Speaking of the most interviewed man in the industry, his recent sit-down with Famitsu DC translated by Core Magazine revealed some interesting bits of trivia. Naka firstly states his belief that in the 21st century, what system you (I think he's referring to developers here, not consumers) support will become irrelevant. I believe it already is.

   Naka-san goes on to state that Game Boy Advance development had been planned since summer 2000, well before the announcement of Dreamcast's untimely death. Being that Sega had no competing handhelds planned, the Team didn't believe it would have an adverse impact of any kind on Sega or Dreamcast. The initial announcement was supposed to have been made in November of that year, but they decided to hold out until they had something tangible to announce. According to Naka, it was purely coincidental that the unveiling of GBA ChuChu Rocket! fell on the same day as Sega's announcement of their new "platform agnostic" strategy.

   Uncle Yuji then proceeds to explain his currently unused idea of having some kind of network that records a player's history and uses that information to change certain games accordingly. He says it can't be done due to too many privacy issues arising, which he feels bad about because he still thinks it's a great idea. He also mentions that the Dreamcast microphone (used only by Seaman) and camera were their suggestions, and they initially had game ideas that utilized these two peripherals. Using these hardware creations as his example, our man then makes the very interesting argument that only a developer who makes their own hardware has total freedom. I think it's an interesting point, especially since it conflicts with everything I considered before. I think I understand where he's coming from with that, but if it all boils down to peripherals, I mean, anyone can do it. Namco designs their own peripherals all the time based on the needs of their games. Furthermore, by creating your own hardware, you are totally stuck with it from beginning to end. Basically, although I know it is not my place to question, this is one issue I don't totally agree with Naka on. Forgive my insolence, Naka-sama. Please enlighten me with your wisdom if you happen to read this. (But autograph my forehead first, please -- I never wash that anyway.)

   Not too surprisingly, ol' Yuj (how many different ways can I think of to write "Yuji Naka", anyway?) mentioned that the Team is working full-force on Phantasy Star Online Ver.2 and Sonic Adventure 2 at this time. He says they're very surprised to find out how much time people are spending on PSO: many upwards of 100 and 200 hours. (157 and counting, Mr. Naka, and I don't play half as much as some people I know.) As a result, they're considering doing another expansion disc or even a full-blown sequel. And as any hardcore Sonic Team fan can tell you, hearing YUJI NAKA say "we might do a sequel" is like hearing Hironobu Sakaguchi say "I think I'll NOT do a sequel." Big words, indeed. He also mentioned that the Team is overseeing production of Sonic Advance, which is being developed by a team called "Dimps" who were apparently behind the stellar Sonic Pocket Adventure. Schwing!

   Naka thence goes on to mutter how he misses his old programming days, and that debugging ChuČ has put him "back in the mood." Producers don't have time to be programmers, though, and he says if he does anything it'll be some iMode games under 10k. At that point, the conversation literally swells to epic proportions as Naka talks about Sonic Land, Sonic Team flying cars (I kid you not), and the future of entertainment in general. At that point it gets too deep for my shallow mind to grasp, so if you're interested in anything else, you should go and read the full interview yourself. Tsnice.

   -- Green Gibbon!

Written by Jared "Green Gibbon!" Matte. Hosting provided by Emulation Zone and Emulation World.