GamersInfo.net: Immediately upon viewing the trailer, it becomes apparent that Cold Winter is a heavily cinematic game. Purely from a storytelling perspective, where have you drawn your influences, both in terms of films and other games?

Julian Widdows: The biggest influence has got to have been Warren Ellis, the comic book genius, with whom we collaborated on this and our previous title, 'Hostile Waters'. We draw from a wide range of other sources, however, including TV, film, books - really anything and everything we can get our hands on. The biggest difference with the way we tell stories as compared to other games is that as much as we're able we allow the player to experience the front-story, their story, first hand and the then the detailed back story through cinematics. This ensures that even for people who don't want to get involved in a detailed narrative they can understand the basics of the plot and make sensible progress from one part of the game to another. For the people who do enjoy game narrative, however, it's there in spades. The way we tell the John Grey story through disjointed flash-back cinematics is quite different and something gamers are responding really well to.

GamersInfo.net: Many FPS titles struggle to rise above mindless explosions by telling a good story. What were some of the challenges you faced in stitching together fun gameplay and good plot?

Julian Widdows: As I mentioned in the previous answer, the tack we took in 'Hostile Waters' and subsequently in 'Cold Winter' was effectively an elective one. Basically if gamers want to become embroiled in the story, want to learn how the whole mess came to pass then they can through the cut-scenes found at the end of each level. If players want to avoid this, however, and simply play the game as a pure shooter then they can. This allows the player to take away from 'Cold Winter' the experience their after - we're not out to dictate what people should do with the experience once people have paid good money and the game's in their hands.

GamersInfo.net: Tradeoffs must always be made in a development, and it seems Cold Winter stresses solid gameplay, story and technical feats like physics. For those that are drawn in by artistry and stunning graphics, what does Cold Winter have to offer?

Julian Widdows: 'Cold Winter' has a pretty unique look for a PS2 shooter. We've used lightmaps and a huge amount of particle effects to portray a world that's dirty, grimy, and dark. So many PS2 shooters have a really clean, sanitized look, and this is something we wanted to avoid with 'Cold Winter'. We wanted this to be about looking right at the belly of the world of dark ops - a slice through the real world of international espionage.

GamersInfo.net: The console market dwarfs the PC game market, but FPS seem to be one of the last bastions of PC gaming. What prompted you to make a game that appears so heavily influenced by PC shooters for the PS2 exclusively? With that in mind, will we ever see it on other platforms?

Julian Widdows: Ha, well, in reverse order, I can't say for sure whether you'll see 'Cold Winter' on other platforms, that's Vivendi's decision, not ours, but you're right in saying that we've been heavily influenced by PC shooters. We've been fans of fps games in general for a long time now, originally starting with games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom2, Half-life on the PC, but more recently the new wave of console shooters and in particular the stunning HALO 1. When we started 'Cold Winter' we didn't feel the PS2 had had a really top quality PC style shooter experience, a more measured, tactical, dark and mature game than the glossy console offerings you see released month after month, and this was something we were very keen on brining to the PS2. Why the PS2? We make games we want people to play, and ultimately the largest installed audience by some degree is on the PS2. The marriage made perfect sense.

GamersInfo.net: Personally, I enjoy shooters on the PC due to the mouse. What would you say to someone like myself as to why they would enjoy Cold Winter?

Julian Widdows: As you rightly point out your enjoyment of a shooter is almost entirely dependent on the control system you use to play the game. By some degree the biggest barrier to entry for shooter, therefore, is the controls. Get the controls wrong and people are going to abandon the game in droves - get the controls right and the experience should be clean and straightforward to get into. We spent a huge amount of time near the outset of the project working on the controls, implementing these before anything else. Since then we've put in place systems to assist the player without snapping the crosshair around the screen - a dynamic we hate in other shooters and would have shuddered to have included in 'Cold Winter' - there's a very subtle sticky crosshair system that helps targeting without ever feeling like you've lost control of the game. We've included a very steady speed ramp on the turn so that you never lose control of the crosshair. We calibrate the Y axis automatically at the start of the game to be sure it's an invisible experience that doesn't involve player involvement. And throughout the development cycle we've constantly evolved the schema to respond to focus group feedback. As much thought as has gone into the rest of the game, has gone into the controls. It is, after, the foundation upon which the rest of the game is built.

GamersInfo.net: A strong emphasis has been placed on character in your game. From where was the original concept of Andrew Sterling drawn and how has he evolved over the course of the development?

Julian Widdows: We wanted Sterling to be more mature than most game heroes; we wanted him to feel the knocks and the scrapes, to be experienced, cynical even, yet have the ability to show the wisdom of his years. He was influenced by characters such as Richard Kimbal in 'The Fugitive'; the entire crew of Alan Moore's 'Watchmen', to an extent. Over the course of the game's development Sterling has actually been pretty constant - when you create characters they tend to lie flat until you pen the first dialogue, at which point they start to flesh out into three dimensions. This was the biggest development for the character - when he had dialogue and when Nat Parker recorded for the first time - generally though, he's remained pretty constant.

GamersInfo.net: I often find that in an FPS, once I beat it, the single player aspects gather dust. Ignoring for the moment multiplayer, what steps have been taken to ensure that players will enjoy playing through the single player campaign over and over?

Julian Widdows: First and foremost you have the difficulty level system. There are four difficulty levels in 'Cold Winter', ranging from Amateur through Elite. Each of these not only offers a progressively more difficult challenge, but also a different tactical experience. They really do play very, very differently from each other. Then there are all the intelligence items to discover, the combined items to find, the hidden weapons……what we really hope, however, is that once people have finished the game on Normal they'll come back and try the harder difficulty levels. This is how we enjoy the game and the way we'd like to see a lot of gamers finish the game.

GamersInfo.net: One core defining feature, according to your website, is the advanced and realistic enemy AI featured in Cold Winter. Obviously, this is a boast gamers hear a lot. Can you provide us with some narrative examples of what truly sets your AI apart?

Julian Widdows: The key thing with the AI in 'Cold Winter' is that we've effectively developed a true AI system that thinks for itself with very little help from scripting and certainly no cheating. Each time the bots respond to game stimuli, therefore, they go through a decision making process before their actions are translated into on-screen action. This creates a more dynamic and yet organic play experience that unfolds differently every time. The benefits of this are clear: firstly, it's hard for the player to master the attack patterns of the bots as they respond differently depending on the exact circumstances of the player's attack; secondly, it means the player can't break the AI by doing something the designers hadn't accurately predicted. This is very much the danger with pre-scripted AI - the problem being that when this happens it totally breaks the player's sense of belief in the world, it breaks immersion and disengages the player from the experience, something we've worked really hard to eliminate in all areas of the game.

So what will you actually see the bots doing in 'Cold Winter'? First and foremost what sets them apart is that they the use cover effectively - all the bots have an awareness of the environment, know what they can use as static cover, what they can use as physical cover, know how to get into cover. You regularly see the bots in 'Cold Winter' drop behind a post and start firing from this cover position, then move up to a closer or better firing position when you're reloading, which looks and plays amazingly. Then there's their awareness of other bots in the immediate area - if another bot uses a grenade they are aware of this and will act accordingly, sometimes charging through smoke and definitely holding back if a frag grenade has been put into play. This awareness extends to their ability to learn from the other bots mistakes. If a bot sees another bot mown down when it charges round a corner, for instance, it will take longer to make the decision to come round that corner itself, holding back to see if you will break cover first. As the time a bot takes to come and give back up also depends on its rank and skill level, the end result can be different every time you play. Take out all the lower ranked bots and the higher ranks will be very, very reluctant to come and flush you out - great if you're low on health and need some recovery time, but it does mean that they have the tactical advantage when you break cover. Collectively these systems, and many, many more give the AI in 'Cold Winter' a really unique feel when you're playing.

GamersInfo.net: Apart from Andrew Sterling, the website also features some other characters. How will they play into the game?

Julian Widdows: Firstly there's Kim, your closest ally. Kim is the female lead and someone we eventually discover Sterling has history with. Kim is with you through the majority of the game, giving Sterling advice through his in-ear comms unit - talking as the missions unfold and helping punctuate important game events. After the initial rescue and subsequent meet in Hong Kong, Danny Parish, an old SAS colleague of Sterling's, plays a slightly more back-seat role until later on in the game. Finally, John Grey is a character we want you to discover for yourself - he's very much reserved for those people who want to watch the cinematics and get involved in the back story, and it's these people who'll get the most from the 'Cold Winter's' narrative.

GamersInfo.net: They say variety is the spice of life. Can you tell us about a few of the different countries the game visits and the variety of scenery the players will enjoy as the game progresses?

Julian Widdows: Indeed it is, and so……Chang Prison in China, Old Qatarra town, the tunnels of Salah's Den, the Chemical Facility, the dusty canyons of Black Market Valley, and the snowy hills of Winterlong. Within these environments we've also made each level different in and of itself giving even wider variety of locations, from open radar stations to cable cars to indoor facilities. There is a big difference between the 16 different game levels.

GamersInfo.net: Of all the levels in the game, which one are you most fond of, and why?

Julian Widdows: Now, I can't quite remember what we eventually called it, Qatarra I think, but in terms of the game structure it's the fourth level, the second in North Africa. I love this level because it blends shooting, investigation and puzzle solving so well, and has some truly great shoot outs, with the final confrontation amongst the best half a dozen in the game. It also looks stunning with great transitions from dusty streets to ramshackle interiors.

GamersInfo.net: Your website outlines a basic arsenal shooter fans are well familiar with, but it also has a few "coming soons". Can you delve into one of these unannounced weapons and how it adds to the experience?

Julian Widdows: Given that 'Cold Winter' has an arsenal of over thirty weapons, grenades and combined items, this is the job of an article to itself, but suffice it to say there are a lot of different ways you can skin a cat in 'Cold Winter', or, for that matter, an errant terrorist.

GamersInfo.net: There has been talk of the ability to manipulate the environment and improvise tools and weapons. What challenges did this pose to you guys to ensure that this is both complex enough to be interesting, but simple enough that the average player can take advantage of it?

Julian Widdows: This was a tough one. 'Hostile Waters', although superbly reviewed by the press, was a difficult game for many people to understand. I won't go into the details here, but suffice it to say that we were very aware of the fact that to make 'Cold Winter' land smoothly with the gaming public we would have to ensure that all elements were as straightforward to use and accessible as possible. We didn't want to over complicate the experience with features only a handful of people would bother with, and so we constantly refined the systems to ensure that they became fluid gameplay tools rather than laborious chores. The combined items system was originally planned to be an experimental one, whereby you'd have to work out how to create the combinations through common sense, trial and error. When we focus tested this system, however, we found that maybe one in twenty people bothered doing this - the rest didn't, as because combined items are never necessary for progress there was no need to spend time doing this, the majority of people preferring to make progress towards completing each level than experimenting in a menu. When we changed it to the current system, however, wherein you are told what items you can make and what's needed to make them, but not where the components are or what the item does when it's built, we found that far more people got involved in the creation process. The object manipulation was less of a problem, to be honest, and came together really easily. Hopefully this translates in the game.