YEEHAW!!!
GET THE SCOOP ON THE
GOOD OL' BOYS...

With the recent launching of Southpeak Interactive's PlayStation title Dukes Of Hazzard: Racing For Home, we wanted to bring you the hottest info we could find. So we went straight to the man himself, Southpeak's Steve Wartofsky, Producer for Dukes Of Hazzard: Racing For Home. Steve had alot to say about what you Dukes fans can expect, and it looks like its gonna be a very Merry Christmas. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 of this informative scoop. Be sure to check out our preview of the game and be on the lookout for our full review, coming soon!

Special thanks goes out to duke_lover and Ray, both huge Dukes Of Hazzard fans who helped out with some of the questions. Be sure to click on their names to check out their sites dedicated to the Dukes Of Hazzard.

PSi:

The Dukes of Hazzard is in syndication, I realize, but the show's popularity was greatest during the 80's. What led you to design a PlayStation game based on the Dukes of Hazzard?

SW:

Some people here understood early on that the show has a definite appeal to a wide-ranging audience, even now, nearly two decades beyond its original run. It's a bit of Americana, it has all sorts of appeals to all sorts of audiences, young and old both.

PSi:

Describe your target audience. Is it the little kids watching the show in its reruns or the people like me, who loved it as a kid? (That is, will it be a goofy cartoon game, like Super Mario Brothers was for N64, or will it be a more adult game like Twisted Metal 4?)

SW:

It's neither a "goofy" kids game nor an "adult" core-gamer game - fortunately for us! ;) It's a satisfying game that people who own a Playstation and enjoy the idea of Dukes will really enjoy playing, will be able to relax with. It's neither high-intensity, must-win-race-by-hundredths-of-a-second core-gamer racing, nor just-sit-back-and-watch-Bo-and-Luke, but rather a game carefully designed to get you into the world of Hazzard County, in a way that will help you feel like you're playing through an interactive episode of the TV show. A real first in conception, in our opinion.

PSi:

We learned at E3 1999 that about half of all gamers today are above the age of eighteen. This would indicate that a large number of those gamers are probably familiar with the Dukes of Hazzard. Was this a determining factor in your decision to make Dukes of Hazzard: Racing for Home?

SW:

We were hard at work on this project long before E3, but yes, the demographic you describe is very much a significant part of our audience. We have much older people who remember the Dukes boys fondly as well, who love Playstation driving and racing games, and who are delighted to discover this kind of game is here.

PSi:

Will the newly computer generated Daisy Duke threaten Lara Croft's title as hottest looking video game character?

SW:

Probably not, sorry. Too many people in the industry went through a Lara look-alike phase about two years ago to leave us comfortable with the idea of being the last people on the planet to go there, too. Instead, we made a great game.

PSi:

How did you go about acquiring the Dukes of Hazzard license to make DOH:RFH?

SW:

Sweat, tears, long discussions with Warner Bros., more sweat, more tears, and a persistent conviction that this would make sense to do for both parties.

PSi:

While DOH:RFH is very true to its license, it seems to be in the same genre as 'Driver'. How would you say DOH:RFH compares and contrasts with 'Driver'? Did 'Driver' influence the design of DOH:RFH in any way?

SW:

Driver is definitely a standard in this genre; Reflections has been making excellent games for a long time, since the golden days of the Amiga, and it's no surprise after Destruction Derby/Destruction Derby2 that they went to the next stage of excellence with Driver. Our own approach is more character-oriented (though we do have a similar over-the-top cops 'n drivers AI, a really amusing aspect of Driver we considered appropriate as well for our title), with your focus being less just on the cars than on the characters' presence in the world of Hazzard County.

PSi:

I seem to remember an episode in which the Balladeer mentioned the '00' car. He said that it was the only car to ever beat the General Lee in an overland race. Did this infamous car ever actually appear in the television series? How much 'original design' was required for the '00' car?

SW:

We have the Double Zero, and like many of the elements created for the game, we followed the imagery and style of the car from the TV show religiously.

PSi:

Based on the Beta version I tested, it looks like DOH:RFH could be a very successful game. Should we expect any other classic television series to have games made after them in the near future? (Knight Rider? A-Team? BJ and the Bear? The Fall Guy? ...?)

SW:

Who knows? Tell us what you want. :-)