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Blinx Creator Talks Independent Development In Japan

Posted by simoniker on from the meeeeow dept.

Thanks to 1UP for its interview with Japanese game developer Naoto Ohshima, who "gained notoriety at Sega's Sonic Team for creating characters and playing integral roles in the development of games like Phantasy Star, Nights, and Sonic Adventure", and now "heads up developer Artoon." Ohshima discusses topics such as being a Japanese developer making Xbox titles (the Blinx series) for Microsoft ("I basically like challenges. If there's something hard or difficult to do, it's something that gets me excited"), how the Blinx sequel will differentiate itself from other Xbox games ("In Blinx 2, that's what I'm trying to do, to get the full range [from kids to adults], whereas when I look at Conker I think it's targeted at an adult -- a more hardcore audience"), and licensed games ("I look at that as almost a new genre of games -- these licensed games or movie games or whatever. When I see that they're selling well or that they are hits, it's really hard to evaluate whether or not it means it's a good game.")

11 comments

  1. Nintendo DS by cujo_1111 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From article: "As somebody who likes and enjoys a challenge, I'd want to find a way to utilize the two screens."

    I get the feeling that DS game designers are trying to fit games to the touch creen, rather than designing a game that may end up using the touch screen. Seems like gimmick led devlopment to me...

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    1. Re:Nintendo DS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "I get the feeling that DS game designers are trying to fit games to the touch creen [sic], rather than designing a game that may end up using the touch screen."

      Clarify that statement, because from my interpretation of what you typed, playing games that are created using the former strategy (using the touch screen by design) sounds far more appealing to me as a gamer than the latter (using the touch screen only in happenstance).

      All new technologies introduced to a market by a single competitor are "gimmicks" until they become industry standard, or remain exclusive to one competitor's offerings, or simply fade away. Nintendo's track record of introducing such controller technologies is far better than anyone else ever in the business (which is to be expected from the folks who invented the D-pad, of all things), so I'm willing to give the DS a shot. In fact, I've pre-ordered one at GameCrazy. After all, Sony themselves are often the ones to validate Nintendo's controller introductions to console gaming (analog sticks, rumble, button layout), so I'm not sure that your statement wouldn't also be true for (say, as an example) the folks that did Ape Escape for Sony, where use of their new dual analog sticks was a major design influence. Ape Escape, of course, is extremely fun BECAUSE of this controller "gimmickry."

    2. Re:Nintendo DS by cujo_1111 · · Score: 1

      Using the touch screen by design is a good way to go, but having the touch screen and trying to fit a game to it is not what I would call an ideal situation.

      That is the feeling I get from the interview and other articles regarding the DS. Does not fill me with hope for the first generation of DS games.

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  2. Re:Hans Blix? by rash · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    as there were none, blix found none, so he was right all along. (unlike everyone else)

  3. Here's what I'd ask Ohshima... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why did Pinobee suck shit? Honestly, man, why was it so awful?

    I tried that game just because you had worked on it. I loved NiGHTS, and I loved SonicCD (sometimes called "Ohshima's Sonic", opposed to the other "Naka's Sonic" games). But Pinobee... puh-leeze! That game was terrible, slow, boring, and god-awful UGLY. If it had been released for the Game Gear, I'd say it looked decent, but on the GBA it is crap.

    But anyway, you are a skilled artist (NiGHTS... best character design EVER!!!), so I wish you best of luck in your next projects.

    1. Re:Here's what I'd ask Ohshima... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Sonic CD was, is, and may ever be his only directorial success. It's not like game direction or production was ever his major role at Sonic Team, so I can't see why you'd expect more from a character designer, talented as he may be in that role.

  4. Blinx? It was a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hyped and touted as the "Mario-killer" it utterly failed in all areas.

  5. Blinx was a pretty-good platformer by Zork+the+Almighty · · Score: 1

    I thought Blinx was a pretty good game overall. There was lots of interesting stuff to do, some areas were fast and frantic, and it was very polished. I prefer the "open world" style platformer to timed levels, but Blinx was still a fun game.

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    1. Re:Blinx was a pretty-good platformer by Bega · · Score: 1

      I agree, it was pretty fun -- but there were some things that were so terribly frustrating in the game, still. I got stuck in the seventh world, Everwinter (sp?), and after a multitude on failures because of either camera, some sort of auto-aim failing or enemies teleporting right onto me, I got the urge to strangle someone with my controller cord. I liked the idea really much though, so I'm waiting for this one pretty much. =)

      God, it's going to be a game-filled period this year. Right now DOOM and Final Fantasy XI, then Blinx 2, Halo 2, Ratchet and Clank 3 and whatnot.

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