Patrick is the producer/designer of the forthcoming Top Gun, which is set to release on PC and Dreamcast next year. In almost eight years in the industry, Patrick has worked on projects at US Gold and Psygnosis and his experience in designing arcade games will hopefully ensure that Top Gun is damned good fun, as opposed to a techie flight sim.

What games have you been playing recently?
Half-Life was a good laugh, and kept me at my desk longer than any project plan would. I've recently been replaying Metal Gear Solid, and FFVII, while being fully aware that these particular products hold very little in the way of source material for Top Gun-Eras. Evaluation stuff for comparative analysis has included Hornet's Nest, Aerofighters Assault, Mig-29, and of course, our own F18/E Super Hornet. I thought Silent Hill looked to have to most original and high quality styling that I've seen in a long time. That opening music is fantastic!

What do you think of Dreamcast?
We are only just beginning to look at the DC in detail. As regards the future of the machine, you have to look at a number of factors.
*Exclusive arcade conversions of some phenomenally popular titles.
*The accuracy of recent conversions. (Virtua Fighter 3tb, HOTD2, Powerstone, Sega Rally 2.)
*Mass market not being aware of PlayStation sequel yet, in conjunction with telly ads for DC set to appear in next few weeks.
*Developers fearing the impact of the new PlayStation, and its potential need for much bigger development teams. (When compared to the porting ease, and comparative specs of DC and high end PCs...)
*The kind of launch titles available to Sega for a UK release...
I hope the machine does succeed. It fills a time gap, and to a degree, may fill a performance gap. IF DC manages impressive versions of more hugely popular coin-ops, it could be a machine of choice. Personally I'd kill for a DC version of Konami's GTI Club.

What do think of the PlayStation 2 specs?
Specs are amazing, demos were stunning, and yes, we are submitting some material.

What's your favourite games machine ever?
Probably the Super Nintendo, as mine is still in use today. (Super Mario Kart, Super Bomberman, Super Tennis). I thought the Lynx was under-used, and loved California Game and Blue Lightning.

Been to any mad industry parties?
Gamasutra's suite at CGDC in '98 was pretty cool, and if Gamasutra's Kimberly Love ever reads this, then contact the site owner and give him your email address for me. Other parties are usually un-wild in an extreme sense. People trying to enjoy themselves more than is possible in a desperate attempt to appear something other than nerdish. You know the dancers in the Fat Boy Slim video for Praise you... All respect to S3 though, as their bash had some cool bands, a free bar, and enough dark corners to attempt to woo the few development females available. Good location as well.

What's the best game of the last five years?
Konami's GTI Club, for realising that we always wanted to find out what was behind and around the track, and making the leap from thinking wouldn't it be cool to drive over there (pointing to a piece of interesting background detail) and actually doing it. Finding the subterranean car park was superb, though I don't think it ever helped my lap times. They also gave us as close to an 'Italian Job' interactive experience as has been developed so far. Then there's the handbrake, which all of us driving yobs over-use, on unsuitable surfaces at improper moments. And the insane bomb mode, showing that racing games need to get back to the game, as much as they need to be about realtime physical suspension modelling. Come to think of it, where's Sega's new version of Power Drift...?