Mizuguchi and Sega Rally

Today I spent two hours in a slightly stuffy conference room with Tetsuya Mizuguchi, creator of some of my favorite games. I wasn't alone with him of course (zut alors) because he had his peeps and we had ours - everyone who's ever been to an industry event in San Francisco knows that Ziff rolls in a pack. So I was there along with the gang, talking about Lumines 2 and Every Extend Extra.

But we also talked about Miz's earlier games, Rez, Space Channel 5, even extending back to Sega Rally. At first glance, Sega Rally seems a departure for Miz - after all he's the guy who introduced gamers to Kandinsky and synesthesia. He's come a long way from racing games.

But I remember the first time I played Sega Rally - it was in Las Vegas, in, I believe, an arcade in the Luxor hotel. I saw this cabinet there - I'd never seen anything like it before - there were miniature cars. It was something like four dollars to ride, which at the time was a decent chunk of change. But I waited in line to ride it. When I got into the car and started up, the car jumped forward. Whoa. The speakers, surrounding me, blared not just music but sound effects so the engine rumbled below, tires squealed, and the navigator was perched right behind my shoulder saying in my ear, "Easy right. Easy right." It was a totally immersive experience. In fact, Miz was, even then, exploring the ideas that he'd go on to refine with Rez and Lumines.

Which goes to show that you can apply high-concept ideas about game development to even a fairly trite (at least to me) formula like racing games. Sega Rally really strove to take you out there in the field, just short of spattering you with mud.

I think that's pretty cool.

Comments

[undercoverrabbit]

Concepts are fun. The strange part about concepts at least for me are when they start to become realities. That can be a surreal experience. It can also be ego crushing if they just don't gel. I guess that's why they are called concepts. I mean just look at the word concept. It is a derivative of conception. Obviously everyone knows what that is. So it makes me think of the word concept like the point of conception. The idea is alive and growing. The only bad thing is you don't know how it will turn out. Until that day when a concept becomes a reality, that is.

Concepts are important in shaping an idea. It is also interesting to look back at a finished product and compare the concept work against the final product. Sometimes it results as a what were they thinking kind of thing or wow, why didn't that make it to the final product.

[ArC]

He had a great essay in Edge a few years ago (and please help me remember the issue number?) where he talked about the "rhythmic" (I'm probably paraphrasing) structure of the SR tracks -- the time between turns was carefully considered. It made a big impression on me but since it wasn't my physical mag I've lost the article.