Imageepoch Working on NGP Games

Imageepoch CEO Ryoei Mikage.

Imageepoch CEO Ryoei Mikage returned from the PlayStation Meeting press conference, got on the Twitter, and posted his admiration for Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai. Not because of anything Hirai said at the conference, though.

"Today, I thought this," wrote Mikage. "Look at Mr. Hirai. For a CEO, a slender and sincere person is best. I will say this. I vow to lose 6 kilograms by the time of Final Promise Story's release. If I fail, I will give a present of at least 100,000 yen from my own pocket at the jrpg.jp site."

Mikage already does weight training and can do 3 sets of 30 reps of 100 kilogram level squats. To achieve his goal (FPS arrives on April 28 as Imageepoch's first self-published title), Mikage is going to be going on a diet. He'll be writing down everything he eats. He also asked that people use all their might to stop him if he attempts to eat high carb foods.

I think the reason Mikage was able to talk about dieting after Sony's press conference was because he'd already been briefed about the system in advance. In earlier posts, he revealed that Imageepoch is already working on NGP games. In fact, he believes they've been working on games prior to most other companies.

Imageepoch didn't appear in the list of 3rd parties Sony sent out (see here), but this is because they were late with registering as a publisher.

The feeling Mikage gets from NGP is "SNS + Console." Imageepoch has been anticipating the arrival of such a system for a couple of years now, and thus invested in social, Android and PC online work. They were only able to get information about NGP recently, though.

He does have some concerns for the system. While the gyro sensor and other such periphery tools are fine, he believes that making use of 3G and Wi-Fi will be difficult for smaller makers because of the need for staff with appropriate technical expertise. Smaller makers may have to change their approaches accordingly, or they will have trouble.

He also expressed concern about the possibility of wireless fees.

The only game he commented on from PS Meeting was Uncharted, calling it "amazing" and not a half-baked production.