Matt Eyre Page 2 9- PlayDevil.com: Did your team used special, top off the bill techniques to build the game? A new or modified engine, ... ?    Matt: The game combines brand new technology developed specially for it, with some of our existing technology. For example, we used a lot of our existing football framework (rendering and animations) but added some new features (motion capture techniques and moves, stadium technology, crowd technology, player animations, weather and backdrop effects) to make the game better than ever before. Any existing technology we take is then tweaked and modified so that it is always improved and more effective than before. 10- PlayDevil.com: We were wondering, all those stadiums , are they in fact the real thing? Did you travel to the different countries to check them out ?    Matt: The stadiums are the real thing - we sent artists out to them and they came back with hundreds of photos to enable us to model them effectively. 11- PlayDevil.com: The game, Euro 2000 has of course the official Euro 2000 licence. How important is a licence to a developer/publisher?    Matt: Well, its as important as you believe it is. For EA SPORTS we believe in the power of these licences - as you know our statement about our games is "If its in the game, its in the game". So we believe that if gamers want to play the official EURO 2000 game (and we think that they do!) we need to have the licence to give the most realist EURO 2000 experience. 12- PlayDevil.com: Do you think that gamers will appreciate the effort that the developer has the licence and that they can play with real names, real stadiums, etc ?    Matt: Yes - once you take a look at the game it becomes very clear that this is 'official and authentic'. No-one else can produce a game that looks as good and provides as realistic a EURO 2000 atmosphere as we have done. If you play a football match that has fake player names, generic box shaped stadiums and boring looking kits and graphics, it isn't going to be as much fun, is it? - PlayDevil.com: Indeed. 13- PlayDevil.com: How did you managed to create such a great comment system?    Matt: The commentary has been developed and improved year on year. We have some incredibly talented people working on it and we try to get the best commentators to really enhance the way the game is played. When you watch on TV you have great comentary - we believe this needs to be the same in our games. 14- PlayDevil.com: Ok, it is a soccer game but does Euro 2000 has a lot of new technologies? I mean support for new generation cards like special features?    Matt: Well, we aim to support as much hardware as possible. I wouldn't call the game "ground breaking" as its difficult to really excel graphically for a football game, as you say. But you can play in extremely high resolutions dependant on your card, and I think that we've advanced the Playstation graphics significantly as well. 15- PlayDevil.com: What's really the best item in the whole game that makes the game that "special" ?    Matt: Wow, a tough one. For me, it has to be the feeling of taking England to the final and then beating anyone else who makes it there. It's probably as near to that feeling as I am going to get! Seriously, I think that being the official game of EURO 2000 really helps us to deliver a game that people will want to play. Just think about it - how else am I ever going to beat Germany on penalties? - PlayDevil.com: Ehm, by cheating? :-) 16- PlayDevil.com: Ok, enough with the 'easy' questions now. Lets ask you a hard one :-). 'Fifa 2000' or 'Euro 2000' ... what should a soccer fanatic buy and why?    Matt: Wow, a tough question. 'EURO 2000' is the most up to date and moder in terms of gameplay and will provide fans of the big tournament this summer with all the fun they could have. FIFA 2000 is now a little older and less advanced, but it has club teams and domestic leagues that are definitely an advantage if you want to play a more local competition. 17- PlayDevil.com: After 'Euro 2000', what is your next project or future projects?    Matt: Once 'EURO 2000' is finished and I've stopped celebrating England's victory, I'll be working on 'STARS 2001' and 'Football Manager 2001'. PlayDevil.com: Matt, thanks a lot for the interview!    Matt: My pleasure - enjoy EURO 2000! So after reading this hot & spicy Q&A with 'EA Sports European Product Manager' for 'Euro 2000', 'Matt Eyre' we hope that you have the information that you need to consider buying this fantastic soccer game. I have played it weeks and weeks and still I just can't have enough of it. Seriously ... the only game that can beat this one will be FIFA 2001. We'll have to wait and see. Oh yeah, Matt .. as promised we haven't displayed your e-mail address here so you don't have to worry about getting tons and tons of e-mails. (He had this problem once where a website displayed his e-mail address in an article ... not a really smart thing to do :-)). Matt, thanks again for the interview and see you soon, somewhere! -Bjorn Up Previous Page Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on webmaster@playdevil.com Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil. Other Logos & Names are Copyrighted Material of its respectful owners. All Rights Reserved. PlayDevil Productions © 199/8-199/9-200/0 "rip your own stuff"