Command & Conquer 3 - mega interview

GamesRadar: Speaking of story, why did you choose to stick with live-action cutscenes?

JB: When we first started going, "What are we going to keep about the old C&C?," we were thinking, "Is live action outdated?" Well, most people do it wrong, so what if we do it right? What if we put a lot of energy into it, get the right people, get the right script and really try to tell a good story. Can we do it? Can we pull it off?

I think we absolutely did and in no small part due to the talent. We wanted to be able to convey emotion and importance and weight on the events as they unfold. Full motion video allows us to do that and use some of the most powerful tools that we have at our disposal, especially being so close to Hollywood.

MV: We knew we wanted people who would resonate with C&C fans, so we looked to Michael Ironside, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Josh Holloway. Of course, we had to bring back Joe Kucan as Kane.

GamesRadar: Lando?

JB: Lando! Once you see Billy Dee Williams in action, he makes a very compelling case. I'm not gonna ruin anything, but towards the end of the single player campaign, he's imploring you to do something and it's Billy Dee Williams all the way.

CC: We're very excited about the mini-movie that we've created.

GamesRadar: The scale of the live action production was impressive. What percentage of the game's budget would go towards something like that?

MV: I can't really get into specifics, but you can safely say it's somewhere between a drop in the bucket and 1/3 of the production budget. But if you think about it, live action is actually less expensive than doing 90 minutes of very high-end CG. With the level of quality we have in some cut scenes, across the entire game it would cost many, many millions of dollars.

Bringing in a Hollywood cast and shooting in multiple locations, you think, "Wow, that's a very large scale production." But I've got to tell you, it's less expensive than if we'd done it all CG and I think having the live actors tell the story just adds a dimension that you can't get any other way.

GamesRadar: Lando?

JB: Lando! Once you see Billy Dee Williams in action, he makes a very compelling case. I'm notgonna ruin anything, but towards the end of the single player campaign, he's imploring you to do something and it's Billy Dee Williams all the way.

CC: We're very excited about the mini-movie that we've created.

GamesRadar: The scale of the live action production was impressive. What percentage of the game's budget would go towards something like that?

MV: I can't really get into specifics, but you can safely say it's somewhere between a drop in the bucket and 1/3 of the production budget. But if you think about it, live action is actually less expensive than doing 90 minutes of very high-end CG. With the level of quality we have in some cut scenes, across the entire game it would cost many, many millions of dollars.

Bringing in a Hollywood cast and shooting in multiple locations, you think, "Wow, that's a very large scale production." But I've got to tell you, it's less expensive than if we'd done it all CG and I think having the live actors tell the story just adds a dimension that you can't get any other way.