Weekly FAMITSU, No. 1105 has a short interview with Hiromichi Tanaka, the head of development for Final Fantasy XIV, in which he talks about the kind of year he had in 2009 and what he thinks is in store for the game industry in 2010:


Let's meet in Eorzea and Vana'diel!


THOUGHTS ON SWITCHING TO EORZEA

Famitsu: What kind of year was 2009 for you?
Hiromichi Tanaka: I've been working on online games since 2000, so 2009 was really more of the same. To be honest, I've been developing continuously for so long that my sense of time is shot (he laughs). We revealed a lot about FFXIV last year, but of course I'm also still working on FFXI, so I've been just as busy as I have since 2000, except now I'd have to say that since the latter half of last year my attention has slowly shifted from XI to XIV.

Famitsu: What are your thoughts about 2009 for the rest of the gaming industry?
Hiromichi Tanaka: I think 2009 was a big year for the iPodtouch and the iPhone. An explosive amount of applications and games saw release last year and the iPhone is really starting to show its power as a multimedia device. Its integration with services like Twitter make it easier to share information, and we'll probably see this functionality broaden in the future. In Japan, a cell phone is a cell phone, not a portable game system like the DS or PSP, but if the iPhone sees a killer game app, it may cause some waves which could bring around the tides of change. The iPhone's CPU isn't made for games and it doesn't have a lot of memory, but if it someday has similar specs to a DS or PSP, then the iPhone could be the next big handheld game system. If the rumored tablet device brings even more to the gaming scene, the mainstream consoles may be in danger. I'm still stuck with my Docomo phone, though (he laughs).


OFFICIAL SERVICE AFTER EFFICIENT BETA TEST

Famitsu: What kind of year do you wish 2010 to be?
Hiromichi Tanaka: First of all, I'd like to start the official service of Final Fantasy XIV, which took several years to create. I can't make an official announcement, but I hope users can enjoy it within this year. For starters, I'd like to get the beta test up and running.

Famitsu: About the length of the beta test, would you like users to play it for a long time?
Hiromichi Tanaka: I'm not going to define the period of the beta test, but if it is almost completed, it may not be possible to reflect the opinions of the users. I wouldn't like that, so I'd like users to play the beta test of the game in its unfinished state, and would like to complete the game while taking users’ opinions into account. Therefore, I'd like to have the beta test just before the master version, and want the game to reflect users' ideas. However, this may be quite difficult since there could be technical problems if the beta test is started while the game is under construction. For instance, users may not be able to log into the server for a few days, etc. As for the period of the beta test, I/we can't say anything as of yet.

Famitsu: What are you expecting from the game industry this year?
Hiromichi Tanaka: This year I think we can look forward to interesting innovations in interface accessories like Project Natal. We were worried about whether or not we could get voice-chat to work with FFXIV, but like FFXI, FFXIV is a cross-platform game and the technology to get the systems voice technologies to work together are not completed yet. Because of this, we're worried about the community being separated by game system, and there are other issues to worry about as well, such as real-time translation and harassment prevention. It would be difficult get voice-chat up and running soon.

Famitsu: Please tell the readers what you would like to do this year.
Hiromichi Tanaka: See you in Eorzea! We will work on starting the official service of FFXIV. Oh, and of course FFXI is also a very important title which has been going for over eight years now. We will also continue working on it, so see you in Vana'diel, too!


Thoughts?

I like that Tanaka placed a lot of emphasis on wanting to improve the game based on our feedback. It really seems as if Squenix is doing their best to give us the best gaming experience possible with the release of Final Fantasy XIV.




Thanks goes out to FFXIVCore for the original translation! Please note that a few things were edited/altered and cropped.

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Speaking of Dengeki PlayStation, their newest magazine has a four-page article about Final Fantasy XIV, but simply covers the same information already addressed in Weekly FAMITSU, No. 1100 and official site updates.