Feature: 'Play More With SNK: Kimura, Falcoon On SNK's Return'

For this exclusive interview and another of today's main Gamasutra features, the site spoke to two very different personalities within the umbrella of seminal Japanese arcade and console game firm SNK Playmore, Takeshi Kimura and noted illustrator Tatsuhiko 'Falcoon' Kanaoka, about different elements of the company's continued expansion. In particular, we ask Kimura about SNK's non-Japanese Eastern expansion plans: "GS: Do you have any plans to develop games specifically for the Asian market? TK: We would like to at some point, but right now Asian fans really like Japanese products and culture. They want the package in Japanese, manual in Japanese, they want everything to be in Japanese, or Japanese style. Japan is cool and popular in China, and right now it seems like they don’t want anything else." ..and Falcoon about his plans for the future: "GS: Do you have future aspirations outside of illustration and production? F: There are tons of things I'd like to do, but for now, I have to do anything the company hands me. Outside of the company, I'd like to do a few things too. I'd like to try to make an RPG, or a PC game…a fantasy or MMO. Right now I don't have a lot of freedom. I'm free within the constraints I'm given, but I don't have totally free reign to create. I'd like to find some new way of designing games. I'd also like to make comics, maybe movies, and I'd love to design costumes for movies too." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including more information on SNK's Asian expansion plans and Falcoon's point of view on game development (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).