• Posted April 16th, 2008 at 07:59 EDT by
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With the PlayStation 3 release of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars around the corner, PSU decided to hit up the developers for a few details on the game. Our interview is with Bill Chin, Studio CTO at Underground Development.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for our hands on preview of the title, and Xbox 360/PS3 comparisons.

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PSU: Will the PlayStation 3 version include any extended material or gameplay functionality in comparison to the PC version?

Bill Chin: The PS3 offers class tutorial videos describing the classes for both the GDF and Strogg. The PS3 has an optimized control scheme that makes the player and vehicle controls and aiming more friendly to console players. In addition to providing a new depth of online game play for next-gen consoles, the PS3 version has VOIP capabilities built in for team coordination. The PS3 has also streamlined the matchmaking experience by selecting the fastest connection for hosting a game.

PSU: Since Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars is known for being the first title to use Megatextures, can you describe to us how well the new technology runs on the PS3? What difficulties or advantages are you finding with the PlayStation 3 hardware?

Chin: Megatexture runs well on PS3. We use multiple SPUs to decompress Megatexture tiles to give an expansive area to play a dynamic online game that features vehicles and 16 players. I’m hard-pressed to recall a PS3 game that has as large a terrain area that looks as nice as Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars.

PSU: Will there be a mandatory install for Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars? Is there an estimated file size for the install, and how will you use the streaming to your advantage?

Chin: There is a mandatory 4.1 GB install that reduces load time between levels. We take full advantage of the PS3 HDD’s streaming capabilities for Megatexture and to reduce load time between levels. The PS3 also supports detailed vehicle cockpits as well.

PSU: Will this game support DualShock 3 functionality or SIXAXIS at all?

Chin: Yes, we support DualShock 3 and take great advantage of the DualShock 3’s vibration capabilities.

PSU: Can we expect the PlayStation 3's online experience to be on par with other platform versions? Will there be any differences in modes or matchmaking?

Chin: The PlayStation 3 version is on par with other platform versions. The PS3 supports player matching, invites, statistics, VOIP, as well as different game modes such as campaign, single map and ranked game play. We also support voting mechanisms for players to change maps and a mechanism to handle troublesome players. We have close feature parity with the PC in terms of online capabilities.

PSU: What will the final frame rate and max resolution be set at for the PlayStation 3 version?

Chin: We support 1280x720 or 720p resolution as our maximum resolution. The PS3 runs at 30 fps in the same fashion that the PC and Xbox 360 do.

PSU: Will the online feature dedicated servers as well as the opportunity to create your own?

Chin: There are online dedicated servers for matchmaking and statistics. But not dedicated game hosts. We do however support optimal server selection such that when a game is started, we select the PS3 with the fastest network speed to host the game automatically. This reduces the hassle for the player of figuring out who should host to get the best play experience and just jump in.

PSU: Is there going to be much desire to continually update the online community with downloadable content in the future or will this be a "as is" release?

Chin: We are working hard to provide an awesome experience with the game that ships and we will be able to discuss extended content after that. It is certainly technically possible if the community demand is there.

 

PSU would like to offer our thanks to Chin once again for taking the time to answer all of our questions. Stay tuned to PSU for our hands on coverage of Enemy Territory this Thursday!