[When thinking about which post-mortem to lob up when I was away, this one struck me as most appropriate. Since I'll actually be at Gas Powered games during my awayness, Dungeon Siege seems like a good idea. I give a little of the context in the piece itself, but it was wayyyy into the evening and the booze was getting to both Chris and myself, crouched around the Dictaphone and both saying things we really shouldn't (very few of which had anything to do with videogames). Chris Taylor is an effusive bloke, to say the least. Worth noting that this was done prior to DS2's launch, and before Supreme Commander was even vaguely revealed.]
We find ourselves at a glamorous Microsoft press-event in San Francisco. “Glamorous” being code-words for “There is alcohol here”. They’ve gathered their sharpest minds to introduce their typically polished portfolio for the next twelve months, so are presented to the gregarious and effusive Chris Taylor. We start getting nervous, with images of epic mechanical destruction clouding our otherwise purely objective minds.
We try to leave before we start gushing about how much we loved Total Annihilation, only to see Brian “Rise of Nations” Reynolds in the opposite direction. Oh no. Pincered by two genuinely great RTS developers. There’s only one thing for it: start asking questions about how Dungeon Siege came to be and what he learned from it. Because while it’s an undeniably splendid game, it’s also a game that which we’re slightly more capable of keeping a little journalistic distance. An interview about how CUTE the Commander is won’t be of much use to anyone.
