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The Definitive:
Pie4Foo Interview
(so definitive, it redefines the word definitive)

Recently Pie4Foo of the extremly famous R6/RS tactics site, Pie's Tactics, has allowed me to interview him via email. I hope you enjoy, what I think, is one of my best interviews yet (next to the Mother.May.I interview).

:: [ 1. What are your opinions about UbiSoft buying RSE? ] ::

Personally, I'm always hesitant when I hear that a major publisher buys into a small, progressive software publisher like RSE. Without a doubt, RSE is a one-horse wonder, which is probably why Tom Clancy decided to get out when he did. That said, UbiSoft's move to acquire 100% of the shares of RSE means that they have final and ultimate control in the game company. That is severely different from the situation which previously existed with the four previous owners of Red Storm, in that UbiSoft can now choose to do as they like with the firm because there are no stock control issues. But the point is, unless Red Storm can come out with another truly successful product, beyond the Rainbow Six series, RSE will not likely be around five years from today. My other concern revolves around UbiSoft's current product line and their focus on console games. Console games are interesting because they always seem to come in waves. That is, since the technology can't be upgraded at the pace of computers, console systems come and go every three years. Next year will be one of those peak years, and so UbiSoft is aiming square at the console market, and you'll see that in a ton of RSE ports to console platforms, especially the X-Box. My final concern (yes, I know I'm rambling) is that of merging the two business models. First of all, Urban Operations has YET to be distributed into the European market, something I think has a lot to do with the UbiSoft acquisition. I'm speculating, but I'm thinking that UbiSoft was interested in getting the rights to distribute both Urban Ops and Covert Ops. Distribution does pay well. Secondly, name an UbiSoft product.... I struggle to, and if you look at their home page, it's any wonder. RSE's target market and UbiSoft's target market are entirely different. While UbiSoft produces games that are primarily intended for console, leisure gamers (if there is such a thing) whereas Red Storm has been able to truly capture the attention of "hard-core gamers." Even some of their unsuccessful titles, like Force 21, were lauded by truly hardcore strategy simmers. It will be a challenge for UbiSoft to effectively manage these differences, at least from a business sense.

:: [ 2. Do you feel that RSE has neglected the RS community by having a minimal (or lack there of) interest in releasing the plug-ins? (having no interest before the petition) ] ::

No. The plug-ins are proprietary tools, and releasing something like that is extremely unprecedented. If they were to release the plug-ins it would be almost as unprecedented as the release of the source code to certain popular games. That said, I'm not surprised RSE wasn't interested in just offering up these plug-ins. What little crooning there was for the plug-ins occurred on their forums, where it's not surprising that they didn't think too much of the requests. Company forums are rarely the hotbed of the online community. That said, I hope that the petition Snicker and I put together impresses them with the community's sincere interest in the game's future.

:: [ 3. Why did you decide to petition for the map plug-ins now, and not back in the fall? ] ::

Quite frankly, I never thought that RSE would blink at any sort of community movement until I read John Sonedecker's post practically telling us that we should do a petition. I thought that this summer was a good time to do this because the Rogue Spear series was going to be closing up shop with Covert Ops, whereas in the fall of 1999, Rogue Spear had just come out, and I knew that RSE would come out with a mission pack. In fact, they did two expansion packs, and so releasing the plug-ins for the Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear franchises would be at an opportune time now, after the release of Covert Ops.

:: [ 4. Do you think the buy out of RSE by UbiSoft effected the map plug-ins potential release? ] ::

Only in that it has delayed the official response. I don't think UbiSoft would want to go digging through this when they could just have RSE make the decisions on this sort of thing. But then again, UbiSoft may not want to risk anything with the Rainbow Six cash cow, so.... In truth, I have no idea. And we'll probably never know, either. ;)

:: [ 5. What are your feelings/predictions for the newest edition to the R6 line, Covert Operations: Essentials? Do you think it will live up to R6/RS because of the school theme? ] ::

Covert Ops is a market move. It's nothing new for the development team, since most of the production has been outsourced to other companies. It also doesn't offer anything substantially new to the current Rogue Spear customers. What really indicates to me that this is a marketing ploy is because the Covert Ops game will be a stand-alone game and the inclusion of a knowledge-based training school. This is clearly aimed squarely at an older demographic, perhaps a market that had yet to really take a look at the Rainbow Six series but should. If I see any ads on the History Channel for Covert Ops, I won't be surprised. :)

:: [ 6. Now that you are out of college, and lost your precious T1 connection (and now on a dial up), do you get tired of not being able to find a good host on the zone? ] ::

Oh yes. Believe me, the dial-up world is a painful one, especially after being spoiled by way too much bandwith. As I speak, I'm still waiting for DSL to be installed, which I ordered some six weeks ago for my new apartment here in Atlanta. Fortunately, I won't have too much longer to wait. :)

:: [ 7. R6 or RS? ] ::

Rainbow Six because of gameplay. We could (and I have) debate the gameplay differences, but it comes down to this: Rainbow Six is quicker, more fluid, and more challenging, in my opinion.

:: [ 8. Why do you play at Zone, even after getting booted from a host because you are on a 28.8? ] ::

Because I would get booted if I joined in any other game arena. :) Besides, for as many times as I have gotten booted with my dial-up, I've found a great, stable host who understands their own hosting limitations and can truly run a game. Rogue Spear and Urban Operations has suffered in the online community because (if I may be so bold) (you may -Fitz) too many people have bought broadband connections have no idea how they work. Seeing people with 512/128 cable connections blame their clients for lag, when in fact the host has as much to do with it as any of the clients, is the most frustrating thing I've ever experienced. Folks, if you're going to start hosting, know your limitations. Get the specs on your system, and do some reading on what it really means. A lot of articles have been put out discussing the concepts of latency, bandwith and so on. Read that before you go hosting. (Great Point -Fitz)

:: [ 9. Any advice to new R6/RS sites out there? (Cause I remember the humble beginnings of Pies tactics when it was half clan page, half tactics) ] ::

Strange, I try to erase the embarrassing beginnings of Pie's Tactics from my memory. :=p But yes, I do have some advice for folks interested in creating their own web sites for R6/RS or any other game. Make a web site that you truly want to make. Don't go in expecting to make money, be instantly popular, or to even be the best out there. In fact, the only way to even have a chance of being a successful site is with ambition. I personally have no design skills, but I found people to do my site designs. I found folks to help me maintain Pie's Tactics on a daily basis. But what truly has driven Pie's Tactics has been my personal ambition to make it into a respectable, quality web site. That's how you make good web sites. If you don't want it, don't even bother starting it.

:: [ 10. Why do you think your site (Pies Tactics) has been so successful? I mean R6 being a tactical game, you think there would be a lot more tactic sites in the community. You and your staff seem to just to be the only R6 Tactic site in the community (excuse me if there are other Tactic sites in the community) , but there are hundreds of R6 related news sites. ] ::

There's one very simple reason why you see so many more news sites on the 'net covering games. News sites are easier to start up than tactics sites, news sites have larger followings than tactics sites, and news sites simply require less work to maintain. At Pie's Tactics, we have to create new content every single update, otherwise, there's no way we could possibly even begin to be a large community site. That is the primary reason why a tactics site (especially a large one) is an absolute rarity in the gaming community. In so far as being successful, it's mostly about the breadth of the content we offer, and the timely updates. We've also been around for a long time, so seniority and stability is a good reason why people know to come back to us. But success is fickle, and the real reason we're at all around is because Red Storm put out the Rainbow Six series. My personal thanks is a pretty big understatement, but I'll offer it anyways.

:: [ 11. What is with your name? (you don't know how many people want you to answer this question) ] ::

What's with Pie4Foo? Nothing. It's just as odd as some of the other names I've seen around. :=p If you're asking as to where I got the name, I got it from that scenario everyone has to experience when they first join AOL. See, as much as I hate to admit it, I used to be an AOLer, back when 1.0 was a new version. So, when I first signed up for the service, I had to think of a handle for myself. At the time I was a huge fan of the Foo Fighters, so I tried to incorporate that group into my name. Giving pastries has always been a way of saying thanks or good job (like giving a fruit cake at Christmas), so combined with a "4" in traditional computer ebonics, I ended up with Pie4Foo. Ta-da! (From this point forward I will be known as Pie4Who -Fitz)

:: [ 12. What is your favorite type of pie? ] ::

Lemon Meringue. DUH! And also cherry, sometimes. :)

:: [ 13. Fitz; Sexiest man alive, King of Kings, child prodigy, or sexiest prodigy of child kings that can't spell "sexiest" without typos. (that last one you can thank Mother.May.I for) ] ::

I don't know why you always ask this. It's not like anyone will believe me when you just slipped me that $20 bill, child prodigy (who can't spell better than a fifth grader).


Interviewer: Fitz