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.