In an interview with VG247, science fiction author Richard Morgan had some interesting things to say about his writing role on Crysis 2, the upcoming shooter set in a crumbling New York City. It's an industry role with a "soft" template, he explained, and it's not one without some familiar challenges. We're still dealing with a sequel and a superguy shooting aliens, after all.

"I hate the Big Mac aesthetic of pop culture," Morgan said, "which is, you know, sequelitis: 'We're going to give people exactly what we gave them last time, because they liked it, so let's do exactly the same.'" Avoiding that aesthetic and eating healthy, as it were, requires some fresh ingredients. "If we can beat that Big Mac mentality and keep delivering fresh stuff, and something fresh gives the consumer something really fresh to do, then I'm happy, because when I'm doing fresh stuff that's when I'm most awake. With the Crytek experience so far, I'm very awake."

We like the Big Mac explanation, but it's still big talk before Crysis 2 launches this holiday. Admittedly, seeing a game's writer cast in the spotlight at this stage is still uncommon -- and possibly a display of publisher EA's confidence.