Ishii interviewed for Zelda

[bastian]

(no mention of Mana whatsoever, booooo!)
http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interview ... f-time/3/0

But it's still a facinating read, and nice to get inside that man's head. I wish we had this sort of interview back in the Mana days. :(

[DeadWolf]

Yeah. I often compare making video games to cooking. If game developers are like cooks, then the games they make are like food. Just as the techniques of the cooks influence the way their food tastes, the techniques and experience of game developers appear in the games.

His cooking must have gotten worse over the years.

[bastian]

What I find most interesting about this article is all the lavish praise that Iwata (Nintendo's president) and Miyamoto (the creator and executive producer of all things Zelda and Mario) heap on Ishii and Greezo. They talk about how they called Ishii to Tokyo and showed him the 3DS long before showing it to any outside third parties and proposed Greezo do the Ocarina of TIme 3DS remake because they feel it would be a "perfect fit." But Greezo has done basically NOTHING since its inception apart from Line Attack Heroes which surely could not have warented much praise... so clearly Ishii is venerated for Mana still, even though World of Mana was a complete disaster. Nintendo isn't stupid, they would have seen what a disaster World of Mana was... yet they still clearly respect Ishii tremendously. Maybe they know something we don't.

[Kassidy]

It's because of the bold steps that he tries to take to do something that hasn't been done before, and that appeals to Nintendo who are currently all about trying to take contrarian steps to the rest of the market. Everyone goes for enhancing the graphical quality of their systems and SDKs, Nintendo instead go for fun-time party games. Everyone wanted CoM and HoM to be multiplayer over long distance, Ishii went for multiplayer in the same room. Maybe they are just sadists and gluttons for fan punishment, I dunno.

[bastian]

I see your meaning. Ishii, like Nintendo, tries to go against the grain and reinvent the wheel (to his detriment in the World of Mana project). That is probably why they respect him, because of his willingness to take risks like they do. Hm.

It is true, though, that Nintendo is much more interested in local multiplayer than online. And that's okay with me. I've tried some online mulitplayer games and never get into them as much as when the person is a few feet away from me in the same room. Some of my best multiplayer memories have been SoM and SD3 with one or two other friends (and later the original Crystal Chronicles for GameCube). Much more compelling to be in the same room egging each other on and cracking jokes and strategizing than some random kid from across the globe.

[Kassidy]

See, in my case, no one in my general circle of acquaintances nearby owns a DS, let alone follows the Mana series, so unless there's an option for me to do multiplayer with you guys on here or something, I'm stuffed. Games that I do, or more did, LAN out were things like Starcraft heavily, CS1.6 and DODS, but even that I don't have much of an option for now either.

That is until my kids are old enough and I have indoctrinated them in the ways of Seikens.

[Kimiko]

Kids, plural? Which one have you kept secret from us?

[bastian]

Ah, I see. Well, I made the old friend of mine that I played SoM with back in the day play Children of Mana with me. I had to give him my old DS (because I bought the limited edition golden Triforce DS and no longer had a need for my old black one) or else I would have had to play it all by myself. :(

[Kassidy]

Kids, plural? Which one have you kept secret from us?

The one that is a couple of days overdue.

[Kimiko]

Ooh, exciting Please announce/post pics when you're ready

[Kassidy]

I shall do so as soon as it decides to turn up.

[gamekrazzy]

cool, and kassidy, I didn't know you just had a kid...

Back on topic here, I just recently bought myself the 3DS before OoT was released, and after playing the game can say his team did it justice. I am currently attempting to finish master quest. It is quite obvious the game was a success, so maybe grezzo might just have some more releases here coming. (I am honestly hoping for a remake of Majora's Mask.)