Here is the interview text I scanned (right half of the page). It’s from a magazine named TOTAL! page 30 of issue 7/1005. Text in [brackets] by me.
"And here we present you the two game developers. We asked them what’s supposed to be different or better about WL compared to other fighting games!
[photo left:]
James Goddard was the concept creator of SFIICE, co-designer for SFIIT and the creator of Dee Jay!
[photo right:]
Dave Winstead first worked for GamePro and then also worked at Capcom on SFIIT and SSFII, Alien VS Predator and Slam Masters!
TOTAL: What qualifies you [two] to make a fighting game?
James Goddard: We listen to the gamers. I developed the concept of the Champion Edition (SF) based on gamers’ feedback. And also many changes of HF [Hyper Fighter=subtitle for SFIIT] are based on gamers’ wishes. Furthermore Dave and me constantly play fighting games against each other and I organized all major SFII tournaments.
T: What do you [two] like about SFII?
Dave Winstead: Hand-to-hand combats that never get boring.
JG: The first time I played SFII I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe how much depth [gameplaywise] there is.
T; Are there elements in SFII that will also be in WL?
JG: SFII is the only game where you can create your own personal fighting style with a character. It’s a difference wether Dave or me plays Guile. With WL gamers will also be able to develop their own fightingstyle.
T: What’s unique about your WL-team?
JG: It’s the first fulltime project for everyone on the team. And each one of us gives everything to make WL special, wether it’s Dave, me, our head graphic artist Alvin Cardona or our head programmer Steve Chiang. We are still young and unspent and on top of that all hardcore gamers who got what it takes to be innovative.
T: What do you [two] like about fighting games and what do you find terrible?
JG: I hate to lose because of some bug that the designers have overlooked. A good game should have its own controls and strategy. Furthermore all characters have to be very different but still well balanced, so that you can still match seriously with others after months.
DW: I like games with good, not too simple combo system. It’s really stupid when you only have to make one move with the joystick to make the [ingame] move hit several times right away and take half of the energy.
JG: Exactly! I also hate when one or two combos already kill the opponent. That’s just as bad as the attacking patterns that you repeat over and over again, without the opponent being able to do anything against them.
T: Why weapons?
I’ve always been a fan of Conan the Barbarian and also drew a lot in that style. And when I came to Namco I didn’t have a good mind to hand-to-hand fights. I wanted to do something totally new. A whole bunch of critics opined there was nothing new in the fighting genre we could do. I think they’re wrong.
T: Why do you think WL will be a success?
JG: A lot of people liked that you have to train a long time for SF and MK. It seems that everybody’s waiting for a game with a new strategy and not just one with a handful of fireballs, dragonpunches and fatalities. WL will be a challenge and when you can control it, you will be really good. Everytime you beat somebody, it will happen because you are a good fighter and gamer and not because you use some bugs of the programm!
T: Thanks for the interview and we wish you success with WL!"
You can also find the interview in my Interviews section:
http://fightingstreet.com/folders/variousinfofolder/interviewfolder/interviewpage.html
Let me know if you got one to add.
Possibly.