The following was taken from our forums. Emil Pagliarulo is a designer for Thief 3, who also worked on Thief Gold and Thief 2 as designer.

Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag. Glad you guys reacted so positively. Doh!

Okay, I know nothing I say in this post is going to make anyone feel any better, but I can't help but feel compelled to respond to you guys who, obviously, have been our greatest supporters since the dawn of time.

Yes, we're making an X-Box game. I know most of you are hardcore PC gamers, and you feel betrayed. You don't want to shell out money for an X-Box, and you're convinced Thief 3 is going to suck anyway (because you think all consoles, by virtue of being consoles, suck by default). I'm truly sorry you were slapped in the face that way. If I weren't working on the Thief series, I'd probably be sitting right where you are now, saying exactly the same things. And with that, let me tell you a little bit about where we, the Thief 3 design team (and me personally), stand on this whole issue.

Personally, I'm a hardcore PC gamer. I play some console games, but really they're a fraction of the games I play on the PC. So obviously I was stunned too when I first found out Thief 3 would be designed for the X-Box. I got over that pretty quickly, though, when I found out just what kind of game we'd be making.

Guys, this is core Thief. This IS the Thief you know and love, trust me. Yeah, it's on the X-Box. Yeah, you'll use a controller. But in the end (if you buy an X-Box), I'm pretty convinced you'll love the game.

I can't and won't go into specifics, but let me just say that the types of things we're planning are just...awesome. For a PC or an XBox. Someone posted that Thief 3 would obviously be dumbed down for the console. The game would be sped up, we'd abandon stealth in favor of killing and action, etc. etc. That's not going to happen. You're still a Thief. You're still Garrett. And you would get so psyched if you knew about some of the stuff we have in store. Situations, characters, creatures, tools, locations...they're everything you know and love, and more. We've looked at every other stealth-based game on the market, for every platform, and we feel pretty confident that no games do stealth better than the Thief series. We'd be nuts to abandon what we do best.

I know it sounds like I'm playing spin doctor and that's really not my intention. I'm just damned psyched about making this game because it's the same type of thought process I had when I worked on Thief 2. I knew I was making a hardcore stealth sim for people who wanted to be totally immersed in Garrett's world. That's how I felt when I played Thief: TDP, and it's why I wanted to work on Thief 2 to begin with. It's exactly why I'm working on Thief 3.

There are days I look at the content the other designers are making and get a chill...I can feel Garret creeping about. And the stuff coming out of the art department is just ridiculously cool. Also, if you can believe it, the AI looks like it's going to blow away what we had in the past 2 games. Oh, and let's see, Randy Smith, the guy who made Return to Cathedral, Bank, Soulforge (and did a million other things on the Thief series) is our project leader/lead designer. Terri Brosius, voice of Viktoria and designer of Song of the Caverns and Trail of Blood, is our writer. Oh, and let's not forget that when Lulu Lamer was in charge of QA at Looking Glass she made it her personal mission in life to see to it that Thief and Thief 2 didn't suck. Believe me, that hasn't changed.

You should also know that the T3 design team is well aware of the issues involved in making a game for the console, and we've taken great pains to insure that Thief 3 translates as smoothly as possible. Someone posted that Thief 3 uses too many keys, and we'd have to dumb down the interface, etc. Not true. We know that control can make or break any game, PC or console, and we've spent considerable time ironing out these issues. Just about everything you could do it in Thief you can do it in Thief 3 (and more). Except slam your keyboard in frustration, because, you know, you won't have a keyboard. But you can always whip your XBox controller across the room if part of the game pisses you off. In fact, it's been great having the opportunity to reevaluate the Thief interface and see what works, what doesn't, and how we can make it all better.

I guess for us, the people making Thief 3, the feeling is that we don't want to make a great PC game or a great console game, we want to make a great game. Period.

There are things I'm not going to talk about, so please don't ask. Namely, anything about the PC version, WHY we're making an X-Box game, etc. etc. I just wanted to respond to everyone. Believe me, we know you guys are upset simply because you love Thief and don't want to see it get screwed up. Well, we love Thief too, and we'll be damned if we let that happen.

In the end, when this has fully sunk in, I hope all the loyal Thief/Looking Glass fans jump on board, and continue the awesome support. The bottom line is that Looking Glass is dead, but Thief lives on. That's close to being a miracle in itself. Try not to dwell too much on what you perceieve as the negative, and instead acknowledge the positive. You want Thief 3. We're making it. It WILL rule.

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Emil Pagliarulo
Designer -- Thief 3

P.S. My post in "official" only in the sense that I work at ISA on Thief 3. We didn't all sit around and say, "Okay, Emil, post a message and share our collective thoughts." But I feel pretty confident that my colleagues share my sentiment. I'm "representin' my peeps" so to speak.

.... sigh

Okay, I've read what people have posted, and here's my response.

For those who were surprised/confused/unnerved by my post -- I simply felt like you guys deserved to hear something from somebody. No secret agenda, no damage control, no attempt to play salesman -- just me trying be sympathetic because, like I said, I'm a PC game geek and I understand where you're coming from.

It also seems like no matter what I might have said or not said, people are inclined to believe whatever they want. That includes reading into my post way more than they should.

Yeah, I said I didn't want to talk to about the PC version. Does that mean there's not going to be one? No. I simply did not want to open myself up for questions I'm not authorized to answer. The same goes for the "why we're making an X-Box" issue. If Randy or Warren see fit, maybe they'll answer these questions at another time. It wasn't my place to go into those issues, so I didn't.

As a designer on Thief 3, I have insight into particular issues, namely how well designed/fun the team feels the game is shaping up to be. Regardless of platform, we're pretty psyched about the way Thief 3 is heading. I just thought you guys might want to at least know that, in light of the news that has you all so bummed out.

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Emil Pagliarulo
Designer -- Thief 3

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly rumors spread in this business and how willing people are to accept rumor as fact.

Right now, there are rumors circulating on the net that Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3 will ship on console first, with PC "ports" coming later. That is simply not true. Let me assure you that we have no plans to release a console version of DX2 or T3 before a PC version or to compromise one version to accomodate the needs of any other version we might develop.

Both DX2 and T3 are a ways off -- making immersive simulations takes time! -- and official announcements regarding these projects will be made in the future. Until then, let me just say that the members of the DX2 and T3 teams, many of whom helped create the original Thief and Deus Ex, are determined to meet and surpass your justifiably high expectations.

Everyone in this studio is as committed to making games like Underworld, System Shock, Thief and Deus Ex as you are committed to playing them. The vehemence with which you've expressed your concern is ample evidence that you love these games as much as we do. All I ask is that you trust us now as you always have in the past. You won't be disappointed...

Warren Spector
Project Director, Deus Ex
Studio Director, ION Austin