Tetsuya Mizuguchi

SEGA Talk #22: Rez (2001)

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On this SEGA Talk, George and Barry discuss a game that has been requested quite a bit by our audience: 2001’s musical rail shooter Rez. Created by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, this synesthesia inspired game has a very interesting development history, which we delve into. We also cover the various ports and other works by Mizuguchi.

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New Dreamcast documentary speaks with Masayoshi Kikuchi (Jet Set Radio), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez), Rieko Kodama (Skies of Arcadia), and more

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To celebrate the upcoming 20th year anniversary of the SEGA Dreamcast, the Japanese YouTube channel Archipel has decided to go talk to Japanese creators that worked on software for the Dreamcast. This is just the first part and the people they got from SEGA is pretty crazy:

Hiroshi Iuchi (Ikaruga), Kenji Kanno (Crazy Taxi), Masayoshi Kikuchi (Jet Set Radio), Rieko Kodama (Eternal Arcadia/Skies of Arcadia), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Space Channel 5 / Rez), Tetsu Okano (Segagaga), Yoot Saito (Seaman), and Hiroaki Yotoriyama (Soulcalibur)!

Its nice to see some of these creators sit down and talk about their time working on the very iconic Dreamcast, pretty excited to see part two of this documentary series. If you haven’t seen Archipel’s content, you should totally check out other documentaries they have done.

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SEGA and Atlus Japanese creators talk 2017 ambitions

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SEGAATLUS2017CREATORSTALKSEGA and Atlus Japanese creators where a part of a series of interviews conducted by the Japanese website 4Gamer, in where they listed their favorite games of 2016 and what they thought 2017 held for them as creators. The SEGA and Atlus Japanese creators that were included in the interviews included:

  • Toshihiro Nagoshi (Yakuza series general director)
  • Masayoshi Yokoyama (Yakuza 6 chief producer)
  • Mizuki Hosoyamada (Puyo Puyo series general producer)
  • Shigeo Komori (First Production director at Atlus)
  • Kazuyuki Yamai (First Productiong director Atlus)

As a bonus, they even have Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who left SEGA over a decade ago but with the re-release of Rez Infinite it seems he can’t completely cut his ties with the company. If you didn’t know Rez Infinite is considered by many to be one of the best titles on PlayStation VR, so the game has gotten extra attention from mainstream media. Which of course is fantastic since he is a great creator.  You can read what games these SEGA and Atlus Japanese creators liked in 2016 and what they hope to accomplish next year, read it all after the jump.

[Source: Gematsu]

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi talks Rez and Rez: Infinite in new video

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A new video posted to Enhance Games’ YouTube channel features Tetsuya Mizuguchi talking about the creation of the original Rez and Rez Infinite. He discusses how he and his team wanted to make an environment where the player could have the ability to move freely and take advantage of stronger hardware to create a much more vivid experience.

Rez Infinite releases for the PlayStation 4 digitally in just under 2 weeks on October 13th, 2016. Gamers interested in specialty merchandise or a physical copy will have to order those through iam8bit. Be sure to read our recent hands-on preview of the game over here

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SEGA Games That Are Celebrating Big Anniversaries in 2016

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SEGA has created some highly popular and cult classic series of games that have stuck with people over the years. While most of you guys already know that Sonic the Hedgehog is celebrating his big 25th Anniversary this year, many other games get ignored because they aren’t as relevant as they used to be. Today we will list those mostly ignored video game franchises we all love. Did your favorite game make our list?

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Retro Review: Space Channel 5 (Sega Dreamcast/PS2)

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The Dreamcast era was a unique time for SEGA when it came to marketing their characters. While the Saturn’s launch made the error of shifting the spotlight away from Sonic the Hedgehog, the Dreamcast launch proved that there was more than enough room for established characters as well as new faces. Joining Sonic was a lineup of first party and third party faces, from Midway’s Afro Thunder of Ready 2 Rumble and Namco’s Soulcalibur fighters to SEGA’s own creations.

Space Channel 5’s Ulala was without a doubt the most heavily marketed of these new characters, with her face seen just about everywhere. Ulala appeared in a promotional stage show at Universal City Walk, she dominated SEGA’s booth at 2000’s E3, she was seen in print and on TV and even appeared as product placement in the 2001 movie Josie and the Pussycats. There was even talk of Ulala hosting her own TV show! Suffice to say, there came a point in Space Channel 5‘s promotion where Ulala nearly overshadowed her own game. There is no doubt that Ulala is a fantastic character (she is a favorite of the SEGAbits staff, so much so that we named our podcast after her report show), but has the original game stood the test of time? Let’s find out as we look back at the United Game Artists’ classic Space Channel 5!

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Developer Retrospective: Experience synesthesia with SEGA’s United Game Artists

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This month we are proud to celebrate the unique and musical driven games of United Game Artists (ユナイテッド・ゲーム・アーティスツ). The team was made up of members of SEGA AM6 and headed by Sega AM3’s Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Unfortunately, the team was short lived and only released three titles under the ‘United Game Artists’ banner. Regardless, those three games have made such an impact on us gamers that we are still talking about them over a decade later.

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s new puzzle game revealed

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi has a long history of making games at SEGA, he was one of the people behind hits like SEGA Rally, Space Channel 5 and Rez. He would leave SEGA to pave his own path with hot IPs like Lumines, Meteos and Child of Eden. After Child of Eden, Mizuguchi took a break from the video game industry. Now he is back with his new mysterious puzzle game called 18.

The game is suppose to blend a mixture of puzzle mechanics and battle RPG elements. The title will be coming exclusively to mobiles (as of right now). The game will be released worldwide by Mobcast.

Above is the trailer and below are the screenshots. If this game is giving you a Catherine vibe, your not the only one. It definitely looks artistically inspired by Atlus’ hit game.

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Insider reports that Tetsuya Mizuguchi has walked out on Q Entertainment

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CVG reports that an insider has let leak that Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Sega Rally Championship, Rez, Child of Eden, Lumines, Every Extend Extra) has left Q Entertainment, a studio Mizuguchi co-founded in 2003. Mizuguchi’s departure actually took place in 2013, however this was kept quiet from the public until last week when an employee at the company notified CVG that chief executive Shuji Utsumi had also left the company. It is believed that Utsumi’s departure is due to Q Entertainment’s stock being acquired by Sanyo Chemical Industries. CVG reports that these claims are not verified, due to Q Entertianment lacking an English-speaking spokesperson, however CVG was able to confirm via another source that Mizuguchi has left the group.

We wish Mizuguchi, and Utsumi, the best of luck in their future endeavors. Who knows, maybe Mizuguchi could return to SEGA?

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Round Table: Which ex-SEGA developers do you miss the most?

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Most people follow around sport teams and their players, here at SEGAbits we follow SEGA studios and developers. There have been tons of employees and developers that SEGA have fired or left throughout its long history, as is expected with every big publisher. But sometimes there is that developer that was behind one of your favorite games, when he leaves the company it really tugs at the heart strings. So in this week’s round table we will be discussing which ex-SEGA developers we miss the most!

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What about Rez HD on PSN?

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So with the new announcement of Children of Eden, gamers that have not experienced Rez are obviously intrested in giving the game a go. Especially with all the awards that Children of Eden is snatching up at E3. Playing Rez HD is easy for 360 owners, having the game on their marketplace. PS3 only owners, not so much. When asked on twitter if a user should get Rez on PS2 or just wait for Rez HD on PS3, Q Entertainment responded:

“I’d buy it on PS2 if I were you. If it comes to PSN, it probably won’t be any time soon. Maybe Sega will port it to XBLA/PSN? Duno” – Q Entertainment Twitter

This is true, Rez licenses is still owned by SEGA. Rez HD had to be done under the permission of SEGA. I think, if SEGA wanted to do a PSN/XBLA (with extra stuff) now is the time, especially when everyone is going crazy over Children of Eden.

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s new game called Child of Eden

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Above is the trailer for Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Child of Eden, billed as the spiritual successor for Rez. The game will be heading for both PS3 and Xbox 360. The game is being published by Ubisoft, so we won’t be covering the game from now on. But it is good to see that Mizuguchi is still kicking, can’t wait to play it.

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi to announce new game tomorrow at E3

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This is actually a long way coming, I have been following this announcement for a couple of years. The game has always been billed as the ‘spiritual successor’ to Rez, one of his more acclaim pieces of work by fans. He was suppose to announce the project called QJ with Atari, but that fell through and Mr. Mizuguchi is now working for Ubisoft, who will finally announce his new game in LA tomorrow.

His tweet:

“Q Entertainment’s new game to be revealed on Monday @5pm PST at the LA Theater. Set your clocks now! Return to SYNESTHAESIA!!”

It sucks to see someone that used to make great games for SEGA leave the company, but its also sad to see SEGA not try to scoop that talent back. Regardless of publisher, I’m still looking forward to seeing his game and what he will create. What about you guys?

[Source: GoNintendo]

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