In an interview with computerandvideogames.com, Polloni says that the new game is more ambitious than ever. “We were already innovative in the first game in the sense that we did an online racing game, kicking off the MMOR kind of genre,” Polloni notes. “We wanted to push that even further – more online, more social, a new island, a more persistent world… more of the MMOR aspect. Also, we really wanted to work on the car experience. That was our vision for the game. We also wanted to listen to feedback from the community and make sure we got that into the game.”

Polloni says it’s a “delicate balance” when it comes to listening to the fans while making the game. “There are technical constraints,” he admits. “Constraints linked to the car manufacturers and also it might not be in the vision of the game and where we want to take it. For example if they only want rally games, that’s a whole different type of genre so we won’t go radically to only rally types of games. In terms of feedback, a lot of the stuff we got back was asking for a day and night cycle, weather etc… There were some things that were quite easy to adapt following player feedback.”

The hilarious inanity of such claims needs no explanation to gamers, but the big question is why supposedly sensible newspapers insist on running such nonsense stories from such ludicrous self-appointed “experts”. Mr. Pope even has the bare faced audacity to make this clearly insane claim – “Spending two hours on a game station is equivalent to taking a line of cocaine in the high it produces.” Marvel at the sheer lunacy of this statement, and worry that vulnerable people may actually be placing their mental health in the hands of someone who would make it.

Needless to say, hilarity was the general response from users on computerandvideogames.com too. “These so called experts are nothing but idiots,” wrote user alan666, a far more balanced and sensible comment than anything Mr. Pope had to say. “Stupidest report ever” noted stu_the_great, while Richy23 responded with “Thanks for (this) useless and ridiculous report full of garbage and probably hysteria.” The tabloid media’s appetite for demonizing gaming – no matter how staggeringly lunatic their claims – continues unabated.

Studio head David DeMartini spoke to computerandvideogames.com about the company’s growing popularity and if it can keep up the quality for the next year. “I think the early signs are looking very good,” DeMartini says. “I think what it really is a reflection of us executing against the strategy that we’ve articulated in the various calls and in discussions like this. When you focus on fewer titles but you concentrate more resource against them, you’re able to execute at a higher level. Under John Riccitiello, I think the company has taken a much more focused approach towards the number of titles. I think we’ve gone from something along the lines of sixty to fifteen titles (every year) down to thirty titles. What we’re then able to do – because of the reach of the EA Partners program – is fill out the line up and be very selective in who we partner with. Of the studios within Electronic Arts, the EAP titles have performed at some of the highest levels, which we’re very proud of. But it’s not EAP producing these games, it’s Harmonix and it’s Valve and it’s the right partners.”

Quality is the key above all else for EA now, he insists. “In the last three years in the Partners program… we haven’t rushed anything out. We’ve literally shipped everything when it was ready to be shipped.”

“It’s gone fantastically so farm” Sigarty says of the open beta. “We’ve had a lot of great feedback from fans. We’ve also had a lot of specific feedback mixed in about what to do with particular races, how this one or that one has a particular weakness. One of the things we try to ensure is that we know where that feedback is coming from. Is this a new player who isn’t as good, or a very skilled player? And then we also compare that with data we see on our side – who’s really won and lost, what their skill level is etc. Between the two things we can tip the balance in the way we want it. We’re actually pretty happy with where we are. We’ve been pretty surprised about how balanced it is at this point, but there’s still a lot to do. We’ll be doing patches almost every week to get us to the point we want to be before launch.”

Sigarty also says that the company is still unlikely to move into consoles any time soon. “Console is not on the radar for us,” he admits. “I still think that at least from our perspective that it feels like the mouse and keyboard just lends itself to this style.”

“Our games are not designed for young people,” he says bluntly. “If you’re a parent and buy one of our games for your child, you’re a terrible parent. We design games for adults because we’re adults. There’s a lot of kids games out there that we’re not interested in playing. Just like you enjoy watching movies and TV shows with adult themes and language and violence, that’s the kind of thing we seek to produce.”

Lazlow points out, however, that he believes that even with the endless tabloid whining about “violent video games”, the culture is changing very much of acknowledging games as an adult entertainment. “I think that Rockstar has pushed a lot of boundaries to be able to make the art we believe we should be able to make,” Lazlow says firmly. “If you tell a gritty crime drama with violence and profanity and call it “The Sopranos”, you’re handed a lot of awards to put on the shelf. You do the same and call it a video game and you’ll have certain organisations up in arms. I think ever since “GTA IV” came out and there were such rave reviews by major publications saying this is actually art, the restrictions about being politically correct have largely fallen away.”

In an interview with GamaSutra, SCEA Vice President Rob Dyer says he believes the industry needs to continue to make disc purchases the number one priority. “You can talk about why DLC is important to help limit the used game business and to keep people holding onto (the game. I’m all about that too. I love that,” Dyer admits. “But I want it on the disc so that one hundred percent (of the people) out there can play this thing. What are we, north of seventy percent on the network now?” he questions. “Seventy three, I think. Microsoft (is) probably the same. (That’s) still a significant number of people that aren’t able to get (DLC), whether they don’t have broadband, whether they just flat out can’t get on the network. Whether or not you do it, they’re not using it. I want it on the disc, that way, when they buy it, they get it. So if I can do that, that’s great.”

His comments have won unanimous support from users on computerandvideogames.com, with poster Athrun888 noting “Finally someone high up expresses sensible views, now why isn’t he president of the US branch again? We need more people like him in top jobs”. User dark_gamer concurs, saying “Not everyone in the world has a internet connection (let alone a decent one)”, while Soviet1918 goes for the gold with “Rob Dyer I love you. I want to have babies by you”.

“We started talking to Microsoft and they were kind of shocked by it,” he says. “They said, “Hold on, are you sure you want to put this much out?” They actually said “This might be too much to put out on DLC”… It brings the standard up, you know? Anyone else that puts out a game on DLC will have to put out as much as we did and it was a lot of work. We really busted our asses on this project. We have a really smart team, but it’s a small team of passionate guys who really work smart and work hard so it’s really turned out good… We’ve really crushed it, I think. I want to see other games, DLC especially or sixty dollar games, bring their level up to that magnitude. I think a lot of studios that have a hundred and twenty or two hundred people would never be able to (do) what we did in a year… I think DLC is going to have that different mentality… When you’re buying our game for the price of five maps from the other guys, step it up. I mean, really, if there’s a little guy snapping at your heels all the time you’ll catch on, otherwise we’ll catch you.”

“To a significant extent, Harry Potter found us. It’s such a natural fit, it was a no brainer. You can do a process of analysis thing, though. At a broad world level, we look for strong, well defined characters and a sense of depth in a well established universe.” With every game, lessons learnt from their predecessors come into play, and the new “LEGO Harry Potter” game is no exception. “With each new game, we really pour and heart and soul into creating new experiences. For “LEGO Indiana Jones”, we put a lot of quite radical things in – the dynamic split screen has been universally adored, and that’s something we’re bringing into “LEGO Harry Potter”. Also new in “LEGO Indiana Jones” was a much more encompassing structure, based around the movies. That speaks to our desire to make experiences which are more immersive – to use a fairly overused word – more connected to each other.”

As to which of the games they are most proud of, Traveller’s Tales would not be drawn. “We’re incredibly proud of every game,” they insisted.