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VideoGamer.com: Are you going to have any competitive modes?
RP: You know, we've thinking about it. We're not focussing on it right now, but it's a possibility. I think the best thing people can do for us right now is say, "we love your promise. Get that done and then we'll tell you what to do next". Once we launch this thing, if the world says "we want that", then likely we're going to react, and if the world says "give us more quests!" or if the world says "give us more areas to explore!" or if the world says "give us the ability to fight with our friends", I don't know what the next step is, but if we try and put all that in the game you'll never get to play the game - it'll be 2010 or something. We've built this platform and we want to present it, and then we want to react and keep it alive, a lot like how games with worlds are maintained. We want to listen to what's out there. We want to see ourselves, what do we want? What do gamers want to play? At the end of the day my job is to entertain you (laughs). You know what I mean? I want to reach as many people as possible and I want people to be gratified by what we give them. So I think the best thing people can do when they think about the possibilities of Borderlands is say: "Good promise, like what you've done there. Get it done and we'll tell you what to do next."
VideoGamer.com: Is this your baby? Did the idea come from your brain?
RP: Parts of it. The idea of mixing these genres together is something Brian and Mark Tardif and I have been talking about since we founded the company. I think the story, we all loved Fire Fly and I think that's an influence. Here's the thing, there's so many talented people, once you commit to a mission, these guys created all these gun manufacturers, they made logos and back stories, and figured out where this company started making pharmaceuticals. It affects their designs, there and their art direction. I didn't come up with all of that. I don't, I have an interesting seed in this and I can do a lot to be a catalyst for things and I can sometimes help hone that big idea and I can put things in motion that can allow all the talented people to help bring it to life together. Honestly I don't deserve half the attention I get. I'd be nothing without these guys back home. That's my seat and that's cool and I'll do my job, but these guys back at Gearbox. We've got 200 people and they're like, these are some of the most talented artists, designers and programmers that I've ever known, and I've been in the business for a long time. Some of the guys have been around the block and I've been working with forever. They're never wrong and they've seen it all. Then you get these other guys and them come in and they're fresh and they're new and they've got all the energy in the world that they're just going to run off in these interesting directions that are super super risky, and half the time they fall on their face. We're like, "Dude that is awesome and we never would have done that because that's crazy, but look what you just did", and it works and you find a way to get it in there. It's just really cool and a lot of folks are, there are a lot of folks in the industry that are in that spot where they're able to kind of explore. They have some resources and they have some talent and they're able to kind of do it. Too much of the industry is recycling stuff and doing exactly what you'd expect, but there are folks out there that are inventing and building brands and making new things happen, and I think that's a really fun place to be.
VideoGamer.com: What do you make of trophies on PS3?
RP: That's pretty interesting. I want to play with it first. I think it's a cool thing. I'm addicted to achievement points on the Xbox 360 so I understand a part of what that's about. I actually have over 71,000 gamer points.
VideoGamer.com: Wow. How do you find the time?
RP: It's all I do. It's my life. I make 'em and I play 'em. That's my entire life.
VideoGamer.com: Did you play Avatar?
RP: Yeah I did (laughs). The five minute thousand. That's part of it. That helped me. Of course I did. If you're an achievement hunter you definitely played that game. I play just about every game on the platform and I like PS3 stuff too, so I hope that works correctly to help create some other incentives to explore games and to play more games on the PS3, because I love the PlayStation 3 platform. But I'm curious about the implementation of it. We're just starting to explore what they're offering there.
VideoGamer.com: So you're not under any obligation to support it?
RP: We will support it because we think it's cool and we think what Sony's doing is cool. We want to be part of that. But there's not like a requirement or anything. They are pretty cool about it. I'd like to see what happens, but we haven't designed them yet or figured out what they're going to be.
VideoGamer.com: What about Home?
RP: That's neat. I want to play with it. It's kind of weird. I don't understand why I don't have it yet (laughs). Right? Shouldn't we have had it already? When did we first hear about it? A year and a half ago? What's the deal? I think they're trying to bite off a lot there and make it really really complicated and I agree with some of the intent behind it, but we need a very simple, quick way to do what they're offering.
VideoGamer.com: I guess that's one of the beauties of Xbox LIVE?
RP: Yeah, it's super accessible and fast to get to where you want to go. I have all the platforms. I love them all for different reasons. At the end of the day it's about the games. For Metal Gear Solid 4 I'm a frickin' PlayStation fan. When Gears 2 comes I'm an Xbox fan. I know there are some players who can't afford all the consoles, so that's one of the reasons why I'm a multi-platform developer, because my goal is to entertain you. If you can't play my game because I decide I'm going to be a fanboy for one console or the other I'm only really hurting myself. I'm just locking the door to a whole bunch of people who can't afford them. I think we're very fortunate, those of us in the industry, that have access to all these tools and all this great entertainment, but most of the world doesn't have all the consoles. I choose not to pick sides. I choose to enjoy it all, to help my stuff exist on it all, as best as I can.
VideoGamer.com: Thanks for your time. Much appreciated.
Borlerlands is due out on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2009.
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