Issue 1/23 of Weekly Famitsu celebrate the new year by interviewing 21 Japanese game “creators” who they think will make waves in the year 2009. I always love these interviews, especially when developers explain the thinking behind their games or reveals how difficult it is to make them. Each creator gets a page to talk about 2008, 2009 and their games, so read on if you’re interested. PSP and DS creators can be read here and here.

Yoshinori Ono (Capcom)

The biggest news in 2008 for Street Fighter IV’s producer Ono was the arcade debut of the game. He is pleased with the response so far, says the game is still popular after half a year and there are plenty of office workers stopping by to play the game before heading home. Another pleasing sight for him is to see great players of previous games back in the chart again. He says this is due to fact that SFIV feels and plays a lot like Street Fighter II. The most asked question about SFIV is “why are you still making 2D game?”. On the home consoles version of SFIV, besides SFII, elements from the ZERO series are added and the inclusion of online battles should make characters longer lasting since players can always learn new things by fighting others.

For 2009, Ono says there are plenty of plans to market SFIV. He also hopes that those who played SFII in their high school years can now “transfer” their skills to their children. Although he knows it’s impossible for it to be as hot as the years of SFII, he hopes 2009 will be a year of fighting games, especially online fighting.

Yusuke Hashimoto & Hideki Kamiya (Platinum Games)

Being able to announce Bayonetta and active in the Western gaming market mark the highlights of the duo in 2008. They realized the difficulty in promoting original IP but hope to send the message that it’s a well made game. One of the key elements in Bayonetta is action and they spent a lot of time fine tuning it. Even though they are known for making tough games, they say they have wide range of difficulty levels for players who want check out the game purely for its character design, world view or actions. “Climax Action” is the main theme of the game, players will be surprised with battle locations, intuitive controls and cool battle sequences.

Bayonetta will be the focus of the duo in 2009 and hope it will makes waves internationally. They are curious about how the game’s world and characters will be received by players. Famitsu says many are still not very clear about the title, to which the duo says more information will come later. Finally, they hope Bayonetta is a game that will makes you feel like trying out.

Yoshinori Kitase (Square Enix)

2008 was a year when Kitase spent lots of his time making Sigma Harmonics and Dissidia Final Fantasy. Among the things that caught his eye in 2008 are PSP’s strong performance and the popularity of downloadable content (DLC) for home consoles. However, he says it’s not easy to have DLC for games like Final Fantasy because it has to be a full package.

For 2009, Kitase would like to speed up the production of Final Fantasy XIII and hope to see PS3 picking up more steam. The announcement of FFXIII demo is part of that plan. In order to accelerate PS3’s attach rate, Kitase says the system must have attractive games, to which Famitsu says FFXIII is the best choice, Kitase says he certainly hope so. Future news on FFXIII will focus more on actual gameplay footage instead of CG cut-scenes that we have seen so far. Famitsu then ask how far the demo will allow us to play, Kitase says since the actual game won’t be out for quite some time, the demo will only focus on “the basics” of the game and lets players check out the brand new battle system.

Besides FFXIII, of which he says the basic elements are done and he can finally see its completion time coming, he will also spend time on the mobile phone version of The 3rd Birthday (also available on PSP) and PSP’s Final Fantasy Agito XIII, both of which are ongoing. FFXIII is a title that Square nurtured for a long time and 2009 is the year when it comes to fruition. He says we can expect to see plenty of promotion activities for the title this year.

Hideo Kojima (Konami)

Kojima says 2008 was the year he got busy promoting Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (MGS4) and working on expansion packs for Metal Gear Online (MGO). Famitsu asks if he has done everything he can for MGS4, Kojima says there are parts he would like to change but due to disc space issues, he really can’t do anything. Although it’s an extremely busy year for him, he is pleased with the awards that he has gotten and reckon it’s a good year for him after all.

Famitsu reminds him that during TGS2008, he said his next title will see him actually working on game design, to which Kojima says there is no real progress on that front thanks to his busy schedule. For 2009, Kojima hope Kojima Productions can compete with Western developers and is currently examining the tools, system and people to prepare the team for the challenge. He also revealed that he has another game in the work that will hopefully be out soon and also thinking about new direction for MGO.

Keita Takahashi (Namco Bandai Games)

Katamari creator Takahashi says he spent the entire 2008 making Noby Noby Boy, which got delayed a little. Famitsu says they didn’t know Noby Noby Boy was so tough to make, a question Takahashi says he got asked plenty of times. Idea for the game came from a discussion while he was working on Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy for the PS2. Development started two to three months after Katamari Damacy completed. Famitsu was surprised at the amount of time taken to make the game, Takahashi says its hard to explain to someone who is from outside the development team, a problem he keeps having during development because there is no finished product to show.

While the platform is PS3 from the very beginning, Takahashi says he never really thought about having the game as PSN or Blu-ray title. As for downloadable content (DLC), Takahashi says it will depends on the reception to the game although he already has some wild ideas for the game (like multiplayer and talking BOY). In the game, players keep extending BOY’s length and Takahashi reveals that GIRL will tally the total length from every player in the world with the aim of circling the Solar System. A target that’s almost impossible to achieve but there are also ending for failure to do so. He acknowledge that the game is not of everybody’s taste thanks to its difficulty but hope players will give it a try. For 2009, Takahashi hopes to work with different people and mention he found interest in things other than games like farming and gardening too.

Jun Takeuchi (Capcom)

With the likes of Lost Planet, Dead Rising and Devil May Cry 4 all doing well as part of Capcom’s strategy to create games for worldwide audience, Takeuchi says it won’t be good if Biohazard 5 (Resident Evil 5) fail to do so. Famitsu says the game can’t fail, to which Takeuchi says it’s statement like this that make them feel even more pressured and the amount of press they are getting for the game doesn’t help either.

He explains Biohazard 5’s release date was brought forward a week in Japan because development has been smooth and he hopes fans of the series can enjoy the game as soon as possible. The extra free time also allows them to prepare the demo for Xbox Live Gold members and to get feedback from players. However, in order not to spoil anything, he purposely pick a part of the game that is not so friendly, which ended up being criticized by players who tested it out, something he felt a little down. And to those who fear that the demo will ruin the surprises that the game might offers, Takeuchi guarantees that they will still be surprised by the opening and many content are still no revealed.

For 2009, Takeuchi expects plenty of great games from the West and hope other Japanese developers can be successful as well. He also says that there plenty of surprises in store from Capcom for gamers in the year.

Toshihiro Nagoshi (Sega)

For Ryu ga Gotoku series creator Nagoshi, 2008 has no significant changes in the gaming industry, something he feels a little down. This is because he feels entertainment shouldn’t be affected by the economy, something that clearly isn’t the case. He also feels that current economy environment will actually makes people spend lesser on gaming.

However, he is still very happy about himself in 2008, thanks to Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! selling well despite his initial doubts about the title. It also makes him confident about Ryu ga Gotoku 3. For 2009, he hopes it will be the year when high definition consoles pick up steam and hope there will more products that will push their sales.

In the age of face pace communication, Nagoshi says a product’s review will spread to the rest of the world within the same day it’s released, something which benefits the consumers greatly but it also means developers can’t trick them easily. In order to survive, they must now work really hard. His aim is to make a fun and surprising game. For 2009, Ryu ga Gotoku 3 will obviously lead his challenge, he also has a new title that will be announced soon.

Akihiro Hino (Level-5)

Hino says 2008 is a year where he tried many new things, animated TV series and movie are among them. Famitsu congratulates him on the success of the Layton Kyouju (aka Professor Layton) series and Inazuma Eleven. Hino says he never thought Layton will be such a huge hit and he is pleased that Inazuma Eleven is still selling to this day. He is currently working on the sequel of Inazuma.

As for Layton movie, Hino says he already received suggestions of making it a series. As for the game, he hopes it will become the first game in people’s minds when they think about adventure games. If there is a new Layton game, his sales target will be 1 million copies simply because there are not many adventure games that managed to do so.

Moving on to the just released Shirokishi Monogatari: Inishie no Kodou (aka White Knight Chronicles), Hino says three years were spent making this title and everyone in the team is pleased to see the game finally went on sale. This is also the first time that the team has actually made a game with online multiplayer modes.

Dragon Quest IX: Hoshizora no Mamoribito, another high profile game Hino and his team are working on, is currently at its most crucial development stage. Hino says even though he knows the game will be released in 2009, he keeps having the impression that it will go on sale in 2008.

2009 will be a year of “exploration” for him, besides the Layton movie, Ninokuni: The Another World, which Level-5 collaborates with animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli, is a fusion between book and game. He also mentioned PSP’s Danboru Senki, which he says will has plenty of new ideas too.

Yoshinori Yamagishi (Square Enix)

The producer behind the Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile and Radiata Stories series says 2008 was the year where he followed closely the strategies of the console makers and having to develop games based on console’s popularity. Famitsu asks if this means 2008 was the year people change their consoles, Yamagishi says it’s more than that. He noticed videogame development is no longer lead by Japanese developers but also developers from the rest of the world. He says console makers from overseas are more influential nowadays.

Yamagishi then mentioned tri-Ace original strategy for the Star Ocean, that is every new game from the series must be on a new console. Famitsu also asks if Star Ocean: The Last Hope was developed with worldwide audience in mind. Yamagishi says the game was developed first and foremost for Japanese gamers, which is why they will complete the Japanese version first. However, they also has Western audience in mind and besides localization, they also did some research on Western gaming tastes and avoid presentations that only Japanese can understand. He says Star Ocean series did better overseas and he is confident that the game will be well received there. The story in The Last Hope will return to the root of the series and explain how the world of Star Ocean become what it is now. He says the game will be fun for fans of the series and also newcomers, it also has plenty of focus on the “game” part, thanks to the action packed battle system.

For 2009, Yamagishi hopes current gen consoles will gains more popularity in order for him to make more games. He would also like to learn more about videogame development from Western developers.

Hiroshi Matsuyama (CyberConnect)

The producer for Naruto Narutimate Storm (aka Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm) is proud that the sales for .hack//G.U. Trilogy (Blu-ray and DVD) exceeded 50,000 since its release in March 2008. As for videogame development, Matsuyama says although there are already lots of titles for current generation consoles, they are mostly fantasy and feature the same content. He was looking for the kind of games that have potential in worldwide market and can only be done by Japanese. His answer is anime and as a result, Naruto Narutimate Storm is born.

Famitsu says that even Biohazard 5’s producer Jun Takeuchi says Naruto Narutimate Storm looks fantastic in TGS2008, to which Matsuyama says he was surprised to know that and actually mailed Takeuchi for thank him. Naruto Narutimate Storm takes place in a completely 3D world (previous games look 3d but it’s still on 2D plane) but in terms of controls, it still has the same simple one-button-for-one-action-only layout. They also make the game more accessible to kids in order to achieve his dream of blurring the border between anime and game.

For 2009, Matsuyama says CyberConnect has long decided to make games for global audience. Besides the .hack (.hack//Link was announced last week) series there will be an all new title from the company this year.

Posted in News on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pm |
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