Anyone with an MBA will tell you that there’s only enough room at the top for one. Competition is meant to separate the winners from the losers, and if you want to be a winner, you need to grab as much of the market as you can, at the exclusion of any other competitors.

Well what do they know?

Since separating from Universal Interactive Studios to form their own companies, Naughty Dog, Inc. and Insomniac Games have had a relationship that goes beyond friendly competition and straight into friendship. Though the two companies have been competing directly against each other since the days of the PS1, first with Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, all the way to the PS2 with Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank, Naughty Dog and Insomniac have remained the best of friends. Sharing technology, knowledge, and an occasional beer, these two companies at the top of their games prove that it’s not so lonely at the top when you bring a friend.

First, a little pre-history. How many Naughty Dogs/Insomniacs were originally at Universal Interactive Studios, and what motivated the exodus that created your respective companies?

(Ted Price, CEO, Insomniac Games) Al Hastings and I developed the demo for Insomniac’s first game Disruptor in the spring of 1994. We had been shopping the game around to various publishers for a while. We ended up signing a multi-title deal with Universal on the strength of that demo (which is kind of laughable – or lucky – looking back on it). We were on the Universal lot until Spyro 2. The reason we moved out was that a more A

In an age of 3D gaming, it is perhaps more than a little ironic that games that manage to hold onto their 2D roots garner so much attention. It is as if players have a love affair with these games as they offer a glimpse into the past while still displaying gameplay that is every bit as rich today as it was during the eras of in gaming in which they were king. Very soon the developers at Behemoth will be releasing Alien Hominid on the current generation of consoles, and it looks to again capture gamers with it’s 2D artistic style and old school gameplay. This week we had to opportunity to speak with Tom Fulp, Dan Paladin, and John Baez, three of the individuals working on this game in hopes to get a better understanding as to just what Alien Hominid means to us, and to the gaming community.

First of all, thank you for taking the time to speak with us about this exciting looking game. What has each of your roles been on this project, and what other games have you worked on before climbing onboard here?

DAN: My role here has been the majority of the artwork. I have worked on Soldier of Fortune 2 for Xbox and Whacked! for Xbox as well as a slew of webgames made with Tom Fulp.

JOHN: I do the business end of things. Mostly I’m on the phone trying to keep everything going. From manufacturing figurines, skateboard decks, clothing and doing the game I rarely have time to get into trouble. Before I started the Behemoth with Tom, Dan, and Brandon, I was an environmental artist at Gratuitous Games. That’s where I met Dan, when we were working on the Soldier of Fortune format conversion.

TOM: I programmed most of the game play on both the console and the prototype. My background has traditionally revolved around web games. Some examples include Pico and Disorderly, a Double Dragon style brawler that takes place in a nursing home. I also own and run Newgrounds.com, one of the most interesting places on the web to see up and coming content.

Can you go into some of the story behind the genesis of Alien Hominid? For example, how it began as a demo on the internet and then how it evolved into a soon-to-be-released console title. Was this always the intention for the game?

TOM: We never imagined it would become a console game. At the time of inception, Dan and I were itching to build a Metal Slug / Contra style engine in Flash. As Flash hobbyists, we enjoy trying new genres and pushing the limits for what Flash is perceived to be capable of. Alien Hominid was meant to be a fun diversion and cool tech-demo to inspire other Flash artists. We never gave much thought to it being anything more than a web game.

JOHN: HAHAHA…you never imagined it would become a console game, but I knew the game had a destiny from the first time I played it. I’m just glad we were able to put it together instead of some mega publisher.

Everyone knows that 2D games are a dying breed. Why did you choose to go in that direction and what are you doing to ensure that the gameplay mechanics still feel familiar to fans of the genre but at the same time making things fresh for both newcomers and veterans alike?

TOM: Having grown up with 2D games, we have a lot of love for them. Playing 2D games puts me in a sort of comfort zone where I experience all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings. I’ve spent countless hours tracking down the A

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus snuck onto the gaming scene in late 2002 and quickly stole the imaginations and TV spaces from gamers worldwide. Blending an impeccable art style with a truly original sense of grace and panache, Sly Cooper quickly became one of the most popular video game thieves since Looking Glass Studios’ Light-Fingered Garrett. Now, with the release of Sly 2: Band of Thieves, gamers will once again get to slip on the cap and mask of the world’s foremost Master Thief and play the best Saturday morning cartoon ever to appear on the PS2.

Will players get to control any other characters besides our Thieving Trio at any point in the game?

In addition to playing all three of the stars, there are a ton of mini-games and vehicle opportunities for players in this game. You get to drive a tank, fly a helicopter, drive RC cars, and play in Bentley’s digital hacking cyberspace, for example. None of these are “characters”, of course, but they add still more variety to the overall play experience.

The Designer’s Commentaries players unlocked for beating a Thievius Raccoonus stage under a certain amount of time were among the cooler unlockables of any game to date. Any chance they’ll be making a comeback in Band of Thieves?

Unfortunately they won’t be appearing in Sly 2: Band of Thieves. Who knows though, they make a return in a future game.

Will Sly and/or Bentley and Murray be able to unlock new moves and gadgets like in Thievius Racconus?

Most Definitely! Sly 2: Band of Thieves has a rich economic model fueled by loot the gang can pickpocket from guards and the surrounding environment. Using those items, you can purchase powerups for all three characters!

Will Sly, Bentley, and Murray each get an equal shake in Band of Thieves, or does the breakdown favor one of the characters more?

Each of them gets a strong part, but Sly is still the star, of course.

Inspector Carmelita Fox served as Sly’s constant ball-and-chain in the first Sly Cooper. What part will she have in dogging Sly and his crew in Band of Thieves?

The tireless and beautiful Carmelita Fox will of course return in Sly 2: Band of Thieves! She makes a number of appearances in this title, and even manages to catch a gang member or two in a few situations. In addition, she plays a key role in the plot of Sly 2: Band of Thieves.

If a particular job requires two or more thieves acting at the same time, will the computer AI control Sly’s teammates, or will the player switch back and forth?

It depends on the situation. Sometimes there is switching between and sometimes you’ll control one player and the other is controlled by AI. We try to present lots of visually interesting and creative setups, so we end up varying the controls to best fit the presentation.

Are players still going to be able to go back and re-play their favorite missions, or have you abandoned that in favor of the wide-open “hub” areas?

There will be less of this than in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. We’ve decided to focus on the huge amounts of additional content we wanted to get into this game, as well as the more organic economy elements in Sly 2: Band of Thieves.

Are Bentley and Murray going to be all you’ll ever need in the way of teammates to finish a job, or will Sly sometimes have the opportunity to hire or recruit “local talent” for certain tasks?

With buddies like these, who needs anything more?

With the new emphasis on combat, are we going to see more knock-down drag-out boss fights, or are you sticking to the more cerebral “hit A