Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview Updates

Some new info for this game has been released. First up is a TV Commercial (found via Youtube) with the following Darwin quote: "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent...  it is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

Following that we have an interview at Discover Magazine with Lead Writer Mary DeMarle about augmentation, enhancement and ethics. A quote about how they approached this:

Q: How did you approach the topic of augmentation? What were your thoughts about cyborgs and human engineering before you began your research?

A: As soon as I knew we wanted to center the game around the concept of human augmentation and where advancements in neuroprosthetics might take Mankind, I knew I needed to do a lot of research. I started with a book entitled, “Radical Evolution” by Joel Garreaux. It was a great introduction not only to the subject of human engineering, but also to the various theories and arguments for and against it. After that, I split my research efforts in two, spending some of my time reading up on the technological advancements, and some of my time reading up on the philosophical debate. I have to admit that, before starting all this research, I had tended to think of cyborgs and human engineering as the stuff of Science Fiction — something I love to read and immerse myself in conceptually, but not something I might actually see in this reality.

Lastly, Frank Lapikas has answered questions from fans at the official Deus Ex Human Revolution Tumblr site. A few excerpts:

Slato asks this question:

Did your opinion on DX:IW change through development? It seems most of the fan community hated it. Did you incorporate any ideas at least in part inspired by Invisible War? Or was it entirely ignored?

Frank answers:

My personal opinion of it did not change, no. Have I played it? Yes. Through the end. I’m glad to finally have this question. We’ve tiptoed quite a lot around the issue of Invisible War, but we’ve never fully answered people who wanted to know how much of it we actually used as inspiration. I shall do this here and now. My aim is not to start a flame war. But if we’re to peel back the curtain on how this game was designed, I want to be truthful. And the truth about Invisible War is that I personally did not get as much enjoyment out of it as I did the original Deus Ex. Looking at Invisible War was a cautionary tale. The game showed us how some apparently simple design decisions such as universal ammo could alter the essence of what Deus Ex is. When you look at IW, all the staples are there: the future, augs, weapons, a conspiracy, dialogs, stealth, side quests, etc. Yet it doesn’t feel quiteright. It made us realize that it would be very easy for us to screw up Human Revolution. We had a fine line to thread after all. So in essence we used IW and compared it to DX1 in order to operate a “course correction”; which means we reverted most decisions in IW  in favor of what DX1 had done. From my knowledge (and sometimes defective memory), there is nothing in Human Revolution that comes from invisible War alone. Doesn’t mean Invisible War was a bad game.But it’s not the game we were trying to live up to. 

And here's a question about how the stealth system works: 

Willitblend asks:
Would the stealth system differ from the previous games, and if so, how?

Frank answers:

Yes it does. Our main complaint with DX1’s stealth was the lack of feedback. We personally found it hard to know when we were hidden and when we weren’t. To the point of frustration sometimes. (yeah yeah, I’m criticizing DX1. But bear with me…)That’s why we decided to go with a detection system based on line-of-sight, rather than light and shadows. To us it felt easier to read, especially when combined with a cover system. We read on the forums that some people felt we were dumbing down and consolizing the game. Our perspective was that we were actually empowering players, by giving them better information and better tools to use stealth. You be the judge.