Sakamoto talks about making Samus more open/emotional, Other M in general, Wii successor, pre-owned market, more
Sakamoto on how he’s feeling with the game out in the U.S. and Europe…
“We have spent such a long time completing this game and now Europe is the last market we are launching in so we were able to launch it globally almost simultaneously. So all I can say is I’m really happy about that.
At the same time now that we have started selling Other M to people around the world I am really looking forward to it. Of course, there’s got to be bad impressions as well as good ones. Even the negative ones I am looking forward to seeing. “
Sakamoto on his biggest success this time around…
“It’s not something that’s really interesting for people, especially those who are playing with Other M, but the fact that we have not changed from the beginning to the end, the original concept I conceived was really something to me.
It was around three years ago I started having the original concept for Other M and afterwards I was happy to encounter Team Ninja and together we worked for many years in order to complete Other M.
Throughout the process we did not change almost anything when we compare the final product with the original concept I had three years ago. Or I should say, actually, the result today is much more than what I was able to expect three years ago.
Once again it’s not very exciting news for the gamers at home, but the fact that the original concept was realised as more than what I conceived three years ago was really something to me.”
Sakamoto on any regrets, something he wanted to put in the game but couldn’t…
“Somebody might think I’m telling a lie when I say everything went well but the fact of the matter is when I try hard to think I can’t think of anything that is regrettable to me as far as Other M is concerned.
I think whatever I wanted to do at the beginning was there in the final product. Consistently keeping the original concept, we were adding to that so in the final analysis I should say I can’t think of anything regrettable to me and I’m really grateful for the final outcome.
It’s funny but Mr. Iwata is asking other developers about Other M and some of the Other M developers offered to say there’s nothing regrettable in the project so by reading that you can tell I’m not telling a lie.”
Sakamoto on why he made Samus more emotional/vocal at this point in the franchise…
“Depicting the story of Samus Aran in this game was one of the most important game design concepts from the very beginning because before Other M I did not think about what kind of person Samus Aran was and how she thinks and her personality. We did not do that by writing or by letting her speak a lot.
Plus because of the existence of the Metroid Prime series many people might have different ideas about what kind of person Samus Aran was. That was a concern for me because Metroid has already become a solid franchise and probably in the future as well we will be willing to make the sequels.
If many people have different ideas about what kind of person Samus is then there will be some problems about making the future franchise games. So with Other M I really wanted to determine and express what kind of human Samus Aran is so that we can really tell what kind of natural step she should be taking in the future. “
Sakamoto in the difference between an American studio and a Japanese studio when developing/different influences on the series…
“As far as the Metroid Prime series is concerned that was being taken care of by another producer other than me inside Nintendo and he was collaborating very closely with Nintendo so I am not in a position to say how it was working with non-Japanese developers. So I am speaking from the point of view of an outsider, not too close and not too far away.
For example my involvement was limited to the initial decision making processes about what we should do with Metroid Prime as being one of the Metroid franchises and the impression I got was they were very passionate.
They really wanted to realise the first-person shooter Metroid and also they were paying much respect to the Metroid franchise itself.
So I think they did a very good job in achieving their original and our original goal. So as long as we could meet in advance and decide a direction we were going to take I don’t think there is much difference whether we are making games in Japan or in any non-Japanese countries at all.
Of course the image people, especially the game players, might have and how they react to specific segments of gameplay might be different but my understanding is that as long as you can come up with a theme and decide what kind of objective we have with the project there won’t be so much difference between how we are making games in Japan and how we are collaborating with non-Japanese companies.”
Sakamoto on his opinion of the Japanese games industry and how healthy it is…
“I really don’t know. For example, if you are taking the view point of the creators or if you are taking the position of marketers the answer for how you see the imputus for momentum in the marketplace might be different.
My interpretation is that overseas developers are doing a good job today, they were actually going through the evolution of videogames.
First though the evolution was when Nintendo created the family computer system and a lot of Japanese game designers came up with interesting ideas, game ideas and I understand today’s overseas game developers used to play with old games created by Japanese games developers getting good stimulation and challenging themselves with something new.
And now if their games sell very well and the market itself is a very exciting one that’s something we should be glad of that and if Japanese developers have ever been able to contribute something to the success of these non-Japanese developers I think we should be grateful for that.
But if you’re asking if the position has been reversed I just don’t know. Maybe this is a great opportunity for a number of Japanese developers to approach non-Japanese developers and learn something about making a game for this time.
I don’t think we should take any negativity at all because in any given moment in the entire progress of the evolution of videogames, anything can occur and as a whole we should too and grow ourselves and nurture ourselves.”
Sakamoto on his opinion of the pre-owned games market…
“I have to say it’s a delicate issue. From a purely business perspective I think it’s a huge issue.
As far as my personal opinions are concerned I have to say that there are pros and cons. For example, if the availability of second hand or used software is providing people with the opportunity to play games, especially those that would not purchase the new software at the suggested retail price then maybe not everything is bad in the long run because anyone with any small interest with the opportunity to play our software.
In the long run we might be able to increase the fan base of the video game in the end.
I am one of the game developers and my position all the time is trying to create something really exciting all the time.
That’s all that I can say but whichever issue we are discussing I’m trying to find a positive side. That’s all I can say.”
Sakamoto on what he believes a character needs to stick around for awhile…
“I just cannot give you any exact answer. I don’t know if it’s correct but if I can share my hypothesis with you: It must be because Metroid has been interesting for the game creators especially when it comes to Samus Aran.
Although I have never tried to hide the psychological element of Samus intentionally, as a matter of fact I was trying to demonstrate the characteristics of Samus. Maybe because of that kind of approach Samus Aran has been taken as kind of a mysterious personality and that mysteriousness might have attracted people.
But now that we have shared more of her personality with Other M people might not have a similar interest. They don’t see Samus Aran as a mysterious personality anymore but we knew that it was the case and the reason why we created Other M in that context is because after knowing the personality of Samus Aran we wanted people to love Samus Aran much more than before playing Other M.
So Samus being a mysterious character might have been catering to the ability for us to sustain the interest with Samus Aran so far, from now on we need some different approach. Now that you understand who Samus Aran is, what Samus Aran is you must be intrigued to know what she’ll be doing next.”
Sakamoto on what it is about Nintendo that they can create characters and nurture them that they last so long…
“I think when Nintendo is using an iconic character or when we are creating new characters we are trying to make the new game so that people are going to really love it.
Even though it’s one of the sequels of the franchise it’s supposed to be giving away some new unexpected excitement to the players and for that purpose we make no compromise at all and Samus is no exception in that challenge for Nintendo.
In other words whenever we are trying apply any character to our videogames we try to live up to people’s expectations but at the same time we have to do more than people expect.
I think repetition of those kind of things we have been able to sustain the popularity of these kind of characters. “
Sakamoto on whether he believes it’s time the Wii evolved in order to keep up with or just keep setting a new standard…
“Well that’s actually a difficult question for me to answer. One of the most important elements of the Wii console is the Wii-mote and the availability of motion sensing as well as the pointing ability. By taking advantage of that Wii has made significant advances in terms of gameplay and it has even attached the Motion Plus so that something like Wii Sports Resort has already been available for the Wii.
So Nintendo has been constantly challenging itself even after the launch of Wii and we have come a long way to where we are today. Some people might say so many challenges have already been met there may be little left behind. Nintendo might need something more, some evolution.
But when we look at Other M we have used the Wii technology but we have used it in completely different ways.
As you know we are not utilising the motion sensing aspect of the Wii-mote but we made it so that most often you can hold the Wii-mote sideways and when you point to the TV screen you can play the 3D element of Other M as well so this is something only available with Wii but this is something quite new in terms of gameplay on the Wii.
I think we were able to make some new proposals this time around after many years have passed since the launch of Wii. So if you ask me have we done everything possible with the Wii, I just don’t know. But my feeling is that if you challenge yourself, you should try, there still are some possibilities that we are going to be able to achieve with how Wii is.
Thinking about the future of consoles again, and it kind of ties in with the pre-owned issue, people across the industry are looking to a completely digital future so not discs, everything’s downloaded.”
Sakamoto on whether cutting out the second-hand market is a desirable idea to him and if he can see a future where everything will be downloaded and there isn’t a need for discs…
“I have also heard about the opinion that in the future everything might be digital and making digital download for software.
If they can cater to the needs and conveniences of the majority of the game players that might be one of the positive approaches but that’s about how the software is distributed to the hands of the game players.
If you ask me would you welcome the age when you don’t need any consoles at all I should say, “Wait a minute, I don’t get it.” Because the video games industry so far has been evolving with different companies coming up with different concepts as to what the next-gen console should be able to realise and because each console can suggest a different future direction or what kind of software can be made, our video game industry is able to compete amongst itself.
If we are supposed to make anonymous and unified hardware I don’t think that competitive evolution can exist. So where the download of software is concerned I really don’t have any particularly negative or positive opinion right now but when it comes to digital hardware, something like that, I need to refrain from making any positive comment at this point in time.”
Sakamoto on whether he sees digital downloads as a better solution to the pre-owned problem than the one-time pass structure…
“It’s hard for me to tell, that’s something I haven’t seriously considered. The more and more I think about it, I try to think about the making of video games only rather than how my games are being distributed and how they circulate around the second-hand market. I’m sorry but I think I’d like to focus more on how to entertain people.
I would like to concentrate on the content rather than the distribution format. So if the format of the distribution can have anything to do with how we entertain people, that might be something of interest for me to consider.
But once again I’m sorry but I don’t think I can give you any intelligent answer to your question. Having said that, honestly speaking, making the package totally digital, I don’t think that can happen any time soon, that is going to take some more years.”
