This month, Western-meets-Samurai Anime game “Red Steel 2″ takes a giant leap forward in translating players’ movements into epic on-screen swordfights. Creative director Jason Vandenberghe gives us an inside look at the making of an action game with detailed motion controls and shares his enthusiasm for PlayStation Move and Microsoft’s Project Natal.

Kevin Ohannessian: Tell me about Red Steel 2.

Jason Vandenberghe: Red Steel 2 is a first-person sword and gun-slinging action game, with the Wii Motion Plus required. We have broken through the first-person swordfighting barrier and have created what I affectionately call a first-person brawler. The game is played fast and furious at a close range. We started over with the franchise, the setting and the world; a new hero, a new look, a new style. It has more of a graphic novel look this time, in a world more fitting for swordfighting gameplay.

How is making a game with such detailed motion control different than a typical game?

It’s revolutionary. We are one of a small group that can say that. Are you familiar with the “Wii Waggle”? The style of gameplay that’s become common in many of the games–you can’t play Red Steel that way. You have to treat the Wiimote like a sword, like you are holding a katana. The goal we had was to give you the sensation that the Wiimote you are swinging is a blade and when you make contact with your enemies you’re really cleaving them. With the Wii Motion Plus, we can do it. It lets us take a first-person shooter, Red Steel, and turn it into a first-person fighter, Red Steel 2. We have been able to finally satisfy the promise of swordfighting on the Wii.

Read the full article at Fast Company.