Devil May Cry 4 interview - the men behind the mayhem

Features
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We travel to Japan to speak to two of the masterminds behind the latest in next-generation action-adventure

GR: One thing that hasn't been revealed yet - well, obviously Nero's arm has demonic qualities, and in earlier games, Dante could change completely into a demon. Could you talk a bit about how that might come into this game?

HK: At this point, Nero doesn't even know that he's got that demon element in him. He just thinks that there's something funny going on with his arm. He's embarrassed about his arm, so he keeps it hidden most of the time - except for when he's fighting demons, when he uses the power that it has. He will learn more about his arm, but that's to be seen.

The actions you saw in the demo [we showed you] yesterday are just a couple of things he'll be able to do with his arm. Of course, those abilities will increase as the game progresses. And to answer your question about whether Nero will become a demon or not, that's to be seen, but look forward to it.

GR: The Devil May Cry series meant a lot to the PS2; it helped to define the PS2, in fact. What do you think Devil May Cry 4 will mean to PS3?

HK: DMC4 will be at the top of the charts for a long time - at least two years, we expect. There won't be a game in two years to come along and be better than this game. So we think it will be a defining game for the platform.

Because of the new hardware, obviously, we'll have more abilities - there's a lot more we can do with the hardware. For example, the devil arm is just one more aspect we can expand on.

GR: That's actually kind of leads into a good question - what is it, besides the obvious graphical increase in quality - that the PS3 allows you to do with Devil May Cry that you couldn't do before, technically or gameplay-wise?

HK: Of course, we had to keep the still graphics looking beautiful. But it's also supposed to look beautiful at a full 60 frames per second, and you can do all these actions and not have it blur or anything like that. Of course, that takes full advantage of the hardware.

GR: Essentially, though, it's a pretty version of Devil May Cry, that's true to the series roots. Is there anything about the PS3's hardware that's allowing for new developments in the gameplay style?

HK: Just because of the memory capacity, you can have the guns, you can have the swordplay - things that just weren't possible because of the hardware of the PS2. Just being able to do those things simultaneously is one way to take advantage of the new hardware.

GR: And speaking of using the PS3, is it exciting to use the new platform? Is it inspirational?

HK: Of course, we were happy to work on the PS2 because the PS2 is a good machine. But because we're using a cutting-edge, next-generation machine with a lot of graphic capabilities, it's very exciting.

GR: Can you talk about the strengths of the PS3 as a platform for game development?

HK: There's a lot to be learned, still, about the machine itself. We're learning as we develop. I think that there are possibilities still in the machine that haven't been explored yet.

Personally I like the look of the PS3 over the Xbox 360 - the external look and the sleekness of it - but that's just my personal preference. I'm really concentrated on using the internal hard drive to its fullest; that wasn't something that you just had on the PS2.