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• Sega's Yu Suzuki Steps Down

  Yu Suzuki is perhaps one of Sega's biggest names; with titles like Out Run, Hang On, Virtua Fighter, and Shenmue under his belt, he's left his mark on the industry with some technically innovative and memorable video games. But since the Dreamcast failure/Sega-Sammy merger, he's been quiet in his role as the company's R&D creative officer--so quiet, in fact, that Sega of America CEO Simon Jeffrey once believed Suzuki was no longer employed by the company at all. He's since realized his mistake. Jeffries' comment may have been a bit misinformed at the time, but with Friday's announcement that Yu Suzuki is indeed stepping down from his position at Sega, the company's American CEO may want to consider starting his own Psychic Friends Network. According to GameSpot: [T]his week Sega parent company Sega Sammy announced that the designer has stepped down--the publisher used the word "retired"--from his position as a R&D creative officer with the company. However, he isn't departing Sega entirely. A Sega of America representative confirmed for GameSpot that Suzuki will stay on with the publisher in a diminished capacity, continuing on as manager of the R&D department for Sega's AM Plus division. To date, AM Plus has released a pair of Japanese arcade games, the touchscreen fighter Psy Phi, and the character-driven racer Sega Race TV. I'll admit that Suzuki's games never really appealed to me, but I've always felt some sort of sympathy towards him as Sega's own Gumpei Yokoi. Read More... Posted Apr 06 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: sega, virtua fighter, yu suzuki, shenmue, outrun, bob mackey, sammy

• Where is Yu Suzuki?

  It’s no secret that Sega has changed. Since bowing out of the console business in late 2001, the one-time behemoth has become a prolific multi-console publisher but a shadow of their former selves, emphasizing a quantity of titles over quality. Who can blame them though? Creative game design may be Sega’s enduring legacy but it certainly didn’t line their pockets. They have abandoned their once eccentric impulses, favoring ancient franchises over new IP. This is no doubt thanks to their diminished in-house development and the exodus of some of their most talented auteurs, like Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Naoto Oshima, and Yuji Naka. Yu Suzuki, Sega’s most prolific and celebrated creator, remains with the publisher/developer to this day. Suzuki was responsible for many of Sega’s defining titles, Space Harrier and Out Run, as well as a pioneer of 3D gaming with his Virtua line of racing, shooting, and fighting games. But since the release Shenmue II, the second part of Suzuki’s wildly ambitious trilogy, he has all but disappeared as game maker. Read More... Posted Jun 19 2008, 11:00 AM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, where is, sega, virtua fighter, yu suzuki, shenmue

• Versus: Rebirth of the Fighting Game

  Rarely a day goes by here at 61FPS when we don’t at least tangentially talk about Capcom. Can you blame us? Some of 2008’s most exciting games will be released under the their banner and that’s not to mention the hundreds of titles they’ve made in the last twenty-five years that Pete, Derrick, and I still play with regularity. Last week’s announcement of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, a new fighting game that pits the publisher’s characters against anime icons from Tatsunoko’s four-decades-deep catalog, is particularly momentous. Alongside Street Fighter IV and Sengoku Basara X, it cements Capcom’s recommitment to the genre they all but created: one on one fighting games. What’s exciting, though, is that the genre itself is on the verge of an apparent renaissance. Read More... Posted May 29 2008, 12:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, capcom, Street fighter: samurai showdown, soul caliber, king of the fighters, virtua fighter, tekken