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Question 1: One issue I want to touch on (selfishly), right off the bat,
is the issue of Splinter Cell copyright ownership. Few fans know that Ubisoft
does not actually own the SC franchise and when I try to explain the situation
to people, they plain out don’t believe me.
Will you please explain the Rubi/Ubi connection?
My understanding is that Splinter Cell, Sam Fisher, and the rest of
the SC franchise is owned by Rubicon, which is Tom Clancy’s corporation.
Ubisoft licenses it to make games, etc. but doesn’t own it. Honestly, though,
I try to avoid thinking about things like that when I’m working on a game. My
goal is always to write the best narrative and dialogue for the game I’m
working on, and I’m more interested in how the folks on the team feel about
what I’m doing than anyone else.
Question 2: Do you read the Splinter Cell novels, as well as other Clancy
game/novel crossovers? If so, how do you feel they serve the frachises
overall?
I’m a pretty omnivorous reader – I actually do book reviews for a
website called Greenman Review on the side – so of course I’m happy to read
the Splinter Cell novels. Anything that helps me do my job better, I want to
get my hands on and read and digest. As for what they do for the franchise, I
think they do good things for it. They wave the flag for Splinter Cell and
the other games in places like airports and bookstores where folks who aren’t
necessarily hardcore gamers are going to see them, and they provide the
opportunities to tell stories set in that world that might not be game
stories, but which are still pretty damn cool. If a world is strong enough to
support good and interesting game stories – and Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon
and Rainbow certainly have – then it’s strong enough to support good and
interesting stories in other media as well.
Question 3: What was your opinion when it was announced that there was supposed
to be a Splinter Cell film? Do you feel the series would have translated
well to film? Which actor(s) do you feel would have made a good
Sam/Lambert/Grim?
I’ve always thought that there are some very cool, cinematic elements
to Splinter Cell that would translate very well to film, so I was intrigued
when they started talking about a SC movie. I think the key to doing it well
would be to keep the focus on the tension leading up to the action, as
opposed to trying to make Sam Fisher just another action hero. There are a
lot of movie characters who can carry a gun and blow things up. There are
very few who can do the unique things that Sam can, and that’s worth
protecting, I think.
As for whom I’d cast…that’s a tough one. Let’s go against the grain
and suggest Richard Roundtree for Lambert. I thought he did a great job in Heroes.
Maybe Charlize Theron for Grim, and how about Elias Koteas for Sam? I think
he could do a great job of capturing Sam’s intensity.
Question 4: It has been announced that the overall game play style of
Splinter Cell is about to be seriously overhauled. How do you feel this will
change an already ground breaking franchise?
As a game developer and as a gamer, my feeling has always been “if you
can make something better, you go for it.” Splinter Cell is, as you say, a
ground-breaking franchise, so it’s within the franchise tradition to keep
trying new and different gameplay elements. If you don’t innovate, sooner or
later other games are going to pass you by, so it’s always worthwhile to keep
looking for new ways to develop on what’s been there before. That doesn’t
mean throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but it does mean that it’s a
good thing to be willing to take chances and to try to take that next step.
Question 5: A lot of PC gamers have communicated to me that they feel PC
gaming has taken a backseat to console gaming, in not just Ubi titles, but
with a lot of developers. As a developer, and a PC gamer, do you feel this is
an issue?
I don’t think any platform that has World of Warcraft on it is
in danger of being put entirely in the backseat of game development, but
that’s just me being contrary. I think for the last few years, the emphasis
may have been on the new consoles, in large part because the capabilities of
the consoles has just been going through the roof. It makes sense to figure
out what they can do, and once you know that, it makes sense to go ahead and
do it. The end result is great games for consoles, and maybe a little less
for PC. But now that everyone’s sort of warmed up on consoles, I’m hopeful
there’ll be a little bit more of a swing back to exploring the limits of new PC
technology, with Vista and more powerful desktop systems.
Question 6: As the Central Clancy Writer what is your opinion on the new
Clancy title, Tom Clancy’s EndWar?
Knowing some of the guys working on it – Michael de Plater and John
Gonzalez – I’ve got absolute faith that it’s going to be a seriously cool
game. All of the previous Clancy titles have focused on small units – the
Ghosts, Rainbow, a single Splinter Cell – so turning that around and really
doing a large-scale conflict is a great idea. It’s hitting the other end of
the Clancy spectrum, as it were, the sort of thing that we saw in books like
Red Storm Rising, and I’m looking forward to getting my mitts on it so I can
play it. Hey guys, send me a build? Pretty please?
Question 7: The Tom Clancy series has done a lot of groundbreaking with
some of it’s series. Splinter Cell defined and redefined stealth, EndWar is
stepping out making a great console geared RTS, what else is coming down the
road for the Clancy franchise?
Well, I can tell you in absolute serious that despite my best efforts
to lobby for it, I don’t think you’ll be seeing the Ding Chavez Cart Racer
game that one of the guys in the design department at Red Storm (the
inimitable Gary Stelmack, for the record) proposed. Beyond that, it’s one of
those things I’m Not Allowed To Talk About. I can say that there are a lot of
very talented people working on Clancy projects, and they’re always looking
for what makes the next game even cooler than the last one. But details,
well, as Sam knows, you need to maintain operational security.
Question 8: Do you have any upcoming projects that we need to keep our
eyes open for?
Game-wise, I can’t talk about everything that I’m working on – but I
did work on Blazing Angels: Secret Missions of World War II and do a
little work on Haze. I’ve also got a novel coming out in January. It’s
a ghost story – very different from what I do on the Clancy games, but a lot
of fun – called Firefly Rain. Beyond that, I’m just going to keep
writing. I’m very lucky to be in a position where folks are interested in
reading – or playing – what I have to say, and I’m going to keep writing as
much as I can for as long as I can.
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