Turbine's Vijay Lakshman Interview

Warcry has conducted an interview with Turbine's Vijay Lakshman, asking the new Vice President of Production quite a few questions about his new duties and the company as a whole. An excerpt to follow:
Always the cynic, always with the reservations, I just had to spike his punch somehow I mean, what kind of day-to-day impact does a Vice President of Production really have?

"Hopefully not negative," he smiled, obviously reading me all too well. "If I offer anything, I hope it's a sense of direction and calmness. My hope is that when things get crazy, as they often do in game development, that there's a seasoned voice among the noise that says: "This is the way to go."

I couldn't let up, however: If you remember, VU Games was once associated with another MMO project; a project called Middle Earth Online, years ago, which had folded from something that happened behind-the-scenes, something that prompted rumors of litigation. I was worried that the stigma in the marketplace of these two players coming together again would follow it to the obviously more committed relationship between VUG and Turbine.