Boom Blox should have been a massive hit. It's a Wii game that allows players to wave the Wiimote around, which is something they usually enjoy. It takes the boring word "blocks" and spices it up with an X. (That's the secret technique game writers have for making the English language pop a wheelie.) Most importantly, it was created with the help of Steven freaking Spielberg, America's greatest resource of wonder and amazement. His name is right there on the front of the box. How can a game sell only 60,000 units in its opening month when the box says Steven Spielberg?

To find out, Gamers With Jobs went straight to the source with an exclusive, hard-hitting interview. When we think Boom Blox, only one name comes to mind. It took a lot of calls and favors, but we finally managed to corner him and get the straight dope.

Who could it be? Hint: Just look at the box.

We asked Forza 2 fans here in the Gamers With Jobs forums to post their questions about the game and what's coming in the future. Producer Korey Krauskopf was gracious enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to respond. Downloadable content, the PC, physics, tips, car flipping and more after the break!

Recently Big Huge Games released their latest title in the Rise of Nations franchise, a sweeping and original fantasy RTS game called Rise of Legends. Largely praised, by us included, for its original art style and solid gameplay foundation, Rise of Legends took the Rise of Nations formula and completely reworked it into a new environment and graphics engine. We recently sat down with Design Lead, Paul Stephanouk from developer Big Huge Games to ask him about Rise of Legends' development and launch.

When Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends was announced shortly before E3 of 2005, it climbed immediately to the top of my must see list for the convention. Having exhausted countless hours to Rise of Nations and its successful expansion Thrones and Patriots, my thirst for more Rise gameplay was insatiable, but even as I waxed enthusiastic, I was concerned about how the Big Huge Games team might take the familiar into a new fantasy direction. After seeing the game on the show floor, and talking with Design Lead Paul Stephanouk, my concerns were largely put aside, and my enthusiasm was again unbridled.

In the aftermath of E3 the Big Huge Games crew got back quietly back to work, and now we get the chance to sit down and chat with Paul about their progress since E3, how the Rise of Nations community has responded to this new direction, how a more focused single-player campaign affects the open ended gameplay of a 'Rise' game, the direction of PC gaming in general, copy protection, and much more.

There's a number of developers located in my hometown, and one of them happens to be SEK – the Spieleentwicklungskombinat. Which means something along the lines of 'Game Developing Company/Studio', but the charm of the name and its acronym - usually referring to a German special task force - goes lost in translation. The team was founded in 1998 and premiered with the strategy game Diggles (aka Wiggles in Germany). Currently SEK is busy working on an RTS title called Paraworld. And while I'm usually reporting on smaller projects, this one is being made by a not-so-very-small team with a fairly big budget. Curious? Well, read on as managing director Carolin Batke talks about the game and the company developing it!

A while ago I stumbled over a project called Nirvana thanks to a mention over at SuperMutant. It certainly is not the first time that one of our interviews features a remark along the lines of Â"a small team in [insert overly exotic countries such as Germany] is currently working on...Â". And so it happens to be that – here we go – a small team in Germany is currently working on a game that appears to mix FPS and RPG elements. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, featuring a freeform approach that might appeal to fans of Morrowind. If Nirvana was a package then it probably would have Â"Careful – Ambitious Content InsideÂ" written on it. Maybe even overambitious? Read on as Carsten Kny, one of the developers, shares some early details on the game!

After the 'drought' in the late 90s we've seen a surge of pirates-themed titles in the past 2 years thanks to games such as Port Royale I&II, Tortuga, Sea Dogs, Pirates of the Carribean and, well, Puzzle Pirates. And more are to come due to projects like Pirates of the Burning Sea and the Pirates! remake being in the pipeline. In Germany a small team is currently working on World of Pirates. The MMO game has been in development for a while and is getting closer to its release now. Read on as Hardy Winter talks about the game, the WoP-Dev Team and the oncoming public beta test among other things!

Games involving tar balls have gained an immense popularity in the recent past and meanwhile no publisher could afford not having at least one such a title in their portfolio. The latest developer to jump on this bandwagon happens to be Chronic Logic, the crew behind the acclaimed Bridge Builder/Pontifex series. Gish, like most of the games by the company, has their physics engine running beneath it, upgraded with a 'blobular' component this time. We've had the chance to chat with Chronic Logic's Josiah Pisciotta and Edmund McMillen, creative force behind Gish. Read on if you want to know more about the lovely blob of tar, the side-scroller/puzzle mix itself and their future projects!

Don't get confused, today indeed is Monday. Really. As you may have noticed,
we're also covering people who develop games in their spare time.
BestGameEver.com happens to be one of these projects. Under the motto
"Free Game. Every Friday." a new game is being provided every week.
Each title either incorporates a new idea or is a refinement of a
previous release based on feedback by the players. We've had the chance
to chat with Dylan Fitterer, creator of these interesting time killers.
Read on if you want to know more about BGE, the design premise,
inspiration and if Sofa King Cool is really the only title that is,
well, Sofa King Cool.

The UK indie developer Slitherine was founded about 4 years ago. The company has been focused on the development of turn-based strategy titles so far. Their latest product, Spartan, was among the IGF 2004 Competition nominees and even made it to score in the Visual Arts category. I've sent some questions to Iain McNeil, lead designer on the game. Read on if you want to know more about the title, its development, the company behind it and ... toilets.