Interview with Krome Studios on there upcoming King Arthur and Ty the Tazmanian Tiger 2 games.

Here at E3, I highly suggest that if you're in the general area, you stop by the Australia Games booth where there you will meet two of the nicest guys on the floor who helped bring Ty the Tasmanian Tiger to life, Matt Ditton and John Passfield, both artists who helped design the franchise that has sold over 1.3 million units worldwide.

I have to admit, having done more than a few interviews, there isn't anything more annoying than talking to someone who seems to have no interest in his or her own games, or worse yet, hires reps to answer questions about games who simply don't know what they're talking about. In talking with both John and Matt (who considers Ty his "baby"), you can tell that not only are they both charged about creating an authentically Australian game that makes them proud, they're interested in making a game that makes you happy.

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2 - Anyone who's played the original knows that when you think Ty, you think Australia. The developers have gone out of their way to make sure land is represented by using native animals and terrains, and TTT2 is no different. Taking animals such as koalas, cockatoos, platipi and of course, bloodthirsty yetis, the developers have inserted them into lush beaches and jungles reminiscent of general areas in Australia with focuses on Northern New South Wales. However in this version, there is much more to see than pretty backgrounds.

One of the coolest things about the original game was the ability to use your boomerang to get yourself out of trouble either as a weapon or a way to solve puzzles within the game. Ty 2 is no different, and in fact, the developers have installed a new currency system that will allow you to use your funds to upgrade your weaponry. Some other new updates include the ability to use vehicles to get where you need to go, and surprisingly Ty will eventually get his own mech to use, which seems a little unfair to smash small-brained lizard-men with giant steel-enforced mecha-hands, but hey, that?s what they get for trying to kill you right?.

Matt and John indicated that the game would be comprised of around 50 missions with over 20 hours of gameplay to keep you busy. Expect to find secret missions and characters, which can be unlocked with the currency system, but what was cool is that eventually, you can unlock a portion of the game which allows you to drive carts, so essentially you also have a free kart game to go along with your Aussie adventure. What a bunch of thoughtful developers.

Regarding their other upcoming big release, King Arthur, the team hopes to bring the adventure of the big screen to accompany its Hollywood counterpart. Bruckheimer has given Krome the responsibility of turning the movie into a quality game. John told us that Mr. Bruckheimer's production team worked hand-in-hand with Krome in order to give the game the same feel as the movie: actual voice recordings from the film, extra dialogue just for the game, headscans modeled directly from the original actors and consistent input between the studio and the developer. Apparently the game will follow the same storyline as the movie, which pits Arthur (a Roman originally named Arturius) and "Celtic battle queen" Guinevere against the Roman empire, which the developers say is more closely related to original historical context rather than the magic and fantasy elements of other Arthur-related movies such as Excalibur or more romantic endeavors like First Knight. The developers say the game should have a release in time for the release of the DVD sometime around Christmas. King Arthur will be published by Konami.

Will the game turn out like most mediocre movie-to-game creations or will the Krome development team rise to the challenge and put out a great complement to the flick? Make that decision for yourself this coming December and look here for new announcements to a release date for Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2, but in any case be sure to stop by the Krome booth and give the Australian team a "g?day, mate!" Actually, you probably shouldn't do that because they?re probably pretty sick of smartasses yelling "g?day mate!" all day.