Houser, who is also lead writer on "Max Payne 3" (as he was on "Grand Theft Auto IV"), says he believes refining writing is essential to the maturation of the industry.
"If games are to be the next major form of creative consumption, art, cultural expression or whatever the correct term is, then strong narrative has to be part of that," he says. "If the mechanics are fine and the story is ridiculous, the experience is much diminished."
Maintaining control over story -- and any cinematic qualities -- is especially challenging as the gaming world moves toward a more multiplayer focus. Players still appreciate a good campaign, but if a game doesn't have a strong online component where they can play with (or, even better, against) others, it hurts the game's earnings potential.
Rockstar hasn't talked much about the multiplayer aspects of "Max Payne 3," but Houser hints that just because those elements of the game live outside of the campaign, it doesn't mean they're not part of the narrative.
"We wanted to put some elements of single player into the multiplayer so the multiplayer will have a lot more detail and have elements of story in it and have a sort of an immersive quality," he says. "We think that's something that is underexplored in multiplayer."
"Max Payne 3" has been a long time coming. First announced in 2009, with an expected ship date of that winter, it has been pushed back a couple of times to let the development team polish it and ensure the quality was up to Rockstar's exacting standards. This includes an excruciating attention to detail, which Houser says is the real key to the company's success.
Realism, he says, is also a major goal. "We are building a film set, but it's a 360-degree film set that has to join together and feel real," he explains. "Some of the stuff we end up being most obsessed by are the things that join between walls. And where a lot of other games fail is their models may look great, but they don't sit together very well."
While Rockstar likens itself more to a film studio than a traditional game developer (the company shoots the equivalent of a feature film every few weeks with its motion capture rig, Houser notes), it's not eager to embrace a film industry trend other gamemakers are chasing: 3D.
While the PC version of "Max Payne 3" may be 3D-compatible (nothing, so far, is confirmed, but most major PC games offer the feature these days), Houser says it's not a passion of his. "I don't think anyone has solved the riddle of how you make 3D an integral part of the gaming experience," he says simply.
