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Exclusive Bad Company 2 interview - part two
The final part of our exclusive chat with the Producer of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Gordon Van Dyke
Written by Andy Griffiths, 04 December 2009
GamerZines: The biggest challenge with sequels is keeping your existing fans happy whilst attracting new gamers. What would you say Battlefield: Bad Company 2 does better in that regard?
Gordon Van Dyke: The multiplayer is a lot better thought out and offers so much more this time around. DICE has been struggling to create an objective based game mode since Battlefield 2. If people looked through the files in there you would have seen a mode which was never finished called Supply Line. It was the same kind of idea where you went from objective to objective. Actually in the Desert Combat mod that had something similar as well. We kind of took that and kept working on that idea of an objective based game mode and Rush was born. That's a game mode which people will see grow and mature. It will be at least equal to how important conquest is to Battlefield.
GZ: It's a shame it is the way it is, but you are going to have to win over a sceptical PC audience in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. What would you say to those people who ask why you're bringing a console shooter to the PC?
GVD: They deserve to get a new Battlefield to put it frankly. It's a scary thing to bring out the next Battlefield, because expectations are so high. When we brought out the original Bad Company it was focused on the console and as time went by we thought, why not bring this game to the PC? We also started to realise that there's a huge amount of people who play consoles and PCs or used to play PC and have since moved onto 360, so lets start to go more into that realm and produce a game that can be enjoyed by the core on both platforms. We do recognise though that PC games and what they need does differ slightly. As things move forward, not only with DICE, I think you're going to see a blending of those things that were centric to PC coming more to console players. You'll start to see a blurring of things that separate PC from console and the past notions of you can't do that on console that's a PC thing! People are beginning to wonder, why not? I play consoles, are you saying that if I play consoles then I can't understand, grasp or manage that system? But it can be a little more cumbersome to do these things, because you don't have a keyboard or mouse right in front of you and you also have to be smart about the way you implement it. As a company making games we are always learning and finding new tricks which you can only discover as you keep iterating.
PCGZine Issue 39
For our latest Battlefield coverage, click here to download PCGZine Issue 39 for free.GZ: One of the best things you've done over the past month is start to roll out all the old expansions for Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142 for free as a downloadable patch. What was that like?
GVD: We fought for that and I want your readers out there to know! It wasn't easy to convince people, but we do have a VP that really cares about the gaming community and is a big gamer himself. All of us are gamers at DICE! Our GM is a year older than me and we are both from the gaming generation. You have guys like us getting into these positions within companies having leadership experience, but also having our roots from the same place as gamers. I think you're going to see that a lot more. Just look at what Naughty Dog have done and those guys are similar in that sense, they've done some amazing stuff. I think it's one of the more exciting times in the gaming industry as a whole, where you are going to see games start to grow because people are realising that not just kids play video games. We've all known that for ages but everyone else is starting to realise that now, because that generation is starting to get into positions of power and make decisions. As we replace the politicians they'll ease up on video games as well.
GZ: Well apparently Obama has a Wii somewhere...
GVD: Wii's don't count! It's a fun thing but my mum has a Wii and that doesn't automatically make her a gamer! I heard he plays Bejewelled a lot, so at least it's a start.
GZ: Hopefully he never gets into Peggle because then we are all doomed.
Battlefield coverage available in PCGZine Issue 39 - click here to download it for free!
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