Yugi Naka: "Games Are To Make Children Happy"

[zmeston]

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.

[Kid Ice]

By "we" does he mean Sega, or Sonic Team? If he's just talking Sonic, I think it's okay. Sonic is, after all, a children's franchise. If he is talking Sega, that is a little silly in light of Gungrave, not to mention Shenmue, Rez, Beach Spikers, etc. (not that all those are violent, but they're obviously aimed at adults).

Actually, I'm in agreement with his statement, if I'm interpreting it correctly. It seems like he's saying that videogames (like movies) are thematically cyclical in nature, and right now we're on the "violent" part of the cycle. He's saying (I think) that children are always the focus of his games, no matter what part of the cycle games are on.

Or maybe he's just a confused and silly man.

ICE

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

If I might play devil's advocate here...sometimes what I'm looking for when curling up with the classics is to feel like I'm a kid again.

Maybe...he's onto something.

[Kid Fenris]

Yugi (I thought it was "Yuji") Naka does have a point, but there's a difference between the content a game presents and the response it evokes from the player. I'd argue that any enjoyable video game, however violent or "adult," contains some measure of childlike fun. Grand Theft Auto may have its hooker beatings and gunplay, but it also offers a massive sense of freedom that's similar to the wonder a child feels upon finding some spacious area to explore. Metal Gear Solid has the same thrill as hide-and-seek, and even Gungrave bears something like the unrealistic fun of playing war with your friends.

What Naka may be trying to say is that enjoyment, and its childlike elements, are essential for any good game. Emphasizing violence for violence's sake may seem profitable in light of recent trends, but it won't guarantee something fun.

Personally, I hope someone asked Naka why he hasn't made another Burning Rangers game.

[zmeston]

Yugi (I thought it was "Yuji") Naka

Me too, but GI says "Yugi." Then again, the wonderful book Game Over refers to "Sigeru" Miyamoto, and that's the only place I haven't seen him called "Shigeru." As I discovered at Working Designs, there's always room for interpretation when going from Japanese to English.

Then again, this IS Game Informer, so it's probably just a typo.

-- Z.

[IntvGene]

I tend to think that he tends to be very misleading in his interviews.

- He calls for more originality in videogames, and yet Sonic Team makes Phantasy Star Online 3.

- He thinks that Sega's best approach is to make games multi-platform, and then Billy Hatcher only comes out for the Gamecube.

- He wants to make games for the largest audience (largest sales). So, he thinks that games have to be easy enough for children to play. Personally, I think that these are unrelated. Easy difficulty does not translate into higher sales.

To his credit though, Japanese is a very peculiar language. Direct questioning is not common, and you can read basically anything into someone's response just depending on the type of question you ask. And, don't forget that these interviews are done with a translator. There have even been problems with his interviews in the past and their incorrect translation.

Getting back to the point. The markets and demographics are completely different. And, he is talking about the Japanese market, I believe. Look at the best selling game in Japan, it's Pokemon still. But, GTA3 is only coming to Japan this fall. It will be very interesting to see how that does over there. Supposedly, it's doing well in Hong Kong. Who knows about Japan? Any of the late twentysomethings (a key demographic in North America) have NO time to play games in Japan generally. Their target market is still the teenagers and younger.

Eurogamer's E3 interview with Yuji Naka:
http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=52142

[slapdash]

Yugi (I thought it was "Yuji") Naka

Me too, but GI says "Yugi." Then again, the wonderful book Game Over refers to "Sigeru" Miyamoto, and that's the only place I haven't seen him called "Shigeru." As I discovered at Working Designs, there's always room for interpretation when going from Japanese to English.

Then again, this IS Game Informer, so it's probably just a typo.

"Sigeru" vs "Shigeru" is just a difference in phonetization; "Yuji" vs "Yugi" is not, so yeah, I'm leaning towards it being a typo too.

[ManekiNeko]

I guess that would explain why the Sonic the Hedgehog games they're selling at McDonald's were manufactured by Fisher-Price...
I have mixed feelings about Yuji's comments. While I don't think video games should be limited solely to entertaining children, I don't like the recent trend toward pandering macho violence in today's games. Nevertheless, someone who's been in the business as long as Naka should realize by now that video games are as much an outlet of artistic expression as they are a form of entertainment. Art is a thing of beauty that should be admired and enjoyed by everyone, not just a single demographic.

JR

[AB Positive]

If I might play devil's advocate here...sometimes what I'm looking for when curling up with the classics is to feel like I'm a kid again.

Maybe...he's onto something.

Amen, brother.