I wonder how target shooting will work and soccer... the rest looks cool and better than what has been done in the field of motion sport before....

Guys lets do a deal I am going to post the interview in these forums before it is published but when the interview is published officially you are going to share it with your friends and give it a visit.

What do you think about this deal? I post the interview before the official release and you promise me to share it

And BTW I told you guys that I will put the interview today nut due to my editor he will be posting it tommorrow I don't want to shatter your expectations therefore I will post the interview here

Sounds good to me, but if it is going to get you in trouble we can wait

No its not going to cause me in trouble. So should I do it then get ready

We had a chance to sit down and have a chat with Rune Dittmer( Studio Director ) at Press Play and discuss about their future projects, how they feel working under Microsoft and lot more.

What is Press Play ?

Press Play is a 25 man game development studio based in copenhagen denmark and they primarily work on games for WindowsPhone, Windows Pc's and Xbox as they are 100% owned by Microsoft. Their work include Max and The Magic Marker, Tentacles Enter The Dolphin and recently released title Max The Curse Of Brotherhood. They are also working on many unannounced games and we will come to know about these games in future. So Stay Tuned At Illgaming.in

What made Microsoft bought Press Play

When Microsoft purchased Press Play it left people wondering What made Microsoft buy this game studio because at that time studio was only one game old. So we finally have the answer here is the official statement "The creativity of studio, proven experience in Windwos platform and past experience of working with Microsoft lead to this acquisition. We were able to convince them that we were the team which will deliver content and remain super creative".

Is Microsoft Evil

We have seen few developers here and there who usually think Microsoft neglects new ideas and promotes building up of exisitng franchises but looks like all these reports are not right not in the case of Press Play. When Press Play was asked about Microsoft's handling of IPs (Intelluctual Property) they clearly said Microsoft supports them in all the creative ideas that are building inside the studio and Press Play will continue to work on the properties they have made so far and new games as well. Moreover Microsoft never pressurizes them to work on any franchises and always support new and creative ideas that are building inside the studio. Microsoft is a big publisher and has game studios of all sizes and kind. 343 industries and Turn 10 are example of big AAA franchise creators but on the other side Microsoft has smaller studios like Twisted Pixel and Press Play so we asked Rune how does Microsoft's handling differnet from big studios when compared to smaller one's. Rune believes most of these big studios work on franchises like Halo and Forza which generally symbolizes Xbox so the amount of attention they have is much more than what is given to downloadable title because the amount of money spent on these big AAA titles is huge.

You Love Platformers What About Other Genres

Press Play has previously worked on Max and Tentacles which are categorized as platformers but the question is can we see Press Play working on other genres. "As a studio we have a strong love for platformers in future we might develop games that may not be platformers but right now are focus is on platformers and innovating this genre. Platforming genre is much more broad than what most people think "Tomb Raider" and "Mario" both can be categorized as platformers and we could even to do a platfroming game with combat.

Press Play Will They Work On AAA Games

My experience with Max The Curse Of Brotherhood instanly made me fall in love with it and also left a desire to see an AAA Max with bigger budget and higher production values. So can we see Press Play doing AAA games. Press Play believes if you are smart about it you can definetely do an AAA game with a smaller studio they are expanding there studio but they think they will not be doing a game with Rs3500-4000( 60$ ) price tag as they are not in this space but they are exploring this field and there is no AAA Max currently in developmnet. Folks at Remedy are friends with Press Play and Remedy is not a big studio but bigger than Press Play and still works on AAA games and they even told us Quantum Break is going to be pretty spectacular.

Which Platformer Would You Like To Work ?

We know Press Play loves platformers and so we asked them If given a chance which platformer would they love to make and you all will be surprised to know the answer "Donkey Kong is my personal favourite but given we are a part of Microsoft I think we will never get to work on Donkey Kong and I think Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is one of the platformers ever made. If we were to choose from Microsoft Ips I would love to make a Banjo game because I feel Banjo series is fun and silly in a good way".

Kinect and Smartglass A Part Of Press Play

We all know Microsoft is pushing Kinect and Smartglass and is even in talks with many developers to make games specifically for Kinect and Smartglass but it looks like Press Play is not one of them. They believe their is a possibilty of making a kinect game in future but currently their is no Kinect Only title in development but they may use in Kinect in projects they are currently developing. Kinect is something Press Play would love to work on and they are discovering the possibilities of using Kinect, it has a lot of petential in it but on the othe hand it is risky too. If kinect is utilized in smart way Kinect can do some amazing stuff which would not be possible on controller. Multi-Screen functionality is also getting some buzz so what does Press Play think about it. Press does is looking into using multi-screen technology for their future projects and they are exploring smartglass features for their upcoming titles which they haven't announced yet. Smartglass does not fits well into every game so they need to think and evaluate it properly whether smartglass fits into their game or not.

Max The Curse Of Brotherhood Success And Problems

We enjoyed Max a lot but our problem was with controls as sometimes they failed to meet the expectations so can we see a different control input coming up for Max. Rune says our ambition with Max was to make a game with controller and it is a matter of perception, he further agrees that drawing with analog stick can sometimes feel unnatural though drawing with touch or Kinect would feel more natural but at the end these control schemes did not worked well with the game's nature as they did tried these control schemes early in the development. Challenges with these control schemes were more when compared to controller so they went with controller. Rune also mentions that Max The Curse Of Brotherhood has done pretty well in terms of commercial success and they expect the sales to boost in coming months as game will be available on Xbox 360 and Pc. They were happy with how community reacted to their game and are looking forward to implement user feedback in their upcoming titles but Rune feels critical reception of the game was a bit low( but we enjoyed the game a lot) as few reviewers gave it a low score, he continues by saying there is more value in the game than reviewers think and game deserves a higher score and he specifically mention's all the scores between 8-9 are justified.

Xbox Live And Cloud

Press Play has yet to release any title that utilizes Xbox Live but the team has official announced that there next title for Xbox One and Xbox 360 will be utilizing Xbox Live in some or the other way. It could either be a indication regarding leaderboards or a multiplayer functionality for their future titles. Xbox Live Cloud is something they are looking forward and believe Xbox Live Compute has a lot of potential and we would see that in coming years. He also praised Xbox Live Community saying they are very helpful and supportive.

Future Projects

Press Play is currently working on Tentacles Enter Into The Mind and few unannounced titles we might see these titles in coming months at PAX East. Tentacles will be released for Windows Pc's and Windows Phone. They are also planning to release another game in Holiday season for Xbox 360/One and it will be utilizing Xbox Live. Press Play also has some projects that are in very early stages and few are just concept right now and Press Play does not has any details to share regarding them except they will be released by Microsoft Studios.

3rd Party Studio or 1st Party

Pres Play was earlier a 3rd Party developer but now they work exclusively for Microsoft. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of working as 1st Party studio. Rune says as 1st Party studio we do not need worry about things like salary slips and we can focus on our goals rather than short term problems we might face. Money is no more the problem and we can take work on projects that required money and were risky. So the creative power of the team is on full display when working as a 1st party studio. The kind of projects Press Play are different, innovative and risky so it gives a secure feeling to them to work as a 1st party studio.

Do Reviews Matter ?

Rune believes reviews are not that important for a gamer to buy a game other factors like game content and quality are the most important aspect for a gamer when looking to buy a game but somewhere in mind he has a feeling bad reviews for Max The Curse Of Brotherhood could have hurted game's sales. When asked what matters a developer more Community or Reviewers Rune says community is definetely more important as they are going to support the game and make future titles better because of their feedback but he mentions that many reviewers are part of many game communities and he frequently visits gaming websites for news and updates.

Final words from Press Play

Wait for PAX East 2014 we might have something special for you guys.

Guys don't talk about this interview outside this forum till the time we officially release it becuase we still need to do some touching

Good work there buddy, interesting read. Looking forward to seeing their holiday XB1 game!

Thanks I hope I was able to answer your questions and lived upto your expectations I wanted to ask them more questions but I only had a time cap of 30mins I hope you guys understand

Waiting for PAX East :) Them mentioning a holiday 2014 release is great to hear, so hopefully we see what it is during PAX..


Good job Jag :)

I know. They seem like a platformer focused team, naturally Banjo and Kameo would be in good hands if ever handed down to them by MS.