As we head into E3 next week, there's lots of buzz about the games that may be revealed at the gaming industry's biggest trade show. However, one high-profile game we do know will be there is Prey, an upcoming science fiction-themed first-person shooter from 3D Realms (the same studio responsible for Duke Nukem) and publisher 2K Games. Ironically, Prey is a game that made a huge buzz at E3 more than half a decade ago, only to then disappear from the face of the earth. Well, it's back, and 3D Realms has teamed up with Human Head to deliver a resurrected Prey that uses the dazzling Doom 3 graphics engine. In Prey, you are a Native American warrior caught up in some extraordinary extraterrestrial adventures, and if the same concepts from the original design are still in the game, you can expect lots of very cool and interesting moments in Prey. It's been a while since we last saw Prey, though, so we caught up with Scott Miller, CEO of 3D Realms, Chris Rhinehart, Human Head project lead and co-founder, and Timothy Gerritsen, chairman and business director of Human Head, to get early details on the game.

The new Prey looks nothing like the old Prey thanks to the gorgeous Doom 3 graphics engine.

GameSpot: Tell us about the decision to revive Prey after the game's development had basically ceased and all updates ended. Why revive Prey rather than pursue an all-new game or license? What will it offer players that will be distinctive and unique?

Scott Miller: The decision to revive Prey was based on finding a talented studio that we thought could do the project justice. So when we found out that Human Head was interested in developing the game, it became an easy decision to pursue it once again.

Prey's appeal was based on leading-edge technology, a strong, unique character-based story, and unique gameplay hooks. Over the years since Prey's original conception, there's not been a game that's stolen Prey's original thunder. So the door was wide open for us to revive the project.

Also, while the original ideas for Prey were mostly solid, Human Head and we have refined and improved most aspects of the game, and we've cut out some elements that weren't as strong. In effect, the concept, gameplay hooks, and story have benefited from years of consideration, giving the game a foundation that most projects simply cannot match.

GS: And hopefully this next question isn't too presumptuous. But why was Human Head Studios chosen as the developer for Prey?

SM: George [Broussard] and I met the Human Head crew when we were both making games for Gathering of Developers in the late '90s. We were impressed by their game Rune, and we developed a friendship with several of their key people. The second coming of Prey actually began at the very tail end of Gathering's existence, just after Human Head had wrapped up Rune and was looking for a new project. So it became a case of great timing with the right team, since it had just finished a top-notch third-person shooter and therefore had all the right people in place to start on another game. And after meeting with them again to discuss the project, George and I were convinced they were the best team for this project because of their own creative capabilities.

Due to our past success, 3D Realms is in a rare position of being able to partner with other talented developers to create original intellectual property, like it did with Remedy and the Max Payne series. We believe that this is a fantastic way to create new brands without having to stretch the growth of our own company internally. It also gives deserving studios like Remedy and Human Head a chance to create an original property so they can hopefully achieve their own financial independence, a chance that might otherwise be hard to come by.

GS: How much, if any, of the original direction and design has survived from the original game's development? Will players still play as the Native American hunter Talon, who's pitted against three different alien races?

Timothy Gerritsen and Chris Rhinehart: The basic idea of a Native American getting swept up in events that have him pitted against aliens is still the core idea of the game. But the actual story and how it plays out has changed entirely. 3D Realms gave us considerable freedom in exploring this premise, and in partnership with them, we developed a whole new set of characters, adversaries, allies, and situations.

GS: Can you divulge any details about the story in Prey's single-player game? If players won't play as Talon, who will the protagonist be, and what will the player's goals be? What kinds of adventures will players embark on over the course of the game. Interplanetary travel? Capturing monsters alive (or dead) for a trophy room?

You play an ex-Army Ranger battling mysterious aliens on an even more mysterious ship.

TG and CR: At this point, we haven't revealed a lot of details on the characters and story, as we want players to discover them through playing the game. The protagonist in this game is Tommy, an ex-Army Ranger who's returned to a Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma to be with the love of his life. She's the only thing tying him to his heritage, which he personally rejects. As part of the greater story, which we reveal through gameplay, aliens begin abducting small groups of people from the earth. Tommy, his girlfriend, and his grandfather are all taken to an alien ship.

Tommy is hardly a modern-day Rambo. He's a very reluctant hero, and at first, all he cares about is trying to keep his girlfriend and grandfather alive in a situation beyond his control. He's no hunter taking trophies, but rather, he's just a regular guy sucked up into a brutal and horrific situation. He has to fight or die.