Why build a sequel to the first Monster Truck Madness? In other words, if I bought the first game, why would I want to invest in this one?

It’s simple: If you had a good time with the first game, you'll have a great time with the second game. We have twelve all new single player tracks, and three new multiplayer tracks. Better frame rates and excellent graphics add to the whole experience.

Mark, tell us a bit about the Photex 2 technology that is being used for Monster Truck Madness 2. Besides a visual improvement, can we expect the gameplay to improve thanks to this updated technology?

Gameplay is more realistic. You leave nice tread marks in the dirt. Driving in -- and under -- water is a new gameplay element. And of course, the weather is improved with Photex 2, allowing for nine different weather effects on each track. Therefore, rain and snow make driving more slick; night and fog make for different visibility -- you just have to love that dusk sky!

Photex 2 is geared toward 3D accelerator cards. For those users who don't own a 3D card, is MTM2 going to be relatively unspectacular?

MTM2 will still have the photographic look with or without acceleration. Without a 3D card, believe it or not, you'll get better color definition. 3D cards use 5/5/5 textures. While software rendering uses 6/6/6 or 8/8/8, depending on what your video card supports. So, the colors actually do look better under software. The frame rate is faster for MTM2 than it was under the first game, if you enjoyed the first under software, you'll enjoy the sequel even more.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is a 5/5/5 texture and what makes an 8/8/8 texture set better?

5/5/5 means 5 bits of precision for red/green/blue. That washes out colors. 6/6/6 is better, because you have an extra bit of color. 8/8/8 is the best, because that is a 16.7 million "true color" image, which is how we store each and every texture in the game. This is something that no other game engine does. We store every texture in AGP high detail in 24 bit true color with our proprietary 3:1 almost perfect compression. If a 3D card comes out within the life span of the game that can ever support this mode, we can make a quick .DLL patch and put it on our website. When Glide 3.0 ships (for 3DFX chipsets), we can use 6/6/6 mode on Voodoo2 to make it look superior to any other 3D card.

Goto Next Page: Mark talks about the multiplayer feature in the game, Summit Rumble, and also the real-time voice taunting in the game