Sega Rally, Rez Creator To Leave Sega

Thanks to IGN PS2 for their article revealing that Sega studio director Tetsuya Mizuguchi will be leaving the company. According to the piece: "The end of Mizuguchi's tenure at Sega, which brought to the world such classics as Sega Rally, Space Channel 5 and Rez, will apparently take place on the 10th of this month", and this news comes after Mizuguchi's studio, UGA, are "to merge with fellow internal development studio Sonic Team" as part of Sega's major development re-organization that also saw other significant changes, including the Hitmaker and Sega Rosso studios merging and fellow Sega auteur Yu Suzuki getting his own studio, Digitalrex.

Comments

Rez: Better known as...

[FatalTourist]

The vibrator game.

Re:Rez: Better known as...

[Anonymous Coward]

REDUNDANT.

Re:Rez: Better known as...

[Anonymous Coward]

Seesh, it would be nice if people got over their obsession with that puerperal. It would be nice to shove that up the ass of those who keep posting that dumb link. But then again, they might like it.

I guess if it didn't exist the wouldn't be able to get as much karma with articles about the regular playstation 2 controller being used as one.

Pants

[Mike Mentalist]

UGA is one of the more creative studios and has been made to merge with Sonic Team, possibly the most stagnant studio of the lot.

I am not surprised he is leaving.

Re:Pants

[DeadScreenSky]

Agreed. I am very curious as to who he will be working with from now on, though, since it sounds like some other company is already chosen. Not very many truly innovative companies working in the Japanese gaming industry nowadays, especially compared to Sega (minus Sonic Team).

Figures

[Anonymous Coward]

Sega really needs to ditch the artsy-fartsy types and just concentrate on making games that people will actually buy. After Shenmue, Yu Suzuki had better get to work or he'll be next.

Is at an ego thing?

[Gizzmonic]

When Mizuguchi's Space Channel 5 arrived in the US, it received an enormous advertising push, despite being easy, boring, and utterly without replay value. More worthy titles like Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi got little or no advertising.

The same thing happened when Shenmue came out. An "old master" producer at SEGA got a huge advertising campaign for his experimental pet project over more marketable (and in most cases, far better) games.

I'm wondering if this shakeup is such a bad thing-
SEGA's "old masters" need to prove themselves again. Not with overzealous and failed experiments, not with cheap rehashes of old games (Phantasy Star Online) but with a mix of new ideas and solid mechanics. Rez was a definite step in the right direction, and I'm sorry to see that Mizuguchi isn't hanging around to continue this type of revolution. With a good manager to reign in his creative side, he could excel once again.

Re:Is at an ego thing?

[HalfFlat]

Being in Australia, there was no promotion at all for anything dreamcast related, so it was all a clean slate here ... (I blame Ozisoft mainly.)

It seems to me that all the problems you identify with Space Channel 5 were addressed in the sequel. The game play is longer, it's harder, it's more interesting (though I didn't think the first one was actually boring.) There is quite a bit of replay value. All while keeping the same basic structure of the game.

I wonder if it is simply a case of learning from experience how to make a game along these lines, or instead if the first SC5 game was rushed out the door.

At anyrate, SC5 Part 2 was one of my favourite games for the Dreamcast; I'm afraid that Mizuguchi leaving will mean it will be a long time before we see another similarly great combination of fun and innovation coming out of Sega.
Actually, that's overstating the case. Can't really claim that Crazy Taxi or JSR weren't innovative. Still though, it seems important that there's someone pushing the envelope ... backed by serious resources so they have a decent chance of pulling it off.

Rez

[Lord_Dweomer]

For those of you who looked up a review of Rez.....and can't figure out why its so popular on Slashdot....well.......um.....read this.

Apparently its not just a game for guys ;)

Re:Rez

[Anonymous Coward]

Good to know that there is no shortage of 12 year olds on slashdot these days.

Tell ya what son, why don't you go away and come back after the pubes have come in? If pointing to an article that has already been pointed to in the thread not 6 posts before yours is what you consider a stab at comedy, I hope to god that nobody ever gives you a microphone.

Re:Rez

[Anonymous Coward]

You're way too serious.

And who on earth uses the word 'son' - that's scary.

Re:Rez

[Lord_Dweomer]

Listen troll, first off, I'm 20, second, I browse at +3, and when I posted early on, I did not see a single link to it. Not to mention the fact that I was trying to inform people who may not get why Rez was mentioned. In fact, the SOLE reason Rez got mentioned is because of that damn vibrator and the article, so my comment was extremely relevant. Guess we know who the REAL 12 year old is.

Rez rules.

[BitwizeGHC]

I hope wherever he goes, Mr. Mizuguchi never forgets the enormous gaming triumph that is Rez (orgasms or no) and upholds the tradition this amazing game established. I'm still holding out hope for a sequel, much like what happened when the Xeno series switched studios. But even if that doesn't happen, there's always Unity, the Rez-like game for the Cube that Jeff Minter and Peter Molyneux have in the works.

Plaything

[Tsuzuki]

Erg, gotta love how the people who have never played Rez are the ones who incessantly link to the GGA article... it's like concentrating on the shit monster in Conker's Bad Fur Day.

On topic, there's a gaming symposium being held in Sydney this weekend for those who are interested in games as art... the accompanying exhibition will include some of Mizuguchi's work on Rez.

You sure don't act like it...

[Anonymous Coward]

I am not that AC and Correct me if I am wrong, but you say the only reason that Rez is mentioned is because of the vibrator? Maybe if you got your mind out of the gutter and stopped showing your immaturity, you might realize that people could be mentioning it because it is a good game.

Yeah sure, it is very relevant to repeat the article, and we need it pointed out every time. And we also need all the very "insightful" and "infomative" for comments that are the equivalent to "OMG L00k, A VIBRATOR!!!!!1111 LOLORMOFLGOLL!!@!!!" every danm time Rez is mentioned.

Re:You sure don't act like it...

[Lord_Dweomer]

" I am not that AC and Correct me if I am wrong, but you say the only reason that Rez is mentioned is because of the vibrator? Maybe if you got your mind out of the gutter and stopped showing your immaturity, you might realize that people could be mentioning it because it is a good game."

Jesus Christ! What's with everybody assuming you have to be a pervert to bring up a sexual topic. I pointed out the vibrator because that is the point of relevancy with Rez that makes it worth mentioning in a story about its creator.

"Yeah sure, it is very relevant to repeat the article, and we need it pointed out every time. And we also need all the very "insightful" and "infomative" for comments that are the equivalent to "OMG L00k, A VIBRATOR!!!!!1111 LOLORMOFLGOLL!!@!!!" every danm time Rez is mentioned."

It is insulting that you compared my well written comment to the equivelant of an AIM conversation between two teenagers. Is that how you try to win all your arguments?