Yuji Naka's Arrest

meh

wrote him off once i read he was a dick to Suzuki during Dreamcast demise.

then i heard the story about being shitty to western devs; casually and heartlessly planning to fire them upon project completion. Ignorant/arrogant fuck didnt think they understood fluent Japanese
 
This is very shocking to me.
I knew he's been getting weird, but I never imagined something like this.
 
Jigen said:
This is very shocking to me.
I knew he's been getting weird, but I never imagined something like this.
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Hopefully he is acquitted of any wrongdoing. At least he wasn't arrested for being a nonce.

If he is found guilty, it's still a shame to me. I only judge these individuals based on their talents. I don't know them personally.
 
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xatruio said:
meh

wrote him off once i read he was a dick to Suzuki during Dreamcast demise.

then i heard the story about being shitty to western devs; casually and heartlessly planning to fire them upon project completion. Ignorant/arrogant fuck didnt think they understood fluent Japanese
Click to expand...

That does not sound good at all. What exacactly happened between Naka and Yu-San?

on topic I do not know much about Naka the man himself so I am not going to judge him. The early Sonic games he made are good games no matter if he gets convincted or not.
 
9dragons said:
That does not sound good at all. What exacactly happened between Naka and Yu-San?

on topic I do not know much about Naka the man himself so I am not going to judge him. The early Sonic games he made are good games no matter if he gets convincted or not.
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blamed him making Shenmue rather than more arcade hits for Sega not surviving with Dreamcast. Read on PRS iirc

same can be said for Naka making NiGHTS instead of Sonic for Saturn's western failure.
 
I see thx for the info. Yes, have to agree that was really a dick move from Naka. This guy seems to have a difficult personality in general.
 
I take things with a grain of salt on Naka. For many years it was claimed he killed Sonic Xtreme because he refused some NiGHTS code to the American dev staff, but it came to light from both Naka and said American dev director, this never occured, and in fact made no sense because NiGHTS and Xtreme didn't even share a common programming language.

Another nasty thing said about Naka is that he hates Americans and avoids working with them, but this make no sense on the face of it. Why would a man who hates Americans leave Japan and form his development branch in the US, and futhermore work closely for years with Mark Cerny, an American?

I get Naka seems weird, abrasive, and prideful at times, but false internet rumors have done a number on his reputation as well.

Shame what he said about Shenmue tho. Said he always looked up to Suzuki-san for advice. Seems to contradict that with his statement.
 
9dragons said:
That does not sound good at all. What exacactly happened between Naka and Yu-San?

on topic I do not know much about Naka the man himself so I am not going to judge him. The early Sonic games he made are good games no matter if he gets convincted or not.
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I read an interview online which details this exchange. Here's a summary of it.

Naka thinks highly of Yu Suzuki as a professional in the gaming business. He opined professionally on the type of games Suzuki could've made for the Dreamcast, like new arcade titles. This offended Suzuki, so he ghosted him for 18 months until they spoke again.

He wasn't the only one. Toshihiro Nagoshi, one of the Yauzka/ Like A Dragon creators who regards Suzuki as a mentor to this day, clashed with Suzuki in the past over games development.

I think it's normal for professionals to clash in any industry. We're all human.

I get Naka seems weird, abrasive, and prideful at times, but false internet rumors have done a number on his reputation as well.
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I also think he's the type who has rubbed people the wrong way at work. Are the rumours justified? Not really.
 
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This bums me out. NiGHTS into Dreams is one of the few games I hold in as high regard as I hold Shenmue, and games like Sonic Adventure, PSO/U, and Burning Rangers are right up there. I even liked Balan Wonderworld (really, it just needed some more time, some tweaking to the formula, and some patches).

I hope it comes to light that he's innocent and he can turn things around since it's been a rough run for him lately.
 
yeah i sympathize with NiGHTS engine situation due to the Sonic 2D games apparently being lost, but doesn't justify the arrogance or prejudice
 
Jigen said:
I take things with a grain of salt on Naka. For many years it was claimed he killed Sonic Xtreme because he refused some NiGHTS code to the American dev staff, but it came to light from both Naka and said American dev director, this never occured, and in fact made no sense because NiGHTS and Xtreme didn't even share a common programming language.

Another nasty thing said about Naka is that he hates Americans and avoids working with them, but this make no sense on the face of it. Why would a man who hates Americans leave Japan and form his development branch in the US, and futhermore work closely for years with Mark Cerny, an American?

I get Naka seems weird, abrasive, and prideful at times, but false internet rumors have done a number on his reputation as well.

Shame what he said about Shenmue tho. Said he always looked up to Suzuki-san for advice. Seems to contradict that with his statement.
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I think Naka was simply misudenderstood in many occasions.
For example with Suzuki, he was cheering on him because he loved his arcade games.
Same with Peter Moore, when Moore said that Sega brand was damaged during Dreamcast, Naka said "really? I can't believe it", and it was misurundestood by Moore, like if Naka was implying that Moore was a liar

Also Naka said in recent tweets that the Sonix XTreme (like you said) and the Geist Force claims were false.
 
This could get really ugly for him. Trading private confidential info is agravated by the chance of involving other industries patents, even military. There's an old story about a virtual pet developer ending at a program for training animals to control virtual fighter jets for the British Ministry of Defense (real story).
Now, obviously this is not the case involving Square Enix and Naka affair but my worries go with the authorities wanting to make a point, set a warning to potential leakers with a hard punishment in form of long time in prison. That would be very unfair i believe.
 
I've always liked and appreciated Naka and his works. In recent years I sympathised with him for how he appeared to be treated during development of Balan...and then getting sacked. He seems a very good dad and family man, and posts tweets and youtube videos enjoying days out with his children. I feel more sorry for them at this point because they appear to love and depend on their father, and it would be very sad if their father got locked up for a extended period of time and both miss out on this time. I understand the implications and seriousness of what he is accused of, but i'm sure at heart he loves his children, so it would be sad if these actions meant he missed them growing up.
 
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