Interview Brian Fargo and Thomas Beekers interviewed by Guy Cocker

[Infinitron]

Tags: Brian Fargo; Brother None; InXile Entertainment; Wasteland 2

Following in the footsteps of their comrades from Obsidian, Brian Fargo and his faithful underling Thomas "Brother None" Beekers recently visited London, where they too were interviewed by Wired UK's Guy Cocker. As before, much of the interview is dedicated to general gaming industry gossip, with only about 13 minutes (from around 16:45 to 30:05) of actual Wasteland 2 discussion.

There's not much new information about the game itself in those 15 minutes, but Brian does reveal that the game's final Early Access update is due to release this week. He also reveals that the game's release might be delayed until September, due to physical distribution-related reasons. Tsk tsk.

To me, though, the most enjoyable part of the interview was listening to Brian and Thomas geek out about a bunch of post-apocalyptic movies. Did you know that Interplay nearly secured the rights to develop the Mad Max 4 video game back in the 90s? Not that it would have ever actually been made, of course.

 

[thesheeep]

Am I the only one who prefers reading texts A LOT to hearing people talk?
At least for interviews.

 

[Infinitron]

Am I the only one who prefers reading texts A LOT to hearing people talk?
At least for interviews.

No, I daresay it'd be harder to find people who don't prefer text.

 

[StaticSpine]

Wired UK's Guy Cocker.

At first I've read "Weird Guy Cocker"

 

[thesheeep]

Probably a relative of Weird Al.

 

[Infinitron]

More Wasteland 2 UK media blitzing at Kotaku.uk: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2014/07/30/wasteland-2-almost-many-words-bible

It seems from talking to him that Fargo has kept close control over Wasteland 2's tone, and though he has not restricted the writers in terms of subject matter, he has attempted to preserve its maturity. "I’ve removed stuff I thought was juvenile," he says, "like a guy called the Sperminator, or something like that." Wasteland 2 isn't lazy about the choices it offers players, and it mustn't be lazy in its writing, either.

 

[Jaesun]

Well, I have the name of my first Character when I play Wasteland 2.....

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Is anyone sick of reading about how awesome they think they are for two and a half years now? Just make the game and shut up already with all the self-aggrandizement.

 

[sea]

More Wasteland 2 UK media blitzing at Kotaku.uk: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2014/07/30/wasteland-2-almost-many-words-bible

It seems from talking to him that Fargo has kept close control over Wasteland 2's tone, and though he has not restricted the writers in terms of subject matter, he has attempted to preserve its maturity. "I’ve removed stuff I thought was juvenile," he says, "like a guy called the Sperminator, or something like that." Wasteland 2 isn't lazy about the choices it offers players, and it mustn't be lazy in its writing, either.

The character's still in the game, he got renamed.

Free Bard's Tale key to anyone who can figure it out.

 

[felipepepe]

Mods will fix it.

 

[Zed]

"oh nice I'll be able to listen to this on my phone" - android chrome refuses to play flash media. Thx open source movement

 

[Infinitron]

More Wasteland 2 UK media blitzing at Kotaku.uk: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2014/07/30/wasteland-2-almost-many-words-bible

It seems from talking to him that Fargo has kept close control over Wasteland 2's tone, and though he has not restricted the writers in terms of subject matter, he has attempted to preserve its maturity. "I’ve removed stuff I thought was juvenile," he says, "like a guy called the Sperminator, or something like that." Wasteland 2 isn't lazy about the choices it offers players, and it mustn't be lazy in its writing, either.

The character's still in the game, he got renamed.

Free Bard's Tale key to anyone who can figure it out.

Haha, Brother None told me who it is, but I won't say.

P.S. I forgot to say, the podcast also reveals the name of the game's main villain. At the very end.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

More Wasteland 2 UK media blitzing at Kotaku.uk: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2014/07/30/wasteland-2-almost-many-words-bible

It seems from talking to him that Fargo has kept close control over Wasteland 2's tone, and though he has not restricted the writers in terms of subject matter, he has attempted to preserve its maturity. "I’ve removed stuff I thought was juvenile," he says, "like a guy called the Sperminator, or something like that." Wasteland 2 isn't lazy about the choices it offers players, and it mustn't be lazy in its writing, either.

This right here shows that the game will be a mess. Most of the writers I'm sure are hipsters who go over the top with immaturity, goofiness, and meta references. It will be just like a horrid indie game.

At least the Larian guys don't go over the top with their pop culture references and meta content and have elegant writing to go along with it. They know how not to make it cringe worthy. These guys get it. I have no hope that InXile does. Belgium, the country of incline comic books and storied artists like Jacques Brel, surely has a much better culture than most of America, whose culture is now based on popular YouTube videos and Gawker. I'm now expecting a ton of cringe-worthy stuff.

 

[sea]

"oh nice I'll be able to listen to this on my phone" - android chrome refuses to play flash media. Thx open source movement

Try this: http://traffic.libsyn.com/guycocker/Episode_39_-_inXile_Entertainment.mp3

 

[tuluse]

At least the Larian guys don't go over the top with their pop culture references and meta content and have elegant writing to go along with it.

 

[Metro]

Oh, so now it's Thomas Beekers? All grown up and not using any nom de guerres.

 

[commie]

Free Bard's Tale key to anyone who can figure it out.

That's a reason to NOT want to figure it out if ever there was one.

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

Is anyone sick of reading about how awesome they think they are for two and a half years now? Just make the game and shut up already with all the self-aggrandizement.

I too am angry that [BUSINESS] is trying to create publicity for [PRODUCT].

 

[mikaelis]

More Wasteland 2 UK media blitzing at Kotaku.uk: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2014/07/30/wasteland-2-almost-many-words-bible

It seems from talking to him that Fargo has kept close control over Wasteland 2's tone, and though he has not restricted the writers in terms of subject matter, he has attempted to preserve its maturity. "I’ve removed stuff I thought was juvenile," he says, "like a guy called the Sperminator, or something like that." Wasteland 2 isn't lazy about the choices it offers players, and it mustn't be lazy in its writing, either.

The character's still in the game, he got renamed.

Free Bard's Tale key to anyone who can figure it out.

I REQUEST A NEW TAG FOR sea

edit:
Very good and funny interview. Brother None will get some love and hate here

 

[Sensuki]

Apparently the overall budget was double the KS money.

 

[tuluse]

Apparently the overall budget was double the KS money.

This has already been covered in the W2 thread. However, it's not double the KS money, it's double the "original budget" Which was KS - physical goods and fees.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Apparently the overall budget was double the KS money.

And to think Brian Fargo was telling in the beginning that $700 000 was more than enough, yeah right.

 

[Sensuki]

Apparently the overall budget was double the KS money.

This has already been covered in the W2 thread. However, it's not double the KS money, it's double the "original budget" Which was KS - physical goods and fees.

Yeah that's what I meant. Probably somewhere around 4 millions

 

[crawlkill]

Tbut Brian does reveal that the game's final Early Access update is due to release this week. He also reveals that the game's release might be delayed until September, due to physical distribution-related reasons

the guy's gotta do what he's gotta do to make his company money, I get that, but c'mon. people are gonna look back at this kind of announcement in ten years and be completely baffled that anyone would even want hard copies, let alone that a release would be delayed over them.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

I thought the idea behind getting Deep Silver involved was for them to handle the hassles of physical distribution. Although I suppose the problem could be caused by Inexile not getting the final version to them in good time.