Pariah is the next generation Sci-FI FPS games from Digital Extremes (you might remember them as one of the companies behind the Unreal franchise). They’ve struck out on their own and will be delivering the game to stores in early May. We were fortunate enough to have some questions about the game answered by James Schmalz, the founder and creative director at Digital Extremes

GamingNexus: Why the decision not to have a PlayStation 2 version initially?
James Schmalz: Our experience has mostly been with the PC and Xbox, so it was a natural transition to work on Pariah for the same.

GamingNexus: How hard was it to program a modular weapons system? What were your greatest obstacles in designing and integrating it into the single player and multiplayer portions of the game?
James Schmalz: It was quite a challenge to come up with the weapon system for Pariah. We knew we wanted something new and different from what we`ve seen and done in the past so we did a lot of prototyping to see what would work and what was fun. The biggest obstacle after coming up with the system was balancing the weapons and the upgrades so that there aren`t any obvious advantages from one to the next. Balancing weapons in an FPS is really key to making sure the game remains fun for everyone especially when you`re playing multi-player.

GamingNexus: The interface of a map editor for the PC can be pretty robust with the ability to use a keyboard and mouse to lay out a level. How have you made it easier for the Xbox so that you can create levels quickly when using a controller?
James Schmalz: We did a lot of experimentation with the Xbox controller and the configuration of how to work things in the MAP editor and it has turned out really well. We have set up the controls to be very intuitive with the controller making the buttons action oriented and the thumbsticks viewing and maneuvering focused.

GamingNexus: Can maps be shared between the Xbox and PC versions? Will users be able to share maps over Xbox Live?
James Schmalz: Players will be able to not only share their maps on Xbox Live but can also save them to a memory cartridge and take it to their friend`s house or play system link. We`re really excited to see if the community on Live takes off like it has in the PC world.

Maps won`t be shareable between Xbox and PC, mainly because of MS regulations but also because it would be very difficult for an Xbox player to be competitive against someone on a PC with a mouse and keyboard...it wouldn`t be much fun in reality, even though in theory it sounds like it would be a cool concept.
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