The Witcher 2 Xbox 360 Preview and Video Interview

Not only has GameFront provided us with a hands-on preview of the Xbox 360 version of The Witcher 2, but they’ve also uploaded a nearly seven-minute video interview with level artist Marek Ziemak and lead combat designer Maciej Szczesnik to YouTube. Here’s the embedded version, and then I’ll follow it up with some quotage:

From the interview:

Game Front: Did Witcher 2’²s estimated 4.5 million illegal downloads on PC influence the decision to bring the game to the Xbox 360?

Marek Ziemak: I don’t think so. We started to be DRM-free on PC. We believe people will buy the game anyway. We provide a lot of great content in the box, also in the digital version. You know, piracy is going to be there, always, in all the platforms because it’s also possible to play pirated versions on the Xbox [360]. But it’s not our main concern. There are a lot of players who buy the game, who enjoy it really, and who try and be fair. .

Maciej Szczesnik: As far as I know, there are pirates who play the game, and also bought the game.

MZ: So we try and deliver all the extra content for everyone who bought the game. That’s also another reason to have an original copy to have all the patches, and all the DLC that are free if you bought the game. We try to be fair; we try to work on our products. And we actually trust people. We believe that the great majority will just buy the game.

MS: And not cheat us.

And from the preview:

Most obviously, the control scheme particularly with regards to combat has been optimized for the Xbox 360 controller, and it works very well (more on that later).

There’s also 3+ hours of additional quest content in the form of two new adventures that take place in Act 3, introducing three new characters. Don’t worry PC gamers CDPR have stated all that new content will make its way over to the PC eventually, and it’ll be free.

The 360 version will also ship with all extra content included in all nine of the PC version’s previously released DLC packs, such as the extra-hard (Dark) difficulty setting and the Arena mode.

On the fluffier side, there are new in-game movies brand new intro and end-game cinematics directed by Polish director and Oscar nominee Tomasz Baginski, as well as additional end-game movies that help summarize the player’s choices throughout the game.