FamitsuDC Yuji Naka interview
Aderack
Interview: Yuji Naka
04.19 10pm EST
Sonic Team director Yuji Naka, known for his work on the Sonic series
and most recently Phantasy Star Online, spoke with FamitsuDC earlier
this month regarding the cancellation of the Dreamcast and a variety
of associated topics.
FamitsuDC: What are your thoughts on the cancellation of the
Dreamcast?
Naka-san: The magazine companies gave us total support right until the
end, but even that wasn't enough the save the system. I was deeply
moved when the announcement was made. I joined Sega more than 17 years
ago, and I've been involved with the consumer side the whole time. I
was extremely disappointed when I heard we were pulling out of the
hardware business. Everyone knew this day would come, but we tried our
hardest to avoid it. Back in January when we announced plans to go
'multi-platform,' we still didn't want to cancel the Dreamcast. We
have to change with the times though. I believe in the 21st century,
what platform you support will become irrelevant.
FamitsuDC: Sonic Team has been the first Sega subsidiary to embrace
other platforms, some players feel as if you bailed on them and the
Dreamcast. What would you say to them?
Naka-san: We had been planning to work on the GameBoy Advance since
summer 2000. Initially, we were wondering if Sega was planning their
own new handheld, GameGear 2. As it turned out, there were no such
plans. Therefore, we figured working as a third party on Nintendo's
handheld wouldn't pose a threat to the Dreamcast. The GameBoy Advance
was on its way, and we wanted to develop for it.
FamitsuDC: Several other Sega subsidiaries have expressed interest in
developing for the GameBoy Advance as well. Most still have
reservations, why did you decide to support for it?
Naka-san: It was more of a personal preference. We love being the
first out of the gate, and we love working on new technology. So we
wanted to have something ready for the GameBoy Advance launch. We also
wanted the opportunity to work on Nintendo's hardware. We've learned a
lot working on it over the past few months. Since their target
audience is much lower than the Dreamcast, we thought it was suitable.
FamitsuDC: What other reasons facilitated your decision to develop for
the GameBoy Advance?
Naka-san: One of the biggest factors was that we were allowed to sit-
in on the product announcement session. We were very impressed by the
ability to linkup four players with only use 1 cartridge. After the
session, we approached Nintendo. We expressed interest in creating a
launch title for the GameBoy Advance, and by October 2000, we already
had development kits. Originally, we planned to announce Sonic Team's
support of the GBA in November. This was long before any talk of the
Dreamcast cancellation. We decided to wait until we had something
tangible to announce our development plans. As it happened
coincidentally, our announcement fell on the same day as Sega's plans
to announce the cancellation of Dreamcast. While it may look like we
contributed to its demise, we really just wanted to work on the
GameBoy Advance.
FamitsuDC: So at the moment, all your titles new titles will be for
GameBoy Advance or Dreamcast?
Naka-san: To be honest, we haven't decided. We want to try a number of
things. With the industry constantly changing, we realize we have to
keep up. At the moment, the gaming industry is in a recession, and
many people believe devices like cellphones are hurting the console
business. That's true to some extent, but it's mostly because games
haven't changed since the Famicom days. We want to try completely new
things, but that doesn't mean we're going to neglect the Dreamcast.
FamitsuDC: That's true, it seems like the basics in console gaming
haven't changed, right?
Naka-san: After the Saturn, when development on the Dreamcast began,
Sonic Team made many suggestions. For example, adding a microphone and
camera. We had game concepts that would include these devices. We also
thought about the ability of saving a record of a players history. To
date, Seaman is the only game which uses that. The idea is to save a
record of someone's playing style. Then, when they log onto a network,
an analysis of that information would be done, and the game would
change accordingly. We thought it was revolutionary, but we were
unable to use it ourselves. It would have raised too many privacy
issues, especially in America. It's too bad, I still think it's a
great idea. Anyway, I still plan to encourage management to develop
new hardware, even though I know they'll say no. Only companies that
create their own hardware have total freedom.
FamitsuDC: What's the status of the titles you're working on now?
Naka-san: Sonic Adventure 2 is coming along well for the Dreamcast. As
of June 23rd, Sonic will turn 10, and we're planning something special
around that. Sonic for the GameBoy Advance is progressing well too.
Development has been ongoing for a while, and I think we're going to
release new details about it soon. We're also releasing Puyo Puyo,
though we're not working on it directly. I want to work on other
projects too, but mainly I want to focus on Phantasy Star Online. We
might do another expansion disc or perhaps a full sequel. We were
surprised how much time people spend playing it, some have logged in
over 100-200 hours. That's enough time to beat the game 2-4 times, and
they still love playing it.
FamitsuDC: What about porting Phantasy Star Online to other consoles,
and making one network that everyone can play on?
Naka-san: That would be ideal, but it would also be very difficult.
There would be tremendous technical obstacles to overcome. In any
event, all our time is being spent on Sonic Adventure 2 and Phantasy
Star Online Version 2 right now. Personally, I want to try programming
again. I did some debugging work on Chu Chu Rocket for the GameBoy
Advance, and it really got me in the mood. Of course I don't have time
to do anything major, but perhaps I can create a few small iMode games
under 10k.
FamitsuDC: What new things do you want to try?
Naka-san: With the Dreamcast cancellation, I'll have more free time to
work on new projects. Ever since the television, there has been little
innovation. It's time for something fundamentally different. We're in
the 21st century, but it's not the 21st century we envisioned. We're
not flying to work in our cars. I think cars and planes were created
in the first place because people thought they were fun. So, I think
it can be said that 'entertainment is the mother of invention.'
FamitsuDC: So when can we expect Sonic Team automobiles and planes?
Naka-san: Hypothetically speaking, someday I hope. I'd like to be
involved in the development of flying cars, I don't know what Sega
feels about things like that, but it's important to work on projects
for the future. Thirty years ago popular sci-fi creator Tezuka Osamu
give us insight on the future. He gave us our hopes and dreams, and
that's an irreplaceable gift.
FamitsuDC: In today's media, we rarely see the kinds of futuristic
images that were so popular in the past. Why do you think that is?
Naka-san: As game developers, we have the responsibility to inspire
the younger generation. For that reason, I'm glad we were able to
release Phantasy Star Online. I think it showed a completely new
vision for the future. Even if we can't create the future all at once,
we can build it upon things today. When Sonic Team split from Sega, I
said our goal was to build 'Sonic Land' one day. We still want to do
that, and creating projects geared towards the future. I believe the
discontinuation of the Dreamcast was Sega's way of saying, 'Now more
than ever, do something New!'
-- Translation Assistant: Walt Wyman
------------------------------------
By the way, I assume you've all heard the commotion recently about the
GameCube? If not, it's everywhere. I'm not about to point you in any
particular direction.
If you thought the Xbox announcement was sort of largeish, this one
ought to leave you staggering for a while.
--
-- Aderack. Usually.
(Oh, and the number of DC games in progress in-house has now
more than doubled, too...)
-> The Crunchy Part of This Balanced SiA
-> And that's all I've got to show for myself! So there!
PSO: Frei (HUnewearl); Nimayo (FOnewearl)
http://www.aderack.iwarp.com/
Current question: Is it /really/ so of the kitty harpoon?
David Bulmer
"Aderack" <ade...@ctel-OOGAOOGA.net> wrote in message
news:Xns908919E27202...@207.217.77.21...
> http://www.coremagazine.com/news/4073.php3
>
That was a great read. Every interview with Yuji Naka seems to be
entertaining and interesting, I bet he's a really excellent bloke to talk to
(as long as you speak Japanese or have a good translator, gahh). But read
these words in particular:
>
> When Sonic Team split from Sega, I
> said our goal was to build 'Sonic Land' one day. We still want to do
> that,
uhhghghhghh, that would rule the Universe. There would remain absolutely no
excuse for the whole Sonic community not to get together and go on a mass
pilgrimage to Japan right away. A Sonic theme park designed by Yuji and the
Sonic Team themselves. I would probably faint.
>
> By the way, I assume you've all heard the commotion recently about the
> GameCube? If not, it's everywhere. I'm not about to point you in any
> particular direction.
>
> If you thought the Xbox announcement was sort of largeish, this one
> ought to leave you staggering for a while.
Ooh! I haven't seen it, but I'll go and have a look.
-
Buml0r