We recently spoke with Cam Weber, producer of Radical Entertainment's multi-platform title, Simpsons Road Rage. Here's the skinny.

CAM: Originally we were going to pitch a Simpsons Cart Racer to Fox Interactive, but after a trip to E3 in 2000, we changed our minds – there were at least 10 new licensed-based cart racers coming to market, and we wanted to differentiate ourselves. So we went back to the drawing board and asked ourselves “What type of driving game would take the most advantage of the Simpsons license?” We wanted lots of character interaction and dialogue, and include a large variety of characters. Also, it was very important that we create a game world that would be jam-packed with Simpsons content, and a racing track did not fulfill our criteria. So we decided to go with the concept of driving around a go-anywhere Springfield and giving the user the ability to pick up various characters and hear tons of hilarious dialogue. The perpetual, A to B style gameplay just made the most sense to us, because it allowed us to take full advantage of the Simpsons license.

CAM: The design for the game was set in the beginning, and we pretty much stuck to the original design, but we added a mission mode late in the development process. We also placed a heavy emphasis on our head to head mode.

CAM: When word got out in our company that we were going to develop a Simpsons game, I had some people begging me to work on the title. There is a group of hard core Simpsons fans who designed and developed this game, and those who did not start out as big fans ended up being fans by the end of our project, because they were constantly exposed to the show and the humor and content that came along with it. We have a library of every Simpsons episode made, and each member of the development team has a TV and VCR on their desk – so people are watching the Simpsons all day long as they work. At the same time, all of our art and design had to go through a thorough approval process with Matt Groening and Gracie Films, and the real TV show writers wrote the voice script. So this game is very authentic.

CAM: Yes. All of the voices in the game are the actual actors from the show. Also, the script was written by the actual TV show writers.

CAM: After each gaming session, the user is taken to a back end progress screen, where your game total gets added to your running total. The goal of the game is to reach a total of 1 million dollars so you can buy back the transit system from Mr. Burns. Along the way, there are key milestones, which serve as unlocking points. For example, once you have earned $1000, you are given the choice of unlocking either a neighborhood or a character/vehicle. If you choose a character/vehecle, you can choose any one of 17 unlockables. Then, once you earn $10,000 total (this may take a couple of gaming sessions), you get to unlock something again. Once a level or character is unlocked in single player mode, it becomes useable in Head to Head mode as well.

CAM: The front-end music consists of re-mixes based on the theme from the TV show, and the in-game music is an independently composed set of songs that were created to suit the pace of gameplay and to match the mood of the storyline. All music was approved by Matt Groening and Gracie Films, and the composer was chosen by Matt Groening himself.

CAM: This game has tons of content. Our worlds are absolutely filled with humorous billboards, signs, trees, shrubs, breakable objects, pedestrians and vehicles among others. The PS2's power also allowed us to fill the world with dynamic physics objects. You can smash through lots of objects when driving through our game world.

CAM: There is a special vehicle that is unlocked upon completion of the Mission mode, and there are 4 holiday vehicles that become unlocked on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Halloween. Users will also find lots of little surprises in the game world if they explore the insides of some buildings or find their way through certain shortcuts.

CAM: We designed the interface of this game with the novice user in mind. Users can have success using simple controls (ie. Gas and brake), but can earn more money by using special moves, such as power slides, doughnuts, etc. So I think the game is easy enough at first to let beginners have fun, but also provides some ramping challenges to keep the advanced gamer interested.

CAM: I would definitely be Snake. He drives a fast car, and does whatever he wants.

CAM: This game is separated by the content. The Simpsons license has provided us with a great variety of characters, each of them deep in voice content (over 3000 lines of dialogue in game). Also, the game world is filled with interesting landmarks and objects from the TV show. Simpsons fans will enjoy driving around the world exploring the world content in our Sunday Drive mode. Also, we offer users a variety of terrain to drive on. Most driving titles are either city based, track based, or are based in hilly country areas exclusively. Our game offers all of these, with the suburbs, city, mountains, and parkland from our Springfield Dam area. Ultimately, this title combines a great storyline with arcade style gameplay and a deep, detailed world. Both Simpsons fans and driving game fans are going to love this title.