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An Interview with EA Executive Producer Glen Schofield
By Sharon Maher
 With Electronic Arts? (EA) exclusive rights to the award-winning The Lord of the Rings™ films, EA's games have the unique perspective of not just putting the player inside a great story, but placing us inside this epic adventure. For fans waiting expectantly for the inside scoop on the upcoming The Lord of the Rings™, The Return of the King™ games, look no further. Offering hot new details on this upcoming blockbuster and its much-anticipated demo to be released at the world-famous Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in May is EA Executive Producer Glen Schofield.
In the E3 demo, gamers will get to play more characters, explore exciting new locations from the upcoming film, and even team up to defeat enemies in an all-new cooperative Multiplayer mode. With these exciting new features, and following the success of last year?s The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, The Return of the King is poised to become the must-have game of the year come November.
Working on E3 demo has certainly kept The Return of the King development team working long hours, not just to complete the demo but also to render the people, places, and epic battles of Middle-earth in spectacular detail. Here, Schofield discusses the trials, tribulations, and technological opportunities of making the epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings come to life on the PC and console systems.
I?m sure working on the sequel to the hit game The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers must be both fun and challenging. What are your responsibilities on this team?
My responsibilities change from time to time but right now I am directly responsible for getting the game levels designed and completed. The process we go through in creating levels starts with a great design dreamed up by our team and then continues with pre-production for each level. Just recently we finished designing the levels and are starting the process of building them.
What steps do you take to build levels that both match the power of the movie and provide a gripping gameplay experience?
First, we look at the movie script and determine which highlights from the film will work best for that level. Then we determine what mission or missions will be included and how much action we want for that particular level. Once we?ve determined what elements will be in a level, we sit down and have many brainstorming meetings. We try to do as much design as we can on paper so that when we get into the building phase we have most of our questions about the gameplay answered.
What's the biggest challenge you've encountered thus far?
The biggest challenge we are encountering is just trying to match the breathtaking look and feel of the movies. The movies are so grand and beautiful that we need to create something just as spectacular to do the films and Peter Jackson, the movie?s director, justice. Plus, we are always trying to find new ways to outdo the work we did on the last game.
You mention trying to match the look and feel of the movies. Has authenticity been a big part of the design process?
Yes, a major part! We?ve been working very closely with New Line Cinema, getting the actual reference photos, drawings, models, and other tools from the movie and using those as our guide. We go so far as to get lighting studies and motion-capture data from the creators of the movie themselves. We have even hired the same stunt doubles from the movie to help us render the most realistic movement in the game. We are pretty excited about how great both New Line Cinema and WETA has been to us.
I know the last game included scenes that weren't included in the actual film. Will The Return of the King include more unseen footage?
Yes, but I can't say much more than that. I can say that we are planning on getting even more unseen footage than last year.
I know you guys put in a lot of hours making things like the playable Gandalf a reality. Are there any funny stories you have to share?
We have a lot of fun making the game. For example, we have the Uruk-Hai of the Week Award which is when we highlight an outstanding contribution a person has made to the game that week. The winner must come up to the front of our team meeting, put on the Uruk-Hai helmet, sword, and shield, and yell out "find the halfling!" He also gets free lunch for the next week. So it may not be exactly funny but it is fun for us. |
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| 1. | Battlefield Vietnam
PC-CD |
| 2. | James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
PS2, GC, GBA, & Xbox |
| 3. | The Sims Bustin' Out
PS2, GC, GBA, & Xbox |
| 4. | Need For Speed Underground
PS2, GC, Xbox, & PC |
| 5. | Medal of Honor Rising Sun
PS2, GC, & Xbox |
| 6. | The Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King
PS2, PC-CD, GC, GBA, & Xbox |
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Battlefield Vietnam Update
The 1.01 patch is coming soon. Get a list of what will be fixed and added.
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