Sega Talks on Next-Gen Mech Action Game Chromehounds

Customize mechs and fight for team supremacy online in Sega's next-generation action title.

We sat down and spoke with Toshifumi Nabeshima, the general manager of the planning department at From Software, on Chromehounds, a mech game featuring network teamplay.

Gamepro: Can you give us some background on the game and explain what the hounds are?

Toshifumi Nabeshima: Game story starts around the end of the cold war, in the 1980s. Players become the pilot of hounds and fight for their own nation. In the Chromehounds world there are three nations fighting. The hounds are large, customizable mechanical machines that users can design and fight with.

GP: What was your inspiration for creating the game?

TN: We were looking at many "mech" games including our "Armored Core." With the Xbox 360 graphics is a major key so we also looked at PC games and drew inspiration from them.

GP: Is this just an action game or is strategy involved?

TN: A player controls the hound so it's more like an action game but there is also a team-play network game. This means strategy is important for the online game but single player game is basically an action-type game.

GP: Can the players choose which of the countries they play for?

TN: Yes.

GP: How long has it been in development?

TN: We got the original concept 2 years ago. We decided to launch it with Xbox 360 in 2004 and then development was refined.

GP: Will it use the hard-drive and, if so, can you play without it?

TN: Not by default, you can play without the hard drive, just using the memory unit. But we are planning a download service with micro-transactions and a hard-disk will be needed for that.

GP: How is development going for the Xbox 360 and how is the hardware and developer kit?

TN: I have lots of experience developing software on new hardware and in my experience, the Xbox 360 is the easiest to develop for. Microsoft support is really good but one big problem that we always have with new hardware is that we have to make many objects and models from scratch. Because the hardware spec is high on the Xbox 360 things like the towns and buildings have to be made in much more details.

GP: With the exception of its greater power, are there other advantages of the Xbox 360 over existing consoles?

TN: The Xbox 360 network environment is very good and it's a big advantage for developing Chrome Hounds.

GP: Other hardware has network support so what's the difference?

TN: PlayStation 2 also supports the network but there is much more work involved for developers. Compared with PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360 is much easier to make network games and that's why we decided to develop it for the Xbox 360.

GP: Are you working closely with Microsoft in developing the game?

TN: In addition to Chrome Hounds, we are also developing an RPG title. Also, Microsoft's offices are in the neighborhood so they are coming a lot.

GP: How do you feel about the Xbox 360's chance in Japan? Do they have the right formula this time?

TN: In the Xbox era Microsoft didn't succeed with appealing game titles so they had a marketing problem. There were good titles but people didn't know it. My request for the Xbox 360 is better marketing support for the games. The support so far is very good.

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