Hello Mr. Paul, welcome to Loomer's Neighborhood. Please feel free to make yourself comfy. First off, tell us a little about yourself and your role in the production of Battlezone.

I came onto Battlezone after most of the staff was onboard. For the most part, my job is to keep track of all the assets created by the designers, artists and programmers that go onto the final duplication CD and archive any important assets that may be needed later to enhance or patch the game. When I am not burning the latest version of the game I am filling the gaps in other ways.

As product coordinator, you must have had a daunting task of making sure things were running smoothly throughout the development cylce. What was the toughest challenge you faced along the way?

Just keeping up with the technology was a difficult task. We were making a game that had different art for both 3D accelerater cards and computers without 3D. The sound assets were actually very difficult because we had "3D sounds", such as engines and explosions, and we had "2D sounds", such as the command interface. Our game is compatible with "3D sound cards" thanks to the Aureal A3D drivers, so the sound volumes had to be tweaked and tested so they would play and not blow out other sounds.

Tell us a little about the earlier incarnations of the modern Battlezone and how different they were from the rolling epic that we have now.

Actually, I wasn't around when they were first starting out. When I came on board, most of the menu interface was in place. The graphics changed and the "cockpit" of the vehicles became 3 dimensional, but other than that, the game was much the same.

I know for a fact that you are a good person to ask this question. But could you tell us a little about the subtle differences of the foreign language versions of the games? I mean like the European Battlezone, the MiddleEastern Version, and the special limited edition Patrick Duffy voiceover version.

I am a terrible person to ask this question. Brian Diggs was the genius behind the many foreign languages.

Do you find time to enjoy playing other games? What are some of your recent favorites?

No, I hardly find time. I've been playing Tomb Raider II for 4 months and still don't have time to beat it. At work, I do play Quake II CTF with friends, and I did finish Final Fantasy VII. I'll probably play Starcraft after TRII.

Could you tell us a little about what going gold means to you.

It means in 7-10 days the game will be in stores. There is still work to be done, though.

Lastly, if you could lead the gaming industry in any direction you chose, what direction would that be? Do you see a continued intertwining of the RTS and Action-Sim genres?

I would do more quality games and less crap. Yes, I see the game business becoming more like the movie business. Instead of saying it's Die Hard meets Lethal Weapon, they'll say it's Quake meets Dark Reign (Battlezone).

Personally, I'd like to see Barbie Fashion Designer meets Duke Nukem 3D.