quote MJ12 L0rD

quote Ecto5

We have other games to base our theory on. Trying to sniper a moving target in any game is difficult. Imagine it with a second delay.

Counter-Strike anyone? Perfect example.

Call of Duty 2 was even harder as additional to those problems, you also have the scope moving around "realistically".

By the way guys, I sent the interview to Gonintendo and it was posted on the site. I feel so proud!

I'm going to dissect this interview, there's just too much info for me not to.


In Red Steel you embody a US guy living in LA. To save his fiance'e caught in the middle of a war between two generations of Yakuzas, the player will have to fly to Japan and fight his way through the Tokyo Mafia. During his journey he will come face to face with their codes, learning new and more efficient ways to use his fighting skills.

No real new info here, just a great summary of what we've gradually learned. It seems we begin the game in LA.

Approximately a third of the game will take place in LA; but the Japanese side of LA. It will illustrate the Japanese way of like in the US, show Japanese places such as a massage institute, and the Japanese mafia as well.

Wow, I never knew that - the "Japanese side of LA?" Awesome, that should be unique and very interesting. I wonder what it will look like...

The rest of the game will take place in Japan. The game is like a tour of very Japanese enviroments. The Tokyo underground is a part of those famous places. It was important to us to be true to this town and to show this side of the life at night that balances... traditional and ancestral aspects of the life there. It was also very funny to associate this enviroment to characters. It gave them a lot of background and attitudes; such as Mama San who is recruiting Shibuya girls in those dark and dangerous streets to fight for her.

Really nice news about the Japanese environment. Great settings. Looking forward to facing Mama San's Shibuya Girls. Expect this game to get pretty dark at times.

In Japan, the honor code concept was already very important to the samurais for centuries. Today the Japanese mafia reuses those values and adapts to them to its way of life. As we want to offer the player a complete experience, you can in fact use this value as well and spare your enemy's life. They will then owe you respect for that. Those choices will help you to progress in the game, rally clans to your cause and be stronger in the end to face your deadly enemy.[/b]

Once again, no real new info but still enticing all the same. Letting people live and having them assist your cause sounds awesome and very beneficial.


The Wiimote and the Nanchaku have been at the core of the idea behind the Red Steel project. The Wiimote is very easy to use. It's easy to aim at the screen and shoot once the cursor is on target. Since the Nunchaku is held in the other hand, moving while shooting becomes natural and self-evident. Yet, once first contact with the gear has been made, the player realizes that to master the use of the controllers, he has to concentrate, calmly aim, strafe and take cover, shoot at the right time without making any brusque movement, and generally keep a flowing motion.

It seems Ubisoft are putting a great deal of emphasis into controlling your actions and making sure each shot counts. Sounds terrific to me.

Such mastery of emotions and moves is related in our minds to eastern martial artists. We wanted to go in that direction because we think it's totally relevant to the way the Wii controller works, i.e. not only acknowledging button-mashing but, also, spatial movement and aiming towars the screen. The way the Wiimote movement is recognized makes one think of sword movement. The right move has to be performed at the right time. For example, by parrying the player will have the possiblility of performing a counter attack to disarm or incapacitate his enemy.

Wow, I didn't know parrying was so important, but it certainly seems the parrying is absolutely vital.


The Wii controls are changing a lot especially since the E3 version when we saw people playing for the first time with our game. For us it was the first time ever we could get a huge quantity of important feedback from newcomers to this console.

Great to hear. After the so-so controls at E3, changing them quite significantly should be great for the game.

The system needs a little time to recognize your move but at the end this is your move that is performed on screen.

Hmmm. This sounds bad, but how much time is he referring to? Will it be noticeable or will it be insignificant?

Besides, today on the current version, we have some movement being mapped and some not. Some will stay mapped at the end so that with an accessible move you can unleeash and impressive action you would never be able to perform in real life.

Now THIS is interesting. Very interesting. So the actual swipe is pre-determined, but the final action of each swipe is 1:1 movement? Interesting.

We will have more interaction of the controller but I can't tell them right now. This concerns the use of weapons, the relations with NPC...

Nice news. It obviously appears that the controller plays a big role in not only shooting, but interacting with the environment and other people. Great to hear there are still more uses of the controller that we don't know about.

At the end, we estimate we will have a balance between sword and gun with perhaps a little more gun. To tell the truth, ( and repeat ourselves ) the way the controllers work has helped us. Both gameplay are strong and immersive. Gunfight requires precision, good aiming, no abrupt moves, while katana fighting requires swiftness, rough moves sometimes, good reactions and timing of attacks. Since both gameplay ask for totally different movement, it seemed evident for us to alternate sequences in order to catch the player off-balance and offer him a unique gaming experience.

Very nice to hear - a terrific balance between gun and sword gameplay.

Definetly, you will learn to master gun and sword fights, for which you can get trained regularly in the dojo or in Harry's Club, but also some more weapons or interaction with your enviroment. You will discover the mafia rules as well.

More weapons? Training in Harry's Club? Discovering Mafia Rules? Awesome.

Our AI system is based upon a morale meter. Factors that influence positvely the enemies' morale are: numbers, knowledge of the player's location, leaders being alive and giving orders. In these cases enemies will advance towards the player, outflanking him or being able to find a better firing axis. If the enemy is wounded, he will seek cover, retreat, or even flee.

Wow, some very nice info about the Ai in Red Steel. The AI seems to be very intelligent.

The controllers have enabled us to tune the enemies' movement very precisely. In a standard console FPS, enemies stand relatively still so the player can aim with the pad. In Red Steel, the enemies do move alot, jump over crates to outflank the player, lob grenades, take cover and pop up to shoot at him, etc... To pass certain situations the controller's possibilities will have to be fully used, by moving and aiming on screen with great precision.

Once again it definitely seems that we will need to act with great precision and skill in Red Steel, or else we'll suffer big time.

As for clans, we aim at depicting the eastern code of Honor. Why kill someone when he is begging for mercy and doesn't stand a chance? The player merely has to disarm him, and pin him to the ground. If a leader is bested, he will respect the player, his minions will do too. They might even help him. If the player kills a leader who is disarmed, his allies will be furious, hate the player and will do everything they can to kill him. Some scenes can be passed by merely diarming the enemies' leader: the player will then prove his mastery, and his enemies will respect him.

Wow, I didn't realise how important it is to make the right decisions when facing your enemies. Saving and killing them can have very significant effects.

Red Steel is running on the improved version UNreal engine for the Wii system. A large portion of our team has already worked with the Unreal engine. They are already well aware of its strengths and weaknesses.

There you go people - Red Steel is running on an improved version of the Unreal Engine. Great to hear.

We have pushed the engine to its limits to offer a rich, colored and different setting to the player. Eastern culture allows for original and seldom seen scenes. We are taking advantage of that.

Screens so far definitely show this. The game is looking brilliant both techincally and artistically.

Developing a game for the Wii is a unique opportunity, this for several reasons. The approach is based on the specifics of the gaming system, i.e. its controllers and what they allow for, in terms of game design and game mechanics in a FPS.

Once again, a positive account of how easy and interesting it is to develop for Wii.

It has enabled us to focus on what really matters: gameplay and immersion.

Damn straight.

With the Wii controllers, we are moving through 'terra incognita'. FPS controls have to be designed almost from the ground up, as we have no previous refernce with the controllers. The problems we find are new, and the solutions are really intresting. Moreover, Nintendo does actively participate in resolving the problems, we are lucky to have very good contact with them. This enermously helps the game development.

Great to not only see Ubisoft seeing negatives as positives, but also to hear that Nintendo is making sure the game is polished. Sounds great to me.

For all those reasons, the Wii platform is the one to be developing on right now!

Oh Ubisoft, how I love you.


Wii is not a next gen system the same way as PS3 and X-360. Wii is not powerful for graphics but in terms of controls this is the most powerful hardware on the market. Shooting and sword fighting have never been so real and immersive as with the Wii controller. And the best graphics ever will never deliver that.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

I can tell you we will definetly have split-screen modes and controls later!

But will we have online? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

No, no specific voice talent, just good actors.

Ok, so probably no David Duchovny.

Indeed. Developing a game, in a short time, on a yet unreleased system with unfinalized hardware, beings many uncertainties and means many a pizza dinner at the office! We are working very hard to make sure we deliver the best possible game for the Wii fans. However, it is tremendously exciting and motivating to play a part in the release of this really fresh gaming system.

Once again very nice words about Wii, and it's great to see Ubisoft is prepared to rise to the challenge.

Release the title for the launch of the console, see people having fun playing it, provide them with a new incredible FPS experience that is our primary objective. We are impatient of seeing people's reaction on our game. Then we will see where the franchise will go...

No real confirmation of a sequal, but it seems that they are confident enough to have a series.

You're right, it was. However, I just assumed that it was the same for the other weapons as well. But thinking it over again this really doesn't make sense. If all the othe weapons had a second delay as well, then that means that all the other games would have a second delay. That just won't work.