WeÂ’re very close to the end now. We opened it up to public beta testers just before Christmas. WeÂ’ve been letting hundreds more in every few weeks. Next build is due in a week and a half (interview was done Feb. 8). WeÂ’ll start inviting thousands at a time. Within a couple of months, weÂ’ll be in the closed beta phase with numerous thousands. Then after that weÂ’ll drop the NDAs and have tens of thousands and then release. We arenÂ’t public with an exact date yet but itÂ’s measured in months.

Tabula Rasa is a real-time tactics game. For example, if you and I were fighting, the game is full of sand bags. If you and I were fighting, we would do equal damage to each other. If I were to step behind a sand bag, I would take a lot less damage. If I squat down, I can get an easier bead and I am taking considerably less damage. The monsters know that too. If youÂ’re in a tactically superior position, they will come around and kick you to the ground because they know while you are squatting you are a much more vulnerable hand to hand target. ItÂ’s all still done with die rolls like an RPG. ItÂ’s still my equipment and my characterÂ’s attributes that affect the calculation on damage. So instead of looking at my user interface, I have to watch the behavior of the creatures.

WeÂ’ll ship the game when itÂ’s done without regard to the coming and going of consoles and Vista. We wonÂ’t hold the game for a particular window...

I think the market is far from saturated. The best example is Korea. There, we have five million people who regularly play Lineage I. We have about 5 million people who regularly play Lineage II. With Lineage I, about three years ago, and we launched Lineage II, people said it was saturated.