South Korean developer Phantagram worked on the title with Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment. This time Microsoft development arm Feelplus is handling development duties. The sequel has a much darker visual flair.

Fun fact: nerd idol Shoko Nakagawa appeared at promotional events for the game, cosplaying as one of the title's characters. This was back before she was a super-duper famous superstar and before we knew Ninety-Nine Nights wasn't very good.

Another fun fact: While Shoko Nakagawa claimed at the time to be impressed with Ninety-Nine Nights, she actually did not own an Xbox 360 until this past March. And then she didn't seem to play it much and later gave away some of her games. She's got more important things to do, apparently!

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At the Ubisoft press conference, Mizuguchi did not take the stage and instead he was singled out in the audience. Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment will be handling the project which is called "Codenamed Eden". Conjecture at will!

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Well, Qubed is still listed as a to be released title at retailers like GameFly. But QJ hasn't made a peep since its announcement as a Wii title. And given recent developments at Atari—including its pull out of E3 2009 and a last minute publisher switch on Ghostbusters for Europe—we're getting a little worried.

Add to that recent chatter from Q Entertainment co-founder Tetsuya Mizuguchi who indicated on his personal blog that he'd had to cancel a new project due to an unspecified "financial crisis" and we start e-mailing people

Unfortunately, multiple emails to Q Entertainment and Miz himself have gone unanswered. And Atari's issued us an official "no comment" about the status of QJ. That might be interpreted as a bad sign.

Siliconera dug up a recent news tidbit about QJ, which apparently licensed a BT and DJ Tiesto track for the game. But that was back in March. So we don't know what to think.

Fortunately, we never actually saw anything concrete on QJ. Maybe what we don't know won't hurt us.

Game site Siliconera found a trademark for Guardian Hearts, which was filed by Mizuguchi's company Q Entertainment.

This is the sixth trademark filed since Q Entertainment was founded in 2003. The others are: Meteos, Q? (company logo), Lumines, Every Extend Extra and the band Genki Rockets.

Is Guardian Hearts Q Entertainment's Next Game? [Siliconera]

So original!

As we previously posted, the game is currently 50 percent finished and slated for release sometime this year. The game system, the graphics, the production, the action and pretty much every thing has been polished up since the previous title.

The first Ninety-Nine Nights was designed by Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who apparently isn't that involved in this title. That game had colors and this one doesn't. Instead, Ninety-Nine II has smoke. Hooray for smoke.

光と闇の戦いが再び幕を開ける 『ナインティナイン・ナイツII（仮題）』 [Famitsu]

Makes sense as the previous title was co-developed with Korean dev Phantagram doing most of the heavy lifting — and with Mizuguchi doing the interviews.

Announced last year at Microsoft's TGS press conference, N3 II will supposedly be developed primarily by Microsoft development arm Feelplus. No word if Mizuguchi will be wrangled in for press junkets.

So, what is Mizuguchi doing these days? It seems he's working on a project with Atari. Atari? But wait, think about it. Phil Harrison is at Atari. SingStar boss Paulina Bozek is now at Atari. (Hello head hunting!) This could actually be interesting. Almost as interesting as that hat he's wearing.

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That's all Atari was willing to announce about QJ, according to a report from CVG. It showed a logo and flew in Mizuguchi himself, but it kept the actual game under wraps — probably until the Spike TV VGAs, we assume, since it seems to be hoarding all the exclusives.

Atari will also be publishing a Q Entertainment compilation disc featuring Rez HD, Lumines Live and Every Extend Extra Extreme, packed with downloadable content. Smart.

Mizuguchi reveals new game [CVG]

Yes, I'm working on a new IP.

We've heard from sources that it may be an Xbox 360 title. Wonder what it is...

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: ...What is music? Music has many elements, so how can we cut and separate and remake the parts in the process of game design? So then, game designers have to know what is fun, what is the essence of music?

Matsuura: Essence of music, I don't know. I really don't understand the essence of music. I've been composing music for thirty years, and I still don't understand what music is. But I'm still looking for the certain shape of my music. Anybody who can define the existence of music, I really respect.

Mizuguchi: Yeah, I agree with you. Music is like a universe — many, many elements. Lyrics, chords, rhythm, beats, playing, listening. Emotionally, you feel something. When I was 11 years old, I listened to my first Beatles music. I couldn't understand English, but I felt emotion or something, sort of... I want to love somebody! It's the power of music, of chords... very physical things, very emotional things. Not logic — I don't know, maybe logic. If I understand the lyrics, and it's a new chemistry. Music, we have a long history with music, but new music is coming still. I don't know why. It's a universe. Amazing.

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."

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.

His response to GameSpot when probed about another futuristic dancing game? "With Space Channel 5, if I have reason to improve on the HD experience, I will do that. Have you asked Sega?" adding a bit of laughter. The annoying kind that hints that he's not ready to spill something yet. He answered similarly to Game|Life's question on the matter with the same godforsaken laughter.

Look, Miz. We aren't laughing. We've still got the Ulala and Morolian refrigerator magnets up, if that tells you anything. Despite Sega's dismissal of the idea, their new tendency to look backward for hits only makes us want more Space Channel 5.

We know it's rumor, and we actually don't believe a lick of it yet, but let's get this done already. No more laughing! And can we get a cute microphone controller, while you're at it?

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

I've had a pet project I've been working on for years, three of them if my memory is right. It started as a simple idea: You can judge a lot from a person's desk. I bet you could judge just as much from their home entertainment system. So I decided it would be fun to try and track down some pictures from the work desks and home gaming set-ups of the people who work in and cover the video game industry. Simple right? Not so much.

Turns out that many of the people are either too busy or too private to want to participate in such a project. To make matters worse, there's always fear that something sitting on someone's desk, that ends up in a photo, could actually be news worthy. Like a secret project or the next big thing. But I didn't give up and about once a year I'd harass a bunch of game developers for photos. Finally, this year, the harassment paid off.

What started as a trickle of photos turned quickly into the collection of galleries you'll find on the jump: More than 40 different photo galleries from 17 studios, seven publications, two industry movers and shakers and a couple of fun surprises.

You'll get to see the desk of such greats as Sid Meier, Peter Molyneux and Tetsuya Mizuguchi along with plenty of others. Remember you can comment both on the next page and on each individual photo if you click on them.

If I find there is interest, I will try to periodically update this gallery of galleries with more developers, journalists and industry movers and shakers. Have fun.

DEVELOPERS
2K Games

ASTRO Gaming

Buzz Monkey Software

Capcom

Eat, Sleep, Play

Electronic Arts

Firaxis Games

Flying Lab Software

Gearbox Software

Harmonix Music

Incognito Entertainment

Insomniac Games

Kojima Productions

Lionhead Studios

NanaOn-Sha

Naughty Dog

NCSoft

NetDevil

Neversoft Entertainment

Ninja Theory

Pandemic Studios

Petroglyph Games

THQ

Q Entertainment

JOURNALISTS

Blue's News

BoingBoing

EGM

The Escapist

GameLife

Joystiq

Kotaku

MTV

Slashdot Games

VE3D

VH1

INDUSTRY FOLK

MISCELLANIES
I AM 8-BIT

Penny Arcade

Whorecraft

Video Games Live

Which writer’s father bought a Playstation 3 specifically to play Grand Theft Auto 4?

Thanks, Aokaze!