Over at Kikizo.com they have a 25 minute video interview with Tetsuya Mizuguchi in English. I must say that I love his English. His accent so much different than the normal "I sound like everyone else" Japanese type of English. Tetsuya sounds like some sophisticated English professor at times If you're wondering just who Tetsuya Mizuguchi is then I'll tell you. He's the guy responsible for Sega Rally 1 & 2, Space Channel 5, REZ, Manx TT Super Bike and Last Bronx. In the interview he talks about REZ and a few of his other games. He also talks about his views on the PSP and DS plus what he thinks of Sammy http://games.kikizo.com/features/tetsuya_mizuguchi_vidint.asp Yakumo
I'm concerned that one of Sega's many resident geniuses has openly admitted to being restricted in what he can produce, though to be honest a new sequel or update to Rez would have the same effect AIR NiGHTS almost had on the original. However, it's almost hypocritical to even say this when the likes of Ico and Katamari Damacy - both innovative, but not exactly the best when it came to sales figures - are receiving such treatments while classic Sega titles are forced to remain obscure yet beloved one-offs. A lot of us are still desperate to know if the Shenmue saga will ever be completed as well, but if Sega isn't going to utilise its best visionaries then there really isn't much point in such people being at the company. At this rate, Sega will become stagnant and far too reliant on its surefire weaponry (Sonic?), which is definitely what has happened as of late at Nintendo - whether some of you would like to admit this or not! After all, is Sega committed to pushing the limitations of current or next generation consoles? From what I've seen so far, it's almost as if Sega and Nintendo are copying each other into a retro black hole from which they will never fully recover. The only real difference between these two once respected companies is that Sega dropped out of the hardware race first, and I'm sure that most of you know my views on the Revolution being Nintendo's very last chance. Following the relative failure of the N64 and GameCube, I'm surprised they're still in contention at all. As if it wasn't bad enough that they shunned disc media for long enough, now they're talking about changing the world of control interfaces and turning a blind eye to the inevitable standard of the future that is HDTV... (Isn't this topic supposed to be about Tetsuya Mizuguchi? What's happening with Sega Rally 2005, anyway? Forgetting the contribution of former Ridge Racer designer Kenji Sasaki, the first two Sega Rally games were Mizuguchi's creations, but will he be saving the overdue third installment from the wrong turn it seems to be taking under Jun Taniguchi's direction?)
