Pour la traduc on verra plus tard parceque là je vais me coucher: en deux mots pas de révélation fracassante mais beaucoup d'anecdotes intéressantes concernant le remake de MGS, et le jeu vidéo en général vu par Dyack...
Silicon Knights Interview Part I
Nintendo Power Magazine interviews Dennis Dyack, the man who's gonna make sure that MGS rocks on Nintendo GameCube.
Nintendo Power: Tell us a bit about Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes and how Silicon Knights got involved in the process.
Denis Dyack: That’s a very interesting story. We’re often in Japan, and just as we were wrapping up Eternal Darkness I was meeting with Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Iwata and talking about future projects. Everything was going well and we had a few meetings, and then we decided to go to lunch. At lunch, Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Iwata both sat down next to me and I was like “Oh! What’s happening?”
NP: Scary?
DD: (laughs) No, no, never scary. Those guys are the best in the world and I love working with them. So we were just talking casually and [Mr. Miyamoto] goes, “So, Denis, would you like to get Metal Gear Solid?” And then he said that they had been working with Mr. Kojima and wondered if we would be interested in bringing it to the GCN. MGS is one of my favorite games of all time, so I said, “Sure, yeah, fantastic.” The next day, Mr. Kojima took a bullet train down from Tokyo to Kyoto and we all met in one room and it was pretty awesome. A week later I flew back to Tokyo and we met with Mr. Kojima to work out what some of the structure would be. (pause) You know, it’s really true that you don’t know what someone is like. I mean, it’s his baby and his project, and I consider him a really good game maker, [but it’s different] when you talk to someone casually. So we went out to dinner and started talking and he asked me about my favorite kinds of movies. So I told him that I really liked a movie called Gunhead. Have you ever seen it?
NP: Um…no.
DD: It’s basically a mech movie. There’s a Front 242 video that had this robot running across the screen…anyway, it’s basically a Japanese cult mechanical monster movie. Fantastic designs. Those guys love it, and I was like, “Oh, I LOVE Gunhead!” and so we started talking about movies and our likes and dislikes and we were really on the same page. It was pretty amazing. And we talked about [Mr. Kojima's] philosophy in game design and then just really, really hit it off, and at that point I knew it was going to go very well. So before I knew it we were on the ground running and moving forward. Hope that wasn’t too long of a story.
NP: No, no! We have as much space as you need. Had you played MGS before you were approached with the project?
DD: Oh yeah, oh yeah. For sure. Yeah. Yep.
NP: Explain a bit about the difference between improving an existing project and creating something that’s totally your own, like Eternal Darkness?
DD: It is a very different process, and a very interesting one, too. Clearly this game is Mr. Kojima’s baby, and when we’re going to do a remake of it, it has to have the spirit of the first game. That’s essential. However, the amount of changes that we’re doing are fairly significant. All the “gimmicky” things you can do in MGS2 you can do in MGS: TTS, and that really changes the game play a lot. For example, in MGS2 you can put people in lockers and hide in lockers. Well, there’s no lockers in the first game or the design or anything. Plus the AI is much more sophisticated in MGS2. So we’ve got to incorporate all that but still keep the spirit of the first game, which is challenging. Also all the cinema tics are being redone. I guess the key word is collaboration. We have video conferences with Konami four to five times a week, much more than most people would expect. And it’s great, because I think Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Kojima and Silicon Knights really have the same vision of the future of video games. As an example, let’s take Grand Theft Auto III since it’s all the talk these days. You know, it had some good game play, but I think we all feel that it’s not the future of video games. The future of video games is going to be content, and bringing this content to the GCN is essential to moving forward.
So to get back to the original question, we really want to take what was best in MGS and what was best in MGS2 and merge it into an experience that’s unique and exciting for someone who’s played the first one before. Because there are huge numbers of fans for MGS, and it’s kind of pointless to create something that’s just a total conversion and say, “Oh, here it is, it’s running on the [Nintendo] GameCube now.” No one at any level would be interested in that. And at the same time, we have to make it a great experience for those who haven’t played the first one at all. And that’s really what it’s all about, and just working together to set those goals is really unique for us. Something that’s similar is that there was a huge amount of collaboration on Eternal Darkness, and we really like to work in a collaborative way. So we always try to increase the communication as much as possible, and the more meetings we have the better it always is.
Just to give you an idea, we have someone from Konami who is staying at Silicon Knights. He’s been there since the project started and there have been other people coming and going. Konami has come to SK several times, we’ve gone to Konami several times, we’ve all gone to Nintendo several times, so it’s been a lot of flying around. A real whirlwind of collaboration. I think it’s a testament to the dedication that Nintendo has as a group to moving forward aggressively and making relationships for the future. For me, the relationship is just as exciting as the project, because I think this bodes very well for the future.
NP: Is the entire SK team working on MGS: TTS, or are there other projects going on?
DD: Yeah, there are other projects going on right now at SK. I can’t talk about those, but we are working on them. But our focus right now is on the Metal Gear project, and we are getting it out this Christmas. With all the additions we’re doing, it’s a significant amount of work.
Silicon Knights Interview Part II
NP: Has the team size increased?
DD: Yes. We’re approximately 70 people right now. You know, we’re doing it slowly, but we’ve hired maybe 10 or 12 new people just in this year. One of the other exciting things about MGS: TTS is…you know, last year we had ED, this year it’s MGS: TTS, next year there will be some new stuff, and that’s a trend that I want to see continue. I think in the past our group has been criticized for not putting out enough product, and we’re working really hard to change that. And you know, growth is part of that, and that’s one of the things that Mr. Iwata has said, too. You know, with the new studio opening up in Tokyo and the efforts to increase the development staff at NCL. When I heard some of the things that were said [at Nintendo’s E3 press conference], it was encouraging, but I had several other people say that they really think the stance Nintendo has taken at the show is positive and proactive. Basically saying, “Here’s the issues we had last year, and here’s how were going to address them and work toward the future.” It was really great to see. And I’m a very big fan of Mr. Yamauchi [the former president of Nintendo] and I really think that when he made Mr. Iwata the new president, that was a stroke of genius. It’s one of those decisions that Mr. Yamauchi is so famous for. It’s a decision that no one expected, but it’s worked out really well. You know, we’re the only first party that has someone who knows how to make games as a president of the company. I can actually sit down with Mr. Iwata and say, “Why don’t you take a look at this game?” and we can have a dialogue. If I were to do that with someone like Bill Gates, I think he’d rather be watching wrestling or something. I’m not saying that he’s not a bright guy—he certainly is—but he just doesn’t know video games. So it’s very exciting.
NP: What pressures come along with working on a game that’s as well-respected as MGS?
DD: There’s a tremendous amount of pressure. Not only do we have to do the game justice, but we have to improve on something that a lot of people really, really love, and it’s dangerous territory. On top of that, the fact that Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Kojima are collaborating with us increases the pressure even more. But in some sense, that kind of deflates the stress, because those guys know what they’re doing. By the time we finish this project, I have no doubt that people will be very satisfied and happy with the game. But it’s a big task, no doubt. There’s a lot of people at SK who know the game inside and out, and they beat it on all the levels and know all the VR missions and everything. So it wasn’t like we had to look at the game and analyze it and learn what it was all about, because a lot of us had played it.
NP: What is your key message to fans of the first game who may be hesitant about MGS: TTS?
DD: I think that’s an easy question to answer. The first thing is, if you really compare the differences between MGS and MGS2, the amount of game play you can do—like throwing people over guardrails, hiding people in lockers, the first-person mode—significantly change the experience when you play the game. There’s different radar modes, the guards are far more intelligent…so imagine taking all those different game-play mechanics and having them in the first game. On top of that, we’re going to add GCN-GBA connectivity features that are really going to enhance game play modes unique both to MGS and MGS: TTS. We’re also looking at the first game and seeing what we can improve upon with the technology we now have—such as with the boss fights. So there’s going to be change beyond that, too. It’s definitely not a port—it’s a complete remake. If you love the first game…we love the first game, and it’s our job to make sure it’s an experience and worthwhile for people who have already played the first one. And for those who haven’t played MGS: Wow, what a game. You’re really missing out. The story, too, is really amazing. I remember when we were focusing on story [for Eternal Darkness] and MGS came out. That was the first time SK said, “Wow, someone else is really interested in doing what we’re doing.” It’s kind of funny that it’s come full circle in this manner. Four years ago I never would have imagined this.
NP: Are you going to rescore the game, musically?
DD: It’s completely rescored.
NP: And is the original composer working on it?
DD: Actually, Steve Henifin is working on that—he’s the one who did the music for Eternal Darkness—and he’s collaborating heavily with Konami. So again, there’s no point in totally changing the music. It’s going to have the spirit of MGS, but it’s going to be completely rewritten and rescored. It’s something we’re really happy with.
NP: Is it going to get an M or a T rating?
DD: We don’t think that matters. If you have the rating affect you that much, it’s really going to put a slant on your vision to the point where it’s not worth doing. Even with ED, we weren’t sure it was going to get an M. Looking back at some of the scenes, yeah, I can see why it got it. But most of the game is really not that shocking, and it’s the same with MGS: TTS. Most of it isn’t bad, but you see that one cut scene we showed [at the press conference] where the Ninja slices a body in half, and that might put it over the top right there. I’m just not sure. MGS: TTS has serious, serious content and very deep messages, but it’s not anywhere close to some of the stuff that’s out there right now.
One of the things with the video game violence issue is that there’s no significant link whatsoever [between video-game and real-life violence]. There’s really nothing except babble by the politicians. And people would say “You know, I feel in my heart that it’s bad.” And I can understand that, and I’m not going to argue with what someone feels in their heart. But then I ask them, “What did you think of Saving Private Ryan? Because was that not incredibly violent? But do you not think that it had a really good message, and that everyone who watched that movie never wanted to go to war?” So there can be positive messages through violence, but it has to have meaning. And with that meaning, I think we do gamers and the public a service, and it’s our responsibility as game creators to bring that to the forefront. And that’s one of the things that I think Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Kojima really want to do—responsible gaming. No one has anything against a game selling well, but when it’s sending home messages that aren’t the most appropriate, that has an influence on our entire industry, and we as an industry have to take responsibility.
Silicon Knights Interview Part III
NP: Earlier in the day, we spoke with Mr. Naka [from Sonic Team] and he said that he’d like to see the three console makers collaborate.
DD: That doesn’t surprise me, and you’re probably going to start hearing more of that. I have many theories on this, so this is going to be a long answer if that’s OK. Before I answer specifically, I really think that technology will continue to increase at the rate it is and maybe faster. However, that increase will become insignificant, and I think that we’re going to reach a perceptual threshold when it comes to seeing a difference in the technology. I mean, to me, clearly the [Nintendo] GameCube is superior to the PlayStation 2. I can just look at them and tell right away. The average consumer can tell, but it’s getting difficult. By the time we get to the next generation, it’s very questionable what those differences are going to be. So you’re looking at the differences between the hardware becoming more and more questionable, and then it becomes a matter of what’s best for everyone.
If you look at another analogy, look at the movie industry back in the 1930s. The people who made the best films and dominated the industry were the people who were the most technically advanced, and they cut the film the best and used the wires the best and so on. Around 20 years later, they standardized the cameras and the people who were dominant in technology fell to the background and the people who made the best content emerged as the dominant players and are still the dominant players of today—and I think people are starting to see that’s the writing on the wall for our industry. As technology becomes commodified, that’s just a factor that hardware will play less and less of a role and software will play more and more of a role. Whether people picked up on it or not, Nintendo’s message was software and relationships for the future of software. So the fact that Naka said this doesn’t surprise me, because it’s becoming more and more difficult to say why your platform is so much better than everyone else’s. Even at the beginning of the GCN life cycle, Microsoft would say, “Oh, our platform is better because of this and that.” And I can argue tech, and I can talk tech, but we were like, “Well, that’s OK. We’re going to focus on the games, because our games are going to be good and our game play is going to be good.” So it wouldn’t surprise me if sometime in the future there is a collaboration. It doesn’t mean that there’s a less-competitive environment, but it would mean that everyone could worry about making good content instead of the technology. And I think that would be a huge positive shift for our industry.
NP: This question almost goes against what you were just saying, but what would you like to see in Nintendo’s next-generation system?
DD: For sure, certainly. I have to be real careful here (laughs). I think more of the same direction that we’re going, for one. The ease of use of the system is excellent, but certainly more memory, more of everything is the way to go. And that’s just another indication that we don’t need any super-duper technology, we don’t need any rocket science—we just need more of what we have so we can create better stuff. So you know, more memory, maybe more CPU cycles, more of this, more of that. But at the end of the day, it’s becoming less effective. And certainly the technology is going to continue to improve, and there will be some differences in the next generation, but do we need better technology to make better games? No way. In some sense, I wish the hardware cycles would be 10 years, because we’re still catching up and we haven’t really fully utilized the [Nintendo] GameCube at all.
NP: It must be challenging to have to think about the next-gen system all the time.
DD: Yeah, it’s challenging, and actually our philosophy on that is to create games that are completely fun without taking advantage of anything hardware-specific. What I mean by that is that you don’t rely on the technology to make it good, but once the concept is done, then you start applying individual hardware features to make the experience unique—like with connectivity. When we first started talking about Eternal Darkness, I could envision that game on, say, the Game Boy Advance—as long as the core concepts were the same. It would certainly be a much different experience, but it should still be possible. Those philosophies are our life raft of survival in this hurricane of technology.
NP: Who is your favorite character in MGS, and who do you identify with the most?
DD: The first one’s easy. Cyber Ninja. No question. Love Cyber Ninja. Who do I identify with? Whoa, jeez. I don’t know about that one, that’s a harder one.
NP: We asked Kojima the same question and he said Liquid Snake.
DD: Liquid Snake? Really? Yeah, well, Cyber Ninja…I’m a big martial arts fan. I really like The Book of the Five Rings. That’s where our philosophies on game design come from. So in some sense, Cyber Ninja’s vision of purity in fighting I really appreciate. I guess I can relate to a lot of the characters because a lot of them are really good in general, so I guess I’ll play it safe and go Cyber Ninja again. I don’t want to give away any story, but the character has some issues (laughs).
NP: Any chance you’ll be able to play as the Ninja?
DD: Ah, well, we’re certainly going to try and do all we can for the game, and put in as many features as we can. Because we’re coming out at Christmas, we don’t have a tremendous amount of time. So I’d say the chances are fairly low. But we’re still discussing what enhancements we’re going to do. And, you know, I love the Ninja. And if we were to create a [new playable] character, he would be high on the list.
NP: Are there going to be any VR missions?
DD: Currently we don’t have a lot of those planned right now. Again, that’s another time issue. Certainly, if there’s time we want to do them.
NP: Let’s switch gears just a little bit. What are you most proud of with Eternal Darkness?
DD: ED was really, if I was to make an analogy, ED was like a critically acclaimed foreign film. And it didn’t do big box office, but even at the show today we had many, many people come up to us and say, “We really love that game. You have to do another one.” And I think, in a sense, I think we broke a lot of ground just in the directions that I talked about—bringing serious content to the mass market, because we had serious messages there. And more than anything else, that’s what I’m most proud of. And we learned a tremendous amount from it, and that’s something to be excited about. I think ED is the first step forward in us collaborating with EAD [Nintendo's in-house development team] at a high level. And if that was our first one, wait until you see the next step that we take. Because it has gotten so much better, and I wish when we started that project that we knew all that we know now, because I know how much better it would be. And I know if we ever do a sequel, it will have the same vision and the same spirit, but boy, will it be a lot better. Not that it was bad, because we’re proud of it and we love it—but boy, we have a lot of ideas. And a lot of sequel potential. Hope that wasn’t too long.
Silicon Knights Interview Part IV
NP: That leads us to our next question. Are we ever going to see Alex Roivas again?
DD: Well, that’s not the same question, because that would assume that a sequel would have her in it. And I think it’s possible, but I’m going to give the same answer [that I did] when you asked us before [for the Eternal Darkness Player’s Guide]—if the gamers want it, we’ll do it. But I think as far as a sequel goes…when we first started making ED, we actually built the universe first, before we started writing the script. And there’s a lot of the universe that we haven’t explored. One of the things that I talked about—and maybe we have to be not as subtle in the next one—but the yellow magic did represent something. And a lot of people didn’t notice that. So wherever there was yellow, there was a representation of another Ancient One that we haven’t talked about yet. So I think in a sequel, if we did one, we could see Alex. Whether she plays a significant role or not is another question. Would we want her to play a significant role? And would it be interesting to do a combination? You know, we have a lot of ideas. One of the things about ED is that the characters were important, but we really focused on the story more than the characters, and I think that would be the same thing with the next one.
NP: Can you tell us anything about Too Human, or anything else you may be working on?
DD: I’m trying hard. Let’s see. You know, there have been rumors that Too Human has been canceled. That’s not true. We are working on multiple projects, and I think that you can look to next year for more information. That’s the best I can do, I’m sorry.
NP: We understand.
DD: Yeah, it just doesn’t make any sense [to talk about future games at this time]. I think one of the things we learned a valuable lesson with is releasing information on a product on a timely basis. ED showed at E3 too many times, I think. We had to shift platforms, and in retrospect I don’t know if there’s anything we could have done, but at the same time, maybe showing it once or twice would have been perfect. Three or four times was just a little bit too much. So if we start talking about something now and it’s not out…that’s what I love about Mr. Miyamoto’s philosophies, and it’s what he said at the roundtable last night. He likes to show things that are going to be out within the next year.
NP: Yes, although Mr. Iwata seems to be working toward having Nintendo roll things out a little earlier instead of one or two months before a launch.
DD: Absolutely, and I think that as a group, we’re really hard on ourselves. Because the amount of stuff that is playable here [at the Nintendo booth] is a much higher percentage than [the games of] any other first party anywhere. And you look at some of the big names outside of our booth, what are people taking about? They’re talking about Half-Life 2. What do they have there? A theatre show that you have to wait in line for, wait for like two hours to watch a 20-minute clip. And Halo 2, same deal. It’s a movie! Metal Gear Solid 3. Again, another movie. And yeah, it has some value, but it’s not playable. Certainly, building awareness is a big thing, but I think that maybe ED suffered from not being in the mainstream enough. It’s certainly the closest thing to a cult hit that I’ve seen in a while. Everyone who played it loved it, and the people who criticize it don’t seem to have played it. They say things like, “Oh, it’s too much like Resident Evil,” and as soon as they say that you know they haven’t played it at all. So I think we have to do it [release product information] in a way that fits our identity as a group. So it just takes time.
NP: So what do you like that you’ve seen at the show?
DD: I actually like some of the Blizzard stuff. I guess I would call Blizzard the Nintendo of the PC developers, because their quality is always very, very high. I’m very interested in Geist as well. I think that’s an interesting game. Prince of Persia looked like a nice game. What else? I don’t want to comment on things like Halo 2 or Half-Life 2 or Doom III—they look interesting, but I couldn’t play them, so at some point I’m interested, but without a controller in my hand it’s hard. All in all, I think another indication that technology is becoming less dominant is that there was no huge standout for me that blew everything away.
NP: The wizardry of what people are doing is no longer what raises the bar?
DD: Exactly. And, for example, I really like Id Software, I think they do great games. But I think that in some ways, games like the original Doom really hurt the industry, because it really had people thinking that technology was everything. And the game was fantastic, and what they did had nothing to do with that shift—it’s not their responsibility—but clearly they focused on nothing but technology. And they did it so well and so much higher than everyone else that they misled a significant portion of the industry to think that’s the only kind of game they can make. And so, that’s definitely clear from the presence that Doom III had this year. It had a presence, but it didn’t have a dominating presence. I think their technology was really nice, but it’s not enough.
NP: It’s just one more FPS now. A nice-looking one.
DD: Yeah, and it’s going to come down to the game play. If the game play is solid, I’m sure it will do very, very well. And I think they can do solid game play, so I’m hopeful for it. But I’m really interested to see what the game play is like in Half-Life 2, because I think the game play in the first Half-Life was pretty good. So hopefully they focused on that more than anything else. You know, I really think that Nintendo is where it’s at. You look at the press conference on Tuesday morning, when we announced that we were 1.3 million units above the Xbox, the press cheered! And I just thought, “You know, it’s really good to be the good guys.” I think people want Nintendo to succeed, because they realize that we’re for the gamer more than anyone else. These are the people that run the company that feel this way, so why would you ever want to be anywhere else? I think that’s why Mr. Kojima wants to work with our group, and I think that’s why you see the Square projects, Sega [projects], and all these other things happening. I think it’s going to be a trend that continues, and in the end it’s going to be something that’s good for video games. I think that Mr. Iwata and Mr. Miyamoto—at every E3 I’ve been to they always try to move the industry forward, and move it for gamers. And other parties will say it, but it’s a sideline at best. They either want to completely dominate the market, or they want to make their system your next all-in-one-stereo-VCR-DVD-player-whatever, and that’s never been our focus. And where would this industry be without Nintendo? Without [Nintendo], we’d maybe have whatever was left over from the Atari days. What a disaster. And there’s a really clear example of a market—before Nintendo came in—that didn’t care about consumers whatsoever. We can still go look for the buried Atari 2600 E.T. games out there if we want.
NP: (laughing) I fell in another hole! Better raise my neck!
DD: (laughs) You just have to wonder where that landfill is, but that stuff actually happened. It’s comical. So gamers are important, and these guys really care and they know video games. And that’s what I like about our group.
NP: Thanks for talking to us.
DD: Oh, sure. It was fun.
source Nintendo.com
