Q: Some may find a similarity between Brothers in Arms and Band of Brothers, a TV drama by Steven Spielberg's and Tom Hanks which followed a very similar storyline. Would you say this is because the game also follows a very accurate portrayal of what went on or is there some connection?

Randy Pitchford: Ambrose's book is a really great one. It tells the story of another group of paratroopers - E/506th. These guys are memorable because not only did they participate in each of the main engagements of the 101st Airborne in World War 2, but they also happened to be the first to reach Hitler's eagles nest in Austria.

I thought Spielberg's work on the HBO series was phenomenal. Sometimes I wonder if, had the book and/or the series come out *before* we started heading down the path of making this game if we wouldn't have chosen to do the interactive version of this unit.

But, we studied the history and we paid particular attention to the actual After Action Reports written by Col. S.L.A. Marshall who was a US Army Historian and was there to document what took place during the D-Day invasion. Col. Marshall made it very clear which unit Brothers in Arms should be all about - the 502nd PIR.

Col. Marhsall wrote that an examination of the record and accomplishment of 502nd PIR, "weighed critically against all others in the American Army, warrants the estimate that on D Day, in point of fighting effectiveness and tactical scope, this was probably the outstanding [unit] of the Normandy operation."

Reading the full accounts confirm this. If you are interested in not just the paratrooper unit, but the unit in the whole of the US Army that kicked the most ass on D-Day, then you are interested in the 502nd PIR.

It's nearly universally agreed by countless historians that D-Day was not only the most important military battle in modern history, but it's likely the most important single day, in war or peace, in shaping today's modern world. We're talking about the unit that the official History Section of the US Army ETO (Eastern Theater of Operations) concluded was the most outstanding unit in Normandy.

Brothers in Arms is based on their true story.