News
12-08-2004, 06:40 PM
Enterbrain's Hirokazu Hamamura, the mastermind behind the venerated Japanese publication Famitsu, recently gave a lecture at Tokyo University. His presentation, "Game Design and Engineering," targeted several issues in the gaming world, and Hamamura commented on anything from his famous magazine to the Chinese game market.
Most attention-grabbing of all however was Hamamura's remarks on the new handheld battle set to rage between Nintendo and Sony. Hamamura had some kind words concerning the DS, commenting, "The feeling of control through the touch panel is excellent. [The DS] goes beyond the culture of the D-Pad and A/B buttons and attempts to create a new culture. I'm deeply interested in seeing where this will go." In reference to the recent Japanese launch of the portable, Hamamura continued with: "The Nintendo DS was launched and had shipments exceeding 500,000, but the software ratio is low. It's showing a unique development among Nintendo hardware."
Hamamura also touched upon the PSP, stating that he had no doubt the system would sell from one to three million units easily; Hamamura did say, though, that for the PSP to excel beyond that point largely depended on their support for movies and music.
Finally, Hamamura also touched upon queries as to whether the Japanese gaming market was actually decreasing in size, but he largely dismissed these beliefs, citing the fact that software sales were actually improving.
All in all, it appear's that Mr. Hamamura had quite a number of thought-provoking remarks. It would be humorous to know, however, whether the students gathered were hanging on his every word, or too busy salivating over the Final Fantasy XII and Metal Gear Solid 3 footage that was provided.
Most attention-grabbing of all however was Hamamura's remarks on the new handheld battle set to rage between Nintendo and Sony. Hamamura had some kind words concerning the DS, commenting, "The feeling of control through the touch panel is excellent. [The DS] goes beyond the culture of the D-Pad and A/B buttons and attempts to create a new culture. I'm deeply interested in seeing where this will go." In reference to the recent Japanese launch of the portable, Hamamura continued with: "The Nintendo DS was launched and had shipments exceeding 500,000, but the software ratio is low. It's showing a unique development among Nintendo hardware."
Hamamura also touched upon the PSP, stating that he had no doubt the system would sell from one to three million units easily; Hamamura did say, though, that for the PSP to excel beyond that point largely depended on their support for movies and music.
Finally, Hamamura also touched upon queries as to whether the Japanese gaming market was actually decreasing in size, but he largely dismissed these beliefs, citing the fact that software sales were actually improving.
All in all, it appear's that Mr. Hamamura had quite a number of thought-provoking remarks. It would be humorous to know, however, whether the students gathered were hanging on his every word, or too busy salivating over the Final Fantasy XII and Metal Gear Solid 3 footage that was provided.