Masuyama

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Masuyama: Interactive Art Jury Member

You are working since more than 15 years in the area of video games. What is so fascinating about video games?

Masuyama: There are three aspects: First, it is actually the first 'digital' media installed at home, at least in my country. It was mid 80's, much sooner than PC which became popular at home obviously after Windows 95.

Second: It is actually the first 'interactive' mass media which has totally different nature from TVs. (And 15 years ago, nobody was researching how it's different.)

Third: It's actually the first 'entertainment content' from Japan which appeals to global market, along with Manga and Anime, as you know.

My personal basic interest toward videogames is 'video games as social phenomena'. I think it's very unique in three contexts: It's digital. It's interactive. It's big business.

In other words: Videogame is the first commercially successful and socially accepted digital interactive media. And also it's the first successful software genre from Japan.

My fundamental question is:' What is videogames?' 'Why it became so popular all over the world?' and 'Why Japanese games are popular?'.

What is your answer to this question? Why are Japanese video games especially popular?

Masuyama: Japanese culture has a 'artisan' type of tradition or skills , in developing toys or refining systems which originally invented outside Japan.

Another point is that there is a big difference between the West and East about the image or consciousness towards Machines. I know this is very big generalization but I think it is important to understand Japanese popular culture in general.

In Japan machines or monsters are not necessarily opposed to humans. We don't have big distinction between those two. Sometimes an advanced machines like human-type robot are even regarded as ideal evolutionally form of humans.

But there is another characteristic very unique to Japanese culture: It's the tradition of 'smaller is better'. More than 1000 years ago in Japan, it has been written in old literature 'All things small, no matter what they are, all things small are beautiful.'

Once you have described video games as a 'micro cosmos'. What dou you mean by that?

Masuyama: This is from how Mr. Miyamoto from Nintendo (who did 'Mario' and 'Zelda' etc.) define videogames: He said it's 'tangible motion pictures' of 'an interactive miniature garden'.

In which directions video games will develop? What would your ideal video game be like?

Masuyama: The most exiting aspect to me is: It will be merged with entertainment robots like AIBO of SONY. I call those robots 'videogames with bodies'.

What do you expect of Prix Ars Electronica Interactive Art category? What kind of projects do you hope to see?

Masuyama: Something we never see in commercial market. They don't have to be entertaining so much. But I hope they are convincing to me.




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