Sci-fi and fantasy may not always hold BioWare’s interest, Ray Muzyka reveals they’re ”interested in contemporary settings,” and it’s ”safe to say” there’s potential.
Meanwhile BioWare has had some time with Project Natal at EA, ”got to check it out hands-on” before E3 and ”thought it was pretty cool.” Is ”exceptionally interesting” as a platform add-on.
Could Natal fit with BioWare? ”It could, yeah. I think it applies very much to an emotionally-engaging narrative and a story-driven game. Fulfilling characterisation more completely in games is I guess a way to achieve that,” mused Muzyka, responding to GamesIndustry.biz.
”I got a demo of Project Natal before E3. So I got to check it out hands-on at EA with some other folks, and I thought it was pretty cool. We didn’t get to go to the Microsoft or Sony booths unfortunately because we were booked in meetings, but I read some of the announcements and saw some of the feedback and responses.”
”It’s very interesting. And Natal looks exceptionally interesting as a platform extension. I think it’s a really powerful idea,” he said.
”It’s really just obvious that the thing preventing us from branching into a broader audience is the interface, is the ability of how you access the content,” Greg Zeschuk piped in.
”I think it’s two dimensions. One is breaking down the barrier, the interface barrier for lack of a better way of describing it. The other one is actually seamless emotional engagement,” added Muzyka.
Will BioWare ever choose to leave sci-fi and fantasy behind for something more modern day? ”We’re interested in a variety of settings. We’ve already pursued a few different ones too. Jade Empire was very different for example from Mass Effect or Dragon Age,” explained co-founder Muzyka.
”We are interested in contemporary settings. We haven’t announced anything on that front, but it’s safe to say that we think it’s rich with possibility as well.” Could the world even begin to fathom an almost real-life game from BioWare? It just seems so… alien.
