In case you're having some trouble with your video game six degrees of separation chart, here's something that will fill in the connection between 3D Dot Game Heroes and many Idea Factory games, including the recent Super Dimensional Game Neptune.

3D Dot Game Heroes developer Silicon Studios sent out notice about one of of the tools that Neptune developer Idea Factory put to use in the recently released PS3 title. Neptune makes use of Silicon Studio's Motion Portrait Editor (MP Editor) middleware for the facial animation of its characters during event scenes. It's not unique, though, as Silicon Studios says many of Idea Factory's games use the technology.

MP Editor lets you create a 3D model from a single 2D face image. Visit the Motion Portrait official site for a somewhat creepy look at the technology. (Try dragging your mouse around the face of any of the girls on that page.)

Although the general gamer may have come to know the Silicon Studios name through 3D Dot Game Heroes, the studio is actually well known for their middleware technology. You can see English language details on some of their tools here.

3D Dot Game Heroes was widely acclaimed for its advanced tech. The game doesn't really have anything to do with MPEditor, though.