Game Informer's E3 2003 coverage has some great (and blessedly concise) interviews, but I found the most interesting to be with Sega's Yugi Naka, creator of Sonic and the upcoming Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg.
GI: Recently, games like GTA have really pushed the limits of decency. Is this a wrong direction for our industry? [This is a horribly phrased and rather debatable "question," but I digress. -- ZM]
YN: Games are to make children happy. That is our basic direction. Right now, many game people are getting really adult. We never change our direction; we always try to make children happy. Making really violent games is a trend. It's like the movie industry, some years are years of horror and some years are years of fantasy.
The unasked follow-ups: Why does Naka equate "violent" with "adult"? Does Naka not realize that videogames can also make adults happy? How does Naka feel about Sega's own recent hyperviolent game, Gungrave?
Perhaps something was lost in the translation, since the questions went from English into Japanese, and the answers from Japanese into English. I would surely hope that a developer of Naka's stature recognizes that games for grown-ups aren't a "trend."
Questions? Comments? Bueller?
-- Z.