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Today, 25 November 2009

› Animal group 'ignorant'

› Top ANC official hijacked

› Doggie 'roo-ing' the day

› Minister to 'repay' state

› Govt's R1bn SABC bailout

Yesterday, 24 November 2009

› McBride: I'm being bugged

› Batting for Hersch

› Els gets thumbs down

› Maroga's salary summary

› Top ANC official hijacked

Malcolm: People might say it's a little bit satanic, it's a little bit mysterious and there's too much magic in it. You have to walk a narrow line.

Rob: Well for us it's just a case of making it fun and enjoyable. You can put it into your Playstation and PC and really enjoy yourself and lose yourself in the Harry Potter world. And that was the key for us. Aki: Rob, talking to a couple of ardent gamers, they've said that the game is pretty easy and is not really a very challenging game. Now I'm talking about these ardent gamers and I'm an ardent gamer and I really enjoyed playing the game, but it wasn't really designed for those type of people. I found it a very, very easy game to learn and to play initially. I'm still enjoying it after playing it for many, many hours but it's not one designed for ardent gamers, is it?

Rob: Honestly, no. It's really designed for the Harry Potter fan and there are a lot of Harry Potter fans out there that aren't ardent gamers. We had to make sure that we looked after those guys more than the actual gamers themselves.

Malcolm: Yes, I think that is the bottom line. It's appealing to a specific marketplace. Ardent gamers will have a bit of fun with it and whether they persevere with it is another story. But Aki, you did persevere.

Aki: Yes, I did and I also found that it was the type of game where there was a great emphasis placed on the sounds, as well as the graphics. And that for me really kept me kind of hooked on the game because they were really done very, very superbly. Was it a challenge for you guys to take these characters and bring those graphics into the game and animate them while still keeping that Harry Potter spirit? That must surely have been the biggest challenge?

Rob: It was, but fortunately we worked with a good team of guys from the actual film so we were working with the film producers to make sure that we got that same feel as the film. And with the sound we got the sound guys in from the film and they advised us where we were right and where we were wrong, and that's where we got it spot on from the film.

Malcolm: Rob, let's talk about something that does interest PC people, and that is what happens underneath. What is the engine driving it?

Rob: Well for the Harry Potter PC version we used the Unreal engine, which is quite a technical piece of equipment, but it enabled us to actually make sure that Harry Potter PC worked on the low end machines, which is really important for us.

Malcolm: So it doesn't mean you have to have absolutely crunching speed and dynamic graphics to be able to run this program - it will run all the way through.

Rob: That's right. And we think it's more likely that Harry Potter fans will have a hand-me-down PC from their Dad or something like that.

Malcolm: Yes. And yet it will run on the top end machines as well.

Aki: Absolutely.

Malcolm: Rob O' Farrel, senior developer manager for Harry Potter, thank you very much for joining us. It's been fantastic talking to you. Now if I can just get my copy out of Aki, I can have a go at it.

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