Product Info | User Reviews | Article Images | Image Gallery | Comments | Forum Thread
Junction Point Interview (con'd)
FiringSquad:In a recent speech you stated that the content of some games like the Grand Theft Auto series, even though they may be great in terms of design, would bring unwanted attention from people like lawmakers who might want to restrict the sales of video and PC games. Do you still believe that the game industry could be curtailed by such a movement by politicians?
Warren Spector: Hey, it’s only been a few months since I gave that speech at the Montreal International Game Summit, so, yes, I still believe it! I think there’s a real risk that we’ll run into trouble with the courts and legislators, yes. We’re in a constant, ongoing battle about that. But more important to me than the external threats are what I see as INTERNAL threats to gaming’s future. I simply don’t want to participate in the coarsening of our culture through the celebration of violence and criminal activity. And I think, as a medium, we focus too much attention on that kind of stuff--on adolescent power fantasies, basically, and that is stultifying our growth as a medium. But let me be clear—I would never single out the Grand Theft Auto series for criticism on this score—we’re all guilty. I’m guilty—I mean Thief and Deus Ex and the other stuff I’ve worked on isn’t exactly the most pro-social, teach-the-world-to-sing stuff I can imagine! We need to broaden the range of content we make available to players. I wrestle with that every day.
FiringSquad:Even though you are working on a PC game do you have any opinions on the next generation consoles (Xbox 360, PS3, Revolution)?
Warren Spector:I have a ton of opinions about the next gen consoles! What do you want to know? Basically, I’m inspired by the apparent power of the hardware and the potential that offers us; but, at the same time, I’m terrified about how much more difficult and expensive development is going to be as we try to tap all that power and deliver on all that potential.
FiringSquad: Windows Vista is due to be released for PC in the fall of 2006. Do you believe the OS and the resulting technologies could help PC gaming in the long run?
Warren Spector: Vista seems really cool, I’ll say that much. And it seems likely to be a nice platform for gaming. I do think the pervasiveness of consoles is going to be hard to beat, no matter how good the OS is—and with the consoles offering more robust online access all the time, even that area’s going to get…interesting…for PC developers. We’ll just have to see how the platforms shake out over the next few years Firing Squad: What do you think are the biggest challenges the video and PC game industry will have to face in the next few years?
Warren Spector: Money, money and money. If we don’t start exploring new ways to finance games, new ways to reach our audience, new ways to broaden the range of game styles we offer and new ways to develop games that don’t cost a fortune, we’re in for a world of trouble. Games may be art (I think they are), but they’re incredibly expensive, and getting moreso all the time--and that puts our future in some significant jeopardy
FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Junction Point Studios' current and future plans?
Warren Spector Not just yet. But soon…soon
As always, we’d like to thank Junction Point Studios’ Warren Spector for participating in this interview. We look forward to hearing more from them once they’re closer to releasing their first title!
Phenom II Gets A New Revision: 125W AMD Phenom II X4 965 Performance Preview
Promising lower power consumption, lower temps, and most importantly for enthusiasts, more OC'ing, AMD is back with a new CPU revision for the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, which now boasts a 125W TDP. Is AMD able to deliver on their promises though? Find out in today's article!
Shattered Horizon Review
FutureMark, well known for their popular 3DMark benchmarks, is venturing into new territory with Shattered Horizon. This multiplayer shooter is perhaps best known for its system requirements -- the game supports DX10 only -- but there's more underneath the surface of this game than fancy visuals. Is it worth its $20 price tag though? Read Vandy's take inside!
Borderlands PC Review
Is it an RPG or is it an FPS? Borderlands blends the best elements of both in one entertaining package. Vandy has spent the past week playing the PC version of the game and came away rather impressed. Read his full thoughts on the game in today's review!
AMD Athlon II X3 435/Athlon II X2 240e Performance Preview
Today AMD is introducing 8 new Athlon II CPUs intended to service different segments of the budget CPU market. For HTPC users, new 45W dual, triple, and quad core offerings should deliver good performance along with low power, while performance junkies on a budget will want to look at AMD's new Athlon II X3 CPUs. See how the new chips stack up in terms of performance and OC'ing in this article!
EVGA P55 FTW Review
Looking for a good P55 motherboard to OC your CPU beyond 4GHz? If so, you may want to check out EVGA's P55 FTW. With its extra ATX12V connector, this motherboard can send up to 600W of juice to the CPU, and it's got more voltage settings in BIOS than 95% of the general public needs. But that's just barely scratching the surface of what this board can do. Check out today's review for the full details!
ATI Radeon HD 5770/5750 Performance Preview
With prices ranging from $109-$159, ATI's Radeon 5700 series of cards bring DX11 gaming to mainstream price points and usher in new levels of energy efficiency. But are they powerful enough to dethrone ATI's Radeon 4800 series cards? Yes and no. Read today's article for more info!
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Review
While it's not the true sequel to Operation Flashpoint, Dragon Rising is billed as a modern tactical sim just like its predecessor. Does it live up to these claims? Read Vandy's take in today's review!
Batman: Arkham Asylum PhysX Features and Performance
One eye candy feature PC users can enjoy over the console edition of Batman: AA is PhysX. Rocksteady's PhysX implementation is more than just tearing cloth and added objects too, although that's of course in there. Vandy goes over the features and performance of PhysX in Batman: AA in this article!
ATI Radeon 5850 Performance Preview
Not everyone's got $400 to spend on a shiny new Radeon 5870 card, which is why it can be argued that ATI's Radeon 5850 is the more relevant GPU for a lot of gamers and hardware enthusiasts. Based on the same DX11 RV870 architecture as the 5870, the 5850 delivers next-generation performance in a smaller, more efficient package, and most importantly it's priced for less than $300. ATI pitches it as their answer to the GeForce GTX 285...See how it compares in this article!
Overclocking the Radeon HD 5870
We weren't satisfied with the 900MHz core/1300MHz memory speeds we hit last week with our Radeon 5870 boards. We wanted to see how far ATI's latest flagship GPU could be pushed, and how well it could perform at those speeds. We also wanted to see which component delivered better performance results: OC'ing the memory, or OC'ing the GPU?
Fortunately thanks to AMD's GPU Clock Tool, we now have unlimited speeds on tap for OC'ing. Is 1GHz within reach? Find out in today's article!