YU SUZUKI INTERVIEW -- SHEN MUE II
Originally published in the Autumn edition of XBN Magazine.


By Justin Keeling


Yu Suzuki is a happy man. Known affectionately as 'Yu-san' to his cohorts, today he is dressed in his trademark jeans, t-shirt and US-logo jacket. As he enters the room, he is a constant bundle of smiles: jovial, relaxed. He beckons me into his private office.

The walls are covered with framed photos of Yu-san with entertainment legends: an arm around Steven Spielberg here, a mock-fight with Michael Jackson there. His lair is a curious mixture of retro and cutting edge: a giant, framed, Renaissance style portrait of a young girl covers the wall facing his oak desk, behind which lies a dizzying array of surround sound, video, and studio equipment.


He brushes aside the electric guitar sitting on his desk, and motions for me to sit. Today, we're here to discuss AM2's Xbox port of Shen Mue II, and what the studio has planned for Microsoft's console down the line.


Present:

Mr. Suzuki - AM2 - Head of Sega/AM2 software development
Mr. Ishikawa - AM2 - Director of Shen Mue II Xbox
Mr. Terada - AM2 - Head of public relations
Koji Kuroki - Sega of Japan international business manager


XBN: Why don't we kick off with you telling us the exact nature of your involvement with the Shen Mue II Xbox project?



Ishikawa: I'm the game's director here in Japan. I've been involved with all the prior versions of Shen Mue to date, as a designer/planner.



Suzuki: I run the AM2 software studio. Im also a senior corporate vice president of Sega of Japan, and general manager of software development at Sega. A bit like Miyamoto-san at Nintendo -- I'm in charge of software development for the firm as a whole, and I report to Kayama-san, Sega's chief executive. I'm also generally overseeing progress on this Shen Mue II.



XBN: What kind of relationship does AM2 have now with Sega and Microsoft? What's changed since AM2 became independent?



Suzuki: We're still 100% owned by Sega. On paper, the main difference is that we're now individually accountable for our profits. That means we have to be even more prudent with where we put our R+D money!



The main change as I see it though, is that the people working here now feel unique in terms of the culture at AM2. They feel part of a special community that is AM2. It's the biggest, and best change in my opinion.



XBN: What's your relationship with Microsoft? Can you decide which games to Xbox yourself?



Suzuki: This is a slightly political issue. We need to keep all three major players happy: Sony, Nintendo, and MS. We look at each title and decide where it's going based on certain features -- what unique aspects of the hardware the game will need for example. If it needs a hard disk or Ethernet, we'll look at Xbox. If we want to aim the game at a younger market, we might target Gamecube. If it's a premiere, high-cost development we might want to recoup our investment on PS2. Basically, we try to keep everyone happy and base games around their target demographics.



XBN: How does the Xbox version of Shen Mue II differ from the DC version? People who played the game at E3 complained that it didn't seem very enhanced.



Suzuki: The idea was just to bring the experience of Shen Mue II to North American players for the first time. The game itself was complete on DC. Nevertheless, we fully re-did the English voice overs -- that was a big change, we re-recorded everything. Sound quality and dramatic effects are much better. You can also take pictures and save them to the HD. [motions to the director, who is playing the game]. See if you can find a pretty girl to snap. Actually let me try myself.



XBN: You seem to know where all the pretty girls are off by heart.



Suzuki: I do! Anyway, there you go. I can save this photo. Other cosmetic effects include having a number of filters which change the entire image as you play. The graphics themselves haven't been improved dramatically, but we have upgraded some textures, water effects and such. You can also keep up to 10 save files now, and some of the characters have also been tweaked.



XBN: How have some characters been tweaked?



Suzuki: We have a gay character in the Japanese version called Ewan. We removed him for the American version.



XBN: Why?



Suzuki: We're not sure how well it would go down with players outside Japan. We changed the character to a woman.



XBN: Do you think US gamers aren't ready for a gay character?



Suzuki: Maybe. Anyway, he was sort of camp and we're not sure about his whole representation.



XBN: I see.



Suzuki: There are also lots of quicktime events, as in the DC version. I like the variety of these. [Suzuki demos a story driven quicktime sequence].



XBN: Do you think that game producers these days are spending too much time on non-interactive story sequences in games?



Suzuki: By and large, you're probably right. I think there's a good balance in a game like Shen Mue though. I admit it was difficult for Shen Mue, as I originally wrote the entire series as a linear story. The ultimate non-interactive media is of course film, but I think the Shen Mue movie compliments the experience of the game well.



XBN: Tell us more about the characters in Shen Mue II.



Suzuki: Ryo is the hero. Then we have a girl called Nozomi, from the original Shen Mue. Ryo also meets a girl called Joy, wandering in Hong Kong. [Picks up the phone and speaks] Someone get me a picture of Joy. Anyway, Joy is a more modern girl. She rides a bike, and has big hooters. [Suzuki cups his breasts to describe]. There's also a guy called Ren, who's sort of Ryo's rival. Bit of a bad guy actually. We also have a grand master martial arts instructor who you meet near the end, and she's also pretty hot.



XBN: Will you be able to transfer save data from the DC version of Shen Mue to the Xbox sequel?



Suzuki: No -- in the DC version, you could transfer your data but for Xbox we've just started players off with a lot of those extras in the game, from the start.



XBN: How do you expect players to be familiar with the story, playing from the second in the series?



Suzuki: Well one thing we're going to announce is that we'll be including a free DVD of Shen Mue the movie with each copy of the game. This is a 90 minute movie describing the story of Shen Mue, so players can watch this before playing the sequel. That is, if they're interested in learning about the story. I directed the movie myself by the way, and we made lots of additional material for it.



XBN: What's your general impression of the Xbox hardware?



Suzuki: I think it's great hardware. It feels like a powerful weapon. At the same time, many developers will not know how to wield it. I'm an engineer at heart, so the next generation spec of Xbox fascinated me, as all new hardware does. [Suzuki gestures around his office to the array of hi-tech gadgetry]. We can't just look at the tech specs though. We also need to look at the market itself.



XBN: Don't you want to use all this power to make an original game for Xbox?



Suzuki: Possibly. I'd like to use the hard disk in some unique way. Ethernet is a nice feature too. No plans for any original games yet, but I'm always kicking around concepts. [Motions to an unusual new character on the whiteboard behind him] Thats one of them. Right now Im still doing research on what I can do with the hardware. Nothing specific at this stage.



XBN: Ok, three projects rumoured to be development at AM2: yes or no answers please. Shen Mue III?



Suzuki: Not at the moment. That depends on how well Shen Mue II is received. I've written the series myself up to chapter 11. [Picks up phone again and asks for someone to bring in his original Shen Mue manuscripts]. See here, chapters 1, 2, 3 -- and in this big book are chapters 5-11.



XBN: That's huge. Do you think you'll ever get to make them?



Suzuki: I'd really like to. One day. Of course, I've done concept stuff and research into further sequels. I've got some of the visuals prepared all the way up to chapter six. But we can't commit to them yet. The good thing is, the groundwork for Shen Mue I was the hardest part, so it would be much easier to make Shen Mue III for us now. It would probably take half the time of the last one. Have a look at this CG mural of a Chinese court I designed -- that's from a Shen Mue III location.



XBN: Virtua Fighter 4.1 -- what was all that about?



Suzuki: That was never coming out. Rumour from somewhere.



XBN: Last year at TGS, Kayama-san talked about re-releasing old Sega titles. One of those listed was Outrun. Are we getting a new one?



Suzuki: We might end up licensing it out to an outside developer. Of course, we'd love to do it. What you might not know is that several of these games have already been ported to next generation hardware. But we're still trying to decide where and how to release them to the public. I can't go into details yet as we're going to make full announcements soon.



XBN: Are any of these coming to Xbox?



Suzuki: Ask Bill Gates! Seriously though, I respect the Xbox hardware. Well see.



XBN: Ok. How long is Shen Mue II?



Suzuki: You can probably finish it in about 40 hours. Japanese users might finish it faster, as they're more familiar with the cultural locales of the game. But there's a huge number of extras in the world itself. You can probably play it endlessly, actually. If you want to get everything, what -- 100, 200 hours?



XBN: Shen Mue II features some heavy Asian influences -- what are your expectations releasing this into the US market?



Suzuki: Honestly, I'm apprehensive. I want people to enjoy this. It's no secret that this is a pet project of mine. I hope Microsoft handles the marketing and advertising of this game well. It'll be a challenge.



XBN: Slightly off topic: you might have read in interviews with producer Itagaki-san at Tecmo, that he considers Dead or Alive 3 to be the premiere fighting game on the market, and quite vocally attacks other fighting game makers as being out of date. How would you react to this?



Suzuki: [considers for some time]. Fighting games are like Chinese food. Some people like stir fry, some crispy duck. Virtua Fighter has exceptional depth as a series. People are still playing VF3 years later! It depends what you look for in a fighting game.



XBN: Do you think VF is a deeper series than DOA?



Suzuki: I havent really played it enough to judge. Maybe VF is a deeper series. The thing is, DOA hasnt been around long enough to really judge its longevity and depth as fighter in the same terms as VF.



XBN: In that sense, dont you think Itagaki-san is out of order to so quickly criticise those who pretty much invented the genre?



Suzuki: I dont take it seriously. Hes just promoting his game. Hes making it like two boxers in a ring, throwing down the gauntlet. You know, thats fine. Its a good promotional tactic. I have no problems with however he wants to do that.



XBN: To close, what do you hope to achieve with the Xbox version of with Shen Mue II?



Suzuki: Xbox is primarily a North American console. In that sense, I want to take the Asian influences of Shen Mue II and introduce those gamers to a new kind experience. I want them to feel relaxed, and get a calm sense of play from the game, which might be different to what theyre used to from US developed games. If I can broaden their horizons in this way, Ill feel like I achieved what I set out to do.