Itagaki: 'The era of pursuing technical strength has ended'

by JC Fletcher on Aug 2nd 2010 10:47AM

When he was at the top of Team Ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki was seemingly obsessed with high-end graphics and processing power, choosing to work exclusively on the first Xbox for technical reasons. With his new Valhalla studio, Itagaki has shed that aspect of his public persona as well.

At a party for Famitsu Xbox 360's hundredth issue, Itagaki and Shinji Mikami recorded an installment of Itagaki's "Valhalla Freaks" column, during which the Dead or Alive creator declared that "the era of pursuing technical strength has ended," adding, "From here on out, we should pursue what makes games interesting and fun." According to Andriasang, Itagaki suggested that Japanese developers should share technology like some Western companies do.

Xbox 360 marketing chief Jouji Sakaguchi then undercut Itagaki's message about pursuing technical strength by announcing that the monitors for Xbox game demos at this year's Tokyo Game Show would be larger than last year's.

Source: Andriasang

Tags: famitsu, itagaki, microsoft, shinji-mikami, tomonobu-itagaki, valhalla-game-studios, xbox

Reader Comments (56)

Fvcking Sakaguchi.

So that is what Itagaki's eyes look like. Never seen him without the shades

@AliasIncognito

Those eyes have been painted on to his shades.

Independent jiggle physics!

@Playace

Yeah after that what's the point in trying anymore right? lol

thank you for using a blurry picture

@Uncontrol

I was gonna say.. That picture had to been shopped one way or another. I felt no urge to play Majora's Mask when I saw it.

@Uncontrol Blurry Picture?
Looks like the era of pursuing technical strength really has ended...

Or the era of Wii exclusives has begun.

Completely disagree. Game developers should focus on making their games fun while also pushing forward and making technical advancements! Otherwise we'll be stuck next generation with the same graphics.

@Kleptomaniac

Because graphics really propelled the Wii to the top of the charts, right?

@Kleptomaniac

Is that necessarily a bad thing? A small jump as opposed to a large would is not only more likely, but better for the industry. Just look at how many development studios have gone under because of the ridiculous costs for developing on the HD twins. Look at the libraries of games, which are often accused of being "samey" with out many really fresh ideas, because doing something new is risky if the game wont sell, something they can't afford to happen.

I'll take slower graphical advancement over the trend towards another video game crash.

@zerokku

would -> one*

Don't know how I screwed that one up.

@Kleptomaniac
Fvck Itagaki

1st off, games should have always been more about game play and less focus on graphics. All the good developers realized this years ago.

2ndly, why can't you have both?

and 3rdly, the cost of creating HD games isn't putting developers down. Creating lousy, cheap production values, over priced consoles games did. How come the cost of creating HD games is more expensive on consoles than on computer systems? There is no reason.

@Kleptomaniac

I'd rather incremental installments that came with technical mastery. 1080p at 60fps is still elusive, and it would make more sense to focus on mastering current tech before wandering off on the bleeding edge again, especially when its clear that consumers have no real romance with the bleeding edge.

"Xbox 360 marketing chief Jouji Sakaguchi then undercut Itagaki's message about pursuing technical strength by announcing that the monitors for Xbox game demos at this year's Tokyo Game Show would be larger than last year's."

lol

The era can't be over if the 3DS is going to exist.

I don't care what anyone says about the guy....that is the smartest thing I've heard any developer say all year....or more for that matter.

"From here on out, we should pursue what makes games interesting and fun."

WHAT A THOUGHT!!!!!!

Imagine - a movie like Inception, but with special FX from the 1970's.

This isn't about Wii apologists anymore - the Xbox 360 is nearly 5 years old, we should be on a new generation by now, but we aren't, and it's likely 2 years away. Instead we're tacking USB waggle controls on everything.

Again, good time to be a PC gamer.

@benheck

Using that logic one could argue that Lucas' self-indulgent "prettied up" versions of the Star Wars movies are better than the originals.

@Ninbrendo Well it's a bit different with a non interactive media. A movie relies mostly on story and acting as a way of getting viewers invested. Video Games are much closer to animated movies in that there needs to be conceptualization of every element before implementing it.

I guess what I'm saying is, Lucas only needed to get Mark Hammill dressed in some barely asian clothes and give him the lines. He didn't have to create Mark Hammill from scratch.

Also, part of Star Wars' success is very much tied to it's special effects as a way to sell the story. Sure, there's obvious puppets and guys with ice scream making machines, but the model ships, and laser effects are instrumental in selling this as a real living universe.

THAT said, it's true that games don't need great graphics to be great. Great graphics do help sell the game, and it's great to constantly break boundaries in that field, but at the same time graphics should be subservient to good gameplay and design.

And I ranted too long, didn't I?

@(Unverified)

Not at all. I believe we're on the same page, in that gameplay comes first. If it looks pretty, great, but nothing can compensate for a crappy game.

I'm fairly certain the 3DS qualifies as "pursuing technical strength", but we're gonna see lots of "Hey, look!"-type of tech demo games before the dust settles and developers figure out how to best utilize the effect to enhance gameplay, not supplant it.

I think that a bit more time should be put into utilizing the increasing technical strength of newer consoles for things like physics and gameplay mechanics. We're at a point where better graphics is just eye candy for the most part rather than before where you could hardly make out what something was supposed to be.

@original fred
Kinda hard to do that when the consoles are 5 years old....

@Themoreyouknow
I'm sorry I don't understand. I was saying that in the next generation of consoles they should focus on using the increased power on things that affect gameplay rather than visuals

@original fred
Well, even then that will be fine and dandy for the first couple of years, then you're just working with an outdated system.

@Themoreyouknow
That doesn't make much sense I'm afraid. Something not being the biggest and best of the year has zero impact on using what specs you have to focus on one thing instead of another.

I'm bookmarking this page so I can laugh at this in ten years time.

Seeing the direction cell shading is going with SFIV, the newest Naruto game and that one from Ghibli and Level-5, I'm starting to think the game industry would be better off if they went with a more stylized look rather than always working towards making a game as realistic as possible.

Realism is obviously necessary for some games, but others like RPGs where you're pouring the vast amount of your budget and development time into the graphics when you could be releasing in half the time by instead putting your time into developing a distinctive art style that can be achieved through cell shading.

@gangcar
That is a good point and it doesn't only apply to cel shading or rpgs: creating a unique, stylized look doesn't just reduce the need for more accurate/graphic intensive visuals when everything is meant to be super realistic but can also help a game stand out in the crowd.

@gangcar
"Realism" in video games is vastly overrated. End of story.

HA! i kept wondering why he looked so different, then i realized this is the first time i've seen him without shades.

So that's how it's gonna be? First you try and tell everyone they can't beat your graphics, and then when they obviously can, you go out and say graphics aren't that important?

Naw, but seriously, It's a fair argument. The capacity to wow with visuals is becoming more and more difficult(and expensive). Concepts, characters, gameplay, and replay value bear more importance every day. We're far and away from a time where "looking like Toy Story" is a goal and selling point.

My , what feminine lips

@mandarin

D:

The Xbox 360 is 5 years old, and it can deliver experiences like Batman: Arkham Asylum. The point is the the tech is good enough already, and each succeeding gen of consoles should last longer than the previous one, maybe much longer. That allows (a) the console developers to recoup their investment, (b) developers to perfect the software technology that runs on the consoles, and (c) gamers to get the best experiences and bang for the buck. The law of diminishing returns has already trumped audio advances, and it's closing in fast on video.

I think I didn't make my point correctly. There is nothing wrong with old special FX, but modern movies use modern effects. Tech shouldn't go backwards.

However part of the problems with consoles is the need to recoup investment. Microsoft needs to 360 to pay off the RROD fiasco, and Sony needs to pay for the Cell. That doesn't mean their consoles aren't outdated tech, though.

Actually, if anyone's in the position to make a badass, actually high-def console it's Nintendo.

@benheck

eh, Microsoft's never really been in this to make money. They're laser-focused on marketshare, which is why they felt beating the PS3 to market was more important than certain quality control aspects this time (since the PS2 being out before the Xbox and GameCube gave it a momentum advantage that the latter two were never able to overcome). Microsoft's still thinking in terms of marketshare, but we will see

Nintendo might play into the next generation aggressively for once this time, if the 3DS is any indication. Nintendo hasn't been the starter of a generation since the NES.

'The era of pursuing technical strength has ended'?
Well, we'll see about that once Microsoft and Sony announce their new consoles.

@Obyinlondon

Have you not heard? They are called Move and Kinect. If this generation were like the previous generations then the next consoles would have been revealed or rumored to death by now.

Xbox lasted 4 years, PS2 6 years, and Gamecube 5 years (before their successive consoles were released). I can see at least 3 more years added on to this generation of game consoles just because of the costs alone.

I could've sworn this guy was in Blow.

There is only one reason tech isn't being pushed right now and that is because consoles are at their limits. You'll see when the ps4 xbox3 come out everyone needs to make the best looking games again.

@context
ignore my comment and read obyinlondon's

Sounds like someone doesn't have a modern engine for their next game!

... and someone is also pretty late to the party of the gameplay > graphics school of thought. It's been internet millenia since that was first brought up (real time = 12+ years).

just cause your games aren't selling doesn't mean you can make that kind of statement buddy.

"From here on out, we should pursue what makes games interesting and fun."

Because these guys totally shouldn't have been doing that all along, right?

He is right in some regard. I'm playing through Deadly Premonition graphic wise its bad for today's standards, but outside of that I have had more fun playing it than a lot of big selling games. That's not to say they shouldn't focus on graphics. He is also right about sharing things between companies it would would make reaching the graphics max a lot faster.

He is kinda right. look at A Boy and His Blob.

The story is great and the art style make it one of the most gorgeous games of all time.

I had no idea he was a burn victim. It's pretty obvious in that picture, you can even his eyebrow hasn't grown back properly, and in other pictures, his hair-line is a lot higher on that side of his face. Tragic.

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Itagaki: 'The era of pursuing technical strength has ended'

Reader Comments (56)

Posted: Aug 2nd 2010 10:54AM CaptainProtonX said

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