Speaking with GameSpot during GDC, Final Fantasy creator and head of Mistwalker Studio, Hironobu Sakaguchi, had some interesting things to say about his recent projects, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, as well as a few choice thoughts on Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and game development in general. One nice bit of info: There will be a playable demo of Blue Dragon available on Marketplace before the game ships in August (Sakaguchi hopes for a June or July release for the demo).Speaking about the Xbox 360 itself, Sakaguchi believes it to be an excellent development platform. Sakaguchi notes his collaboration with Artoon and Ensemble Studios, stating that it has been very beneficial to his development process. Sakaguchi says that once he saw how well the 360 handled water effects, he actually created more ponds and lakes in Blue Dragon just because they looked beautiful. Sakaguchi is also impressed by the Xbox Live network, noting the expense and difficulty that Square encountered in building networks for its games.
As for the 360's performance in Japan, Sakaguchi says it's all about marketing. For instance, he loves Gears of War (we already knew that), but says it was so poorly marketed that it's virtually unknown in Japan. Sakaguchi believes that Microsoft still hasn't latched onto a marketing campaign on par with "Jump In," and he says that "Do! do! do!" isn't cutting it.
Concerning Sony's PS3, Sakaguchi is unimpressed, stating, "Kutaragi-san's architecture ... seven DSPs and a low-powered CPU. I don't like the PS3's architecture." Sakaguchi believes that programmers want to create good software, but PS3 designer, Ken Kutaragi, has made it very difficult. The PS3 disses don't stop their either. When questioned about motion control, Kutaragi says that he finds it unnecessary for the kinds of games he develops (RPGs). Furthermore, he notes that the 360 controller is the "the best one that I've seen, especially the analog. And it's easy to operate, and it's really reactive, unlike the Sixaxis."
When questioned about Final Fantasy and how he would feel about competing with it should it ever grace the 360, Sakaguchi welcomes the challenge. Furthermore, he believes the series should be ported to the Xbox 360, as it would be very successful in North America and Europe. He also notes that the White Engine (Final Fantasy XIII's engine) is multiplatform, implying that a 360 port would be relatively easy.
Finally, Sakaguchi says that Gears of War impressed him so much, he's interested in developing a shooter himself. Hit the "read" link for the full interview.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-20-2007 @ 11:36AM
Arno said...
w00t on the Blue Dragon demo!
And yea, 360 FTW... but we all knew that.
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3-20-2007 @ 11:46AM
KilgoreTrout XL said...
I am really looking forward to Blue Dragon. Other than Mass Effect, it's to me the foremost RPG for the 360.
Fable 2 has to prove itself- I was not a huge fan of the original and if it's just more of the same, I'll be taking a pass.
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3-20-2007 @ 11:49AM
jsn said...
welcome to last week! Still, it's good to hear a respected developer singing the praises of the easy development environment that the 360 offers. That was one of the things that MS felt would help it in this console war and by all accounts, it has.
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3-20-2007 @ 12:43PM
san said...
"Concerning Sony's PS3, Sakaguchi is unimpressed, stating, "Kutaragi-san's architecture ... seven DSPs and a low-powered CPU."
He's kidding, right? It's the same general processor architecture as 360, and it's actually a little more powerful the 360's. It's not as powerful as Sony first thought, as they originally envisioned being able to do all the graphics on it, not needing a distinct graphics processor at all. But, what a joke for Sakaguchi to actually say that out loud. He can complain about ease of development on PS3, but that sort of statement strays into idiot territory.
I prefer Capcom's, and other's, approach. Release on as many platforms as the market demands and let the end-user decide which hardware features and online service they prefer, without having to make a decision about exclusivity. We don't need a clear winner in this generation's console war for all parties to make a healthy amount of cash and facilitate development of great games. I mean Apple has been around forever, is lately a darling because of the iPod, but the Mac has never come anywhere near even denting Windows numbers, still Apple makes tons of money off the platform and does very well with it critically.
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3-20-2007 @ 1:42PM
dumbnews said...
blow after blow... oooh salt
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3-20-2007 @ 1:58PM
THA1icarus said...
I'm sorry but he is in bed with M$, and it's a nice bed. So what do you expect him to say?
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3-20-2007 @ 5:16PM
Peter said...
Oh my! This man is bought! For money, actually! It's as if he's a M$ b**ch or stg!! How can he live like that??!! Eeewwwww! Sliiiime!
At least he sounds like that.
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3-20-2007 @ 6:02PM
colin said...
I can't think of anything clever to say about that picture. But look at it! It's pretty funny. An Asian man with a moustache and a mullet wearing a denim shirt unbuttoned a little bit to show his chest! Can I place a wager that he is also wearing red cowboy boots, tight Wrangler jeans and a big chrome belt buckle with a spinning rim on it?
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3-20-2007 @ 7:48PM
Joey said...
Okay I trust words from a guy who put SquareSoft in debt for making a over expensive crappy Final Fantasy Spirits Within Movie.
This loser who didn't listen to fans and made the Final Fantasy about earth and crappy story and calls it Final Fantasy? He probably was let go for his creation of a crappy movie.
By the Way, Final Fantasy I-VI: games he was in charge of more suck. Final Fantasy didn't get famous till Final Fantasy VII and on. So for Square to listen to a guy who makes childish game like Blue Dragon? Game looks like crap, I am sorry. Before Final Fantasy VII, Zelda ruled the RPG genre in USA.
He can kiss arse to MS all he wants.
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3-21-2007 @ 3:43PM
Mr Roberto said...
Wow! SDF invasion.
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3-29-2007 @ 2:42AM
XBOX3SUKY said...
The xbot3suky(xbox360) is for panzies.Any developer who developes exclusive for the 3suky is just too F_N lazy to take on the real next-gen console PS3!!! I have played Gears Of War and it is a piece of Sh*t game,boring.Graphics arent that much better than RFOM,and RFOM is much more intense and fun.All you 360 owners have wasted your money on the system.By this next holiday season the PS3 will dominate!!!
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