Interview with the director on Sonic's future

What do you think of the console, the hardware and the Remote?

Ogawa: In terms of development for the hardware, it wasn't that different from previous consoles. But the Wii Remote was very enjoyable and challenging to develop for because I could actually design a new gameplay style.

Usually, when developers create games they don't really have to think about how the player will use the controller, or about the game style.

But with this title I had to think a lot about the gameplay style as well, so that was very interesting. I wanted to create a standard in gameplay with holding the controller sideways, and that was something that I enjoyed.

Do you think that Wii's technical limitation will hinder its success in the long-term?

Ogawa: In five years time we will see a lot of improvement in graphical quality and being as the Wii is already technically limited, people will be able to tell the difference in the visuals.

But I understand that Nintendo's intention is to create a new game style, so we can't really compare the hardware to others because their aims are different. PS3 and 360 are focused on graphics whereas Nintendo's intention is to create more enjoyable, fun game styles. Nintendo is focused on creating new toys.

Diverting away from Wii, what are your thoughts on the PS3?

Ogawa: I haven't really worked on the PS3 yet. But Sonic Team has of course been working with it. They have concepts they plan to use for the console but they're still trying to figure out how to get it to work with the hardware.