Warren Spector Tells All on GameSpot UK is a fairly beefy Q&A with the ION Storm designer about Deus Ex, ION's upcoming science fiction action/RPG. The discussion covers the game's inspiration, storyline, adapting the Unreal engine, and more. Here's a quote that discusses the game's role-playing aspects, whether you decide to use your brains, your brawn, or your own combination of the two:

With Deus Ex I wanted to create a game which encouraged you to develop your character in unique ways in a world that is rich enough for you to express those differences. But we don't force you into a particular form, we don't say "You're the computer hacker so you can't fire a pistol." All the systems are designed to differentiate character and experience and to my mind that's a definition for roleplaying. It's a case of "Who am I and how do I interact with the world?" I don't think people will be able to avoid thinking of this in some sense as a roleplaying game: the role they choose to play may be like a Quake player, but it's still a role and that's a choice that we're giving them.