lars-gustavsson
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Battlefield 3 going all Burger King in the multiplayer
EA's posted an interview with Battlefield 3 Lead Multiplayer Designer Lars Gustavsson on the official game blog, and the key with multiplayer in the new game, he says, is that Dice wants you to have it your way. "The mindset at Dice during the development of Battlefield 2 was pretty much: 'Play the game our way, or play something else.'" he says frankly. "Now, we have made a conscious effort to reverse that mentality." That means more modes in general, including the return of Team Deathmatch, an Infantry-only mode, and the Conquest and Rush modes that were so popular in the last iteration. Gustavsson also says that the game will incorporate "Battlelog," a social hub that's presumably similar to EA's very popular "Autolog" from the Need for Speed series. Sounds good to us. We'll take our Deathmatch with no tomato, please.
DICE creative director happy with EA's current direction
Apparently DICE has got some love for the way John Riccitiello is running Electronic Arts. DICE Creative Director Lars Gustavsson tells Eurogamer that the CEO's quality over quantity focus is gaining momentum -- he points to Dead Space as an example of the "right direction."Gustavsson explains the publisher puts on "creative director classes" about four times a year, where 20 other creative directors from EA get to talk shop. He expresses that there's an "enormous brain pool" in EA and the new ways of thinking at the publisher are taking advantage of this.Sadly, for all the good stuff going on at EA -- and there's no denying we've heard a lot of positive stuff from insiders -- it appears consumers aren't buying the product in the quantities the publisher needs ... it's tragic, really.
DICE's Lars Gustavsson says game industry is at a 'crossroads'
Lars Gustavsson is no stranger to risk. After last year's first-person parkour-based action/platformer Mirror's Edge stumbled off shelves during the holiday season, you'd think DICE's creative director might be dissuaded from continuing to push the envelope. However, speaking at the Design Innovate Communicate Entertertain Summit (conveniently shortened to D.I.C.E.) last week, he told the crowd "the games industry has come to a crossroads." According to him, the situation is multi-faceted -- the poor economy is forcing lower overhead costs on developers and people are less willing to spend their money while consumers are also less likely to invest in new intellectual properties (such as the aforementioned Mirror's Edge). Should developers play it safe with proven IPs or take risks in hopes of breaking in?He pontificates that "more customization offerings, new business models, data-driven development and the active tuning of the games" will drive innovation and allay risk going forward. "It's totally different from anything we've done," Gustavsson noted when referencing upcoming online-only multiplayer shooter Battlefield 1943. And he seems to be putting the development costs where his mouth is, as Battlefield 1943 sticks to his plan (on paper at least) to a tee. It remains to be seen whether they'll work out. After all, we're still waiting on that other Battlefield game.
