Man Behind Smash Bros. Hiring for New Game
March 18, 2009 | 8:56 AM PST
by: Joe Ryan
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The name Masahiro Sakurai might not mean much to the average American gamer, but when you realize that he is the mastermind behind Super Smash Bros., one of Nintendo's most popular franchises, you feel a need to watch the moves that he makes. And move he has. As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Sakurai formed his own 2nd party studio, Sora, in 2005, and since then the studio has hardly done anything. We mentioned that the new project had an employment page, but the scope has gotten a bit more broad. Sakurai put out an ad in the most recent Famitsu magazine, looking for even more potential employees. The ad (viewable here on the Japanese website) stated: "Masahiro Sakurai and Nintendo are thinking together, and a new project has been launched," the job posting said. "In order to expand the range of what video games can provide to the world, we are receiving full support from Nintendo to create something that Nintendo can't create by themselves."
There are two things that require particular mention within that blurb. The first is "In order to expand the range of what video games can provide to the world." What does that mean? Some might say that the Wii has already expanded the range of what a video game can do, brining a new control scheme and getting tons of new people to try games who wouldn't have otherwise. So what more could one studio do to expand the range of video games?
The second thing worth mentioning is "to create something that Nintendo can't create by themselves." This gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. At this point, trying to come up with something that Nintendo "can't create by themselves" seems ridiculous to me. What can Sakurai do that Nintendo can't?
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata and Sakurai himself were also quoted in the ad. Iwata pointed out, "I am asking for something special here, something that isn't Smash Bros.," and Sakurai was quoted as saying, "I promise that we can provide an experience like nothing seen before."
An experience like nothing seen before? You can bet I'll be watching this story like a hawk, and hopefully have some more details to share with you soon. In the meantime, let's hear your thoughts. What could Sakurai be working on?
"Pier was a chef, a gifted and respected chef who made millions selling his dishes to the residents of New York City and Boston, he even had a famous jingle playing in those cities that everyone knew by heart. He also had a restaurant in Los Angeles, but not expecting LA to have such a massive population he only used his name on that restaurant and left it to his least capable and cheapest chefs. While his New York restaurant sold kobe beef for $100 and his Boston restaurant sold lobster for $50, his LA restaurant sold cheap hotdogs for $30. Initially these hot dogs sold fairly well because residents of los angeles were starving for good food and hoped that the famous name would denote a high quality, but most were disappointed with what they ate. Seeing the success of his cheap hot dogs in LA, Pier thought "why bother giving Los Angeles quality meats when I can oversell them on cheap hotdogs forever, and since I don't care about the product anyways, why bother advertising them? So Pier continued to only sell cheap hotdogs in LA and was surprised to see that they no longer sold. Pier's conclusion? Residents of Los Angeles don't like food."
"The so-called "hardcore" gamer is a marketing brainwashed, innovation shunting, self-righteous idiot who pays videogame makers far too much money than what is delivered."
