Team Ninja's Hayashi Excited About 3D, Motion Control Potential

Speaking to Gamasutra in a recent interview, Team Ninja head of development Yosuke Hayashi expressed excitement about the potential for new 3D display and motion control technology to change the game industry. Speaking about the Nintendo 3DS, a platform Team Ninja is supporting with a Dead or Alive project, Hayashi said the technology will take developers some time to get used to, but that it could fundamentally change the dynamics of many games. "The sense of depth, being able to really feel and understand depth, I think, is going to be really big," Hayashi said. "Figuring out how to use that well in the game, to design a game around that, will still take a little bit of time." Hayashi also expressed enthusiasm for new motion control options from Microsoft and Sony, and gently chided other developers who might be resistant to such devices. "We've been developing games for 10 years, and I've seen different things come up," he said. "Back when the DS first came out, people said, 'Why do we need two screens?' And now look at where the DS is." "So, for me, I'm like, 'Wake up already and embrace the change.' You need to embrace it. There's nothing that's going to come from just denying the change. So, just stop complaining and embrace it, enjoy it." Referring to recent staffing changes at Team Ninja, Hayashi used a gardening metaphor to emphasize how things have actually been more stable than they appear from the outside. "There were already around a hundred people at Team Ninja before the changes. Even if several of the people left, it's like soil. The soil is still there," he said. "So even if the grass that comes up dies away, there will be new grass that comes up. And even after that, the new grass is coming from the same soil, the same base. It will still be similar and maintain that base and that feel." While Hayashi said it's important that Team Ninja's games keep a distinctly Japanese feel, there are many things he would change about the state of game development in the country. "I really feel that currently Japanese games focus too much on specifics of the game itself, game spec," he said. "But we need to shift focus to presenting the passion, you know, and the heart of the game. ... I think if we don't change that the way we make games, then the games themselves will not change either, so we need to change that."