Rare's Mark Betteridge

Well, ballpark, we've been looking at in the region of 40-50 people in core development and probably a similar number again in test. Now, test is an important one because while we have a large test area in Twycross which has expanded over the years as projects have gotten bigger, with Natal there are two aspects of it, which are both quite obvious.

First of all, because of the nature of Natal - and it would have been exactly the same with the Wii - to test it properly you need a larger physical space than you had before.

But also with Natal, we believe test is extremely important to get the balance and the content of the game right - because a lot of the people that Microsoft will be appealing to with this technology won't be traditional games players, and we need to test with a wide range of people, different ages, demographics, and so on.

I don't mean testing in the sense that does the game crash, or is the artwork correct - I mean proper user testing. Also with Natal there'll be a huge variety in the set-ups that people will have in their homes, so it's very important that we optimise any title to work in any of them.

So the test process is something that we want to take control of, to own the feedback that we get - and that demands a large area, as well as a large number of people that wouldn't be there all of the time. It'll probably be in patterns where people will come in for a couple of hours, depending on what the testing is - so again, in a central location we're able to do that very easily.

There's also quite a digital hub that's built up in the Fazeley area, with other digital industries, universities and like-minded people, and we think we're going to be the perfect complement to that. With the attraction of Microsoft, Rare and Natal we really do expect we'll have no problem whatsoever attracting some of the best talent around.

Absolutely. Old habits die hard, and a lot of people in the industry are clinging on to old methods - and have been for some time. I think it'll need a mindset change, and sometimes that's dictated by business conditions - if you're going out of business you better find a new way to work, that's something that will force someone's hand.

Fortunately for us, with Microsoft, we're doing it from a position of financial and development strength, so we can really dip our toes in the water and find out what works best for us in the way that games should be built - but I would definitely see other people going down the road of insourcing, by employing and mentoring people, in order to keep our tight creative loop.

Other people have been doing traditional outsourcing of for many years, and we have some experience of it, but for us - and for fast iteration on fun gameplay - it's very important that we have a hands-on contact with how this content will be created.

The creative and production sides are clearly defined at Rare, but the actual manpower for the production will be done both at Rare and the new site. It's about the mindset change to do it that way, rather than just growing team sizes from six people, to twenty, to fifty and now a hundred-plus...

That's really just a scaled-up version of an old method, rather than a forward-thinking method that's about proving our core creative idea works, is fun, and has the chance to sell millions of units. Once we have that, then let's build out a full production schedule - and other industries do exactly that. Let's define what it's going to take, how much it's going to cost and manage the process through.

It's a very easy situation to then take to Microsoft - this is our opportunity, this is our cost, this is how we see the project working out - to then make the decision if that's the best project for us to build, or a Plan B.

Being able to do that from a position of strength - walking up to the production line, if you like, and then pressing the button or not - and having the full management and production capability in order to press that button, and the ability to immediately bring something up to production, is a huge advantage.

I know games can take two, three, four years to make, but it is a fast-moving industry and it always will be, based around technology. For Natal, we've really had to pull out the stops to do what you'll see us do with that, and you need to be flexible. It's going to be critical I think for the future success of this industry.