NowGamer has put up an interview with Katsuhiro Harada talking about the latest development updates concerning the console release of Tekken 6 for the PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360. Check out the interview by following the link below:
NowGamer: Beat-’em-ups are precise games. What was the main challenge in creating an online multiplayer?
Katsuhiro Harada: Even when compared to other fighting games, Tekken has its own unique challenges. There is one particular aspect of Tekken that is distinctly different from the systems of other 2D and 3D fighting games. The control system is designed foremost to be intuitive and responsive. After a player inputs a command, the technique is executed the next frame. In one frame after the input, you see the results displayed on screen. This is something that is not widely known, but this is unique to Tekken. Other fighting games have a buffer of several frames after a command input. Even offline, there is a delay in the response time as a result of this.
Tekken executes this in one frame, making it very responsive for a fighting game. This is something maybe even a lot of hardcore players don’t know, but it is well known among other developers. I’ve talked a lot about this before with other directors of fighting franchises from other companies. So, taking such a responsive fighting game online in itself is a huge challenge. Every day, we are working hard to make the game as responsive as possible.
NG: The enhancements of juggles using the ‘Bound’ system is a move toward more tech gameplay. Is this the direction of the Tekken franchise?
KH: It might seem quite technical at first, but it is easy to pick up. It is rather an element that makes going on the offence that much more fun while adding another level to the gameplay. We never have and never will try to make this a strictly technical game. We are always reflecting on the thrilling over-the-top essence of Tekken and how to improve upon that.
NG: How have the item moves affected the gameplay? How much impact do they have? Are they just novelty?
KH: Ｗe didn’t want these items to be a factor in the outcome of the match. We wanted it to be a fun game element, another way for the player to express himself/herself. We would never implement a feature where a player with a particular item equipped is rendered much stronger than his/her opponent. These projectiles don’t do much damage but this “shooting” and “evading” adds a new element of fun to the game. Not only that but it is another method of confusing your opponent and maybe gaining an advantage.
NG: What was the thought behind the rage mode, it being quite an old-school idea? What does it add to the gameplay?
KH: It is quite an old-school idea. Everyone’s probably thinking, “Why make such a simplistic addition?” We are constantly trying to balance these concepts: ‘the technical and strategic element as a versus fighting tool’ and ‘thrilling elements of an action game combined with an element of chance’. Keeping these elements in mind, we try to decide how we want to flavour the game.
NG: Changing every frame of animation must have been quite a job, but it’s a huge change in terms of juggles and just frames for those that have been with the series for a while. How do you think the hardcore fans will take to such a change?
KH: Of course there are so many characters in Tekken 6 that it probably has the most number of unique moves in a fighting game. However, the game is designed so that you can select a few moves that are easy to execute, or that are handy in a variety of situations, and still do fairly well. Also, once you learn one or two characters, it is fairly easy to pick up other characters as well. The hardcore players will probably notice a deeper level of strategy and gameplay as well as more combo opportunities, but all of this was accomplished without making the controls complex. Actually, the current version is well received in the arcades.
NG: What kind of console extras will we see when this makes it to our PS3s?
KH: There will be a lot of extra content for the console on both the PS3 and 360. We’re also considering PlayStation Home related features. I can’t talk about the other stuff we have planned at this time. Of course, there will also be console specific modes and other ways to enjoy the game.
NG: What were the main challenges with developing across multiple platforms? The arcade cabinet uses PS3 technology, does this mean that the Xbox360 version loses out?
KH: Regarding the PS3 related code, the game is geared to make the most use of the SPU and the code is written around this. Also, full motion blur was added while maintaining 60 frames; something that other fighting games were unable to implement. This is the first time we’ve taken this specialized code to the 360, and it will be a big challenge but we want to dispel any fears that fans might have that the 360 version will be inferior. We’re making progress every day and we’re quite confident.
NG: How, over the years, have various versions of other 3D fighters affected the development of Tekken?
KH: We’ve been influenced by various games during the series. Are there any fighting games that aren’t influenced at all by or use other games as a reference? For TEKKEN, not only have we been influenced by other 3D fighting games, but sometimes 2D ones as well.Actually there is an interesting episode related to this…In the past, we had developed an arcade cabinet with a memory card reader. We were thinking of interesting ways to implement this feature in TEKKEN when the director of Virtua Fighter, who had been thinking of something similar, approached us. We decided to collaborate on this idea and it led to an exciting new feature: the card-based character customization system used in TEKKEN and Virtua Fighter, which was also adapted to the console versions. You may think “But you’re rivals. Why?” but using a common network system allows us to provide a much better service to the fans. As a result of this rival relationship while using the same network system, the popularity of the genre as a whole increased and was a good result for both teams. This is a good example of a positive influence that benefited the arcade scene as a whole.
NG: How will Tekken 6 differ from everything else on the market when it hits the console?
KH: We reworked the graphic engine and created new shaders. In doing so, we had to make sure we could implement the graphic effects we wanted while still maintaining 60 frames. This is something that is extremely difficult to pull off, and there weren’t many examples in other games. Tailoring the programming to make the most use of the Cell’s SPU allowed us to achieve the results we were aiming for. We managed to implement a full motion blur effect that Soul Calibur and other fighting games haven’t accomplished while still maintaining 60 frames. Look at other action or fighting games after playing Tekken 6 for 10 minutes and I believe you’ll be quite surprised at the difference in the animation.
NG: How far do you see the Tekken franchise going? How many more can you do?
KH: Just as if you were to ask someone “How long do you think you’ll live?” and don’t think many people can easily answer that question. As long as the fans continue to enjoy the series, I would love to continue to do it. I have three big ideas that I would really like to see to fruition. These ideas don’t really rely on hardware specs but are something that would really enhance the versus game play element of a game. I would like to implement these ideas using Tekken as a base.
NG: Tekken 6 saw release in the arcade long before home consoles. Do you think this will always be the case?KH: I don’t. The circumstances were much different this time. We did release Tekken 6 in arcades at the end of 2007. However, we began work on arcade update TEKKEN 6 Bloodline Rebellion after that (of course, we also helped out with Soul Calibur 4). If it weren’t for the work we had with TEKKEN 6 BR, we probably could have made a console TEKKEN 6 already. However, we really wanted to raise the quality and increase the volume of TEKKEN 6, and that was also a request from the arcade market as well.
NG: Where does the future of PS3 look to be going to you? Having worked with the architecture, how much of the potential of the console is being used?
KH: As far as potential goes, this is something we really noticed when developing Bloodline Rebellion. In the Tekken Project, when we talk about dividing the processing we say to “SPU it”. If you use the SPU’s capabilities properly and optimize the code accordingly you can pull a lot out of the hardware. For example, if you implement all the features that you planned but don’t have enough processing power, you can still make it work if you optimize the code to make full use of this. Of course, twice the memory would be nice…
Source: NOWGAMER – TEKKEN 6 Q&A
SDTEKKEN.COM - TEKKEN News Resource! 
Well Harada congratulations on implementing full motion blur while maintaining 60 frames per second. Now just include an option to turn it off and I’ll be happy.
^^^ Why the hell would you want to turn it off? It looks amazing.
I don’t think it looks amazing, when you sit down to play it’s like wearing someone else’s glasses. All the screen grabs require the filter to be turned off because otherwise the characters are just a blurry mess
one thing that bothered me was about console exclusive mode, why? we all should access to all the modes this is just not fair
Exclusive modes is just a way to earn money, i hope will be no character difference in both versions.
as long as they dont touch the fucking customazations and are all included on the PS3 version, i could give 2 shits about the 360, they should not fuck up the PS3 version because they cant fit it in the 360…..XBOX can go fuck it self.
they chose DVD now fucking deal with it ASSHOLES. no reason we should suffer cause of you fuckers.
^ please calm down with the attitude/language in here guys.
All of the items from arcade will be in the console version.
Speaking of which, we will roll out the customization section for T6BR on this site soon.
I look forward to the three new ideas he mentioned… I hope the online plays smoothly. I hope the console specific modes he mentioned don’t make the ps3 audience feel left out nor the 360 audience… And most of all I want tag battle back
This game’s gonna be humungous! As of now it’s the top as graphics and gameplay wise the game rocks. I am way happy that a bigger audience can make to it and about having a blue ray or not, PS3 gets a lot more space doesn’t it? So why worry? Harada spoke of console exclusives…
as for console exclusive modes…. i couldn’t care less if it was ball mode, bowling(tho i love it), or the side scroll fighting….
just give us tag mode, i couldn’t imagine that to be difficult to make a tag button right?
thanks markman, i look forward to the customs!!!
ok, tag mode is not goign t be available, ill tell you that right now…they made waaaaay too much money with tekken tag, you think their just gona give that away in T6 as a mode ??? get real, thier gonna make a wholenew game just for tag and im guess its the next one.
and sorry Markman for losing my cool, but i love tekken to death, i dont want this game to be screwd up, this is leterally gonna keep me playing for at least 4 ot 5 years.
Creators of tekken, I am a very big fan of the game. I have been playing tekken since tekken 1.I must warn you that the item moves would ruin the game. Most good Tekken players out there has made this comment too.
^ Most good Tekken players already know that item moves do not affect the outcome of gameplay matches.
It doesnt but it changes the flow of the game.Trust me i am an experienced tekken player.
Dont care just release the damn game so i can play. How many years has it been already? I blame lars for this…stupid character
@ TenkaiX: I don’t recall Microsoft’s choice of disc to be affecting the progress of the development at all. There’s a difference of CODE in relation to the SYSTEM, but the choice of disc use and storage doesn’t mean squat here. When he talks about memory in relation to the PS3, he’s talking about the limitations of the drive. In all technical honesty, it’s been widely known that the ps2 and most recently, the ps3, is the hardest out of the current three to develop games on thusly why he continually states about how you have to work with the ps3 code to learn the secrets. For them to make Tekken6 on the 360, it is more about translating PS3’s code to the X360. Not about the Blu-Ray/HDDVD formats per se.
Also, in retrospect to systems: Anyone that sides with a system brand is a toolshed. It’s not about the brand, it’s about the games. For those that bought a PS3 for games and Sony’s reputation for spilling money for contracted exclusives, that’s your fault for not paying attention to the obvious. Console exclusives have been on a downturn since the Gamecube era and a great example of that is Hideo Kojima’s release of his MGS franchise on both the Xbox and GC.
Congratulations on their choice for a multi-console release; everyone is win-win. NamcoBandai rakes in more money, and the game covers a bigger fanbase.
The part of the Q&A regarding the fact that Harada has spoken/been influenced by other developers was the most enlightening part of this whole article.
Thanks for posting this guys.
ok Nando, you have a point, but you need to understand that these companies do work for money not fan base, the more consoles a company sells, the more games they will develope based on that console and port to others, in this case, NAMCO bet sony with T6 its a bit diffrent this time, but dont give me that BS about fanboyism, Sony deserves to win this time not because im a fan, but because its the only decent fucking system out there, and if you deny that shit then your a FANBOY.
cause the 360 owner will vouch how many 360s they have been through 2 at the least, not only that but DVD is a problem..its 9 gigs, compared to 25 gigs, thats a huge diffrence.
and as i said before, the more a comapany sells the more a developer will make for that system and port to others, in this case im worried they might gimp the PS3 verrsion, for equalities sake, if they do that that would reall fucking piss me off, because its clear the PS3 is a fucking tank and can handle a lot more than the 360. thats why i still have my original 60GIG unlike XBOX360 owners who are either 5th or 6th console.
my arguemtn stems not from fanboyism but form the fear of gimpism.
and plz dont argue with me about the reliability of the 360 cause that shit is out in the open CEO admitted it, FACTORY workers admitted it, and people are suing the shit out of MS…so dont start with the im on my first 360 Crap, that system is a FUCK up, a PURPOSFUL FUCK UP, MS KNEW that system was FUCKED but they still pushed it, just to beat sony.
speaking under those terms NO ONE HAS A CHOICE BUT TO GO SONY UNLESS they like making friend with MS customer service. because beleive me according to my friend having to send that shit in every 4 or 5 months starts to fucking get really annoying.
Hope no extra items differently in ps3 n 360, gonna break my heart if it does…..
Tekken Rulz
Answer me this, folks – am I the only one here who hated the tag system in Tekken?
lol, nah im sure theres 3 or 4 more world wide.
well to be honest i dont think they can get rid of some items, because people will know from the aracde, seeing how its the number 1 played arcade in japan in japan , i think they will notice if thier PS3 version wil have less items.
so i dont think they will be able to do that..hopefully not.
@ bob johansen….. what the hell lars has to do with release date think before you make comment
@ tenkaiX:
For the record; I am on the first Xbox360 XD hahahaha!
I’m not going to deny that they made a mistake on using a cold sauder for their parts and that they are getting sued because they failed to inform and change at a forgivable rate because it’s totally true, but why would you even bring that up? You changed subjects, stay on topic!
You went from ( DVD/Blu-Ray –> defensiveness with choice of PS3 > XBox and the sauder problem). I didn’t even bring that up so you are definately defensive over your choice. Instead of bringing up their manufacturing problems, you should stay your mistaken speech that their choice of disc was the issue, which is not so you changed subjects.
Wasn’t Sony guilty of pushing their last system, the PS2 out a bit early as well? They implemented a crappy DVD player that failed fairly fast especially in the first generation PS2s (which led to many letters sent to various magazines such as Gamepro/EGM explaining ways to make them read discs, and even a way to void your warrarnty to fix the disc read errors of the PS2 due to badly developed architecture along with the fact that they replaced the sliding disc holder with a top-open door because the slide door was known to wear out and fail).
After reading this, Sony is just as guilty as Microsoft is now.
I just hate XBox, no question asked!
@ Nando Great Point that happened to me.
But REALLY xbox vs ps3 come on!!!! Just buy both systems I did an Ima buy both version of the game so when my people come through they can’t dodge that asswhoppin but if u can’t buy both…..then just to bad.
PS3 have more japanese and psone games.
what the heck is full motion blur anyway?
look nando, yes PS2 had problems, but compared to the XBOX360 !?!?…were what…..4 years in and they are still having problems wiht the thing…
point is XBOX360 is selling more, can we all agree on that ! and its a shitty system, can we also agree
on that. given those 2 point we can make the conclusion that what ever system sells more the more likely developers will swing in that direction first then port to other system.
T6 was diffrent, because NAMCO bet sony thats fine, great choice in fact..the only choice. my point is i dont want them to GIMP T6 because of equality’s sake, because they are afraid if they screw over 360 owners they get less sales,
what i want is whats on the ARCADE ,PLAIN AND SIMPLE. all of it, the way it T6 was meant to be played all the items nothing removed. the original.
but right now thats an issue because they might gimp it in what ever depratment, graphics , or items or modes, he already said something about exclusive modes, so that fucking annoys me, because of a shitty console i have to suffer, because MS is whore loaded with money and they have enough to give it away to people, the 360 is fucking cheaper than a Wii now!
and its a no brainer that the majority of gamers are not hardcore but casuals, dumb fucks that consider playing ROCK BAND makes them gamers.
and they know one thing if its a cheap console im gonna buy it.
and i still have a point, they bet HD-DVD sony bet BLU-ray, they lost so they fucking stuck with DVD…uhhh what else do you want me to say…Sony has the Advantage….am i lying !?!?!? wanna comapre 9 gigs to 25GIGs and say that not a big diffrence, that wont change anything ????
come on man. seriously it is, the only reason MS is on top because they have money lots of money, they arnt evne making money on that piece of shit, and they still keep lowering the price, its as if this entire generation for them is to fuck up SONY what ever way they can.
SONY IS THE ONLY CONOSLE , and your only choice, unless you like to spend money on a piece of shit 5 times over.
@tekkenlover
what bob is saying… well what Katsuhiro Harada said. that if they didnt make BR update… we would of had tekken 6 along time ago. so if bob wants to blame lars… he can, if he so chooses ha! i just wish they released t6 then come out with a br update later.
that would’ve made many fans angry just like what happened with tekken 5 on ps2 and t5dr
i got banned from tekkken zaibatsu a year a go how can i get my account back ?
As long as the core game engine and physics is exactly the same across both consoles, then that’s most important. You don’t want to visit a friend’s xbox and notice a difference in the physics. Custom colors and items are bells and whistles. There was a life before customization cards! I would be slightly peeved if I had to buy a console-specific character a la Yoda@soulcalibur4 for the PS3. However, these characters should not be anyway near higher tiers, but gimicky like Gon or Dr.B
For tournaments, these should be conducted solely on the arcade version of Tekken, to avoid any console-specific arguements arising, including possible console-specific characters from appearing. And no customization cards used, to eliminate projectile items (which add the surprise factor).
My 2 cents.
no custom colors and items are important, man your just like one of those retards on the TECMO boards talking all this shit about, how i dont care if theres no blood in NINJA GAIDNE SIGMA 2.
what are you guys the FAG aliance, since when is less better DUMB FUCK, if we have blu-ray utilize it end of story, dont drag our version down because of the 360.
that fucking thing is a curse of this gen, itsl iekthe fucking leper of consoles. you just want it to get the fuck away from you and die in some corner somewhere. thats what the 360 is. i pray for the dy when that fucking company goes bankrupt,
they make shoddy console and sell it at a low price and dupe people int buying it. this kinda fucking shit should be illegal man.
forget tekken zaibatsu.
those forums are filled with jerks who actually don’t know shit about tekken but they think they are the ultimate masters of everything that relates to tekken.
spit on those a-holes
9_9 What the hell is up with all of the console butt-kissing here. I don’t get it. Both games will be the same, and hopefully there won’t be too much of a difference between the versions. I want it to be even across the board for both systems that way no one is getting screwed.
I swear, what the heck is up with all the biased crap here? A big screw you to tekken zaibatsu and SRK.com, and a big screw you to the 360… *shakes head*
Alright guys… no bashing on other sites. Focus on the discussion but be well aware that SRK and TZ are sites we support.
uhh i love TZ, they got the most badass wallpapers, no only that but they have so much info and vids on T6 its not even funny.
i dont know where your getting this supreme masters crap, if you mean they speak tekken lingo , then yes they know what they are talking about. its a great site and im hoping as soon as tekken 6 comes out they will make combo vids for all the characters like they use to.
but back to NANDO, you knwo man, im not a hater i ont hate because i dont own a console, i just hate it when i see a piece of shit get all the attention when a better console could be getting more. the thing is faulty its run on a DVD PLAYER…STILL! and its a shoddy piece of junk, 4 years and the damn things are still breaking down. how many so called chips have been removed and replaced again !?!?!?!?
i dont care if they get tekken, i did before because obviously it was a sony exclusive, but i got over that, i kinda agree with markman now, sort of, i think fighter in general should be multi-platform, but not on everything else. cause the fighting gnre is dead and needs to be revived, but games like lets say MGS or RE and so on should be exclusive.
regardless what i say though, it seems like this gen nobdy gives a crap about exclusives , TECMOS NINJA GAIDNE 2 was published by MS key word here is PUBLISHED , and it still made its way to PS3.
bu my ISSUE with the 360 is that its a pice of shit and it has limitations far lower than the PS3, and since tekken 6 was built on the PS3 engine it utilzes the HARDWARE , forthem to say well we have to balance it out what that tells me is, well we might have to cut some corners form the PS3 version or the ARACDE for equalities sake.
and they better not cause ill raise hell, they are not fuckign this up for me, this the one game ive been waiting for this entire time, MGS4 is second to TEKKEN 6 in my list. and im sure JP players wont stand for it either.
i could give two shits if the 360 gets a gimped version, not Sonys fault they have shitty hardware and limited size.
Ahem..im cool, im cool, i just get emotional when tekken is involved.
LOL you make the biggest fuss over a system, the biggest I’ve ever seen. It’s hilarious. What I’m trying to tell you is either one is getting screwed, tenkai, calm down.
man lets hope not, i hope both of them will be intact, i dont want anything removed…but in the end its all up to NAMCO.
please don’t start that here darkfangshadow2
@tenkaix
combo vids are useless. What’s the fun in learning tekken combos by taking help from videos. It kills the whole point of having a practice mode and learning them yourself. Watching vids to learn combos is like Playing Metal Gear Solid using a walkthrough.
By the way, there are so many BR combo vids on youtube already if you need’em
hmmm, you do have a point, in fact i dont use them that much, but i do like watching to see what some characters are capable of. my combos are pretty much my own too.
I don’t care I don’t care. Just release the game on the PS3 ASAP!!!!!!!!
im getting tired of watching tekken matches on youtube and game trailers, they need to hurry thefuck up. i agree, since its built on the PS3 shoudlnt our copy be here faster???
well, 360 may be shitty, but it is a fact that, for most multi-platform titles, the 360 versions is better than the PS3 version is stability of framerate and graphics effect (DLC is not related to system performance, so I am not counting it in).
DVD has a very small capacity compared to BR, it is true. but in Tekken’s case, it won’t affect the gameplay and core part.
come on, Tekken is a 3D fighting game, the core part only takes up few data volumn, You don’t think the customization will take up 10GB, or do you? Actually the HD graphic DR on PS3 on takes up several hundred MBs, not even 1GB.
if the disc storage is not enough, it will only affect the quality of the ending movies (if it is any negative efect at all).
and possible extra characters and modes that could have been there if the game had stayed PS3 exclusive
you forgot it would be in full 1080p instead 720
would look better
Hope they make an option for tv screens like 16:9 and 4:3.
What did anyone do before the invention of video games?
Novelty toys…
NowGamer Q&A Session With Katsuhiro Harada « SDTEKKEN.COM – Tekken News Resource!…