Dishonored - Colantonio and Smith Interview @ Sneaky Bastards

This interview with Arkane's Raf Colantonio and Harvey Smith is about the stealth genre but obviously, Dishonored gets several mentions:

What are your thoughts on stealth gameplay being included as one possible path or playstyle, as opposed to the main focus of a game?
Raf: This is the approach we’re taking with Dishonored: you can chose a stealth approach or attack head on, or in combination. My personal thought on this is that it supports simulation and player choice, which is always a good thing from our standpoint.
What are your thoughts on stealth gameplay being included as one possible path or playstyle, as opposed to the main focus of a game?
Harvey: One could argue that the game is stronger with a pure focus on stealth, but like Raf said we find it more interesting when a range of options present themselves. To us, the most interesting games constantly present the player with inputs and outputs that work in as many general cases as possible: gradients related to movement, powers/weapons, morality, and enemy perception. So many things can happen in that environment that the end result feels like something the player authored. Personally, I think analogue awareness would add to many games. If I play a zombie apocalypse game or a shooter, I really want to be able to play cat and mouse. Far Cry 2 is one of my favorite shooters of all time, for instance.

More information.

Everytime I hear them speak I get goosebumps. Where do the other games designers learn from?

Really there should be an Academy, and these guys should be the presidents.

They really make a hater out of me, hating on 99% of game designers is a burden

Yep, I'm excited for this game like I haven't been for any game in a long long time.