NARRATOR: Games in this podcast range from E to M.
– Hello and welcome to the official Xbox Podcast, the only podcast coming to you from inside Xbox. All right. If you’re watching this show in the Western hemisphere, you may have slept through some pretty cool stuff. Overnight last night, the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2024 broadcast took place. There was a lot of cool stuff. There’s even stuff you can play right now. So we’ve got a special show. We’ve got a special background with an animated cat, the only one I’m not allergic to. And a special guest, Mena Kato, joining us from Xbox, Japan. Mena, thanks so much for joining us. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do for Xbox.
– Well, first of all, thank you for having me. I am the leader for the Japan partnership team at Xbox. And what I do is I bring the great third party games onto Xbox. And for me personally, I’ve been in the game industry for over 20 years, almost close to 25, and I’ve done everything from platform business development to product development, and I’m here supporting Xbox and our third party partners.
– Well, thank you so much for that. I just want to ask you a question before we get into it. I’m lucky enough I get to go to Japan from time to time. I was there over the last Christmas. And it always just strikes me like how prevalent gaming seems to be in society. Like, why do you think that is?
– Well, first of all, I think the culture itself is all about details and craftsmanship, and everyone loves everything Japanese, right? And that actually translates into game development and the games that we make. And you’ll see the details, the orient– the detail oriented gameplay, game design, everything about it, and then the craftsmanship that goes into the actual development, and all of that creates the very unique Japanese games, and the players love that.
– All right. And there’s a lot of them for us to talk about here today. Let’s jump into what kicked off the broadcast. We got to see the latest look at Metal Gear Solid Delta, Snake Eater.
MENA KATO: Yep. And we’re so excited to have Konami bring that on board with us. And I mean, it’s the remake of the original Metal Gear Solid 3. And so it’s got all the enhanced stuff out of there. And I mean, everyone knows Metal Gear, right? And it’s one of the pillar of Japanese gaming titles that’s come out, and it’s got the long history. And it’s so influential in all of the gaming and it’s built the stealth action game genre and we’re just excited to have that. And when we showed it and at the summer showcase, Okamura-san, the producer was there, and he was so excited to have on that big screen that everyone, I’m sure, has seen, and we’re just excited to have them here.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Okumura-san was actually the first to sit in that very chair last June. It was really cool as he brought in and broke down some of the footage. Like, the game just looks so good. I love seeing the close ups. We’ve gotten to see Revolver Ocelot here, I think for the first time. And so Metal Gear Solid 3 is my favorite of the series, so incredibly excited. We love surprises here on the show, and there is nothing more surprising than watching a trailer and it says, play now. Even better is when it says play now with Game Pass. We all love surprises. We all love Katamari. We love Katamari Reroll delivered on both fronts.
MENA KATO: Yep, yep. And again, you see the Japanese uniqueness there. And Katamari is like, a thing on its own. Everyone loves it, everyone can play with it, and everyone’s sort of allured by it. And everyone loves that sort of uniqueness that you see in that game. And it’s done reiterations, but everyone still loves it. And it’s the re-release of the sequel to the original Katamari Damacy, and you can look at the unique game design on Xbox.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I don’t feel like everyone can get away with calling your game we love and then the game’s name, but Katamari, they can do that.
MENA KATO: They can do that. They can definitely do that.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: All right. Here’s something I loved, and that is Atlus this year. Atlus has completely owned my year and my gaming time this year. Persona 3 Reload. I’m actually playing 3D. Aigis chapter right now, episode Aigis DLC. Unicorn Overlord, I spent dozens of hours playing through that game. And I do not hesitate to say they’re going to own my fall as well with Metaphor ReFantazio. What did that team share in this show?
MENA KATO: So we did the pre-order announcement with them at the show. Also, many of you might not know, Atlus is celebrating its 35th anniversary. And so you can see all the things that they’ve done up until now, and you can see it in this new game. But this new game is their new IP, which will build the further years to come with them. And it’s so exciting to see this immersive, deep, immersive RPG come to life. And we love– we love that we’re partnering with them on this.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, it’ll be the fourth release of the year from them, including Shin Megami Tensei V. So pretty awesome year to be me, really. But it’d be better if you’re into this and you’re just younger and better looking than me, that would be great for you. All right. As a big RPG player, I have to make a confession here. I’ve always been curious about the Atelier series, but I’ve actually never dove into one of the titles. But from the very first announcement, Atelier Yumia– let me get the title right– The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land caught my eye. So what did the folks at Koei Tecmo bring to the show?
MENA KATO: Yeah, so if you look, there’s a developer interview. We have the producer, Hosoi-san talk about his game. And again, it’s the first time Atelier is on Xbox and we’re just really excited. There’s so much to be excited about, but this one’s special because it’s the first time they’re on Xbox.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, and it really seems like an evolution of the Atelier series, and again, it just looks beautiful. So worth watching again. And I should remind everybody out there, you can watch the entire broadcast again on this very– if you’re watching on YouTube, same on youtube.com/xbox. It’s all going to be there. But we’ve got a few more titles here that we’re going to want to get through today. And this one is another one that you can play right now. I’m so excited about this. Q-Games out of Kyoto is bringing their very first game to Xbox today, it’s called All You Need Is Help.
MENA KATO: Yep and it’s really– I mean, the game is about creativity. It’s again, about for everyone. It’s got these little cute, fluffy cubes that you can push a button and it’ll call for help. And it’s a co-op play and it’s collaborative. It’s a collaborative play, fun for everyone. And with Q-Games, I know– I’ve known Dylan Cuthbert, who is a founder of games, for a very long time. And he’s actually very an influential person within game devs in Japan. He’s the founder for Bitsummit, which a lot of indie developers now goes to, and it’s a great show. And he’s got a long history within the development community in Japan.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: He worked he worked on Star Fox back in the day.
MENA KATO: Thats right, and the Pixeljunk series. And so again, it’s great team, great developer and we love having them for the first time on Xbox.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Love that. So if you see that name Pixeljunk, it carries a lot of weight. This may be the first game you get to play from them, but definitely worth diving into Q-Games and the Pixeljunk back catalog for sure. I would say the most adorable game in the series or in this broadcast. Let’s move to something that’s maybe a little bit more disturbing. I know a game a lot of people are interested in is Slitterhead.
– Yes. Again, very different.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yes.
MENA KATO: Very different. It’s from Bokeh Game Studios by Toyama-san, and he’s known for games like Silent Hill and Siren. Slitterhead’s another one of those. But he’s also known for titles like Gravity Rush. And they’re very different games.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Very different game.
MENA KATO: But from one person. And this shows his creativity and his greatness. I worked with him back at my Sony days on PlayStation, and he and his team have created so many great games in so many different ways.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah. I was there as well when Siren came out and I still think about that game and how scary it was, so it tells me a lot about what I’ll be looking forward to in Slitterhead.
MENA KATO: And Slitterhead, in Slitterhead you’ll see all these different creatures. The creature design is so unique and I often wonder what’s happening in his head. All these creatures that gives you nightmares.
– Yeah.
– It’s– it’s crazy, but it’s great.
– Maybe you don’t want to know.
– No.
– We’ll have to see. All right, so these next few games, they’re all coming to Xbox for the first time. And personally, I believe these are all really important to any fan’s JRPG library. Let’s start off with Suikoden 1 and 2 HD.
MENA KATO: Again from Konami. It’s a classic, but it’s something everyone loves. And we’ve just released the release timing and it’ll be out March 6, 2025. And we are so excited to have it on Xbox. I’m sure the director, Sakiyama-san highlighted a few things in his interview. Again, it’s the classic RPG franchise and everyone’s happy to have it.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, and both those games came out in the 90s. Like, Xbox didn’t even exist. So it’s pretty awesome that that’s now like joining the library and really a whole new group of people who maybe never played these games gets to try it for the first time. All right. So we have to talk about Square Enix. They’re coming in on this broadcast with big announcements at the end of the show. Dragon Quest 3, HD 2D remake, Trials of Mana, Legend of Mana, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, which was Final Fantasy I through Final Fantasy VI. This is a big showing.
MENA KATO: Yep. It’s a great, big announcement with Square Enix. Again, all these titles, right? And we’re just really excited that we’re deepening our partnership with them across all of these titles. Again, these are just IPs that everyone knows about, which has a legacy, history. It’s built the game industry for Japan and for a lot of the players, too. And so I think taking something like the Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D remake or the Final Fantasy, the Pixel Remaster, I mean, it’s just great to have it, but it’s just great gameplay, just genuinely great gameplay. And then you have the Monasteries, which comes to Xbox for the first time.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: We didn’t have– if we go back a month, there were no Mana games ever on Xbox, and now we have three.
MENA KATO: Yes, it’s so great. Everyone can play all of them. And it’s just it’s really exciting to have something like that on Xbox.
JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah. I mean, I remember playing Final Fantasy I on the NES and then Final Fantasy VI, one of the greatest games of all time, it’s an absolute treat. Like, do yourself a favor and just enjoy this walkthrough history. And also, just, I have to say, Dragon Quest 3, the HD 2D remake, it looks so good. I used to rent this game from Blockbuster when I was a kid. Like every week I would get it for like, two nights, and I would get it the next weekend and someone would have deleted the game and I would start it over again. So I never got to beat the game. Fixing that, absolutely fixing that. So I just can’t tell you how excited I am about all of these announcements. Like, it is quite a bounty for an RPG fan like myself here, just all in one broadcast. Now, before you go, this news came out a few weeks ago. We were talking off set about great news from Capcom confirming two fighting game collections coming to Xbox in 2025.
MENA KATO: Yep. And we’re so happy to have them on. I mean, again, these are classics, but everyone loves them, and it’s representative of so many games that come out of Capcom. You’ve got your bigger games, but things like this is so meaningful to see on Xbox.
– Yeah, and the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster just came out last week, a game that has a huge role in Xbox lore as being an early Xbox 360 game. Go– go get playing. Like, why are you listening to me anymore? There is so much we didn’t actually get to. StarCraft 1 and 2 are coming to Game Pass. More content for age of mythology. A very cool Overwatch 2, and My Hero Academia collab. And you can find out more on everything we talked about and even everything that we didn’t talk about over on Xbox Wire. That is news.xbox.com. And of course, you can go rewind, watch the whole broadcast over again right here on youtube.com/xbox. Mena, before we let you go, what were your thoughts on this year’s Xbox Tokyo Game Show broadcast?
– Well, it’s all about diversity. Xbox is for everyone. And we’re talking about the creativity coming out of Japan, but not just Japan, all over Asia.
– Very, very well said. I have to say, personally, I love a shadow drop and this show definitely delivered no fewer than five of them. That is right, Xbox players can now pick up and play All You Need is Help, Trials of Mana, The Legend of Mana, We Love Katamari Reroll, and Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster. That is six games in one, FF1 through FF, Final Fantasy VI. So Mena, thank you so much for joining us.
– Thank you for having me.
– We’re going to have to have you back again.
– All right.
– All right. That is it for this very special episode of The Official Xbox Podcast. We will see you next week.
