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VideoGamer.com: What happened with Aliens for SEGA? Wasn't it meant to be here at E3?
RP: They're still teasing it. I can't wait to show it. I think it takes great discipline to do what they're doing.
VideoGamer.com: So it was SEGA's decision not to show it?
RP: Here's the thing. I want to show it, everybody wants to see it. They're going to go make the decision to do that when it's the best value for what their marketing and promotion strategy is.
VideoGamer.com: It's got nothing to do with the quality of the game?
RP: No, no, no, no. The game is awesome. I can't wait to show it.
VideoGamer.com: Maybe Leipzig?
RP: Well, I don't know. It's not up to me. I wish it was. Some things, like Borderlands, where we partner with a publisher like 2K, Gearbox is developing this original brand. There's control there. 2K of course is a brilliant publishing team. They launched BioShock. They're working really hard to help launch Borderlands. There's a different kind of strategy involved in communicating about the game. Also different rules. With something like Aliens, Fox owns that and SEGA has to worry about how they market and communicate within Fox's boundaries. I'm just so outside of the loop on that. I'm just doing my best to make a good game.
VideoGamer.com: For the fans who wanted to see more on the game at this E3, there's no issue with the game technically or anything?
RP: No, no, the game is in great shape. People are going to freak out when they see it. I can't wait to show it.
VideoGamer.com: Yeah, it seems as though you're busting at the seams to get it out there.
RP: Yeah, but it's fine though, because we've got a lot going on. I can't be in three places at once so I spent this E3 talking about Borderlands, and that's been really good. I can't be in all three places at once. So maybe that's part of it too. I think for right now Borderlands is a really big opportunity for us, because we're building a world, we're building a universe, building gameplay. You know there's a game design here that hasn't really been done like this before. This is the first game where your character is persistent, ever in the genre, and that's pretty... A, it's not easy, but it's also pretty neat. Like when WoW happens the risk is that I have to shut down my company because that kind of gameplay addicts me so much. I'm not going to do anything else but play World of Warcraft. But you know, I'm able to resist that and direct that drive and motivation towards building something that can do that to me.
VideoGamer.com: How hard is it launching a new IP? Is it the biggest challenge in gaming?
RP: It is a big challenge. Think, what are the new IPs? What's out there? Tell me some of the other IPs.
VideoGamer.com: Mirror's Edge.
RP: OK, yeah, that'll come soon and looks pretty neat. What else is coming out?
VideoGamer.com: It's difficult.
RP: Yeah, I guess Fracture is a shooter. The trick is you want to make a promise that is exciting. We all as creators want to do things that haven't been done before, but we also have to be familiar enough so when we hear about it, it's like "God, I wanted that!". To me that's what Borderlands is for us. We love playing the shooters we make and the games like Halo and Half-Life and some things we've been involved with. And we love playing these games, but we've never had a game where you can actually get better as a character. When I play Halo, Master Chief is the same at the end as he is at the beginning. Some of the other things, like our character getting better, these are things that addict us to stuff like Diablo. How do we apply that to the shooter genre? There have been a few people that have tried to come at it from a role-playing angle and add a shooter on top of it and they haven't really done that well. We're shooter guys. We're coming from a shooter angle and adding a role-playing element to it.
VideoGamer.com: So it's a role-playing shooter?
RP: Yeah, shooter is the key. Yeah, I think RPS is a good descriptor.
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