At the Eurogamer Expo in the UK this week, Prope head and Sonic the Hedgehog creative lead Yuji Naka spoke of two canceled PlayStation Move/Kinect games he worked on that "unfortunately didn't come out." GamesIndustry.biz reports Naka as saying, "I do enjoy working with new hardware, so I am hoping to create something exciting using those new technologies." He then added, "Actually, I worked on two games which unfortunately didn't come out, but those games were using those two technologies," referring to Sony and Microsoft's motion peripherals.
He also spoke to the recent, repeated comments from Capcom global head of production Keiji Inafune regarding Japanese development in comparison to Western development, saying, "You could say that Japanese developers today are behind Western competitors in terms of technology. But at the same time, Japanese developers still come up with new game ideas and styles that are very much different from Western counterparts ... so I do agree with [Inafune's] comments to some extent, but I believe Japanese games technology has its own strong areas to compete with Western titles." In light of Mr. Naka's humility, we'd also like to point out that his team used the Nintendo Wii's motion controller in a completely unique way with Let's Tap, so the thought of them working with Move and Kinect is absolutely thrilling.
Reader Comments (27)
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 3:03PM Flapjackal said
"PlayStation Move/Kinect" a bit awkwardly worded, no?
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 3:45PM King Johngie the Fourth said
@Robborboy
That's because LIVE has been out for 8 years. Come talk to me about having "Network" in another 4 years
Reply
That's because LIVE has been out for 8 years. Come talk to me about having "Network" in another 4 years
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 3:52PM Crazed Geek said
@King Johngie the Fourth "You mean, like a Wi-Fi network or something?"
Reply
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 4:01PM King Johngie the Fourth said
@Crazed Geek
No silly, NETWORK, not network
Reply
No silly, NETWORK, not network
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 4:50PM Extinction said
If those games are anything like Wii tap, then we're better off.
Reply
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 5:43PM The Wicker Man said
@King Johngie the Fourth hey, hey...no need to be mean. Cause wherever you go, there you are.
Reply
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 3:31AM DWilson8504 said
@Extinction
If those games were anything like the recent Sonic games then we're better off.
Reply
If those games were anything like the recent Sonic games then we're better off.
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 3:13PM The Wicker Man said
"War Crimnal" should be posted under his photo. Damn you Sonic Team, enough is enough! For the love of humanity, take a year or two off!
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 3:20PM Crazed Geek said
@The Wicker Man Dimps is taking care of Sonic 4, and Sonic Colors looks to be Unleashed minus the Werehog crap. So, I'm hopeful.
http://gamesareevil.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/sonic_cycle.jpg
Reply
http://gamesareevil.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/sonic_cycle.jpg
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 3:47PM Anticrawl said
Werehog, I still facepalm everytime I see that. I guess not one English speaking person on the Sonic Team decided to speak up when they picked the name of it. Man-pig isn't very fitting of Sonic.
Also while I do like Dimps classic Sonic style game I can't help but feel cheated with the pseudo 2D look. I hate the 3D character models. Give me some goddamn high-res 2D sprites! Is that so much to ask?
Reply
Also while I do like Dimps classic Sonic style game I can't help but feel cheated with the pseudo 2D look. I hate the 3D character models. Give me some goddamn high-res 2D sprites! Is that so much to ask?
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 4:05PM UnverifiedUser said
So... about the man pictured within the article... is he the guy we blame for Sonic goin' down the crapper? >.>
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 4:40PM Deadpool said
Wake me up when Sega finishes the Shenmue series.... -_-
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 7:28PM The Wicker Man said
@Deadpool. You might as well become a Dracula...
Reply
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 11:01PM ZippyDSMlee said
@Deadpool
Wake me up when sega becomes relevant again....
Reply
Wake me up when sega becomes relevant again....
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 7:00PM CSP said
"his team used the Nintendo Wii's motion controller in a completely unique way with Let's Tap"
Yes yes one little thing though,this could probably be the winner of "least amount of content on a retail video game" prize. I got the "special edition" for SIX euros and I barely thought it was worth that much as I could only get 2-3H worth of gaming. While let's tap would be a good 800 point wiiware game, let's catch is utterly pointless as throwing a ball to the computer is not fun at all, plus you can mess up your move much easier than holding an actual ball.
As for ivy the kiwi, I had played the jap version a while ago on the DS and I got to say I was not that impressed. Canvas curse is miles better and I have seen much better and more interesting platformers on the DS like maestro and dokomodake. So really I can't understand all that hype.
Yes yes one little thing though,this could probably be the winner of "least amount of content on a retail video game" prize. I got the "special edition" for SIX euros and I barely thought it was worth that much as I could only get 2-3H worth of gaming. While let's tap would be a good 800 point wiiware game, let's catch is utterly pointless as throwing a ball to the computer is not fun at all, plus you can mess up your move much easier than holding an actual ball.
As for ivy the kiwi, I had played the jap version a while ago on the DS and I got to say I was not that impressed. Canvas curse is miles better and I have seen much better and more interesting platformers on the DS like maestro and dokomodake. So really I can't understand all that hype.
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 7:09PM morphinapg said
He also has said lately he wants to make the Dreamcast 2
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 7:34PM Narutogameking said
Move and Kinect are completely different. Kinect doesn't' even have buttons. Were they seriously trying to make a game for both? LOL
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 11:46AM Dustin F said
@Narutogameking
That's a great point, and I realize a lot of people have noticed this, but apparently some devs have not.
Kiniect is an advanced Eyetoy. Move is an advanced Wiimote. Yeah, in both cases they aren't exactly like the older peer, but for game mechanics, they are exactly the same.
Making a wiimote/eyetoy game would be asinine, and no one bothered, except DDR.
Reply
That's a great point, and I realize a lot of people have noticed this, but apparently some devs have not.
Kiniect is an advanced Eyetoy. Move is an advanced Wiimote. Yeah, in both cases they aren't exactly like the older peer, but for game mechanics, they are exactly the same.
Making a wiimote/eyetoy game would be asinine, and no one bothered, except DDR.
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 8:04PM Nolan North said
Yuji Naka may have been the creative mind behind Sonic, but is no longer involved in the projects, so it's not accurate to call him the Sonic Project Lead anymore.
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 8:13PM Kruegmeister said
Sonic... Anyone care about Sonic anymore???
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 9:52PM Lerkero said
The message I get from this is that they couldn't come up with any good, useful, or innovative ideas for Kinect or Move so they decided to rerelease Sonic Riders and call it a day.
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 11:44PM Nolan North said
@Lerkero
Prope =/= Sonic Team...
Yuji Naka has nothing to do with Sonic anymore as he left the company
Reply
Prope =/= Sonic Team...
Yuji Naka has nothing to do with Sonic anymore as he left the company
Posted: Oct 3rd 2010 10:59PM ZippyDSMlee said
I don't see much difference in designs, you have rare US games that blend graphics and mechanics well and you have rare JP games that do it. But mostly you have limited designs with a focus of dumbing stuff down for the target demo, like FF13 and Dragon Age....
Featured Stories
Super Joystiq Podcast 004: 38 Studios meltdown, Gravity Rush, Civilization 5: Gods & Kings, Dragon's Dogma
Posted on May 25th 2012 3:30PM





