Inafune would never make a casual game like Brain Age

Gegmaga recently had a chance to speak with a few significant developers including Keiji Inafune. Briefly, Infaune discussed casual games, and stated that he would never create one such as Brain Age. There are a ton of other interesting tidbits as well from members of Square Enix, Namco, and more.

Inafune (Capcom) :
-Regarding Resident Evil 5, he says that their experience with Mega Man 9 in parallel turned out to be useful when it came to tackle the online aspect and more particularly to come to grips with the online services/infrastructures.
– He would never, ever make a casual game such as Brain Training.
– He was right about which hardware would win the systems war, but he never thought the DS would be selling that much. ” Sorry (for doubting you), Mr. Nintendo”

Kawazu (Square-Enix) :

– There might be a SaGa related surprise for the 20th anniversary of the series next year.

Yoshizumi (Namco):

– The Tales of Wii battle system has innovations that will, apparently, greatly impress people. “Please look forward to it”

Terada (Super Robot War’s producer):

– They might “reposition their development” on the second half of 2009…

Hino (Level 5):

-DQIX is truly entering final preparation stage. About the multiplayer aspect, he mentions that they are making it such as its mechanisms give a unique flavor compared to every Online RPG before.
-‘Ni no Kuni’ is still on track for 2009.

Sugiyama (Koei) :

– Hopes the Wii user will like Sengoku Musou 3
– Was really impressed by Smash Bros Brawl

Kawazu :

– They made the Last Remnant characters with the Western audience in mind
– They want to make more turn-based RPGs in the future.
– Given the superior technological strength of the West, they wanted to show, with Last Remnant, that they could “do it” too.
– ” It’s a time when you game-lovers must feel concerned”

Nagoshi :

– Before, you wouldn’t make software for hardware which wouldn’t sell. Things are now different. It’s now a matter of fighting so the resources dedicated to the HD consoles wouldn’t decrease.
– Making titles that actively justify the existence of the high-end consoles is a personal mission
– The ‘multiplatformization’ of the game software has little meaning. Digging further into each platform’s characteristics and nature is what is interesting.
– He wants to make a new game using his experience with Yakuza/Ryu Ga Gotoku. He is also considering worldwide development, though he is worried about the stance that consists of appealing to the Western audience before the Japanese audience.

Marvelous Entertainment:

– Starting with Little King’s Story, they plan to fully support the Wii with a line-up of top-class games. That’s their ambition.

Yoshizumi :

– Tales of isn’t selling well in the West in comparison to Japan. He wishes American and European would play it more.
– For his next project on an HD system, he would want to make it very detailed, with a painting-like style to it.

Terada :

– “Whichever hardware you choose to put your game on, you have to save the results of this choice”.
– “You really have to support multiplatform gaming and portable gaming, don’t you?”

Yamauchi (Polyphony Digital) :

– With the exception of 17 overseas business trips, and 3 months during which the workplace was empty, the studio was pretty much confined
– They would have wanted to get GT5 out in 2009
– As they are exclusively in charge of car games, they want to make a distinctive new title. [not sure if this means a new Racing game IP, or a new IP entirely]

Sugiyama (Koei)

– He believes they put out too many big titles for the PS3 and X360 in 2008, and the market got a bit crowded. For next year, they will limit themselves to 3-4 titles.
– More DS titles such as Saihai no Yukue, as these seem fairly popular with DS users.
– Sengoku Musou 3 is on Wii because he thought the Wii audience would like it
– The PSP Musou Orochi was developed by an oversea studio.
– They will continue to cater to the audience that is interested in titles such as Oryori Navi : Marugoto Teikoku Hotel DS, as this audience matches the console.
– The first half of 2008 has been record high for the management.