Shifting Gears

Although Mark Rein was at GDC this year, he wasn't the one making headlines - for once. The outspoken Epic Games vice president has become known for his controversial opinions, and for comments which he's claimed were taken out of context.

That's what he says happened in November 2005, when Rein was accused of slating the Nintendo Wii - he later did an interview with GamesIndustry.biz to set the record straight.

But at GDC 2007, it was Definition 6 founder Chris Hecker who made the news when he stood up on stage to launch an attack on the Wii more vitriolic than anything Rein had to say (Hecker has since retracted his comments).

For Rein, speaking to GI.biz at GDC, it's a relief. "Thank goodness someone else is saying something controversial! Although he went over the top, I would certainly never have said that," he says.

"The thing is, the journalists - sorry - they want to cause a row every time..." But in defence of the press, is it journalists who want to cause rows, or readers who want to hear about them? "Well, there you go - it's chicken and egg."

Back to Hecker's comments: "I think he's just wrong. I bought two of them, so I'd be a sucker if I agreed with him wouldn't I?" Rein continues, explaining that he also has two PS3s and two 360s - one for home and one for the office.

"The comments I said [in 2005], if you take them in the context I actually said them in, were true. There are certainly going to be lots of games that are gimmicky, but as I said, Nintendo has made some great games for it. Wii Sports is great, Zelda is great, Wii Play is a blast... Those games that people make specifically for that platform, they're always going to be good."

Rein also has positive things to say about PlayStation 3, and some strong words for Sony's critics. "People just seem to want to take a smack at them, and I can't figure it out. They're the leader, so I guess they have a target on their back."

Take the issue of stock supplies, Rein says - "So wait, if they don't have enough machines in stores, that's a bad thing? If they do have enough machines, that's a bad thing? Pick one!

"The PlayStation brand is very, very strong, and maybe you and I, who are in the games industry, maybe we over-read the press - but the gamers out there, they aspire to buy a new PlayStation.

"I went to a Target store a month or two ago and I was in the electronics area, and a non-typical gamer looking guy walks in the store and asks for a PlayStation 3. I walked up to him and asked him why he wasn't buying an Xbox 360, and he said, 'Well, I had a PlayStation 2, it was awesome - I would never think of buying an Xbox.'"

However, Rein concedes, the PlayStation 3's high price point may put some consumers off at the start of the console cycle.

"Yeah, it's a high price, because it's a new, high-end piece of equipment - but history shows that price will come down... They probably won't all buy one when it's $600 or $500, but when it's $400, $300, when the software they like is out - they'll start buying them.

"Motorstorm has come out, it's a great title. As the big titles come out, they're going to sell a bunch of machines. When PlayStation Home comes out, they'll sell a bunch of machines."

All in all, Rein concludes, PlayStation still has the edge as the next-gen console battle gets underway.

"Sony has a very, very strong brand, so in my opinion, they're still the one to beat. The Wii is an impressive piece of hardware, but as you get the visually more impressive games coming out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, as the marketing dollars get turned up to support the larger quantities of machines, and with potential price drops, titles like Singstar which appeal to the larger market... Those machines will ignite, they'll take off and they'll sell just fine."

So, if Rein's so confident about the PS3, why not produce a console-exclusive title? After all, Epic has enjoyed huge success with Gears of War - it became the fastest-selling Xbox 360 game following its release last November, with more than 2 million copies sold in under a month.

"The Xbox 360 thing was very much a function of Microsoft coming to us back before Gears really was Gears - it was a prototype of a game we wanted to do in Unreal Engine 2. They came and said, 'Look, we want this to be one of the early, standout games on our new system.' At the time, we didn't actually know the specs of the new system, so it was a bit of a gamble," Rein reveals.

"It was never pitched 'You'll be our Halo' or anything like that, but we thought, if we could be like a Halo to them, that level of importance - that more than pays for the fact that it's on one platform. So that was kind of the dream in the beginning. Then 360 came along and it was a really good system, so that was clearly an amazing opportunity for us."

According to Rein, Epic won't be making a platform exclusive for PS3 - but that's to do with timing rather than the console's specs. "I think that bird has flown the coop already on PlayStation 3 - they're not making launch titles any more, and we couldn't just start up a game tomorrow as an exclusive because it takes a few years.

"We are doing games for PS3 - Unreal Tournament - but I think the opportunity to do an exclusive has passed. I don't see Sony offering us a really great deal today to make that ass-kicking PlayStation 3 game, because by the time we finished, there would already be hundreds of great games on the platform. Gran Turismo, Killzone - they'll be on the sequels to those games by the time our game would come out, so it's just a timing thing.

"For the next generation? Anything could happen... But that's five, six, seven, eight, nine years away, nobody even knows that yet."