Bodycount's Stuart Black discusses his inspirations

Stuart Black showed off his upcoming Bodycount title on the show floor here at E3, and while we were able to see the title earlier this month, we did talk with the creator about the sense of fun he's trying to bring to the shooter genre this time around. "I wanted to get away from the seriousness of so many shooters at the moment," he told us. "Serious men in dangerous roles, and all that jazz, yeah? And we wanted to create something that was a little bit silly, a little bit ridiculous and more uplifting."

Lady Gaga was apparently an influence, after Black saw one of her concerts. "Going to her show, feeling really uplifted and energized by that, and going like yeah, I want to get that kind of spirit in the game. Just want to have fun with it -- fun with a gun!" And to accomplish that, Black put things like XP and health orbs in the game that looked familiar if you've ever hunted Agility Orbs in Pacific City. "The orbs are a little homage to Crackdown. I'm a big fan of Dave Jones, I've known him on and off for years, great to see him back making games again."

He also pointed out an in-game nod to Metal Gear Solid (an exclamation point marker on a building), and gave some kudos to Borderlands, another shooter with an arcade bent. "I was quite surprised at how well the [damage] numbers worked in Borderlands. You see it in videos, and you're like, that looks a bit naff. But you play it, and you're like, that's really $*(%ing cool, actually ... That spirit is sort of lost in video games, and we can do that stuff, and we should revel in it."