The Cure is the band he’d have most liked to have been in.
“Third guitarist at the back, just behind Robert Smith.”
He’s putting together a band.
“I’m actually trying to start a band at the moment, called The Temptation.”
They’re not going to have much of a setlist.
“We’re only going to perform one song – Temptation by New Order. We might do different versions though, reggae, punk, electronic and so on.”
He wishes that money wasn’t such a barrier to creativity.
“I’d love to make a game like Trainspotting, with a really amazing soundtrack of bands I love. But it would be so expensive just to get the music rights.”
His favourite alcoholic drink isn’t sake.
“I drink it a lot, with friends, but I prefer wine.”
He once saved Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami from drinking shame.
“Once the president of Capcom invited Shinji Mikami and myself out for drinks, and Mikami-san drank so much wine he threw up. I had to secretly carry him out of the bar!”
He recently lost all his clothes.
“They lost my bags on the flight from Japan. I had to go clothes shopping as soon as I landed.”
Ironically, despite being temporarily shirtless, he has his own fashion label.
“I love making cool clothes!”
His favourite writer is Franz Kafka.
He once tried to make a game based on the existentialist’s work.
He didn’t know that fans had translated his unreleased-in-the-west Fatal Frame IV.
“Really? I had no idea! That’s so incredible! I’m so glad people can play it.”
He’d like to make a Killer7 sequel some day.
“Unfortunately, Capcom own the rights, so it’ll probably never happen.”
He wants game developers to have a more punk attitude.
“Just creating something is punk to me. The very first time I played a videogame, I was so shocked at the feelings I had, and I always want other people to feel that when they play my games.”
He really likes the Burnout series.
According to Criterion’s server logs, he’s put over 700 hours into the game.
His all-time favourite game is Out of this World (Another World in the UK).
He feels that making games is a battle.
“I have really innovative ideas, but people don’t always accept them. So it’s a constant battle between compromising my ideas, or pushing them through.”
No subjects are off limits when it comes to creativity.
“I don’t think there are any limitations. If it was too gross for me, than maybe, but if the publishers let me do it, then I’d probably do it anyway. I guess there is a line, but I’ve never hit it.”
He won’t tell us anything about his upcoming EA collaboration that also involves Shinji Mikami and Silent Hill producer Akira Yamaoka.
“Will I tell you anything about it? No! Haha.”
May 14, 2010
