 |
  |
 |
  
   |
|
Tetsuya Mizuguchi: One of Sega's Arcade Designers Goes Home
by Steven Kent for Gamers Today
Tetsuya Mizaguchi led the team that created Sega Rally during his coin-operated games days, but he abandoned this "wunderkind" setting, and dedicated all of his efforts into home games as Sega prepared Dreamcast.
Having left Sega Coin-op to work on consumer products, Mizaguchi now manages a highly secretive off-site operation across Tokyo in the Shibuya district. Sega is not releasing information about the games Miziaguchi is making, and Mizaguchi is somewhat guarded about what he will discuss as well...
Gamers Today: When I asked [Sega President Shoichiro] Irimajiri about his favorite Sega games, he mentioned Sega Rally-one of yours.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi: Thank you.
GT: Thank him. Why did you switch to consumer games?
TM: I really wanted to make a game for the Dreamcast, so I moved to Shibuya from the Haneda headquarters because this area is really cultural and there are many people here. [Throughout Tokyo, Shibuya has a reputation for being a recreational hangout for highschoolers.] I started a new Sega team here about one year ago.
GT: So very few of the people in this office came with you from your old team?
TM: About 20 people came from the other company with me.
GT: What kinds of projects are you working on?
TM: I'm focusing on how we can present a new kind of game, a new concept. It will come to the Japanese market first. There have been so many companies making what the company makes and so many sequels... you know, something 2, something 3, something 4. The resolution is getting higher and higher and the graphic and sound are really good, but essentially there is not much change. I decided to start with nothing, from zero, so that I would make a new concept and a completely fresh game.
GT: So you're not doing a "fighting-shooting-driving" game?
TM: I have three projects. I can't say exactly what kind of games they are, but they must be fun.
GT: They're still top secret?
TM: Yes, unfortunately. Sega feels that they must be kept secret. I think it's too early to talk about them, too. So for now, everybody says that we should hide this project.
GT: Are there any games out these days that you really like?
TM: None especially. I really love Miyamoto-san's games always. (Mizaguchi is referring to Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, Zelda, and Star Fox.)
GT: Have there been any games for Dreamcast that you've liked?
TM: That's a difficult question. I played the NFL (Sega NFL 2000), NBA (Sega NBA 2000) and boxing (Ready 2 Rumble from Midway) games in the United States. I really loved those games.
GT: How about The House of the Dead 2, or Get Bass, or Sonic Adventure?
TM: Personally, I loved the old Sonic games like Sonic 2. They were easy to play; the kind of games kids and their fathers can play together. The Sonic game for Dreamcast is a very good game, I think.
TM: How about The House of the Dead and Get Bass?
TM: I hate The House of the Dead.
GT: You don't like shooting games?
TM: I hate guns. Guns are for killing people, and I think this desire for violence is very deep in human beings. It's sad.
GT: The desire to shoot things.
TM: To kill... to destroy. Shooting and killing with a gun is no fantasy. These games make it too real. I promise, I will never make a gun game.
GT: Not even like Gun Barrel? (Namco's Gun Barrel, released in the United States as Point Blank, is a game in which players shoot stuffed animals, piranha, and other non-human targets.
TM: That may be good. I have two sons-a five-year-old and a one-year-old. Sometimes my sons like to pretend to shoot guns.
GT: How about fighting games?
TM: Fighting games.... I'm not interested in them. That's my own feeling.
GT: What makes a game good?
TM: People have a lot of desires that control their existence. Everybody has the same fundamental desires, so a good game for me is something that touches something within all of us, that reaches those similar desires.
