Mark Rein: No, not this time around. We’ve used Tommy in the past and he’s a great guy, but we went back to the guy that did the original UT music, Kevin Riepl. He did a great job on it. We also brought back the original UT song for the menu as well, updated for a 2007 context.
SPOnG: You are one of the few high profile third-party developers that has been fully supportive of PS3 from the start. Is 2008 going to be the year of PS3?
Mark Rein: Yeah, I’m personally excited about PlayStation 3. They just had a big price drop over in the US - $399 (£200) – I mean, that’s a pretty good price. It’s pretty good value. I’m optimistic that they are going to move a lot of units.
They have actually sold a decent number already; don’t forget that they are a year behind the 360. I’m not sure that they are a lot further behind where the 360 was a year ago, so yeah, we’re pretty optimistic. We have a great game for it, so hopefully that will help too! I like the machine. We think there is a good opportunity there.
SPOnG: Was it easy to produce this big a game on a console?
Mark Rein: It’s never easy to bring anything to a new platform. Any time you are doing multi-platform games it’s hard. You have to work around the nuances of each particular platform.
We had Sony’s help too, which was nice. They sent some programmers over to help us optimise certain pieces of the engine, both for us and for the licensees, so we’re really happy with how it’s turned out. I mean it runs damn well. It really flies on that machine! (Laughs) So, we just hope that our publisher can get the word out and that people buy the game.
SPOnG: Last question. Is (Gears of War creator) Cliffy B really that obsessed with his hair?
Mark Rein: (Laughs) Cliff is amazingly down to earth, actually. He’s got style and class. He likes the spotlight and he likes to be in front of the camera, sure, and he likes to put it on a little for that. But anybody that knows Cliff will tell you that he is a great guy. He is the genuine article. He is a game designer and a gamer through and through and through. He has so much passion for his craft. And he’s a good looking guy, so why not!
SPOnG: Thanks for your time, Mark.
Mark Rein: No problem.