Which is obviously insane: complexity is not the same as depth. To choose an example which I haven't seen anyone talking about online yet, is the choice to go for a single ammo reservoir for all weapons rather than dozens of them, specific for each weapon. Can you talk about the thought process behind that?

Warren Spector: That's another ulcer Harvey [Smith, Project lead on Deus Ex: Invisible War -Ed] gave me. Oh my Gosh!

Okay - is making a plan about whether to shoot and which weapon to use, based on "How much Ammo do I have?" or "This weapon takes a .357 round and that one takes a 7.62 round and this one takes a... oh, who cares?" All the decisions we made on the design side of Invisible War, and on the tech side, were based on what is required to meet our core gameplay needs.

Differentiated ammo types? I personally think that's a way of grounding the game in reality. Players, even normal human beings, know that there's a bunch of different kinds of ammo in the world. That's an invisible way of sucking the players into the world. Harvey and team disagreed.

Did I think that was important enough to say "No... you must do this?" Obviously not. We'll see how that plays out. I'm a little worried about that too.

Kieron Gillen: Invisible war is risky and is going to be controversial - which is the only way that you're going to get anywhere. If you don't take risks and aren't controversial you're going to be in real trouble.

Warren Spector: Exactly. The last thing in the world I want to do and the last thing I want Ion Storm to do, is just crank out another piece of sausage. The fact that there's a figurative "2" after the game is irrelevant to the creative decisions we made every single day. You don't have to avoid risk or repeat yourself to make a sequel. You identify the core of your experience and go with it. Magnify it. Ammo type is just not core to the experience.

Kieron Gillen: I was recently talking to Doug Church [Ex-Looking Glass Designer best known for his work on System Shock -Ed] about Deus Ex versus Thief. Thief is minimalist, with a carefully selected skill-set. Deus Ex is the ultimate maximalist game, with everything piled in. Would you say that DX2 is less maximalist?

Warren Spector: (Laughs) No. It's just as maximalist, in a slightly different way. Thief is the ultimate game of razor sharp focus. It knows exactly what it is, and it's going to be the best in the world at that. Deus Ex is what I call the Swiss Army knife. You can do anything with it. That is its core gameplay. That "Do anything you want..." is in the service of telling your own unique story, creating your own path and expressing yourself as you play, creating situations and seeing the consequences. Doing what you want and seeing what happens. It is differently maximalist, but we really didn't lose any of the functionality. Lost some of the surface level stuff, but nothing of significance.

Kieron Gillen: Perhaps "elegant" is the word then. Invisible War has everything, but in a more elegant way. You don't notice the joins. When I play it, I'm finding it easier to express myself, as I'm seeing it as an integrated skillset. It didn't always feel that way in Deus Ex.

Warren Spector: We're trying to remove barriers to belief. Trying to remove barriers to action, trying to remove barriers to plans. That's true. I would call Invisible War a more sophisticated game. Deus Ex was like early automobiles. They didn't know what they were doing! They were putting Wagon Wheels on this, and a steam engine and... they were making stuff up! And that's where we were in Deus Ex. Invisible War is a very calculated attempt to streamline and make more sophisticated.

Kieron Gillen: Something else I chatted to Mr Church about was how it was very easy to innovate in System Shock, since they had no idea what they were doing. Do you think it was harder to innovate in Deus Ex 2 because you were returning to philosophical ground you covered before?

Warren Spector: I think it would have been harder for me personally to innovate in Invisible War, which I identified very early. I felt my bones calcifying. I was stiffening up. That is exactly why Harvey Smith is the Project Director. Well, that and that fact because... he's my guy. He's been in my shadow for twelve years, and it's time to let the poor guy get a little sun on his face. Which is why I'm peeved he's not here...

But putting a different project Director at the helm, with me being chief Kibitzer and fingernail biter, ensured that it would have enough difference from the first one to feel fresh. And a few new people on the team too.

Kieron Gillen: One of the things which I remember from various Deus Ex post-mortems - and correct me if I'm wrong - that Deus Ex originally had two lead designers.

Warren Spector: Oh dear God.

Kieron Gillen: And it often felt like a game with two lead designers, while this from what I've seen seems very much the other way.

Warren Spector: Well, Harvey would disagree violently with what I'm about to say, but I think the tension between the two design teams actually made the game a little better. Harvey was the meat. His team were the meat in the stew. The other guys provided a bunch of chilli-peppers - a little heat. The clash of ideas, I think - you're right - lead to a little inelegance. But also to the kind of varied gameplay which people responded to. And now that we know what people respond to, we were able to make it more elegant and straightforward successfully.

Kieron Gillen: At the end of Deus Ex, it was essentially voices shouting at you like "Do this!" "No! Do this" "No, this!" "This!" From what I've seen of Invisible War, this appears to have been extended to the whole game. It's like having parents having a divorce, constantly pulling you in different ways.

Warren Spector: It's pretty wild. Sometimes the different factions give you different goals, which is cool because you can actually play the game through several times and see completely different stuff. Not just interactive stuff - but different stuff. But my favourite moments are when people give you diametrically opposed goals on a single map. Kill this person/Don't kill this person. Destroy this thing/protect this thing.

You can't imagine how much I want to see millions of people play this game. It's completely out of our hands. It's done. I don't know what they're going to respond to... I think I do, but I don't know. I just want to see it.

Anyway - yes, you're right. The entire game is suffused with that. And you decide which directions, if any, you want to be pulled in. During the course of the game, we let you surf the wave - do whichever goals you want and create your own faction. But at the end of the game - and I'm so happy about this, though it may kill us.

In the first game, our endgames were general enough for players to find what they want in each. Here, not everyone finds what they want... and they still have to make a choice. Which is maybe the most valuable life lesson to take from this. There are no happy endings. There is no easy answer. There is no bad guy you can kill to make everything right. That one comes through loud and clear.

Kieron Gillen: Down endings in PC games are an odd one. A few try them, and just end up stinking of nihilism. Others - and I'm thinking of the tragedy of Planescape Torment here - succeed beautifully. But, ultimately, if you're worried about it... why take the risk?

Warren Spector: Well, it's an interesting risk. I can't wait to see how people respond to it. At some levels, that's good enough. And Eidos trust me and my studio enough. We have a track record of not taking the type of risks that destroys us critically or commercially. Costing some sales is not the same as not being profitable. We're still clearly profitable and it's an interesting thing to try out. And it's not like these are down endings per se - these are all endings that follow naturally from the goals expressed from all the groups in the game. They are for the purposes of the game, how the world should look. We can't have infinite end games. The team didn't want to encourage one single ending - so we ended up with a bunch that made you think.

Kieron Gillen: Even in the early game, the WTO [World Trade Organisation -Ed] and the Order are pulling you either way. I don't like either of them, really, being not particularly interested in religion or capitalism. I can see where that's going and...

Warren Spector: Oh no you can't.

Kieron Gillen: I can... oh, you're right. I can't.

Deus Ex: Invisible War will be released in Europe in February 2004.

Picture of Kieron.

About Kieron Gillen

Kieron is one of the founders of the lovely Rock, Paper, Shotgun and nowadays writes comics for Marvel starring characters that even his mum has heard of.

Read more articles from Kieron by visiting the Kieron Gillen archive page.

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Comments (68) Latest comment 8 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ssuellid #1 8 years ago

    No eskimos or Miss Wales?

    Not too long to wait now.

  • lost_soul #2 8 years ago

    Good questions there, Kieron.

    Nice one.

  • Viktor #3 8 years ago

    Brilliant interview.

    Great to see a game which has a controversial political/social dimension, other than lowbrow parody.

  • Rahul #4 8 years ago

    Warren Spector: Oh no you can't.

    Bahahahahaha

  • Nemesis #5 8 years ago

    /hands over jaffa cakes

    Nice interview there matey and some really intelligent thoughts from The Spector. He's great and let's hope D2 is too!

  • templar-wizard #6 8 years ago

    Nice.

    i do believe that this game with surely be the ultimate (sci-fi) moral sandbox: faction choice, to kill or not to kill, ideology appeal...
    wow.

    less than 3 weeks to see if the implementation works.

  • marilena #7 8 years ago

    "Warren Spector is a black woman." I don't know many people that would start an article by saying that. Nice. And good questions too. I had started to believe Invisible War is going to be bad, but what I've read here gave me hope. Thank you, mister Gillen.

  • Thamuhacha #8 8 years ago

    Great interview. I had the pleasure of chatting to Warren for about 20 minutes about gaming in general once. He is possibly the nicest and most enthusiatic person on the planet.

  • Thamuhacha #9 8 years ago

    > Anyone know when this'll be out on Xbox? I can't affors to upgrade my PC just yet. Also does anyone know how the PS2 version compared to the original?

    Xbox and PC due out together I think. The PS2 version of the original was OK ... but it looked bad by the time it came out and the interface was horrible. It was the same great game though.
    Edited by 1 at 14/11/03 @ 10:04

  • Jonni Fudge #10 8 years ago

    Nobody else think that One Ammo type detracts from the realism!I feel insulted that they think we are unable to cope with seperate ammo types :-) lol

  • Shrui #11 8 years ago

    "i do believe that this game with surely be the ultimate (sci-fi) moral sandbox: faction choice, to kill or not to kill, ideology appeal... "

    Any game that implements consequences and branching storylines for your actions and choices is a Good Thing and more of it please!

    My problem is that I'm never evil when there is a choice. I really want to be evil in a game to experience that element of the game. I recently tried playing Neverwinter Nights and Fallout 2 as evil guys, extorting money, killing the odd innocent and being a general git. But I STILL ended up doing good things!

    I have no problem playing a game like GTA where the game is set as you being the villain, but give me the choice between killing a bus of school children or finding someone's lost kitten and it's kitten everytime!

    Can anyone help me? I need some tempting to the dark side!

  • UncleLou #12 8 years ago

    lol shrui, I have exactly the same problem! And if I do something evil, I just do it to try it out and then reload the last "good" savegame. :-)

    I'll really try to join the Dark Side in Kotor though, yes, I will!

  • Khab #13 8 years ago

    Nah, I'm the same. Damn that fluffy leash in B&W...

  • Thamuhacha #14 8 years ago

    > I'd imagine there'll be some type of ammo units, where a rocket would cost say 10 and a handgun bullet 1.

    That's actually a pretty cool idea. It's the future dammit - we should have energy based weapons right? (And flying cars, obviously).

  • Machiavel #15 8 years ago

    Hopefully Deux Ex 2 won't dumb down your choices to Good/Evil absurdities. Choosing a faction, or to kill or not to kill will hopefully be more complicated than the ubiquitous po-faced jedi/cackling evil sith approach. I think it's great when games uncouple dumb whitewash morality from particular actions. playing Black & White just leads me to be a muddy white, as always. Why tie it to one dull morality?

  • Shrui #16 8 years ago

    " lol shrui, I have exactly the same problem! "

    At last! I'm not alone!

    Maybe we can start a therapy group?
    "Hi, my name is Shrui" *hi shrui*
    "and... I ... I'm a... *wipe away tear* I know I can say it..."
    "I can be strong to admit to you all that I'm a tender hearted good guy!" *rest of group claps sympathetically*

  • Chris_C #17 8 years ago

    Another impressive article Kieron Gillen! Good job to eurogamer for grabbing this one :)

    I get the impression however that Warren Spector avoided the first question, and instead shown something else that's quite interesting - ie. Warren Spector's role in the development of this game.

    He bought up the name Harvey quite often tho - sounds like Spector's the PR manager for the guy :p (Seriously, kudos to Spector to push Harvey into the limelight - that guy deserves it)

  • Errol #18 8 years ago

    It would be nice (easier on the eye) btw if you made the questions in bold or the other way around. Do something to differentiate between the 2 people.

  • BremXJones #19 8 years ago

    "I get the impression however that Warren Spector avoided the first question, and instead shown something else that's quite interesting - ie. Warren Spector's role in the development of this game. He bought up the name Harvey quite often tho - sounds like Spector's the PR manager for the guy :p"

    Warren is totally open about what involvement he's had in each game - he's very much the head of Ion Storm rather than hands on with each individual decision. One of the fun things about the interview was that Warren really seems genuinely worried about things in the game - that sort of openness is rare in an interviewee.

    KG

  • StixxUK #20 8 years ago

    Well, I'm surprised nobody's said it yet, but here it is.

    David Edwards: "Why do we in the UK have to wait until february/march to play this brilliant-looking game when you in the US get it before Christmas"

    Warren Spector: "Because I had the choice of being good or evil."

  • Thamuhacha #21 8 years ago

    >"Why do we in the UK have to wait until february/march to play this brilliant-looking game when you in the US get it before Christmas"

    I guess it was because, given the choice of having the PAL or NTSC versions ready for Christmas, Old "US centric" Eidos made their usual choice.

    Edits - no idea
    Edited by 2 at 14/11/03 @ 11:39

  • Dr.Haggard #22 8 years ago

    I've always liked Kieron's style, that was a great interview. Wasn't it Kieron who wrote that fantastic article a couple of years back about scary games? I can't find it now, I have no idea who pubished it.

    Anyway, reading this made me want this game. I've always been a huge admirer of Warren's, but I never really liked Deus Ex. The setting and style just wasn't my cup of tea, but now I'm really looking forward to playing Invisible War. I'm more excited about Thief 3, but that's me.

    Now, please Warren, make System Shock 3.

  • jaa #23 8 years ago

    there's a fantastic twist at the end of the game involving this!

    I still weep when I remember it...

  • StixxUK #24 8 years ago

    How can you possibly like SS2 but not DE?!?!

  • Dr.Haggard #25 8 years ago

    How can you possibly like SS2 but not DE?!?!

    I can understand how you would think to like one is to like the other, but the whole DE style and setting just doesn't appeal to me; the real world locations, the terrorism theme, the factions, I can't put my finger on it but it just didn't draw me in.

    The System Shock games on the other hand are pure sci-fi horror escapism. The fear, the adrenalin, the atmosphere, the way you can look out of a window and really feel that you are on this huge spaceship in deep space, all alone.

    ALl that coupled with the great gameplay mechanics that these games pioneered (which of course DE has too), and possibly the greatest in-game UI ever devised (SS2), it just makes them the best games of all time :o)

    I guess I just don't like real world settings, that's one reason I can't stand military style games.
    Edited by 1 at 14/11/03 @ 12:16

  • BremXJones #26 8 years ago

    Haggard: "it Kieron who wrote that fantastic article a couple of years back about scary games?"

    It was for PC GAMER, I believe. There was a bunch of the behind the scenes interview stuff up on Gamer's site for a while, but that's non-existant anymore.

    Glad you liked that one. It's one of the things I was most proud of during my time at Gamer.

    KG

  • Dr.Haggard #27 8 years ago

    Glad you liked that one. It's one of the things I was most proud of during my time at Gamer.

    That was the one, and yes it was a great piece of research and writing. The Thief and System Shock games are among my all time favourites - IMO the zeniths of single player gaming thus far - and those were the games you talked about most (I remember a large section all about Return to the Cathedral, which was a fascinating bit of analysis into the mechanics of frightening the player). Having the crap scared out of me is something I really look for in a game.

    Well, it's nice to be able to say thanks anyway m8 :o)

  • BremXJones #28 8 years ago

    And shamelessly breaching copyright...

    //box-out1//
    THE SCARIEST LEVEL EVER?

    //strap//
    The Return to the Cathedral: Thief, The Dark Project.

    //main body//
    Oh, alright. This is a transparent attempt to start an argument, but there’s certainly an argument for the ninth level of Thief taking the prize. Why? It’s perfectly positioned in the game, at a point where the player feeling genuinely confident of the ability – thus vulnerable for a level which undermines this illusionary certainty at every opportunity. Equally, if a player hasn’t been noting the clues, they may believe that the cathedral is the very /end/ of the game. Finally, you’ve been here before in the earlier The Haunted Cathedral, and in your brief peeks through its windows, the undead-infested pit has been foreshadowed. Result? Nerves are firing acetyl-choline as fast as they can before you even turn up.

    As well as fear of death, you’re dealing with the fear of the unknown. Creator Randy Smith notes, “There are undead monsters, but they’re just standing there. There’s this weird voice speaking in your head and you don’t understand what it is or what powers it holds. You can no longer judge how vulnerable you are”. From the denouement of the Eye – the object you’ve come to steal turned tormentor-cum-vicious god – to the errand running for the long-dead Brother into every cobwebby Haunt-infested hole in the map, a cycle of relaxation and abhorrence forms, resulting in a devastating pummelling of the nerve endings. As Randy notes, “Eventually you’ve forced yourself to do practically every scary thing you noticed the potential to do in the whole level”.

    KG

  • Dr.Haggard #29 8 years ago

    Cheers Kieron. If a copy of that whole article still survives online anywhere, or if you can email me one, I'd be really grateful :o)

    /feeling bad now for steering this totally off topic

  • UncleLou #30 8 years ago

    I absolutely agree with you, Dottore Haggard, I did like DE, but in the end I preferred both System Shock 2 and Thief.

    Now imagine there are people who haven't played SS2 and still think Resident Evil is scary. Mwuahahahahaha.

  • bionutz #31 8 years ago

    IN DE I tried to kill my brother but couldn't... anyone succeeded?

  • templar-wizard #32 8 years ago

    couldnt seem to kill paul either.
    also, i want to stay with UNATCO the second time i played, but could not.
    IW seems to address these problems.

    roll on the release!

  • Dr.Haggard #33 8 years ago

    Now imagine there are people who haven't played SS2 and still think Resident Evil is scary. Mwuahahahahaha.

    LOL. Actually, speaking of the survival horror genre - which I have never had much time for - I'm playing Project Zero at the mo (courtesy of the Game halloween offer) and it's pretty darn creepy. I'm not too enamoured with the gameplay itself so far, but it's dripping with atmosphere and is very well produced. Certainly worth 9.99 :o)

  • Shivoa #34 8 years ago

    >couldnt seem to kill paul either

    Exit throught the window, not the door when you escape from them before being caught. Your brother doesn't make it as he is alone against all the guys who attack you.

  • BremXJones #35 8 years ago

    " the voice acting was nowhere near the standard set by DX1"

    You sure this isn't some rosy-tinted glasses here? Deus Ex's voice-acting was famously awful. The Hong Kong section actually had people stopping playing it, if I recall correctly.

    KG

  • Chris_C #36 8 years ago

    The question he has avoided was not "What is the level of involvment you have in the game design?", but how the steamlining process can affect the game, and how did they go about deciding what to steamline, and their fear. Warren basically just replied: it's not my decision, which is not a great answer to the question imo.

    Entirely agree with you tho that the guy is very open on a lot of things! And he deserves all the praise and the guru-hood status. I am dead looking forward to this, and Thief III.

  • Thamuhacha #37 8 years ago

    >You sure this isn't some rosy-tinted glasses here?

    I think you might be right here. It was a good game but it had poo graphics and actually fairly bad production values all round to be honest.

  • commander dixon #38 8 years ago

    nice interview, kieron
    i love when intelligent people talk about video games =)

  • Donkey81 #39 8 years ago

    One of the finest interviews I've seen in a long time. No farting around with 'why should we be excited about Deus Ex: IW?' - we already know that. Instead, Kieron delves deep into the development; he behaves as a true analyst, picking The Best Game Ever to bits in order to attain some sort of deeper responce from a genius designer.

    Ace, in other words.

  • Donkey81 #40 8 years ago

    I'd counter that by questioning your interpretation of "important." Like I said, we already know about Deus Ex 2; what more could come out of a 45 minute Q&A session. Kieron delved deeper into Warren's mind; he incited comments that would never usually come out of a standard interview. Dabbling in games development myself, I'd much rather be asked these questions by an interviewer, and frankly answer them, than some of the tripe most sites offer.

  • Lazarii #41 8 years ago

    Take your tongue out of KG's butt, Lewis ;)

  • Donkey81 #42 8 years ago

    Yes, hilarious.

    Really, I'm laughing lots here.

    Though you might want to notice the fullstops instead of exclamations.

  • Donkey81 #43 8 years ago

    Also, Craig, I speak my mind. If I thought the piece was shit, I'd say it was shit.

    Like that guy did.

    But this piece isn't; it's very good.

  • Dabs #44 8 years ago

    I agree with Donkey and co. Excellent interview - gave some interesting opinions from Spector that we haven't seen in other interviews and subtly let him know that he shouldn't expect too many fans to be impressed with some of the changes that have been made. Having said that, this next-level of emergent gameplay sounds great. By the way whatever quarrel is bubbling between you two (and it's obvious), please keep it confined to PCG forums. This place has plenty of tards to go round already, ones that also happen to be inadvertantly hilarious.
    Edited by 1 at 14/11/03 @ 21:24

  • Lazarii #45 8 years ago

    Christ, Lewis, calm down.

  • Donkey81 #46 8 years ago

    Bad day, Craig. I'm not annoyed with you in any way.

    *hugs*

  • Fizzy #47 8 years ago

    While Kieron usually writes top notch stuff, this was a totally useless interview. Nothing really of substance, too much kissing up to Warren and nothing really new.

    Still really looking forward to the game.

    As for the KOTOR subject, I was playing as a good Jedi just b/c it was the harder path to choose, everyone was a dark jedi in the game and the sith controlled almost every planet, so it just felt better to play as a light side jedi and kick some ass.

  • Lazarii #48 8 years ago

    "Nothing really of substance, too much kissing up to Warren and nothing really new. "

    What would you have asked him, I wonder?

  • BremXJones #49 8 years ago

    Oh, don't worry gentlemen. I have a thick skin and don't really need defending.

    Sorry those who didn't enjoy it didn't see the other elements which are picked out - particularly the faction stuff which is of paramount importance to the game, and actually - in terms of second-to-second decisions in the game - hugely relevant. I was trying to draw parallels between how the two games feel directly too - Deus Ex, if you've played it is like *this* and DX:I is like *that*.

    Of course, I was playing the game for several hours before the interview so didn't really feel the need to be accusative on the streamlining decisions. I'd seen they worked. Asking if it's a dumbed down console game when I know it's not seems somewhat pointless, so integrated the defences Spector would have used into my questions.

    That was a long, slightly-over defensive post. I must be tired or something.

    KG

  • Donkey81 #50 8 years ago

    Thing is - and correct me if I'm wrong, Kieron - the intention of this wasn't to ask about the mammoth features, or the non-linearity, or the way you can select from a huge list of characters; these are all things we've already been told, numerous times, in the hundreds of previews. The point of this piece, as far as I can see, was to ask some things not many people would really think about, but that, upon playing, do evidently affect the game.

    No?

  • BremXJones #51 8 years ago

    That and chatting about nonsense.

    Man, I love that nonsense.

    KG

  • Tiger_Walts #52 8 years ago

    //box-out1//
    THE SCARIEST LEVEL EVER?

    //strap//
    The Return to the Cathedral: Thief, The Dark Project.

    Agreed, makes me shiver just to think back to it, only the very end of the final level had me just as captivated.


    Deus Ex's voice-acting was famously awful. The Hong Kong section actually had people stopping playing it, if I recall correctly.

    Yeah, I remember discussing philosophy and politics with an australian bartender, who sounded like a cockney.


    I never liked SS2 as much as SS, I guess I don't like monsters appearing from nowhere, it seems the best way to play is to never turn around as that is waht causes them to spawn. Ironically then, it's the most paranoid player who faced more confrontations.

    Interestingly Thief 3 will take on a mission structure closer to that of DE... can't wait.

  • Donkey81 #53 8 years ago

    Is that a world exclusive review then?
    Edited by 1 at 15/11/03 @ 15:24

  • clapton is God #54 8 years ago

    >"Why do we in the UK have to wait until february/march to play this brilliant-looking game when you in the US get it before Christmas"

    "I guess it was because, given the choice of having the PAL or NTSC versions ready for Christmas, Old "US centric" Eidos made their usual choice. "

    call me thick..........................but why ca'nt pal and ntsc games be coded at the *same* time ?

    Edits - no idea
    Edited by 1 at 15/11/03 @ 17:22

  • Chris_C #55 8 years ago

    Btw Kieron, if my comment comes off as overly aggressive, I am very sorry! I have been quite a big fan of your writing when you were in PC gamers, and treasure the articles you have done on eurogamer like gold :)

    Also, can you give some examples of how the steamlining process works? :)

  • Donkey81 #56 8 years ago

    Am I sensing some sort of prejudice there, giantrobot?

    Oh, and for God's sake tell me you're being ironic with "skip this game and wait for the next looking glass game. i sure as hell am. "

  • Thamuhacha #57 8 years ago

    >lol. dont mean to correct you, but Eidos is the publisher [uk based], and Ion storm [the devs] are most likely about as US centric as GWB is since theyre from the same state.

    LOL all you want. Eidos owns Ion Storm in its entirety and they will be the ones pressuring for the game to be out before Christmas. Ion will be saying "when it's ready".

    Eidos certainly never force games out of the door before they are finished do they? :-)

  • Thamuhacha #58 8 years ago

    > call me thick..........................but why ca'nt pal and ntsc games be coded at the *same* time ?

    As I understand it the differing speeds can throw animations ... etc right out of sync. I have seen unoptimised NTSC to PAL conversions where the character animations for a cut scene finish a good 20 seconds before the speech.

    I am sure that it can be done seamlessly - when care is taken. Any programmers loitering around that can iron this one out?
    Edited by 1 at 17/11/03 @ 09:42

  • BremXJones #59 8 years ago

    Don't think too much of it. I'm just paranoid and HAVE TO HAVE THE LAST WORD.

    KG

  • BradlayLaw #60 8 years ago

    If any of you are wanting to get your hands on the PC version leagally in Decemeber, please give tronix an email stating your interest to purchase such a thing. They have told me they will do so if they get enough interest. Only do so if you intend to purchase it from them though.

  • Dr.Haggard #61 8 years ago

    please give tronix an email stating your interest to purchase such a thing

    Tronix?
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/03 @ 14:18

  • AtomicBanana #62 8 years ago

    Agreed, the demo is the worst thing I've played in many, many years.

    I just hold out hope that it's some kind of hacked together crappy version from an old build of the game...

  • Thamuhacha #63 8 years ago

    >I can accept that people think the DX:IW demo is somewhat lacking, but any comparisons to Daikatana are... well... unfair.

    Quite. Comments like "the demo is the worst thing I've played in many, many years." are completely ridiculous. I have played 3 things this week that are worse.

    And "this demo sucks of Daikatana proportions. I blame it all on the Xbox, its so dumbed down. You can't even lean FFS." is also a farcical overreaction. So what if you can't fucking lean? It's a stupid game mechanic that irritates me when it has been overused in "sneaking" games and badly mapped on a keyboard, requiring you to have an extra thumb to do that, aim, shoot ... etc all at once.

    Ion Storm, and - more importantly - the team members at Ion Storm have given us some amazing games in the past. But only because they have made the games they want to see - YOU want leaning ... they left it out for their own reasons. Let's wait and see what kind of game they have made before we all start this "they raped my game" crap.

  • rIcHiEPoOh #64 8 years ago

    Dont listen to PC Users, theyre apparently mad because theyre not the most important, whiny ass babys.

  • Tiger_Walts #65 8 years ago

    The Christmas issue of PC Gamer is out and Kieron has another article on Deus Ex: Invisible War in it. The article really deals with the myths and rumours surrounding the game, Kieron, having played it, dispels most of them.

    There is also a short interview with Warren Spector, none of which is from this article, they are questions regarding the lack of any multiplayer and an SDK.

  • Petto #66 8 years ago

    It's worth noting that this game requires a Geforce Fx or Ti graphics card, so all of you out there with Mx cards... tough luck.

  • pjmaybe #67 8 years ago

    S'up Warren how's your bro Phil these days?

    Peej

  • Tiger_Walts #68 8 years ago

    Finally played the (criminally short) demo. My Rad 9000 fared quite well, obviously there is no bump mapping and no shaders being used but the full lighting and shadowing is used.

    I didn't bother fiddling with the ini file so I had the dodgy mouse input (which improved after I drank some alcohol. After all, beer and wine makes you fine). I quite enjoyed it although managing your inventory is trickier than the original, even though it's supposed to be 'simpler' to use.

    There wasn't really enough content in the demo to highlight the different methods you could take to problem solving, nor did it have hard hiting consequences to your actions. It limits the player to really only 2 courses of acion which it blatantly informs you of the moment you begin playing.