GameSpy interview with Ted Price of Insomniac Games

[Agent X]

I just stumbled on this interview with Insomniac's Ted Price, and I must say it was excellent! I don't think I had ever seen an interview with Mr. Price before, but I'm glad I found this one.

Here's a good example of what you can expect (quoted from interview):

GameSpy: Which Ratchet do you like better, the original Ratchet with his brash personality, or the kinder, gentler Ratchet of today?

Ted Price: It's a toss-up. Personally, I liked the brash personality because it showed character development throughout the game. The tension between Ratchet and Clank helped show how Ratchet was going from being a wild teenager to someone who was a little bit more responsible. On the other hand, I think the character in Ratchet 2 is a lot more likeable. He's somebody that I would want to be friends with, and somebody who probably wouldn't piss me off all the time, which is what I think the Ratchet 1 character does. But that was our intention.

I know a lot of people here despised the Ratchet character, but I always liked him, and for precisely the reason Mr. Price stated. He's one of the few platform game characters that seemed dynamic, where he started off as rather immature, selfish, and arrogant, and gradually developed into a "hero." Character development of this magnitude is often encountered in literature, but rarely seen in a video game--especially a platform game.

You can knock the design all you want, but I would say that Ratchet has advanced more as a character within the span of a single game, than Mario has in over 20 years of games. That's not to say anything bad about the Mario games as games, but the character--as lovable as he is--does not have depth on the level of Ratchet.

Anyway, enough about that. The interview covers a lot of ground, ranging from thoughts on Sly Cooper, to overcoming technical challenges with their technology sharing agreement with Naughty Dog, to Jason Rubin's "Fat Elvis" remark. Really good stuff, indeed. Go read it, now!

[Diff-chan]

Uh-oh Sal. You just compared Mario to Ratchet - this is a very, very, very bad thing to do on this board. If you're on TNL, you automatically must hate Ratchet and love everything that is not Ratchet.

[NoFace]

I don't think anyone here is looking for character development when you play a Mario game, so I don't think it's worth comparing the two characters. Compare the gameplay of Ratchet and Clank to Mario Sunshine if you must (both solid, fun games IMO).

[Andy]

Originally posted by diffusionx
Uh-oh Sal. You just compared Mario to Ratchet - this is a very, very, very bad thing to do on this board. If you're on TNL, you automatically must hate Ratchet and love everything that is not Ratchet.

[Jeremy]

Diff has been on a roll today.