Feature: 'Koei Goes Canuck: On Koei Canada's Expansionary Aims'

In today's main feature, Japanese headquartered Dynasty Warriors creator Koei recently held its expansion launch party for its subsidiary in Toronto, Koei Canada, and Gamasutra was there to witness the opening and talk to Koei's co-founder and lead Canadian developers about the company's next-gen and Western expansion. In this extract, Koei co-founder Kou Shibusawa, Fatal Inertia producer Takazumi Tomoike and lead designer Michael Bond all discuss games that have influenced them particularly: "KS: I always like to play the top 3 chart titles in Japan. I like to pay attention to what is successful and learn from that so that I can expand our business. Also, I am constantly playing Nobunga's Ambition Online, and Uncharted Waters Online. TT: I've been in the industry for 20 years, so have played so many games that I think it would be impossible to pick only one to say that it influenced me. However, Ultima Online was one of the first MMORPGs and I played it so much when it was released that I got burned out. A short time after that I started playing EverQuest and got burned out again! MB: Obviously Katamari Damacy was an influence on Fatal Inertia, and the original Mario Kart is one of my all-time favorite games. I guess I've always enjoyed games with an interesting game mechanic – Carmageddon 2 I played a lot of too, and the part I most enjoyed about that was the realistic physics engine, for example the ability to watch the car crumple up due to damage." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including more information on Koei's plans, views on console success, and opinions on middleware (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).