http://www.ps3land.com/article-569.php

If you have never heard of Pandemic Studios, let me enlighten you. Pandemic Studios started back in 1998 with Josh Resnick (now company president) and Andrew Goldman (who is now CEO). Both at the time were working at Activision, but soon after had a vision to start their own independent development studio which would run as a branch of Activison.

In 1998, Pandemic released their first two titles Battlezone II and Dark Reign 2, sequels to Activison's games.

Well, so enough of that, on to the interview:

PS3Land: What does Pandemic typically look for in a new hire?

Pandemic: Pandemic looks for people with passion, creativity and a desire to grow. Currently the Los Angeles studio is seeking engineers with complex/advanced animation experience and designers with extensive game playing experience, a strong understanding of current game technology, and excellent conceptual thinking and communication skills. Creative problem solving and organizational skills as well as the ability to work well in a team environment are essential at Pandemic as well.

PS3Land: Recently news is reporting that Mercenaries 2 is no longer a PS3 exclusive. Is this true and why?

Pandemic: To date, only the PS3 version has been announced. There are a lot of speculation and rumors about porting the title to other consoles from fans but nothing else has been confirmed. There is a lot of anticipation for Mercenaries 2 from fans of all consoles alike.

PS3Land: Are there currently any other games in development other than Mercenaries 2?

Pandemic: Pandemic Studios is currently working on Mercenaries 2, Destroy All Humans! 2 and three secret projects (dubbed Projects B, X and Y) that will be determined later on.

PS3Land: What is the basic storyline behind Mercenaries 2?

Pandemic: The basic storyline and setting is a power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a warzone. Matthias and his crew from the first Mercenaries is called to Venezuela to get into the action. Which faction they decide to work for is all up to the player.

PS3Land: How many characters will be included to play as? Any background story?

Pandemic: All 3 returning Mercenaries will be playable, as well as a new team member named Eva. More about their background will be released shortly.

PS3Land: New and returning weapons?

Pandemic: We will be releasing details soon

PS3Land: What are going to be some of the newest features in Mercenaries 2?

Pandemic: More features will be announced soon, but one of the features that we’re most excited about is the element of fire. It’s a living, breathing entity in Mercs 2 that can be used as a weapon, a barrier and more.

Here’s the full features set:
- Cooperative Multiplayer! Play the main Mercenaries 2 campaign with the help of your friends.
- Play with fire! Ground breaking, general purpose fire technology lets you set fire to buildings, vehicles and people. Shoot holes in the sides of fuel trucks, watch the oil spill under the feet of unsuspecting enemies and light it on fire with a match!
- Travel over/under water! Don’t worry about drowning ever again: use watercraft or swim to traverse the oceans, rivers and lakes of Mercenaries 2.
- Build your own Private Military Company! Increase and customize your support options by recruiting other mercenaries you meet in the game!
- A massive, reactive, and completely unscripted game world! The world of Mercenaries 2 is larger than all of the maps of the first game combined and is jam-packed full of colorful characters and environments. And this time, every action you make has ramifications throughout the entire country.
- Cool new toys! Dozens of weapons, vehicles and support options are available for to use to blow the crap out of everything! Use the new grappling hook to latch on to flying vehicles and commandeer them in the sky!
- Work for the highest bidder! Clients will offer you money, information and other resources in exchange for your services – provided you haven’t done anything to piss them off!

PS3Land: What is the best thing about next gen consoles, specifically the PS3, that enables great game development?

Pandemic: The sheer processing power of next gen consoles allows developers a blank check to create whatever their imaginations come up with.

PS3Land: Is PS3 hard to develop for?

Pandemic: There is always where developers [sic] test new consoles on how far they can push its limits and so far the Pandemic team has been really excited about all the cool new things they are now capable of doing thanks to the PS3’s processing power.

PS3Land: If you would like to add anything else about Mercenaries 2 that would be great. Like for example: vehicles, multiplayer features, how the PS3 and Xbox will run multiplayer, etc.

Pandemic: Pandemic Studios is asking its fans to contribute to the development of Mercenaries 2. The Mercs 2 online community has regular contests asking fans for user generated content, many of which will appear and be credited in the final game. Our first contest asked fans to design a tattoo for Matthias and the winner, along with his design, was featured in the monthly Mercs 2 newsletter (which also features exclusive previews of the game). Fans can join the community for free at Mercs2.com.

We appreciate Pandemics time in completing this email interview

Pandemic工作室于1998年由Josh Resnick（现总裁）与Andrew Goldman（现CEO）两人成立，他们当时都在Activision工作，后来两人合作，组成了一个属于Activision旗下的独立工作室。

98年，Pandemic制作了两部最初的作品，终极战区2（Battlezone2）和暗黑统治2（Dark Reign2），这两部PC游戏都是Activision的名作的续作。

PS3Land：Pandemic最近有特别要寻求新雇员？你们要寻找什么类型的人才？

Pandemic：我们寻求有激情，充满创造力以及有着成长的动力的人。现在LA分部在招募有复杂且高阶的动画制作经验的工程师以及有着丰富游戏经验的设计师。他们需要了解当前游戏强大的技术，拥有良好的沟通技巧和理念，富于创造性的解决问题的能力以及组织能力，良好的团队工作环境至关重要。

PS3Land：最近有小道消息称，雇佣兵2（Mercenaries 2）将不再是PS3的独占游戏？

Pandemic：目前我们只公布PS3版的制作。有很多猜测和流言称M2将会在其他主机上推出，我们官方不承认这些说法。我们同样知道，各个主机上都有相当多的玩家对M2报有期待。

PS3LAND：除了M2，贵社最近还有进行什么项目的开发吗？

Pandemic：我们目前在制作M2，毁灭全人类2，以及另外三款新作，关于新作，现在保密，不久我们会公布进一步的消息。

PS3LAND：M2的剧情大意是怎样的？

Pandemic：一个对力量无限渴望的暴政，染指委内瑞拉的石油资源而对其发动侵略，将其变为战区。一代里Matthias和他的下属们来到此地开工，具体站在哪一方，那是玩家们要自己决定的事情。

PS3LAND：有几个人物可供选择？他们各自的背景故事呢？

Pandemic：一代里的三名战士都会登场，以及一名新加入的雇佣兵——Eva，他们的背景故事将会在不久后放出。

PS3Land：武器方面呢？

Pandemic：武器的资料现在还不能揭露

PS3Land：有什么关于M2的特别的新元素可以揭露一下呢？

Pandemic：我们最近就会公布新的要素。我特别想要提一下的就是M2中的火焰设定。我们对于M2的“火”非常的激动，它是一种活生生的，会呼吸的实体，在游戏中火焰可以成为武器，防护或是更加多样的用途。

这里是目前可以公布的新要素：
-多人连线合作模式。可以通过网络与朋友们一起完成M2的任务
-玩火吧！破坏地形！通用的纵火技术使你可以点燃敌人的建筑物，车辆以及士兵。将油罐车引燃，然后观赏着四溅的原油在不知情的敌人脚下突然燃起的壮观景象！
-水上水下通行无阻。M2中不用再担心“落水即死”这个从早期GTA那里继承的坏习惯了，在M2里可以使用水中交通工具，或者干脆直接游泳穿越江河。
-打造自己的私人雇佣军公司。在游戏中招募其他的雇佣兵，组建自己的公司，丰富兵力支援选项。
-巨大的，富于交互性的，完全未经剧本固定设定的游戏世界。M2的世界比起M1所有地图加起来还要大得多，里面充斥着各色各样的人物和丰富多变的环境。你的每一个行动都会在整个国家里造成不同的分支出现。
-新装备多多。多样的武器，交通工具和后方支援使你尽情的虐待敌人。使用新加入的工具“抓钩”，使自己挂在飞机上，在空中指挥它们
-为了最高的价码来开工。顾客们有时会给你钱，有时会给你咨讯，或是其他的资源来换取你的服务，不要做什么蠢事来激怒顾客！

PS3Land：次时代，尤其是PS3，在开发工程中最令你们欣慰的是什么?

Pedemic：次时代主机强大纯粹的处理机能，就好像是给了我们一张空白支票，完全由我们自己的想象力来填写。

PS3land：PS3游戏的开发十分困难吗？

Pedemic：不同程度的开发商在新主机上面对着：“对于自身究竟能够将自己的开发极限扩展到多远”的测试。我们Pedemic，对我们可以制作出来的很酷的新东西感到十分激动，这多亏了PS3强大机能的保障。

PS3land：你对M2还有什么特别的推荐吗？比如交通工具啦，多人模式啦等等。

Pedemic：我们同时还邀请了玩家来参与贡献M2的制作。M2的官网举办了一系列的竞赛，而结果将大部分出现在最终游戏里。比如我们的第一项竞赛：请广大的fans设计Matthias身上的纹身，优胜者可以出现在我们每月的M2新闻公报里，来Mercs2.com可以免费注册加入社区。

PS3land：感谢Pedmic接受我们的访问。




现在唯一的一段视频
http://www.gametrailers.com/play ... ype=wmv&pl=game

Pedemic：不同程度的开发商在新主机上面对着：“对于自身究竟能够将自己的开发极限扩展到多远”的测试。我们Pedemic，对我们可以制作出来的很酷的新东西感到十分激动，这多亏了PS3强大机能的保障。


那你倒是把画面整好点啊

同问

模棱两可 啊

怎么看这比起ea的army of two那么寒碜呢？不是号称只用了3成机能的那贴里面的图看这挺体面的么？

引用:

原帖由 cangying 于 2006-8-17 18:28 发表
同问

说一个事实：Pandemic 和 BioWare已经在U2主唱那个互动娱乐业投资公司的大把美元下“合并”了。依然保留了各自的厂牌和作品系列，但会更多在技术和人才上互相交流、资源整合

BioWare在忙 Mass Effect

这么说bioware有可能脱离ms第二方的身份？

引用:

原帖由 爱你一棒陲 于 2006-8-17 19:53 发表
这么说bioware有可能脱离ms第二方的身份？

以过去、现在和未来 BioWare 与 Microsoft Game Stuidos 的恩爱关系，怎么可能呢？

从影响力而言，也是BioWare的名气要比Pandemic强……

BioWare出名是靠BG，但拿下最多大奖，卖得最好的无疑是KotOR

暴力的？

这画面很差吗
到没见过什么XO同类游戏能达到这画面效果

空白支票等于一张废纸 ， 写多少又没有什么用 。   是不是在讽刺 ps3，吹牛 可以 无限吹，不过终究 象 一张 空白支票 一样 ， 骗骗 不懂 的人 。

引用:

原帖由 真伪NINTENDOFANS 于 2006-8-17 23:01 发表
这画面很差吗
到没见过什么XO同类游戏能达到这画面效果

这游戏刚出现"据说"全平台的时候,说画面差的人可是骆绎不绝,难道大家都对ps3独占游戏比较宽容?

竟然说空白支票写多少都没什么用，不得不汗一下.....

引用:

原帖由 tdkgtm 于 2006-8-17 18:26 发表
Pedemic：不同程度的开发商在新主机上面对着：“对于自身究竟能够将自己的开发极限扩展到多远”的测试。我们Pedemic，对我们可以制作出来的很酷的新东西感到十分激动，这多亏了PS3强大机能的保障。


那你倒是 ...

这游戏还没岀，等游戏岀了再喷不迟。