1. During the initial interview you stated that there were going to be 
no new blocks in the game though shortly after there were images 
released which not only included some previously known though locked 
away blocks but some evidently new blocks, what prompted this change of 
mind?
The question was more about the gift and marketing we can do, than the 
deep logic of Forever. And it takes me a lot of pushing to accept to do 
things that are illogicals. Anyway, I am a little joking, but with the 
additionnal we had, we were able to think about giving additionnal graphics.
 
2. From the published screenshots we have seen that there will now be 
water in the desert environment, Is this replacing the big canyon hole 
blocks and is it bouncy like in Stadium/TMS or will it be like Rally 
where you just sink. If the desert water is bouncy, will the rally water 
be getting upgraded too?
The rally water will have an upgrade. This may create a problem for some 
tracks. Sorry.
 
3. So far you have said there will only be new blocks for the classic 
environments, though as stated above you have been known to change your 
minds about things, so can you confirm that this is so or will there be 
any new treats for fans of the TMS environments or the Stadium? If not 
can you give us any clues as to what other new blocks will be available 
for Snow and Rally?
Only Stadium in addition to Original. Original to make it richer and 
Stadium to make it more complete.
 
4. You have listed many new features for the Forever upgrade but one so 
far unmentioned is a compatability issue, will there be Checkpoint 
Resets in TMN-F and have you added any other new features since last we 
spoke?
Yes, respawn will be in TMN-F. I only wish they will avoid it in big 
competition on television, for people will have difficulties to follow 
car teleportation.
 
5. There is an evident Cadre of TM-Nations Players who have stated that 
they will refuse to update to TMN-F because they say they think the TMU 
stadium is not as focused as the TMN Stadium and due to a higher 
graphical overhead runs slower on their computers, ado you have anything 
to say to encourage them to update or are you going to leave them alone 
and keep the TMN classic master server running indefinatley?
TMN master server will be kept running. But if TMN-F runs slower, I 
would be interested to look after this, there is no big reason for this. 
We only add option to make it runs slower. The new blocks are made to be 
cheap, the United ones were to costly to my point of view.
 
6. The last time we talked you suggested that in Forever ladder boosting 
would not be possible and gave a rough outline of ideas as how this may 
be stopped. Now that we are so much closer to launch, can you tell us 
with any firmness what is going to be done to prevent boosting?
All servers will be limited to a certain level exept some official ones. 
Only two dedicated servers will enable to reach the top, one for Nations 
and one for United. To enter them, you will probably have to go through 
other official servers before to reach the 'entry' levels. Those 
official servers will be named by Nadeo or important community organisators.
 
7. There are still a few bugs lying around in TMU such as the corrupted 
signs, and the nearly non-functional refresh button in the Multiplayer 
server browser, or even the bug in the MT editor where occasionally text 
etc is invisible have these been addressed in the TMU-F update?
For this kind of annoying things, the better is to test during the beta 
and report if they are still there.
 
8. As you may have noticed there has recently been a massive discussion 
(read that as Huge argument) over the issue of what has become known as 
mix-mapping, As the creators of the game many feel you have been 
exceedingly quiet over this issue, Is there an official opinion on the 
phenomenon, do you intend to try and stop it, embrace it or just plain 
ignore it?
I have no answer to this at the moment. Detect it and inform the players 
would be a good first step anyway. But we have other things to do at the 
moment.
 
9. As we all know TrackMania Nations is the free cut down version of 
TrackMania United . How do you intend to convince those who only have 
the free game to upgrade to the complete version other than hoping that 
they like TMN enough to consider paying for TMU? Have you considered 
offering temporary trials of the other environments to TMN players for 
limited periods?
Before, United was a separate game from Nations. With your TMU keys, you 
will be able to play Nations with the additionnal online services that 
we can only deliver to a limited number of players, like official times, 
maniacode, coppers, maniazones and moderation. The latest being the 
reason why data transfer is disable from Nations account. So, this time, 
it is a big plus to have United, not something different.
 
10. Now TMU has been out for a year it has been garnering many awards 
from the gaming press, such as the American Shacknews Driving game of 
the year, what do you have to say about it`s success?
It is easy for me to say that I think TrackMania deserves more as it is 
probably easy for you to think it also. But this industry looks at games 
like movies and very less about games as sports. Movies are great, there 
are many user made in TM ^_^, but I see TrackMania as the ultimate 
TrackMania simulator. And for this, we should have a perfect score :P
 
I want to finish by telling readers how exited I am about Forever. This 
release will tell if TrackMania is a standard game, a desktop game 
played by millions with some space for enough people to express 
themselves, taking strengh at being with others instead of loosing it. I 
wish big for Forever!!