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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow Q&A

Coproducer Olivier Dauba tells us about the process of bringing Sam Fisher's latest mission to the PS2.

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The release of Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow earlier this year on the Xbox and PC was surprising not only because it hit shelves a mere 18 months after the original Splinter Cell, but, more importantly, because the game contained a truly unique and innovative multiplayer component that's every bit as playable as the single-player campaign. Like the first Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow is now being ported to the PlayStation 2. This time around, Ubisoft is attempting to preserve as much of the original game's graphical polish, cinematic stealth gameplay, and intense multiplayer experience as possible.

In light of Pandora Tomorrow's imminent PlayStation 2 release, we spoke with coproducer Olivier Dauba about the process of bringing Sam Fisher's latest mission to the PlayStation 2. Read on.

PS2 owners will get a chance to play Sam Fisher's latest mission in mid-June.
PS2 owners will get a chance to play Sam Fisher's latest mission in mid-June.

GameSpot: How has development of Pandora Tomorrow on the PS2 proceeded in relation to the other versions?

Olivier Dauba: Development was common at the very beginning, except for dedicated programming staff mainly. It started just after the release of the first Splinter Cell on the PlayStation 2. After a while (six months), it was decided to handle Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions separately. This was done in order to achieve a better result for the PlayStation 2, both from a technical point of view and from a design point of view. Bringing in a fresher eye is always a good thing during a development cycle. That was Ubisoft's Paris studio's approach on the single-player component.

GS:How did you determine what extra content to add to the PS2 game?

OD: It came both from our creative vision--in thinking about what would be more suitable for PlayStation 2 users, what could improve the overall Splinter Cell experience--and from user feedback as well. The release on the Xbox and PC in March, as well as late play-test sessions, gave us a lot of information about what the gamers like or don't like in Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow. We were either interviewing directly some gamers or monitoring heavily a few selected gaming forums. That was extremely valuable feedback.

GS:Could you walk us through what new things are being added to the PS2 game and why?

OD: The overall single-player experience has been increased on the PlayStation 2. We got rave reviews about the external and jungle missions, and we were quite good at making those, so we added a whole new jungle level. We added new gameplay as well, to bring some extra variety. You'll now be able to defuse land mines, which is pretty neat (although sometimes it can be nerve-racking). You can use your headset in single-player as well. Extra play testing has ironed out most of the "not so good" level design situations. In that respect, user feedback has proven extremely valuable.

Pandora Tomorrow's multiplayer experience will be fully available on the PS2.
Pandora Tomorrow's multiplayer experience will be fully available on the PS2.

On the multiplayer part of the game, the team has truly outdone itself once more. They truly did an amazing job. The visuals are just astounding; they have truly improved the overall feeling. The mercenaries' vision, for instance, look better, much crisper. There are many design improvements as well, in terms of controls, in terms of onscreen user information (locating a virus is actually simpler). It has benefited from a lot of extra play testing as well. I can't wait to hook my PS2 to the Net to play Pandora online. It really is the best online game I've played since Counterstrike, and I stopped playing Counterstrike two years ago. It's the game that will make me play online on the PlayStation 2--it really is the PlayStation 2 online killer app.

GS: The frame rate and visual quality in Pandora Tomorrow are much improved over those of the original Splinter Cell on the PS2. How did you achieve the performance boost?

OD: I can't tell you that. That's a secret. Only kidding of course! There's no secret really. It is just very hard work done by very talented people. For a few of the men and women involved in this production, it was the fifth or sixth PlayStation 2 game they were contributing to. For a lot of them, it was their third game on the Unreal engine on the PlayStation 2. Expertise has a lot to account for. From the original Splinter Cell, to XIII, to Pandora Tomorrow, some invaluable knowledge has been earned. Access to performance analyzers has been really helpful as well. I know a few of our programmers can't live without them sitting next to their decks.

GS: How did you approach the visuals in the PS2 game?

OD: We didn't try to reproduce everything exactly the same on the PlayStation 2. We instead dedicated more resources to what we could do best and improve over the other platforms. Outdoor rendering has been greatly improved. The sun beaming through the trees is truly a sight to behold.

GS: How challenging was it to make the multiplayer happen on the PS2? Did you use existing technology from the Xbox or PC games, or did this have to be done from scratch?

The team is working hard to make the PS2 version of Pandora Tomorrow as visually impressive as possible.
The team is working hard to make the PS2 version of Pandora Tomorrow as visually impressive as possible.

OD: There are different layers really. Some of it comes from the networking code on the Unreal engine. As we do not use Xbox live, obviously, on the PlayStation, we use Ubisoft's own internal online matchmaking service. The rest had to been written from scratch. Experience gained on XIII has proven helpful, as it was one of the first games to go online for the PlayStation 2. We learned a lot while making it. It is still one of the best games you can play online today, by the way, although in a slightly different style than Pandora.

GS: What did you learn about the PlayStation 2 hardware from the experience?

OD: It is not so much about learning about the hardware; it is more about learning how to write better software for this hardware. We learned a lot with the dynamic lighting and shadowing in Pandora, about the Unreal engine as well. Believe us, there are still other things that will be done on this generation of hardware that will be even better.

GS: Thanks for your time.

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