matt-tieger
Latest
The beautiful death of a planet in Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
As much as I'd like to feel sorry for the decimation of Cybertron, home of my childhood heroes, developer High Moon studios left me craving even more destruction with Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.Transformers: Fall of Cybertron takes place during the final hours of a civil war that eventually destroys the planet. The Decepticons have won, driving the Autobots to seek a new home somewhere amongst the stars. As Optimus Prime and his Autobot buddies race to find a way off the planet, Megatron and his dastardly Decepticons seek to rid the universe of all Autobot life. They're big old meanies like that.%Gallery-148256%
Interview: Matt Tieger of High Moon Studios on Transformers: War for Cybertron
High Moon Studios' Matt Tieger, director of Transformers: War for Cybertron, says his game is influenced by the movies -- but not just those directed by Michael Bay and starring CGI robots. Instead, Tieger pointed to Sam Raimi and a certain webslinger as big influences for his upcoming release, as he spoke to a group of press during a recent preview of the game at the studio's offices in Carlsbad, Calif. Tieger says that even though his team is creating a licensed Transformers game, he wants it to be like the first Spiderman film in that it appeals to three audiences: folks who just want a good action ride; brand fans, who want to be reminded of what they liked about the universe as kids; and hardcore fans, who will get every single reference and inside joke -- he wants to "smash you in the face with nostalgia." Following his presentation and a hands-on preview of the game, I chatted with Tieger about War for Cybertron and what game he would "love, love, love" to make next: Joystiq: So what was the pitch behind this game? What was the impetus behind a game like this? Matt Tieger: Well, we knew that Activision came to us and said, "We think you guys are a good fit for a Transformers game." Based on our sensibilities for some things that we had done before, we had done some prototypes, and they thought we were a good match. And we had lots of Unreal Engine experience. And they wanted to make a non-movie based Transformers game. So they asked, "What do you want to do," basically, within the confines of that. And we came up with a plan, and redesigned a bunch of characters and then started talking to Hasbro.
