Shmup Dev Interview Translation (Famitsu XBOX 360)

[emphatic]

@THE: Perhaps the next game you make will have some sexy characters then?

Hehe, yeah by now we are convinced it needs to be done. Finding the artist is the difficult part though...

Just have a look at Deviantart, shouldn't be too hard.

http://browse.deviantart.com/manga/

[dan76]

A great read and thanks for the translation.

Quote:

Horii (M2): For me, the charm of shooting games is its simple rules. Destroy the enemy and do not get hit by a bullet.

This guy's got his head screwed on right.

[Elixir]

Thanks for translating.

So, Triangle Service have 5 titles in production and this has been known since August, yet nobody has reported it? Despite how they deal in shooters almost exclusively? Seems kind of odd.

[Cuilan]

Thanks for translating.

So, Triangle Service have 5 titles in production and this has been known since August, yet nobody has reported it? Despite how they deal in shooters almost exclusively? Seems kind of odd.

Yeah, many parts of this interview seem kind of odd, actually...

[Aquas]

Great stuff, thanks a lot!

The brain-gasm stuff was hilarious. The interview makes me want to play my copy of Senko no Ronde! (I have yet to even boot it up >_>)

It's good to hear that the developers are positive about what the future can bring.

[MintyTheCat]

I would like to thank hashiriya1 for taking the time and putting in the effort to benefit the rest of our community.

If I can buy you a drink any time let me know!

An interesting article, and it shows just how passionate these developers are.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

It seems tobe the case with the ps3 of one successfull shmup and the rest will follow so all you PS3 owners out there wanting shmups had better buy mammaro-kun no matter what, even if there's no disc or case just a smelly turd with shrinkwrap around it. (still its gonna be intresting how things are gonna go with widescreen vs the traditional 4:3 shmup fans tend to prefer with their crts and arcade cabs)

One thing thats obvious though is that Cave are quite pissed due to how the Xbox has turned out both in sales and in how M$ changed their stance with XBLA from pro to anti arcade ports and fucking up Caves plans for the console. Still its good that Guwange has come out which will hopefully raise the profile of shmups and the company.

[ZacharyB]

Thank you for translating this interesting glimpse into the producers' intentions. I hope they're going to do all right.

[2dvertical]

Asada (Cave): The biggest way the genre will evolve is to go from 2D to 3D. We did this with Deathsmiles II X. G.rev did this before us. But of course, 2D games are just as costly to make.

whatever

[Cuilan]

It seems tobe the case with the ps3 of one successfull shmup and the rest will follow so all you PS3 owners out there wanting shmups had better buy mammaro-kun no matter what, even if there's no disc or case just a smelly turd with shrinkwrap around it. (still its gonna be intresting how things are gonna go with widescreen vs the traditional 4:3 shmup fans tend to prefer with their crts and arcade cabs)

One thing thats obvious though is that Cave are quite pissed due to how the Xbox has turned out both in sales and in how M$ changed their stance with XBLA from pro to anti arcade ports and fucking up Caves plans for the console. Still its good that Guwange has come out which will hopefully raise the profile of shmups and the company.

Yeah, I guess it's ok for people to lie to our faces so long as it feeds our cynicism and/or personal biases. Logic is overrated anyway.

[msm]

Thanks for the translation

[bcass]

One thing thats obvious though is that Cave are quite pissed due to how the Xbox has turned out both in sales and in how M$ changed their stance with XBLA from pro to anti arcade ports and fucking up Caves plans for the console. Still its good that Guwange has come out which will hopefully raise the profile of shmups and the company.

It was 5pb who first wanted to publish Cave ports onto XBLA, not Cave. Microsoft are now back in the pro camp when it comes to arcade ports on the service, the trouble is that the terms are no longer as favourable as they were a few years ago.

I was surprised to hear Asada state that retail games don't make a profit unless they shift 50,000 units. Only one of their 360 ports have done those sorts of numbers, so this is either complete bullshit (like a lot of information that comes directly from Cave) or total sales for each game are higher than the figures that have been made publically available.

[GaijinPunch]

If you want this immortalized, I can add it to the collection on gamengai.

[Cuilan]

It was 5pb who first wanted to publish Cave ports onto XBLA, not Cave. Microsoft are now back in the pro camp when it comes to arcade ports on the service, the trouble is that the terms are no longer as favourable as they were a few years ago.

I don't think MS was ever truly in the anti camp to begin with. A look at the kinds of games that have been released on XBLA throughout the history of the service should make anyone question the validity of 5pb's comment (among other things).

I was surprised to hear Asada state that retail games don't make a profit unless they shift 50,000 units. Only one of their 360 ports have done those sorts of numbers, so this is either complete bullshit (like a lot of information that comes directly from Cave) or total sales for each game are higher than the figures that have been made publically available.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel after reading this. Though to be fair, the sales numbers we usually get are only those from certain Japanese retailers regarding how many copies they've actually sold, smaller retailers and import sales are excluded. Cave almost never discloses how many copies they actually ship total per release (for a publisher : shipped = sold).

[Kollision]

That was a great read, tks, hashiriya1!
Regardless of all that was said, the fact that all these guys got together to talk about STGs is just pure jawsum.

Now where are the new Triangle Service games anyway?

[Frenetic]

Thank you so much hashiraya1 , this was a really great interview and I deeply appreciate your translation which opened a window into the developer's hearts and minds. Simply awesome.

[hashiriya1]

You're welcome, guys. Glad you enjoyed it.

If you want this immortalized, I can add it to the collection on gamengai.

Go for it, just give me a nod

[originalz]

One thing thats obvious though is that Cave are quite pissed due to how the Xbox has turned out both in sales and in how M$ changed their stance with XBLA from pro to anti arcade ports and fucking up Caves plans for the console. Still its good that Guwange has come out which will hopefully raise the profile of shmups and the company.

I do find it kind of unreasonable that Cave expects M$$$$$$ to sell big numbers of their console, it's not like there's some bloody mystery that it's not a hot item in Japan and won't see a sudden surge of sales. Hell, there were tons of PS2s out there and it's not like Cave's games lit up that console, so I don't think the actual number of units is that important at this point, all of the fans have a 360. The lack of shelf space is a valid concern, but I went to a game store a few days ago and there was plenty of space given to Daifukkatsu (although, the 360 section itself was rather small and not as in-view as other systems). I'm sure that the fans are aware of the game anyway and will find ways to buy it, can't imagine that shooters are a big market for drive-by sales these days.

M$$$$$$$$(dollar sign)$$ has been pretty supportive with the devs, though. Holding special shooting events, actively promoting the games in their catalogs/trailers and Inside Xbox, allowing these games to be full-priced disc releases with the original aspect ratios...not sure what else the devs can expect. It's not like they're going to get the same level of support that they'd give Square-Enix or some top-level dev, but I can't imagine the other system manufacturers giving nearly as much of a push for the genre on their systems. Hell, $ony's policies seem to almost discourage it.

I love some of those quotes, though! "Yeah, the 360 is easy to develop for, we love working with the system and the suport from Microsoft. Don't see any reason to publish on the PS3, I'm sure all the fans have a 360 now". Next section, "Well, the 360 is having problems, we're looking into PS3 development, we're going to start working on PS3 software." Bloody bizarre, really does make me wonder if all parts of this interview were actually done at the same time. Hell, Cave outright said in a recent English interview that they weren't considering making the games on the PS3.

[RNGmaster]

M$$$$$$

This isn't very original, nor is it intelligent. Sorry to roast you, but the fact is Microsoft isn't the only gaming company out for profit. By your logic, Sony would be $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ony, Nintendo would be $$$$$$$$$$$Nin$$$$$$$$$$$$$te$$n$$$$d$$$$$$$o, and Sega would be... well, I think you get the picture. Trying to strike back at the "man" or the corporate suits isn't original or rebellious when everyone else is doing the same thing in the same words.

[Cuilan]

This isn't very original, nor is it intelligent. Sorry to roast you, but the fact is Microsoft isn't the only gaming company out for profit. By your logic, Sony would be $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ony, Nintendo would be $$$$$$$$$$$Nin$$$$$$$$$$$$$te$$n$$$$d$$$$$$$o, and Sega would be... well, I think you get the picture. Trying to strike back at the "man" or the corporate suits isn't original or rebellious when everyone else is doing the same thing in the same words.

I'm pretty sure originalz was simply poking fun at TrevHead's use of "M$".

[originalz]

M$$$$$$

This isn't very original, nor is it intelligent. Sorry to roast you, but the fact is Microsoft isn't the only gaming company out for profit. By your logic, Sony would be $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ony, Nintendo would be $$$$$$$$$$$Nin$$$$$$$$$$$$$te$$n$$$$d$$$$$$$o, and Sega would be... well, I think you get the picture. Trying to strike back at the "man" or the corporate suits isn't original or rebellious when everyone else is doing the same thing in the same words.

Nah, it should be $ON￥, ₦I₦৳€₦₫O, and sega (not like they have much money anymore).

[GaijinPunch]

If you want this immortalized, I can add it to the collection on gamengai.

Go for it, just give me a nod

Always. Might take me a while to format, but I'll get around to it.

[Cuilan]

Ok, so that makes 4 of us who find something really odd about this interview. Now I know for certain that I'm not insane (or maybe I'm in a coma or something).

Alright, so who's the liar here?

Is Famitsu360 incredibly lazy and/or deliberately trolling the console they're supposed to be supporting?

Is there a Famitsu editor that hates his job and wants to humiliate his employer before he quits/gets fired?

Is this a mistranslation and/or does the translator have an agenda?

Is Asada a daft cunt with unrealistic expectations?

Any of those is a possibility, maybe even a combination of those, or maybe even something else entirely.

But whatever the case may be, there's definitely one liar, at the very least. What I want to know is : who and why?

[hashiriya1]

Is this a mistranslation and/or does the translator have an agenda?

I can tell you wholeheartedly it is not me. I have no agenda, and it would be a great disservice to this community for me to alter what was said in this interview. I wouldn't spend a few hours on something for the purpose of deceiving people who have the same hobby as I do. There would be no merit or personal gain from doing such a thing. As far as a mistranslation, that could be a possibility since I am not 100% fluent (but enough to fully understand this interview without much help), but if there were any mistakes it would most likely happen with anything Maruyama said because the way he talks is a bit strange and hard to translate (he uses a lot of obscure idioms that Japanese people don't even really use in daily life and speaks somewhat poetically). But in any case, a mistranslation would be more of a grammatical error and I can say with 99.9% certainty that any mistranslation wouldn't be so much that it would change facts or content. If someone else wanted to give a crack at translating it, I can provide the content.

I can get into the whole (annoying) aspect of Japanese culture of "never say what you mean, and never show your true emotion/feelings" that every Japanese is programmed to do since birth, but that would be a whole separate discussion. There is evidence of that in the interview. I can tell you right off the bat that Kamiko (Konami) and Asada (Cave) weren't really talking straight, in fact Kamiko was being kind of an ass (probably because he belongs to the biggest studio of the bunch) and Asada was a bit arrogant...at least that was the feeling I got throughout the whole thing when reading it in Japanese. I hate to sound cliche, but perhaps things like that were lost in the translation. Horii-san was probably the most genuine of the bunch.

If you want me to, select a part or parts that you find strange or dodgy and I will re-examine it and tell you if perhaps I made a mistake or misunderstood the interviewee.

Thanks again for your time.

[GaijinPunch]

I don't think Cave sees the 360 as their salvation. As such, they can trash it a bit.

[KisakiProject]

Thanks so much for this!

I assume Gulti's mentioned PS3 title is the Mamoru-kun port? Man I'm there day 1 for that.

G.REV working on PS3 makes me hopeful for a DUO port assuming that Aksys doesn't pick it up for the US which they have been hinting at.

Interesting to see them all so frank about sales. Also that's cool the 360 is bringing in women/jrpg fans to the genre.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

This isn't very original, nor is it intelligent. Sorry to roast you, but the fact is Microsoft isn't the only gaming company out for profit. By your logic, Sony would be $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ony, Nintendo would be $$$$$$$$$$$Nin$$$$$$$$$$$$$te$$n$$$$d$$$$$$$o, and Sega would be... well, I think you get the picture. Trying to strike back at the "man" or the corporate suits isn't original or rebellious when everyone else is doing the same thing in the same words.

I'm pretty sure originalz was simply poking fun at TrevHead's use of "M$".

Yea it has become just a habit nowadays with me using the $ for M$ (rant on) I started using it as I was pissed off with M$' Games for windows label thats very popular with multi platform developers dispite it been a total piece of shit which is a joke to pirate due to most of the games sharing the same PW system allowing someone to buy a £1.99 game and use the PW on a new full priced title which gives them the same as a fully legit game, no cracks or trainers needed. Its worth remebering that M$ have their fingers in more then one pie. Its like M$ controlling a large percentage of PS3 publishing and using a crappy system that harms its market for its own benefit. (rant off)

M$$$$$$$$(dollar sign)$$ has been pretty supportive with the devs, though. Holding special shooting events, actively promoting the games in their catalogs/trailers and Inside Xbox, allowing these games to be full-priced disc releases with the original aspect ratios...not sure what else the devs can expect. It's not like they're going to get the same level of support that they'd give Square-Enix or some top-level dev, but I can't imagine the other system manufacturers giving nearly as much of a push for the genre on their systems. Hell, $ony's policies seem to almost discourage it.

Yea you've got a point there, I agree with you, $till the fact remain$ that M$ cockblocked XBLA for a period of time. $till to be fair over my u$e of $ I u$e it for everyone, they're all ba$tard$!

I love some of those quotes, though! "Yeah, the 360 is easy to develop for, we love working with the system and the suport from Microsoft. Don't see any reason to publish on the PS3, I'm sure all the fans have a 360 now". Next section, "Well, the 360 is having problems, we're looking into PS3 development, we're going to start working on PS3 software."

While I dont like their tactic$ of keeping its fanba$e in the dark to encourage JPN 360 $ale$. You cant blame cave for wanting / needing to $ell more games then what its $mall fanbase currently buy$. Hmm $till it'll be intresting to know how their older gen game$ $old compared to now, anyone got any figure$? (Im Lazy)

[Cuilan]

I can tell you wholeheartedly it is not me. I have no agenda, and it would be a great disservice to this community for me to alter what was said in this interview. I wouldn't spend a few hours on something for the purpose of deceiving people who have the same hobby as I do. There would be no merit or personal gain from doing such a thing. As far as a mistranslation, that could be a possibility since I am not 100% fluent (but enough to fully understand this interview without much help), but if there were any mistakes it would most likely happen with anything Maruyama said because the way he talks is a bit strange and hard to translate (he uses a lot of obscure idioms that Japanese people don't even really use in daily life and speaks somewhat poetically). But in any case, a mistranslation would be more of a grammatical error and I can say with 99.9% certainty that any mistranslation wouldn't be so much that it would change facts or content. If someone else wanted to give a crack at translating it, I can provide the content.

I can get into the whole (annoying) aspect of Japanese culture of "never say what you mean, and never show your true emotion/feelings" that every Japanese is programmed to do since birth, but that would be a whole separate discussion. There is evidence of that in the interview. I can tell you right off the bat that Kamiko (Konami) and Asada (Cave) weren't really talking straight, in fact Kamiko was being kind of an ass (probably because he belongs to the biggest studio of the bunch) and Asada was a bit arrogant...at least that was the feeling I got throughout the whole thing when reading it in Japanese. I hate to sound cliche, but perhaps things like that were lost in the translation. Horii-san was probably the most genuine of the bunch.

If you want me to, select a part or parts that you find strange or dodgy and I will re-examine it and tell you if perhaps I made a mistake or misunderstood the interviewee.

Thanks again for your time.

It wasn't really my intent to accuse you of anything. I was just throwing out every possibility I could think of. I think it's more likely that Famitsu simply didn't put much effort into the interview.

The thing that raises the most red flags for me is the part where Asada mentions 360 sales (I commented about it on the 1st page). It might be the whole "never say what you mean" thing, but you'd think that Asada would use some actual facts to back up his feelings, instead of using justifications that are clearly BS. One thing you could double-check is the number Asada mentions. Are you sure he says "1 million" and not "10 million"? If he does clearly say "1 million", it could be possible that whoever was in charge of editing the interview made an error when typing it up.

Then there's also the flip-flopping between the PS3 and 360 and their inconsistent attitudes towards them. And then there's the JRPG talk, which sounds really out of place considering that the 360 hasn't had a major exclusive one in a very long time, and sales data has shown that the JRPG fanbase on the 360 has largely moved on to the PS3 a while ago.

All that makes the whole thing seem like 2+ interviews rolled into one.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

It could be but remember the article states that its edited segments taken from a longer 3hr interview. That would explain the flip flopping

[Cuilan]

$till the fact remain$ that M$ cockblocked XBLA for a period of time.

I wouldn't call that a fact. There's no good evidence to back it up, aside from hearsay. Maybe the thought of it crossed Microsoft's mind for a few days or something.

It could be but remember the article states that its edited segments taken from a longer 3hr interview. That would explain the flip flopping

Even if it's just rearranged portions from a 3 hour long interview, it still doesn't explain such extreme changes in tone and obvious factual errors regarding the 360 in Japan. I'd believe it if this was instead a bunch of combined interviews conducted over a 3 year long period, not 3 hours. That's the only explanation regarding time scale that would make any sense.