Marc Laidlaw

We built 'Jade Empire,' then we built 'Mass Effect,' then we built 'Dragon Age.' With those last two, when you're dealing with two big ideas that are on their third iterations, you develop some strategies for managing your lore, or you drown!

I think it's important to have scaling challenge because there are players who I feel play 'Dragon Age' for the wonder, story and exploration but wouldn't enjoy getting their butts handed to them. We do still have easy mode - it's not a pure story mode in that there's zero combat, but it's not super-challenging.

The trade-off between speed and image quality is a key constraint of first-person action games, and the job of developing a workable engine involves constantly optimizing both elements. Gamers dream of the day they'll be able to haul their arsenals through three-dimensional environments of photographic clarity, playing 'Myst' with a meat ax.

Though builders may build, in the main they follow the plans of architects. Teachers teach, but they must have a text. Politicians govern, but only upon the flow of commentary that raises them up or casts them down.