I think most dramatic and thematic games exist, and it's really hard. This is for an example: it's really hard to cry if you play a game. You can cry when you watch movies. I have, and everyone has that kind of experience. This is an emotional movement, very strong. But we can't cry when we play a game. This is a different catharsis. This is a physical reason. This is like a basic instinct. I think the game is designed as an experience. It's designed as a catharsis experience.

You have some accomplishments all the time, but accomplishment is a very strong keyword. It's a very strong factor of the game. I think in our 40 year history, we may [continually] redesign this, maybe. But in the last five years, you can get the resolution. This kind of resolution makes you have a very effective emotional possibility, with music, effects, hi-def movie effects. I think there can be growing, growing, and growing. There's some games coming in that class.

Well worth a read through, though be prepared for more talk from the interviewer than usually shows up in interviews.

Expressing The Future: Tetsuya Mizuguchi [Gamasutra]

Mizuguchi explained he was inspired by games at a young age, fascinated by Atari's dedicated Pong platform. He says he also discovered the music of The Beatles at the same time, combining the two experiences in a visual and emotional way.

He says he later was motivated to join Sega when he saw the Sega R-360 arcade cabinet for the first time. The enclosed, fully rotating cabinet gave developer AM2's G LOC a more realistic flight simulator experience (and surely induced plenty of nausea). When Mizuguchi saw the R-360 for the first time, he thought "Wow, who did this?"

His first project at Sega, arcade racer Sega Rally, got its own answer to the R-360 later, with a full-sized rally car chassis that sold a total of four units.

Moving on to the console division, the producer went to work on Space Channel 5. It was the result of his fascination with MTV culture as a child and his first foray into merging the emotional response from music with interactive entertainment.

His next was Rez.

The game, once known as K-Project was not just inspired by the paintings of Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian painter who had experience with the condition known as synesthesia. It was also partially inspired by Mizuguchi's early fascination with the Sensorama, a multi-modal device that promised an experience combining wide vision, motion color, stereo sounds, aromas, wind, and vibrations. "Wow," Mizuguchi said, questioning "What is this? What's happening inside?"

Combining those two motivators with Mizuguchi's interest in understanding why people, regardless of region, reacted to music at clubs and festivals physically—and vocally, as Mizuguchi said "Waaaaagggh!", arms stretched high.

These combinations continued, with games like Lumines, which recreated the "play with music" gameplay design and Ninety Nine Nights, Q Entertainment's attempt to combine action games and movies. NNN, Mizuguchi explained, was heavily influenced by Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. Lumines II, which felt to many like a retread, was an attempt to more heavily incorporate music videos into the gameplay.

All of these marriages of medium are just portions of what Mizuguchi feels will bring to game development, now, according to him, still in its infancy. The "Big Bang" he says will be a hybrid product for a mass audience that combines online connectivity, video games, music, movies, community and advertising.

Since moving to Q and partnering with friend and now CEO, Shuji Utsumi, Miz says he's begun to come to terms with balancing art and commerce. Utsumi, he says, has been a good influence, especially when Mizuguchi becomes "too artistic." "Games," he says "are entertainment, not just art."

What about you? Pick up Rez HD? If not, what else are you playing this weekend?

Because while Chessmaster LIVE looks good and everything, it's no Battle Chess.

A brand new recreation of the cult-classic shooter created by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, "Rez HD" launches on Xbox LIVE Arcade this week. In addition to "Rez HD," chess fans and newcomers alike will enjoy checkmating friends with "Chessmaster Live" on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Both games will be available on Wednesday, January 30 at 9:00 a.m. GMT (1:00 a.m. PST).

"Rez HD" is a frenetic, wire-frame adventure set to industrial beats and rhythms that match the action. The story of "Rez HD" takes players deep into the world's computer network where they must hack the system, alter the visual output and take over the music, creating unique rhythms and eye candy as they dig deeper into the cyberworld.

Developed by Q Entertainment ("Lumines Live!" and "Every Extend Extra Extreme"), "Rez HD" for Xbox LIVE Arcade is a high definition update of the original game with brand new elements such as new visuals and sound effects. The game features five levels, each with its own unique visual theme, style and musical track, as well as three modes, including Easy, Main and Score Attack. "Rez HD" will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB.

A downloadable version of Ubisoft's hit "Chessmaster" series, "Chessmaster Live" allows players to test and tune their chess skills against the AI or opponents of all aptitudes around the globe via Xbox LIVE. "Chessmaster Live" features five original chess variants, including a Message Chess option, which allows gamers to engage in matches over the span of several days, weeks or even months. The title boasts both beautifully crafted 3D chess sets inspired by luxury chess board designer House of Staunton. "Chessmaster Live" will be available worldwide (with the exception of Japan and Korea) for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB.

They fired up the game, I chose my level and as soon as it started I could feel the first pulses of vibration at the small of my back, at my feet and in my hands. As the level progressed the vibration became more intense and the controllers did not always vibrate in tandem, sometimes they ping-ponged back and forth creating a unique sensation. Having only played the Dreamcast version and not being among the small number of people to have actually gotten a hold of a trance vibrator, I had no idea how immersive having all that extra vibration could be. If you have played Rez before and were on the fence about getting Rez HD, the multiple controller vibration (it can support up to four) should be enough to push you over the side.

When we saw the game demoed in Tokyo last year, they were still undecided on how they would incorporate the vibration into the game. One thing they didn't want to have to do was design a new peripheral, so they needed to come up with something else as Mizuguchi explains..

In this game, the vibration is really important. The mix of sound, music and vibration is like a chemistry. I didn't just want to have controller vibration, I wanted to do the Trance Vibration again and that kind of thing is difficult to reproduce. So one day, one of the game designers came up with the idea of the multiple controller vibration since most people have more than one 360 controller. We all thought it was a really fantastic idea.

Since the announcement that the PS3 controllers would once again feature rumble, I asked is they had considered bringing Rez HD to the PSN Store as well and Mizuguchi said that yes, it is definitley something they would like to do and have considered. So if all goes well, PS3 owners could well see Rez HD arriving on their consoles in the near future. For 360 owners just a few more days and you'll be playing Rez HD in all its vibrating glory. Remember, one controller at the small of your back, one at your feet and one in your hands, that's the Miz way. As to where you put that fourth, that is entirely up to you, just remember to wipe it off when your done.

We started on Xbox 360, but we have no reason not to provide this game to other platforms.

If I had a reason to remake Space Channel 5 on the new platforms, I will do that.

Rez HD Official Site

Thanks, Aokaze!

As some of you may well remember, the Kotaku Team got a chance to pay a visit to the Q Entertainment Studios whilst we were in Tokyo for TGS. After meeting the amazing Miziguchi we were treated to a glimpse of some of their upcoming games including Every Extend Extra Extreme and Rez HD. I had the good fortune to be the first person to check out Rez HD and it was awesome. If you never picked up this title on Dreamcast or PS2 and are curious what it's all about, GameTrailers has been kind enough to upload four gameplay videos for your perusal. Ok course, you can't see the full HD effect in these videos (unless you go to GameTrailers where they have HD versions), but it should be enough to whet your appetite until the game shows up on Xbox LIVE sometime in the coming weeks.

Make the jump for the other three videos.

Sure Flynn got his grubby paws on the game while we were in Tokyo, so I've seen chunks of this, but this video still leaves me in a bit of a sweat. As much as I wish Mircosoft would put a little more effort into finding original idie games to get on the 360 Arcade, they sure know how to pick the classics.

We would like to.

We haven't decided yet.

The small room in the front of the Q Entertainment offices was packed with people, but the only sound came from the television.

A steady beat filled the room, vector graphics filled the screen, Tetsuya Mizuguchi sat slumped in his chair, playing his game.

A person, made up of crisp lines, swam through the screen, drifting above and then into a canyon of red and orange lights, the beat steadily climbing. Miz shifted the thumbstick of the controller resting in his hands around, highlighting targets, steadily tapping a button with a finger, effortlessly slipping though the code he wrote.

By the second level Sawako Yamamoto, who sits quietly across the table from Mizuguchi, is bopping her head to the beat as she sits entranced, watching him play the game.

A city scape of linear buildings drift by, the music continues to pulse. Five minutes into the game and half the people in the room are silently rocking out to the music, there feet tapping, heads bobbing.

Mizuguchi tells us reluctantly that Q had to license his game back from Sega to make this port.

"I have to respect Sega because I created this for them five or six years ago," he says.

This new high def versions is, he says, what he always imagined the game would be in his mind, no jaggies, not lag.

"It is very smooth," he says. "I play it, I play it."

He calls the game a pure port of the Dreamcast game. One that will consist of only what's in the original game.

"We wanted t port purely, make it 100 percent the same game," he said. "When I made Rez five or six years ago I always dreamed of a high-def wide screen and very good sound. Now the future has come."

The game we're shown is still in alpha he says, it still needs to have some controller tweaks, and they're working on smoothing out the loads.

As for the infamously misused Rez Trance controller, Mizuguchi says they have no plans, at least not now, to release one for the 360 version of the game.

"I think this is the new form of the digital entertainment."

When Rez first came out for the Dreamcast, I played it extensively and still even plug the old girl in every once in a while for the sole purpose of playing Rez. I've beaten the game quite a number of times so when Mr. Mizuguchi fired up the game for us to watch I got a great rush of nostalgia as I heard the familiar music start to play. He played through the first level of the game with predictable ease and as he got to the boss he turned to me and gestured towards the controller. I was instantly filled with a mixture of elation and terror. Here I was in a room with one of my idols playing his own game in front of him, surrounded by co-workers and being tasked with a boss level. But, I rose to the occasion and took the chair offered me by Mr. Mizuguchi and went in for the kill.

I was immediately impressed at how sharp everything looked. With the relatively simple graphic style of a game like Rez, you might think that HD wouldn't do much for it, but the difference was obvious from the very beginning. The controls, while still in the early stages of development, were very smooth and I actually found them to be much easier to deal with than the Dreamcast's. Having the rumble built right in to the controls without the purchase of the Trance Vibrator was a great addition as it was something I hadn't been able to try before. The music also sounded great, and I was told that all the tracks were being remastered for the full 5.1 Dolby experience. I managed to make it through the whole boss level like a pro, only devolving once and when it was all over I was rewarded with a clap on the back and a handshake from Mr. Mizuguchi.

Rez HD is going to be a great addition to the XBL lineup and will give players who formally couldn't get their hands on it a chance to play for the first time. It will also be terrific for old fans who will be able to experience the crisp new graphics, widescreen and remastered music creating a new way to enjoy an old game.