Koei confirms Fatal Inertia on PS3, talks how Japan falls behind in game development

During an interview, the big guys from Koei confirmed Fatal Inertia for the Sony PlayStation 3 (previously moved to Microsoft Xbox 360) and its 2008 release. While PS3 owners look forward to some futuristic hovercraft racing action, Koei fans can count on more Dynasty Warriors hack-and-slash goodness for years to come.

Speaking of Fatal Inertia, Koei’s managing executive officer and deputy general manager Takazumi Tomoike mentioned how the game is almost entirely Canadian-made. Koei Canada is a young studio with only six or seven Japanese people, he continued. Only around 20 people are working on the game’s development, and they’re all young people who are still learning how to build a game through this sci-fi racer.

The discussion soon touched the issue of western developers being more advanced than those in Japan. When talking about development of multiplatform games, Tomoike believes Japan is lagging behind because Japanese companies focus more on bringing out the maximum potential of specific platforms.

Another way Japan falls behind is in sharing technology within the company. Tomoike admitted that even Koei is not too efficient in sharing information among themselves, seen in how Dynasty Warriors games are different from Kessen titles. Other companies have it worse though, like one famous for losing the source code of their own RPG because they hid it from themselves too well.

Software division executive officer Akihiro Suzuki also shared some insights, like how installments in the long-running Dynasty Warriors series are similar yet different. We get the good ‘ol hack-and-slash in the same “one man against a thousand” flavor from every DW game, as Suzuki puts it. Some complain, but it looks like we can expect more button-mashing action to come.

His reply when asked how long the series will last, Suzuki replied, “As long as [development studio] Omega Force wants to continue with it, I think it will continue.” It goes without saying that most people simply don’t see Omega Force growing tired of ancient Chinese guys going at it.

During an interview, the big guys from Koei confirmed Fatal Inertia for the Sony PlayStation 3 (previously moved to Microsoft Xbox 360) and its 2008 release. While PS3 owners look forward to some futuristic hovercraft racing action, Koei fans can count on more Dynasty Warriors hack-and-slash goodness for years to come.

Speaking of Fatal Inertia, Koei’s managing executive officer and deputy general manager Takazumi Tomoike mentioned how the game is almost entirely Canadian-made. Koei Canada is a young studio with only six or seven Japanese people, he continued. Only around 20 people are working on the game’s development, and they’re all young people who are still learning how to build a game through this sci-fi racer.

The discussion soon touched the issue of western developers being more advanced than those in Japan. When talking about development of multiplatform games, Tomoike believes Japan is lagging behind because Japanese companies focus more on bringing out the maximum potential of specific platforms.

Another way Japan falls behind is in sharing technology within the company. Tomoike admitted that even Koei is not too efficient in sharing information among themselves, seen in how Dynasty Warriors games are different from Kessen titles. Other companies have it worse though, like one famous for losing the source code of their own RPG because they hid it from themselves too well.

Software division executive officer Akihiro Suzuki also shared some insights, like how installments in the long-running Dynasty Warriors series are similar yet different. We get the good ‘ol hack-and-slash in the same “one man against a thousand” flavor from every DW game, as Suzuki puts it. Some complain, but it looks like we can expect more button-mashing action to come.

His reply when asked how long the series will last, Suzuki replied, “As long as [development studio] Omega Force wants to continue with it, I think it will continue.” It goes without saying that most people simply don’t see Omega Force growing tired of ancient Chinese guys going at it.