Rockstar Producer Mark Garone gets us revved up for Midnight Club™ 3: DUB® Edition in this exclusive Xbox.com interview.
Xbox.com: Part of what makes Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition so rich is the ability to modify and customize the cars. However, some people might be intimidated by all the options. What have you done to make the customization options easy and intuitive for the layman?
Garone: It is very visual, which makes it really easy and not intimidating. In the garage, you can view your vehicle and go through the menus of modification parts. The parts are divided up by category, such as front bumpers or rims, and when you select that category, the camera switches to a view appropriate for that part. You can then cycle through all your options, and each will appear on your vehicle, so you can see what it would look like if you bought it. It’s actually really easy—so easy that you often find yourself making small tweaks all the time to get just the right look. You can really do as much or as little as you want (or can afford). On the performance side, you can pick parts to maximize specific areas of performance or use “Auto Upgrade.” This feature measures how much money you have and determines what parts are best for you.
Xbox.com: Sweet. That does sound easy. So, what does the partnership with DUB® Magazine bring to the franchise?
Garone: The assistance and influence of DUB onMidnight Club 3 is immeasurable. We’ve been partnered up with them since the game’s inception, and they’ve been giving us advice every step of the way. DUB is the trendsetter in the car customization scene, and they can predict with unbelievable accuracy what trends are on the rise and what’s fading away. They made connections for us in the auto and customization world, no doubt. They are constantly advising us to make sure we put in a certain vehicle or part and to let us know if we got something wrong.
Xbox.com: Will you be able to take your fully customized car online?
Garone: Absolutely. With the insane amount of customization options, each vehicle in the game can be designed in countless ways. We can’t wait to go online and see what players are creating. One very cool aspect of the game's online component is host migration, which means there will be perpetual open cities to cruise and race in. If the host quits, the hosting of the game automatically shifts to another person. You’ll never be cut off. We found that, in Midnight Club™ II, a lot of people met up online to just roll around the city together in Cruise mode. Imagine what it will be like with Midnight Club 3 when everyone has their own unique vehicles with custom options that allow you to literally put your name on the car if you choose. Everyone now has the ability to take full ownership and be recognized at a glance.
Xbox.com:Midnight Club games have always offered alternative racing paths. Have you done anything different in this version to accentuate the differing paths for the players?
Garone: The Midnight Club games have always been about having an open city to race through, as you please, so we have learned a lot about A.I., city building, and race design. Midnight Club 3 is the culmination of many, many years of development of the open-city racing concept. Everything is evolved or brand new.
The cities and race layouts have been designed to be more fun to race in. We give the player more route options and things to discover. We want racers to be able to learn the city, but at the same time, be able to take different paths on the fly. Midnight Club II was often too dense and tight for this.
From a development standpoint, perhaps the most important advancement, in terms of improvements to nonlinear racing, is the A.I. The competitors feel human—aggressive and devious, but still capable of making mistakes. You never get the feeling that your opponents are preprogrammed robots. They swerve in front of you, battle each other, try to run you off the road … it's insane. No other racing game is this unpredictable and fun.
Xbox.com: That does make a big difference when you're behind the virtual. And, how important is the switch to offering licensed cars? What impact do you think that will have on the player?
Garone: The main reason for there not being licensed vehicles in previous Midnight Club titles was that we couldn’t get manufacturers to allow us to show damage. In our minds, if you hit a brick wall at 200 miles per hour, you should definitely not have a pristine model any longer. Thankfully, we’ve gotten this restriction lifted, and we’re thrilled to not only have licensed vehicles, but also licensed vehicles that get dents, scratches, and cracks. It makes the level of realism and immersion that much greater. We have all the top licenses: Lamborghini, Cadillac, Mercedes, West Coast Choppers, Saleen, Nissan, Lexus … the list goes on and on.
Xbox.com: Beyond the cars themselves, are all the different customizable parts licensed?
Garone: Yes, each body and performance modification is a real-world part from a licensed manufacturer. We wanted to give people the option to create their dream ride from real life.
Xbox.com: Beyond standard racing modes, what other multiplayer modes or interaction will you offer on XboxLive™?
Garone: Players will be able to communicate via Voice Chat. Some types of online racing will be the same asMidnight Club II, such as ordered races, unordered races, capture the flag, and circuit races. But, there are all sorts of new modes as well, including Tag and Paint. In Tag, a checkpoint is revealed, and players race to it. The last one to reach the checkpoint is deemed “it.” The onscreen map will show colored scoring zones around the car that's “it”. Points are scored by distance traveled while not being “it,” with more points scored by the closer players that dare to be the "it" car. The first to reach a preset amount of points wins. In Paint, a multitude of checkpoints are laid out all over the city. When players reach the checkpoints, they are painted in that car's color. However, opposing players can hit already painted checkpoints and steal them. The first to color a predetermined amount of checkpoints to their color wins.
Xbox.com: Will you be able to take your fully customized car online?
Garone: A new exciting option is letting players form Clubs, which are groups of drivers that get together because they have the same vehicle, are at the same skill level, or simply because they’re friends. Those in the Club can promote and demote other members and decide who to let in and who to kick out. The potential here is for some elite racing groups to form and challenge each other or for friends to always be able to find each other and race.
