<blockquote><p>EGM: Are you excited about the next gen consoles, or do you think it's too early? <p>YN: I think it is too early. The PS2 and GameCube are still both very good platforms. Personally, I don't want the next generation platforms to come out this early, because they will be very difficult and expensive to develop for. Seriously, it might take three times the effort to make one game. If we look at movies that use CG, you don't have to use CG for everything. Look at Spider-Man -- that character is CG, and everyone in the theater looks at him and it looks great, but the rest of the shot might be film shot of real things and people. Whereas in games, everything has to be created with CG, from every side, and angle -- the buildings and everything. With next-generation platforms, we'll have to make everything look as good as movies...it will be very difficult. It will be cool when you can play a game that looks like a movie, but there's no way a company will be able to make a game in one year like that. And if fans of a franchise have to wait three years for the next game, that will be a shock to them. People who like games want to play them more often these days. Like Half-Life 2 -- it took five years to come out! What's next? Will gamers be willing want to wait 15 years for a game!? (laughs) The father will start programming a game, and he'll have to pass it on to his son to finish it after he dies. On PC right now, there aren't a lot of games being released like it used to be...I think the same thing will happen to consoles. It takes a lot of time to develop a top-quality game. <p>EGM: Which of your games that you've worked on is your favorite game? <p>YN: Sonic the Hedgehog. If I hadn't worked on Sonic, I probably wouldn't be working in the game industry now. That's how important Sonic is to me. And although it's been 18 years since I first started Phantasy Star, I've released more Sonic titles, so it's the most important. Sonic has anime, and lots of toys, so the Sonic franchise is so big...I have a lot of good memories for it. There was talk of an anime based on PSO two years ago, and it might still happen in the future. <p>EGM: Did you play any games from other publishers that you've liked in the last year? <p>YN: Other publishers!? (laughs) Well, in the past year I've been playing a lot of Nintendo games, including all of the DS games. I really enjoyed WarioWare Touched! I also played a lot of Gran Turismo 4, and I even bought the steering wheel. The wheel is so great, with its force feedback. I go to the circuit and race real cars, and while the wheel isn't quite realistic, I do enjoy playing the game with it. In future, I'd love to make a game that uses force feedback extensively. When you play a game, there are three important factors: It used to just be looking and hearing, but now it's also touching. It took Nintendo 20 years to create a game that you touch, and that's a really important innovation. That GT4 steering wheel costs $200, though, so kids can't buy that -- only adults with a lot of money can. If there was a controller for around $30 that gave that you feedback that would be amazing. The game industry should focus more on touching and interacting with games, rather than just focusing on games. I want somebody to create a controller that actually looks good -- a controller that you hold that actually makes you look good. When you hold a normal controller, you bend over and don't look very cool: I want a controller that makes you look cool like when you're playing a guitar. That kind of factor could push games beyond movies in the entertainment industry. <p>EGM: Nintendo's new system might have a cool, new way to control it. If so, will you be excited to make games for it? <p>YN: I would be really excited if Nintendo does something like that. And as you know, back when Sega was making hardware, we were investigating new ideas for controllers for the Dreamcast. But we couldn't ever reach a point where we made something that made you look cool that was also good for controlling games. But, since Nintendo invented the D-pad, I'm hopeful that they will be able to invent something new and cool. <p>EGM: What do you hope to accomplish at Sega over the next few years? <p>YN: It's a really difficult time to look at the future because of the next generation platforms. It's tough to predict what will happen, so it will be a good time to focus on PC and online games. <p>EGM: What do you think about the viability of the DS and PSP as online platforms? <p>YN: I am interested in making portable network games, but I don't currently have any plans, as we're busy with PSU and Sonic. I'm currently trying to recruit new staff members in both Japan and the US to help with projects like this! I would personally be interested in playing network games on the DS. <p></blockquote> <p>For some reason i' can't post the interview in one go hench this stupid method %) <p>
<p>[size=small][Edit by Gboy on [TIME]1111500560[/TIME]][/size]