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AusGamers: Hi guys, welcome back to AusGamers. We’re at a very special event today, to talk to Mizuguchi-san who is the brain child behind so many amazing games, but probably the one you’ll remember the most is Rez, and now Child of Eden - Mizuguchi-san, thanks so much for joining us today... let’s start with music. You seem to have such a solid grasp of music and you’ve been in the music industry - not just the gaming side - for a while now; how long have you been interested in music; how long have you been working in music and where does the sound that you create come from?

Mizuguchi-san: I have a music unit (band) called Genki Rockets and I started this project from 2006, so four years.

So my last game[s] like Rez and Lumines, I got the music tracks from the other artists - [the] music artists. But you know, after Rez, I had a bigger vision: if I had a chance to make this kind of game, Child of Eden, I need to create the whole thing including the story and the lyrics and... the music is very emotional, so I need the voice - the human voice, so... this is one of the reasons I started the music project, but all the time I had a vision for the next game project; and we started this project (Child of Eden) two years ago and from the start, my image was making the whole thing.



AG: So you created Genki Rockets to fuel your own game creations, but Genki Rockets seem like a very popular band; opening up the Live Earth concert in 2007 with Al Gore - how did that come about?

Mizuguchi-san: Yeah, this is a very strange story. [The] organiser came to me and we had no experience to make it (Genki Rockets) live at the time - until Live Earth. And he saw the video for “Heavenly Star” and I wrote the lyrics and he read [them] and the message was very good for the Live Earth concert and he asked me to please make it live on the stage, but we couldn’t do that, because you know, this is a very conceptual ‘band’, but I had a vision, and it was kind of joke (smiles), but if we do the hologram live it would be awesome. So he said ‘we should do that!’ (laughs).

That was an amazing project and I had the same idea... if one of the organisers, Mr. Al Gore, you know, former Vice President of the United States - he’s one of the main organisers; if he appears on the stage [in] holographic form, that would be awesome. But they took the idea and we went to New York and I met him and I shot him and so Lumi introduced Al Gore on stage (laughs). So that was an amazing project...

AG: A once in a lifetime really...

Mizuguchi-san: Yeah (giggling). So that was the first live [appearance of] Genki Rockets and after that we’re keeping it live maybe four or five times a month in Tokyo, and we started making it live last month in Berlin and next month I’m going to the Shanghai Expo, so...



AG: So you’re travelling around with Genki Rockets now?

Mizuguchi-san: Yes.

AG: So all from Al Gore wanting to be projected via hologram, you now have a touring band, so to speak.

Mizuguchi-san: (Smiling infectiously) yeah this is a very rare case, usually we’re using LED monitors and lights, but you know, this is kind of the same concept as Rez - synesthaesia. You know it’s not interactive, but you know, in a club in a live space; everything is moving with the music...

AG: Let’s move on to that. You have such a unique vision for games, and there’re so many rhythm games out there, but your games have always had such a unique style; specifically Rez, and Lumines as well, [and] obviously Child of Eden is just an evolution of that, but where does that visual style come from; what inspires you to create those images that you do... and that your team does?

Mizuguchi-san: (Ponders) ... I don’t know (laughs). So the big theme - the hidden theme, is that if you play the game and you feel very happy and positive - this is happy to me. This is my goal all the time. So what is the happy feeling visually? And the happy feeling sound effects? And what is the message with good vibes - happy vibes? So all the time I’m thinking about that; even with Genki Rockets live I’m showing happy, positive images and so it’s a chemistry in the whole thing - the big theme, concept and style of my game and the music.



AG: Well you mentioned during your presentation that there aren’t ‘screenshots’, there are ‘art’, and there aren’t ‘levels’, there are ‘archives’; is that because for you... this is a videogame, obviously, but it seems the message is much deeper; concepts of being corrupted, but then cleansing that corruption - purification. Are these gameplay elements to you or are they just an awesome opportunity for you to create, as you say, that happiness and that sensation of making something better?

Mizuguchi-san: Yeah, so if you design a game you need some ‘glamour’ all the time. You know, you’re killing or you’re destroying something but in this game, we have glamour in kind of this purification; all things [were] embedded by viruses and you don’t kill - you shoot, but you know [it’s to] purify. So this is like an image of bottom to up; negative to positive. So every element needs to make chemistry, you know, feeling good - it’s like architecture, all the time. Invisible architecture.

AG: So Kinect has helped you remove the controller barrier, though a controller can still be used, but are you excited about things like Nintendo 3DS and 3D on the PlayStation 3? Obviously you have these visually stunning games and the music, 3D would clearly be another element to help make everything more vibrant and positive and all that kind of good stuff...

Mizuguchi-san: Yeah, the new technology has [really] inspired me, including 3D - I’m really into the 3D thing. All the time I have an image, you know, when I make this game - how do I make the 3D game? But we haven’t announced it yet, but I’m really interested in making those kinds of things; even the new sensor controller. This isn’t only a Kinect game; you can play this [with a] controller and Kinect also, but I want to prepare to make as many styles... but I don’t know yet (smiles).



AG: Okay, I have just one more question before we have to give it up: Where do you see games in 10-years time?

Mizuguchi-san: Future?

AG: Yeah...

Mizuguchi-san: Next 10 years... I hope we don’t use the [term] videogame anymore. You know, entertainment, or art, I don’t know, but everything should be interactive or a not interactive, so... yeah...

AG: Just everywhere?

Mizuguchi-san: Yeah...

AG: Okay awesome, well thanks so much Mizuguchi-san.