Welcome to the chopping block Mr. Chen! Lets begin shall we? First off, could you tell us a little about your self and your role in Battlezone?

Well, I was the Shell Programmer for Battlezone. Basically, I was responsible for all the user interface outside of the sim, the mission select screens, configuration screens, save functionality, you know, all that stuff.

As a programmer for what undoubtably is the best mixture of RTS and First Person Action to date, was it hard to be well versed in both arenas of programming? I mean, typically there are GREAT first person programmers, and great RTS programmers, but you don't see a game that incorporates two genres very often. Was this a challenge to the coding of Battlezone?

I'd say it was a difficult task. Not only do you have to support large numbers of units or objects in the world as in an RTS game, but you've got to keep a respectable frame rate to keep the first person action fun.

The big question on everyone's mind has got to be, "How much of the original code from Battlezone the arcade game was used?"

Uh...As far as I know. The answer would be "Zippo". But who knows, maybe that crazy Ken used a bit here and there just for kicks.

As the producers and designers were feeding the programmers with their grand vision of Battlezone, did you ever think that the mixuture of RTS and first person may not turn out the way they envisioned?

When I first heard the idea behind Battlezone, prior to joining the team, I was kind of skeptical, but also intrigued by the whole notion. There just seemed to be too many differences between the two genres for anybody to be able to join them. How the hell do you control a large number of units like an RTS game in a first person game environment? How do you give commands to buildings? When I joined the team midway through the development process, they had already designed and implemented the control interface. After playing the build once or twice, their vision became very clear to me. I got to hand it to the designers. The interface really made it work.

What do you think about the other games out on the market now? Do you think that gaming has lost it's 'inspiration' from the 'golden age' of computer gaming? Or will we continue to see gems like Battlezone come out that can still redefine computer gaming.

It seems to me that the game industry is following a "me too" trend. Anytime a successful game comes out, there are a multiple number of clones right around the corner. The real innovative and new ideas seem to be few and far between.

Ok, we hear the jokes about programmers being anti-social techo-nerds who have no love other than the almighty code. Here's your chance to set the issue straight. It's Friday night, you're sitting in your cube and lo and behold Kate Winslet calls! Do you try to finish squashing this really pesky bug in the game, or do you take the call?

What, are you kidding?! I'll take any excuse I can to get away from the code - though I'd probably be more excited if it was Winona Ryder, or maybe Meg Ryan, or even.... Uh....anyway, yeah, I'd take the call.

Have you ever gotten like a birthday or Christmas present from someone that just really is ugly! Like a little coffee table statue that is in the shape of ALF (with real fur!), and every time the person who gave it to you comes over they expect to see it on the table?

People tend to give me stuff that you can't really put on display. I'm not talking about ugly decorations or anything, but like gift certificates and stuff. Sure, I could pin those to the wall, but I'd rather use them.

How much design input do the programmers have? Do you ever have to set those Producers and designers straight on what can and can't be done?

Usually, it requires a beating or two before the designers will accept any input from the programmers. In the case of Battlezone, the designers had a pretty good idea of what they wanted to do given the current technology at hand, so the beatings were minimal.

Lastly, the reviews coming in for Battlezone have been nothing short of phenomenal. What do you think is the key to making such a successful game?

In the case of Battlezone, I'd have to say that a large part of its success was due to the talented people on the team. It was really a great experience to work with them. Their commitment to making a quality game was one of the main reasons the game turned out so well.