Deus Ex is an INCREDIBLE game. We are so pumped up about this one. We're still waiting for official press releases to go out before talking about the Mac side, but I can tell you I've been playing the PC version (an early beta) and its more fun than I've had with any game for years.

It has a lot of the gameplay feel of System Shock (another game we did for the Mac years ago), but updated with a very sharp graphics engine and a great conversation system.

The coolest thing about Deus Ex is that there are so many ways through the story, and around obstacles. You can go in guns blazing, try to sneak through secret areas (avoiding the bad guys), try your hand at silently sniping or disabling the terrorists one by one with a taser, etc.

Add in a great conspiracy theory plot with many twists and cool role playing elements (upgrade your nano-tech and skills, make decisions about how your character reacts, etc) and this is shaping up to be an instant classic.

Thanks to RPG Vault for the info!

Bob White dished out the goods at Unreal Universe letting us all know what's been going on lately with DE. Here's a snip on Quality Assurance:

QA has been quite busy putting the game through the wringer. Obvious bugs tend to be behind us now and they are finding really bizarre ways to break the game. We are plugging the holes as fast as the find them, but the number of bugs being found has definitely dropped dramatically. We are over the "Bug hump". Anyone who has finaled a project knows that as QA first begins attacking a game the bug counts began to rise dramatically and then reach a plateau. Eventually the number of bugs reported over a period of time begins to drop quicker and quicker. We are over that hump and most bugs we are seeing are related to changes in the AI system reactions or tend to be based on resources. However when they do find bugs, these tend to be real "stinkers" and can take a bit of doing to fix.

Check out what else he had to say here.

Looks like Deus Ex creator Warren Spector spent some quality time with the boys at Incite. Let's take a peek shall we?

incite: What were the some main influences in creating this game?

Spector: The game really got its start when I got to thinking about how no one had ever made a game that felt like a Schwarzenegger film or a Stallone movie or Die Hard or something. That seemed like a natural and everyone else seemed to be missing it. But when the team really started cranking on what the game should be, we moved beyond that pretty quickly. There was all this millennial weirdness in the air — or on the web, at least. I mean, you couldn't click your mouse three times without hitting a conspiracy or end of the world site. And there was all this weird science stuff we kept stumbling across. Things like research into electronic shields like the ones in Star Trek (supposedly due to become operational within 50 years) and research in genetics, cloning, human augmentation, nano-technology. It was all too weird not to put into a game. And then the X-Files hit. Pow. We were set. Welcome to the real-world game set in a near-future world of conspiracy and intrigue!

A bit wet one goes out to Sean for the info. :)

Since the interview was a bit dated, Lead Designer Harvey was nice enough to give us an update and mini Q&A on what's been going on lately at ION Austin:

1) What is the current status of Deus Ex?

Very close to sign-off. The game team is fixing bugs. The actors are in the studio recording voices.

2) Has much changed, gameplay-wise, in the past few weeks since you have finished all the levels?

The levels have been 'finished' for a while. Though even the term 'level' is a bit off, given the RPG nature of the project. The main things that have gotten better in the last weeks are A) the AI and B) the depth of the locations. (Regarding B, the designers have been carving little rat-holes here and there, working with our conversation writing staff to add more sub-quests and such.)

3) We've all heard stories that a major number of games will not run in Windows 2000. Will Deus Ex be Windows 2000 compatible?

Lead Programmer/Asst Director Chris Norden says: "We are not going to be "Windows 2000 Certified", and we won't be doing extensive testing under Windows 2000, but some members of the dev team use Windows 2000, and the game seems to run just fine."

4) What games have you played, personally, that has helped influence the design of Deus Ex?

Too many to name...Dungeon Master, Underworld, System Shock, Terminator Skynet/Futureshock, Blade Runner, Thief, System Shock2 to name a few.

5) is there any major thing you would have liked changed in the design?

I'm still too close to the game to know that. Ask me in 6 months. :)

Be sure to comment on this interview in our Deus Ex Forums!