Interviews and Articles on TW3

[Jupiter_on_Mars]

By linking the wrong video, you showed me an amazing interview @JupiteronMars. Thank you.

This is how interviews should be, questions about the game, but mainly focused on the dev you are interviewing, questions that you know he/she can answer with a bit of insight because he/she has experience in said field. The result is an insightful interview where you learn how CDPR makes their game and what philosophies they adopt. Then you can extrapolate a general sense of how the game will be from all this information.
Gaming "journalists" could a bit from this guy, all devs have stories to tell, do not restrict them in what they can say, transforming them into PR bots.

I agree. This is one of my all time favourite TW3 interviews! Sensible questions, great replies. Peter is a wonderful articulate interviewee and I do hope he gets to shine again at E3 2014. Incidentally, I had already linked to that interview with Peter on the «Skyrim and TW3» thread.

But if you'll watch the video I just linked to, you'll realize CDProjekt is closely manoeuvring the whole interview. CDP knows from the get go they'll be just going through the script and are not going to spill the beans no matter how cunning and creative the interviewer gets. Why bother then if it's starting to get on the press's own nerves?

 

[Vigilance.492]

[video=youtube;0MBDjO--qOA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MBDjO--qOA[/video]

Another video on the Namco Bandai Berlin event.
The reviewer is a bit upset...

Errr can you translate, or someone else? Like what is he upset about? There's English subtitles but they're just your typical woeful youtube translate.

 

[ReptilePZ]

There are ways to get people talking if you do your job as a journalist right. The first video you linked is proof of that and there are other examples as well. As far as I'm concerned, most interviewers aren't even trying. When they do try, we get new and interesting tidbits of information - but that's not going to happen when they ask questions that are obviously not going to be answered or ones that have been asked dozens of times already. There's a middle ground, and very few people have taken advantage of it.

 

[Jupiter_on_Mars]

Errr can you translate, or someone else? Like what is he upset about? There's English subtitles but they're just your typical woeful youtube translate.

He's not raving mad. He's just upset CDP is being so tight-lipped and he's getting the, my words, same old same old script everyone has been getting for almost a year now.

In a weary tone, among other things, he says - on the fly loose translation:

But seeing CDProjekt pass from the amicable and homely friendliness when it was a small company to this sort of new vision where everything is secret and blocked away is a bit lamentable. (...)

.

There are ways to get people talking if you do your job as a journalist right. The first video you linked is proof of that and there are other examples as well. As far as I'm concerned, most interviewers aren't even trying. When they do try, we get new and interesting tidbits of information - but that's not going to happen when they ask questions that are obviously not going to be answered or ones that have been asked dozens of times already. There's a middle ground, and very few people have taken advantage of it.

Well, I disagree. Watching that interview cleared my remaining doubts. The difference of course is at E3 and Gamesocm CDProjekt was more than willing to cut its own devs some slack regarding interviews, something they evidently have since stepped back from.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Well, I disagree. Watching that interview cleared my remaining doubts. The difference of course is at E3 and Gamesocm CDProjekt was more than willing to cut its own devs some slack regarding interviews, something they evidently have stepped back from.

No, it's just that the interviewer there asked the dev questions that were related to his field of work, and were not after huge exclusive new info, but just general, fairly open ones that allowed him to talk more about the creative process. There are things that the developers are obviously instructed not to answer. But there are also elements that they don't have to not talk about, and it's that information a good journalist should be after.

 

[Garrison72]

There are ways to get people talking if you do your job as a journalist right. The first video you linked is proof of that and there are other examples as well. As far as I'm concerned, most interviewers aren't even trying. When they do try, we get new and interesting tidbits of information - but that's not going to happen when they ask questions that are obviously not going to be answered or ones that have been asked dozens of times already. There's a middle ground, and very few people have taken advantage of it.

It think it's a bit of both. Most journos are used to getting clear answers for the basic questions on gameplay/world/mechanics, etc. but CDPR clearly has a different policy in place for TW3, likely a temporary one. The clearest example of this is their silence on anything PC specific. Before TW2, they were shouting from the hilltops how great the PC version would be, touting specific features and calming fears, and now you couldn't pry that out of them.

 

[ReptilePZ]

It think it's a bit of both. Most journos are used to getting clear answers for the basic questions on gameplay/world/mechanics, etc. but CDPR clearly has a different policy in place for TW3, likely a temporary one. The clearest example of this is their silence on anything PC specific. Before TW2, they were shouting from the hilltops how great the PC version would be, touting specific features and calming fears, and now you couldn't pry that out of them.

As I said, there are questions that they are clearly not answering or have already answered numerous times. So, instead of repeating them, maybe the journalists should actually try and be creative with their interviews for a change.

And I would never expect them to start "shouting from the hilltops how great the PC version would be" with TW3, becuase, unlike TW2, it's a multi-platform title.

 

[Jupiter_on_Mars]

As I said, there are questions that they are clearly not answering or have already answered numerous times. So, instead of repeating them, maybe the journalists should actually try and be creative with their interviews for a change.

Unicorns?

No comment.

If that's the case, if journalist's incompetence and broad-sweeping lack of imagination is what's keeping devs from sharing a barrage of interesting titbits of info on their respective fields, then I'm sure CDProjekt is soon to facilitate a live fan Q&A with, say, Peter or Miles. I for one have tons of specific questions regarding level design and swear not to pesk them with console versions, Ciri, pirouettes and what not.

 

[ReptilePZ]

If you recall that interview, the dev joked about not being able to talk about unicorns, which, if you read the books, is actually a really nice little nod to the fans - and the dev was not provoked to say he couldn't talk about it, he just dropped it there for fans to pick up on it. The journalist, who cleraly had no idea what this is all about, then tried being a smartass by asking about it.

"(laughs) Try asking and see how it goes.
We will respond more or less everything except questions about unicorns. "

Again, the dev encouraged the interviewer to get creative, and joked about unicorns, actually giving an interesting answer to a stupid question that was obviously trying to be provocative:

Ok, I noticed that you have the tight-lipped today, so ... what can you answer?

 

[sidspyker]

:look:

Water is wet and devs can't talk about things they are not allowed to yet, what's new?
I still think they'll proceed logically, same info regurgitation till E3 and then we'll get a 'surprise' gameplay demo, then new info will drop.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Precisely. The way I see it, journalists have 3 options:

Stop interviewing CDPR - not gonna happen, sites want hits on their pages

Interview them with the same questions and get the same answers

Make good and entertaining interviews by asking interesting questions that are not after new information (which they won't suddenly open up about) but more about the creative process, something related to the dev's field of work etc. Thing is, these actually require some reasearch to be done beforehand, and few are willing to do that.

 

[Kinley]

Thing is, these actually require some reasearch to be done beforehand, and few are willing to do that.

Exactly, "gaming journalism" is just one big click bait fest nowadays. So sad...

 

[Jupiter_on_Mars]

If you recall that interview, the dev joked about not being able to talk about unicorns, which, if you read the books, is actually a really nice little nod to the fans - and the dev was not provoked to say he couldn't talk about it, he just dropped it there for fans to pick up on it. The journalist, who cleraly had no idea what this is all about, then tried being a smartass by asking about it.

"(laughs) Try asking and see how it goes.
We will respond more or less everything except questions about unicorns. "

Again, the dev encouraged the interviewer to get creative, and joked about unicorns, actually giving an interesting answer to a stupid question that was obviously trying to be provocative:

Ok, I noticed that you have the tight-lipped today, so ... what can you answer?

I am well aware of unicorns.

To warp this up, you are not going to persuade me that over the course of several interviews Miles couldn't have dropped a single tidbit of new info regarding level design were he at liberty and had he so wished. That's not how conversations work and all in all an extremely unreasonable claim to make. As a matter of fact this reviewer in particular passes an off air comment along the lines of «I could tell he wanted to share more but wouldn't».

It is quite understandable and logical for devs not to share info extemporaneously. What's not reasonable and logical is to convene specially-held presentations, to give interviews and to have mags write out articles when you're not ready to offer any added value.

 

[sidspyker]

To warp this up, you are not going to persuade me that over the course of several interviews Miles could have not dropped a single tidbit of new info regarding level design had he so wished.

He can only talk about what he's allowed, people who appear in public often sign additional NDAs for events such as this, doing so would be a violation of the agreement.

 

[ReptilePZ]

When the mags eat that shit up, why wouldn't CDPR rehash the same information? They're getting publicity after all. The delay is the likely cause of this, but they still need to keep up with the PR. We were supposed to be getting pre-orders this month, with a trailer and a batch of new information, no doubt, but the delay has clearly changed that plan. But CDPR are not just going to stop journalists from covering their game, that's ludicrous. It's up to the journalists to decide what they want to ask and how they want to go about it.

 

[Jupiter_on_Mars]

When the mags eat that shit up, why wouldn't CDPR rehash the same information? They're getting publicity after all. The delay is the likely cause of this, but they still need to keep up with the PR. We were supposed to be getting pre-orders this month, with a trailer and a batch of new information, no doubt, but the delay has clearly changed that plan. But CDPR are not just going to stop journalists from covering their game, that's ludicrous. It's up to the journalists to decide what they want to ask and how they want to go about it.

What an odd thing to say.

Take GamesMaster. In a couple of months CDProjekt will likely have lots of exciting new stuff to share, including a boatload of screenshots. Yet Gamesmaster won't be able to feature TW3 as its cover story because that card has already been dealt in this latest issue. Same with all the media that have covered TW3 prominently during this interregnum. GamesMaster's audience lost, for it got next to nothing out of it. GamesMaster the mag itself lost, for nothing hurts media like having its perceived value depreciated. It was made to appear foolish and redundant on account of advertising and then failing to deliver. Last but not least, TW3 lost, for precious media coverage went practically to waste. Namely, I can't envision any GamesMaster reader whom TW3 hadn't enticed before suddenly responding to an article that features the exact same info and screenshots. Those who weren't interested or hyped before are very unlikely to have changed their minds over this story. Those who already were, well with articles like this their interest or hype have nowhere to go but downward.

Regrettably, CDProjekt didn't have the clairvoyance to realize this kind of articles and presentations aren't particularly helpful to the game but remain quite detrimental to the media partners it sorely needs.

 

[shawn_kh]

As much as I'd like to know more about Witcher 3, I don't see revealing information to journalists would help the Witcher 3 or CDPR. I believe CDPR is doing the right thing by being tight lipped and building hype, and then deliver cool info and gameplay video at E3 where all the eyes are on them. This is the strategy the most successful companies such as Ubisoft follow, they always introduce their new games by a gameplay video at E3. They did it with all the Assassin's Creeds and they are doing it with Unity, they also did it for Watch Dogs and the Division. I think we'll get some special treat from CDPR at E3.
I personally believe the reason that we have not seen gameplay videos, is the new Nvidia technologies such as the fur and physX that CDPR is implementing. They want to have those completely implemented and integrated into the game when they show off the gameplay to impress the audience. In other words graphics is very important to CDPR, so they will show gameplay when they think the graphics are at least close to the final build.

 

[ReptilePZ]

What an odd thing to say.

Take GamesMaster. In a couple of months CDProjekt will likely have lots of exciting new stuff to share, including a boatload of screenshots. Yet Gamesmaster won't be able to feature TW3 as its cover story because that card has already been dealt in this latest issue. Same with all the media that have covered TW3 prominently during this interregnum. GamesMaster's audience lost, for it got next to nothing out of it. GamesMaster the mag itself lost, for nothing hurts media like having its perceived value depreciated. It was made to appear foolish and redundant on account of advertising and then failing to deliver. Last but not least, TW3 lost, for precious media coverage went practically to waste. Namely, I can't envision any GamesMaster reader whom TW3 hadn't enticed before suddenly responding to an article that features the exact same info and screenshots. Those who weren't interested or hyped before are very unlikely to have changed their minds over this story. Those who already were, well with articles like this their interest or hype have nowhere to go but downward.

Regrettably, CDProjekt didn't have the clairvoyance to realize this kind of articles and presentations aren't particularly helpful to the game but remain quite detrimental to the media partners it sorely needs.

@JupiteronMars It has been several mags that have featured TW3 so far, one would assume that if it wasn't a good enough deal for them, they would have stopped. And CDPR wouldn't have agreed to those 'exclusive' articles either, if they didn't think it was worth their time. Exposure is always good, even if it's just repeated information - most people don't follow the game as closely as you or me. I myself am not happy that this is working out for them, since it results in a poor quality of articles that repeat the same thing over and over again. But those mags clearly sell and have a positive effect, otherwise TW3 cover stories wouldn't be turning up every few months or so.

 

[Geralt_of_bsas]

Any sort of intelligent journalist would easily realize that to get new info he just needs to ask about specific medium or small things about the person's job, like Reptile said, or, more importantly, ask about intentions, goals, and general direction, which are things they shouldn't have problems answering and can get to be a much bigger thing than confirmed features, since its what rules the overall design of the game.

CDPRED might not want to answer plenty of important questions but the journalists do nothing to get new info too, and that way we're not going anywhere.

 

[Jupiter_on_Mars]

Any sort of intelligent journalist would easily realize that to get new info he just needs to ask about specific medium or small things about the person's job, like Reptile said, or, more importantly, ask about intentions, goals, and general direction, which are things they shouldn't have problems answering and can get to be a much bigger thing than confirmed features, since its what rules the overall design of the game.

CDPRED might not want to answer plenty of important questions but the journalists do nothing to get new info too, and that way we're not going anywhere.

You do not know for a fact journalists do nothing to get new info. All you know is they sure aren't getting any.

Believe me, Miles being at ease and having something worth quoting, he would've found a way to plant it. Otherwise we would have to believe not only a boatload of European journalists failed at some pretty basic level but that Miles, confronted with this repeated failure, did nothing to rescue the situation and oddly enough went through the motions in a robotic manner as though his hands were tied. It would be a matter of simply inserting a sentence like this «For example, regarding level design in an Open World setting, we,,,"