David Jones on Crackdown and his love for the X360

When you really think about it, David Jones has had it already made. During the early 90s, his creation Lemmings etched his name on the gaming’s history books. Back in 1997, the much loved Grand Theft Auto series cemented his rep for being an expert on his craft. Ever since that time, Jones could go to The Bahamas and drink Piña Coladas anytime he wants. Again, the guy has had it already made.

But no. He didn’t do that. In fact, for three years now, Jones and his Scotland-based company, RealTime Worlds, has been working on X360 titles Crackdown and All Points Bulletin. Between the two, the former has been gaining recognition even this early because of its similarities with GTA. When asked about their differences, Jones explained,

In terms of online, it’s one of the first of these sandbox games with co-op. So that’s quite difficult to do, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time on the technology for that. As the franchise progresses, you might see something else continue in that space.

On a more personal note, we’ve always fancied having real gamers as mafiosi, rather than just plain and boring AIs. Furthermore, Jones revealed his fascination of Microsoft‘s online service as well as its impact to their products. According to him,

I think Xbox Live is absolutely brilliant. One of the reasons we got the investment is so that we could try some new things in the Live space using the Marketplace, downloadable stuff. ItÂ’s just great for all the stuff you can do. There’s just potential for other things as well.

With that said, it was unavoidable for the discussion to move towards other platforms. David Jones, in behalf of his company, admitted their obvious dedication to Microsoft’s next-gen console. He explained that aside from that, he has only seen the Wii and the PS3 during shows.

Currently, RealTime Worlds is focusing on being independent and working on new IP. Jones divulged that they recently invested US$ 31 million for that. And finally, as to how Crackdown is going, Jones announced happily,

Basically, we’re in the final, final stages of just bug-fixing now. We hope to have that all wrapped up over the holidays, and then launch in spring. It’s not far away at all, as far as we’re concerned.

Via Next-Gen

When you really think about it, David Jones has had it already made. During the early 90s, his creation Lemmings etched his name on the gaming’s history books. Back in 1997, the much loved Grand Theft Auto series cemented his rep for being an expert on his craft. Ever since that time, Jones could go to The Bahamas and drink Piña Coladas anytime he wants. Again, the guy has had it already made.

But no. He didn’t do that. In fact, for three years now, Jones and his Scotland-based company, RealTime Worlds, has been working on X360 titles Crackdown and All Points Bulletin. Between the two, the former has been gaining recognition even this early because of its similarities with GTA. When asked about their differences, Jones explained,

In terms of online, it’s one of the first of these sandbox games with co-op. So that’s quite difficult to do, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time on the technology for that. As the franchise progresses, you might see something else continue in that space.

On a more personal note, we’ve always fancied having real gamers as mafiosi, rather than just plain and boring AIs. Furthermore, Jones revealed his fascination of Microsoft‘s online service as well as its impact to their products. According to him,

I think Xbox Live is absolutely brilliant. One of the reasons we got the investment is so that we could try some new things in the Live space using the Marketplace, downloadable stuff. ItÂ’s just great for all the stuff you can do. There’s just potential for other things as well.

With that said, it was unavoidable for the discussion to move towards other platforms. David Jones, in behalf of his company, admitted their obvious dedication to Microsoft’s next-gen console. He explained that aside from that, he has only seen the Wii and the PS3 during shows.

Currently, RealTime Worlds is focusing on being independent and working on new IP. Jones divulged that they recently invested US$ 31 million for that. And finally, as to how Crackdown is going, Jones announced happily,

Basically, we’re in the final, final stages of just bug-fixing now. We hope to have that all wrapped up over the holidays, and then launch in spring. It’s not far away at all, as far as we’re concerned.

Via Next-Gen