Edge magazine, based in the UK, recently had questions submitted through their online counterpart from gamers to ask Evolution Studios about their upcoming PlayStation 3 racer Motorstorm. Here are a few of the highlights from that:

On the importance of including motion control: "When we took delivery of our first motion-sensing controllers, we’d already spent a lot of time tuning our handling model to the traditional input system. We had to find a way to exploit the new functionality without dramatically changing MotorStorm’s intense game experience. The solution we eventually settled on provided players with an opportunity to experience the Sixaxis without physically exhausting them. We’ll be building on this with future products."

Why the Japanese version had no online play: "Sony Japan were happy to have a totally offline game as the singleplayer experience is so good. In the US, though, online is a much bigger deal, so they wanted to ensure that their version included online play. But as PS3 games continue to grow ‘beyond the box’ via downloadable content, every game is ‘not quite finished’, so expect more as time goes on."

Online voice chat included?: "Yes, using either USB headsets or Bluetooth wireless sets. Currently we have 12-player; recently we had 15 but we’ve had to cull this. We’re still hoping for 16 but we can’t commit to that right now."

Split screen multiplayer: "Rally Evolved dropped split-screen and we’ll probably leave it that way for MotorStorm unless we get an overwhelming demand. Splitting all that high-def detail into two is a performance nightmare. However, the beauty of online consoles is that the game can change in the future and we can sit down with SCEE and say, ‘Let’s offer this for download – the fans want it’."

I don't really understand that part. Does that mean no TWO player? It would be a huge bummer to not be able to play this with my friends. I was all excited for this game, just to be able to play 2 player at home. I wish I had some clarification on that.

I sure hope they do add 2 player. But game companies don't really care what us consumers think. How are they going to "Know" if we want splitscreen or not?

Well, like I said, this is just a bummer for me. I was looking forward to playing this one offline just as much as online, but now that this has been announced, I'm just not as excited.