Hiroshi Kataoka new AM2 President

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Zero-chan said:
Looks like he's got one last chance to re-establish himself...

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huh? I'd of thought Virtua Fighter 4 was enough proof that he's still one of the best Sega have, if not THE best.

Sounds more like he wants to move away from the franchises he created (Am2's role seem to be more and more about producing sequels to Suzuki's titles) and start making original content again.

We'll see I suppose.....

 

Yeah makes sense, must be why he is ordered to head work on SEQUELS to past franchises instead of new original content.

 

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Fishie said:

Yeah makes sense, must be why he is ordered to head work on SEQUELS to past franchises instead of new original content.

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And your source would be......?

 

That would be SoJ

 

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Fishie said:

Yeah makes sense, must be why he is ordered to head work on SEQUELS to past franchises instead of new original content.

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Anyone know his involvment in VF Quest for the Nintendo GC?

I think whatever new studio he is working in, is assigned to this project right?

 

He's not involved. I forget the name of the director who was mentioned when we asked about it at AM2 (Ali, do you remember?), but it wasn't him, Kataoka, or Shin Ishikawa. His involvement with VF is next to nil now.

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Am2's role seem to be more and more about producing sequels to Suzuki's titles

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I'd say half or fewer of AM2's games have anything to do with Suzuki. He never once laid a finger on things like Outtrigger, Fighting Vipers, 18 Wheeler, Virtua Cop 3.... To say that AM2 exists to solely provide sequels to his stuff is an insult to President Kataoka and his works of genius. It's like associating every great thing Nintendo ever put out with Miyamoto. (Give the dearly departed Gumpei some credit!)

Please stop reading EDGE, it gives you strange ideas.

 

I didn't say solely, I said more and more of AM2s output seems to be sequels. To name a few: Virtua Fighter 4, Virtua Cop 3, Outrun 2. It's not surprising Suzuki had less involvment with these titles as the template was already layed down for them to refine and improve. As good as VF4 is, it isn't a huge departure from previous titles, and it's underlying gameplay is similar to the original game. Same goes for Virtua Cop 3 and probably Outrun 2.

I know that Yu had virtually nothing to do with Outriggers, Beach Spikers and 18 Wheeler, but in my opinion these are some of the poorest arcade games AM2 have produced. No disrespect to Kataoka, but his projects still have some way to go before they compare to Yu's. Flame all you want about that comment but it's what I think.

It'll be interesting to see just how AM2 and Suzuki's new team shape up in the future, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't the new team that produced more original content rather than AM2.

 

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No disrespect to Kataoka, but his projects still have some way to go before they compare to Yu's.

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VF4 Evolution (and most of VF4, really) WAS Kataoka's project. As was VF.net, one of the grandest experiments in arcade gaming.

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As good as VF4 is, it isn't a huge departure from previous titles, and it's underlying gameplay is similar to the original game.

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So VF.net isn't a step above and beyond anything we've ever seen in arcades before?

AM2 will survive and thrive with or without Suzuki, and if this year's excellent output so far (Evo, VC3) is any indication, they might be better off for the whole deal.

 

VF.net was a fantastic idea, yes. But VF4's core gameplay is heavily based on the template layed-down by the previous games in the series. Therefore crediting VF4 as a Kataoka project is going a tad overboard don't you think?. To get a good indication of his skills as a director you have to look at his original titles - Outtriggers and 18-Wheeler. These were pretty poor titles in my opinion, and lacked the depth and atmosphere that characterise Suzuki's work.

At the end of the day I'm a huge Suzuki fan and I'll defend his genius till I'm blue in the face /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

Yeah whatever, I think with my recent vindication about Suzuki and the interview Zero and I did with AM2 coupled with the sources we have inside Sega she and I have a little more credibility when we talk about Suzuki then you do Maximum.
You go by info available in the public domain while we have info from the sourcen, but hey feel free to believe and think whatever you want.

 

He didn't touch 18 Wheeler (other than being a "coordinator", so he basically said "GET THIS STUFF DONE ON TIME"), actually (but Suzuki's in the credits too, so...). His original game lineup, though, includes things like the Fighting Vipers series and the much sought after Sonic the Fighters. Kataoka's worst effort is probably Fighters Megamix... and, uh, that's not too shabby a "worst effort."

 

''Sega-AM2 will remain independent, but with the departure of Yu Suzuki, its focus will shift even more towards games for serious gamers, especially fighting games.

Meanwhile, Sega will also create two entirely new teams. One of the two new teams will focus solely on sports games, using staff drawn from Smilebit and Amusement Vision (likely those responsible for the "Let's Make A Pro Sports Team" titles and the Virtua Striker series).The other will be headed up by Yu Suzuki, who has turned over leadership of the AM2 division to Hiroshi Kataoka. Suzuki's new team will be built around his hit properties, like the Virtua Fighter and Shenmue series. This holds out the strange possibility of the Shenmue series continuing, despite its commercial failure in the past. ''

http://gamers.com/news/1429918]


I'm confused here, who's going to be handling the VF series from now on ? YU's new team or AM2 or both ?

 

Is all this "He did that, he did not do that" discussion meaningful??

When does someone get assigned the credit? Did Kataoka program every code in any of his games? No, games are designed and programmed as a team with many people. If Suzuki doesn't deserve any credit, then I don't see why Kataoka should...it's all a matter of who is leading what and even though Suzuki may not have coded a single line or attended a single design meeting, he still has to oversee the process.

It sounds like Kataoka got promoted. A couple years from now, I wouldn't be surprised if Kataoka's role became more managerial than program/design just like Suzuki's role is now. Does this mean he doesn't deserve credit for the games that were designed and programmed by other people?

Fishie and Zero, if you guys have such big problems with people getting too much credit, you are not helping yourselves by shifting tcredit from one individual to another. The point is that it's not an individual's effort--it's a team's.

(Now how Sega wants to market games, build brands, and create awareness to the outside world is a whole other conversation).

 

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Fishie said:

Yeah whatever, I think with my recent vindication about Suzuki and the interview Zero and I did with AM2 coupled with the sources we have inside Sega she and I have a little more credibility when we talk about Suzuki then you do Maximum.
You go by info available in the public domain while we have info from the sourcen, but hey feel free to believe and think whatever you want.

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I agree that this agrument is becoming pretty pointless and boring, but your earlier claims about "Yu on the way out", and "Yu isn't respected inside Sega" have already been proved false by recent news from within AM2.

The facts so far state he's been promoted to non-executive on the board AND he's heading a brand new development team. That pretty much contradicts almost everything you've every said about the matter - so much for insider information.

 

I said his future within Sega would pan out within the next two years and that he wasnt very much liked within AM2, both have been vindicated methinks.
In any case it doesnt matter as we ARE getting a new VF and SM so im happy.

 

They say that Smilebit might turn into the sports game developpers...

I wonder who might do the next Panzer Dragoon game then... if there is one planned
I just hope there is!!

 

It's really quite sad that one of the few dev houses that is actually willing to take risks on unusual games may end up being tapped for the sports genre. I can't really see the logic in JSRFxGunvalkyrie+PDO = Smilebit will produce a Madden killer. On the other hand, at least it's not UGA.

 

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I said his future within Sega would pan out within the next two years and that he wasnt very much liked within AM2, both have been vindicated methinks.


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Unless I can see an announcement from Sega stating otherwise, I stick with my earlier claim. Sega makes it no secret when they demote someone. It only took Yukawa a couple of months to get denoted. So, saying that Suzuki's future would pan out in the next two years is incidental -- I think pretty much anyone's future would pan out in two years if they were doing very good/very bad work.

 

I think your concerns are a product of the several mistranslations that have been floating around concerning this press release. From what I can gather, personnel from both AV and Smilebit are forming two totally new houses, one that makes games like PDO, and one that handles the sports lines. I'm sure there are more than one team's worth of people at each company given the raw amount of games that come out of them. I wouldn't worry.

Try this link from Gamepro/Famitsu and see if it puts you more at ease. /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

Anyone got a link to the origianal press release? Or something that Famtisu/Dengeki has put out?