Some bits from the interview on HomeLan Fed:
"Making UT2 a better game than the original is what Digital Extremes (DE) has planned to do all along. From a graphics standpoint alone they"re already working with 100 to 200 times more details than the original had but obviously making a better game is as much about gameplay as it is about graphics and their building on a game that had outstanding gameplay to begin with."
"Everything appears to be on track. Unreal Tournament 2 should hit store shelves around the end of June. As we did with UT we"re planning to release a demo/test version of the game before it ships so we can get user feedback and testing results in time to incorporate what we learn from that into the final game."
"First of all, Unreal2 looks absolutely spectacular on a massive scale. Legend has done an amazing job. I think a lot of people are going to be happily surprised when this game comes out."
"So to answer the question multiplayer will disappear from Unreal 2 in exchange for it being a bigger, better and more focused single player game. What will happen to the multiplayer assets already developed for Unreal2 is still a question."