Gamasutra has a nice five page interview up with David DeMartini of EA Partners, the Electronic Arts division that has released games like Rock Band, Crysis, The Orange Box, and, uh, Hellgate: London in the past year. It's a pretty wide ranging chat, from discussions of the challenges the come with working with Japanese studios, to acquiring new titles, to the relative disaster of Hellgate:

We're certainly sad with the results for Flagship and what's happened with Hellgate, because at the time we signed it, we were trying to get involved in a very complicated relationship between Namco and Flagship. We were coming late to the party, and trying to do whatever we could to sprinkle the game magic on the project and get it headed in the right direction.

I think that's an example where all three parties had the best interest of the game in mind, and sometimes the game doesn't work out. Hellgate is still an incredible concept. The guys who worked on it spent thousands of hours trying to make that concept work, and sometimes we just don't see something. Sometimes, we just didn't take enough time. Sometimes, things don't work out the way you expect.

It's kind of like a film with all big stars — on the script, it should be successful, but the movie doesn't turn out as good as everybody hoped. That's why EAP takes a portfolio approach with its games. You have to place a lot of bets, and hope for a lot of hits.

Certainly worth a read through — I always enjoy reading interviews that cover a lot of ground, and this certainly satisfies in that respect.

David DeMartini on the Renaissance of EA Partners [Gamasutra]

Anthropology isn't my thing, but I like the idea of a "game anthropologist"; the column at GameSetWatch with that exact title is young yet, but had an interesting look at Team Fortress 2 this week. What exactly makes the environment seem so much more mature than other FPS? The older user base? The official taunts and animations that render inelegant cursing obsolete? Because team playing really is built into the game? Mike Walbridge isn't exactly sure, but has some ideas:

PC gamers are enjoying new Team Fortress 2 updates right now. Things like new maps, the new Payload gameplay mode, new weapons, and balance tweaks are old hat to the Steam set. Console gamers, however, are pretty much stuck with the stock Team Fortress 2 experience that shipped with The Orange Box. That all may change—and soon—as Shacknews reports that details on console DLC is coming "pretty soon." Probably.

How long can you tolerate this monologue without cringing or fast forwarding? I lasted about 8 seconds before my by-proxy embarrassment got the better of me. That's better than my mechanical bull record! Okay, without the crusty old curmudgeon attitude, this is some solid Portal cosplay, with some fantastic touches. Gotta give kudos for the ability to lug a massive cake around a convention hall all day, too. Anyone seen better pics from SakuraCon 2008 that might show this off better?

Thanks for the tip, Rebecca!

Is there more to the design of Portal's end-game boss GlaDOS than previously thought? Game-ism weighs in with its own spoiler-filled theory on why the loopy and sentient computer puts protagonist Chell through such an intense series of tasks in order to ultimately reach her; that is, to kill her, freeing her from her literal and figurative bondage as Aperture Science's maniacal mainframe. It's a fascinating hypothesis that's worth a look, if not only for the sadomasochistic fan-art that accompanies it.

Given Valve's propensity for abstracting the typical storytelling structure out of the game experience, it wouldn't surprise us one bit if GlaDOS were conditioning Chell as a sort of suicide machine. Thoughts?

Still Alive? She's Free. [Game-Ism]

According to a report from Shacknews, the PC version of Team Fortress 2 will see a major update in April, including the previously discussed new gameplay type, Payload, will arrive with the new map "Goldrush". In addition, the Medic may be getting his new weapon, the double-barreled "overhealer" gun, the first of the new unlockable weapons.

PlayStation 3 owners who attempt to play their copies of The Orange Box tonight will be greeted with a required update, bringing the EA published collection to version 1.10. The 128MB download unfortunately doesn't come with a changelog, nor can we find a shred of information on what's changed on the internet. Digging through Valve's Steam forums, EA's support site and game forums, and the official PlayStation web site have revealed nothing about the download. We're pestering EA to found out what's up.

During my initial play time with the new version, testing out Team Fortress 2, Portal and Half-Life 2: Episode Two, nothing was immediately noticeable, although connecting to a TF2 game did seem to be rather speedy.

Recently, Valve went on record saying that they'd like their upcoming Team Fortress 2 map pack to be free on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but admitted that such a situation might not be possible. Many wondered if this uncertain future was the result of EA meddling or interference from the platform holders themselves.

We contacted Valve to clarify and their VP of marketing Doug Lombardi informed us that, "The platform holder owns the final call." So just as we'd suspected, whether or not we see these maps for free is indeed up to Sony and Microsoft.

What you already know is that Valve is splitting the Orange Box up on April 9. The PC version, anyways. It's had a good run as a compilation, but there's money to be made separating the HL2 episodes from the multiplayer shooter from the award-winning mind-fuck, so it's time for the games to say their goodbyes. What you didn't know was how much the individual titles would cost, or what they'd look like freed from that awful "greatest hits" boxart. So arm yourself with these facts: Portal will be $US 20, Team Fortress 2 $US 30 and the HL2 "Episode Pack" (which includes Episodes 1 & 2) $US 30. As for the individual covers, well, those are below.

Didn't make it to this year's Game Developers Conference? If you were particularly excited about attending some of Valve's various sessions, you can virtually attend through the power of the PDF. The house of Half-Life, Portal and Counter-Strike has released the slides from its four GDC presentations which cover all aspects of The Orange Box. The presentations "Integrating Narrative and Design: A Portal Post-Mortem" and "Stylisation With a Purpose: The Illustrative World of Team Fortress 2" may be the most layman friendly, giving regular folk a look beyond The Orange Box's developer commentary. All four are worth a peek at the very least.

Valve Publications [Valve via GameSetWatch]