Masahiro Sakurai talks about his interest in VR tech
Masahiro Sakurai published a new Weekly Famitsu column in the magazine’s most recent issue. In his latest piece, the Smash Bros. director touched on his interest in VR technology.
First, Sakurai expressed interest in seeing VR tied into driving. “I often think to myself, ‘if only this dashboard and stuff around my feet were transparent’,” he wrote. Sakurai most enjoys seeing the world around him while driving, but he can’t see below the front of the vehicle. This is something that he believes would feel exhilarating, and the combination of gaming and VR would make it possible to experience.
Sakurai also feels that VR tech is better suited for games in which the direction of movement is fixed (think driving games). “Because, having two concepts of direction – like with movement of a tank and the rotation of its cannon – is quite complex.”
As for what sort of titles he would like to play, Sakurai commented:
“Personally, I’d like to play Jumping Flash! It’d probably be quite scary, though. You could probably make a crazy Love Plus game as well. A horror game like Resident Evil or Fatal Frame could be good, too.”
Of course, we won’t be seeing any sort of virtual reality elements in the new Smash Bros. titles (“Sadly, such a device is ill-suited for the Smash Bros. game I’m working on right now.”) But Sakurai did say he would be interested in using the tech in a first-person 3D game.
