GS: How would you compare the power of the 360 and the PS3?

HT: Ah, that’s a hard question! It depends on what we’re talking about. I’ll have to think about this. They have their good and bad points.

GS: Have you personally worked on both?

HT: Yes, of course.

GS: Which do you find simpler to program for?

HT: Tough question too. From my perspective, both the games I made for each were for launch, so both were with unknown hardware at the time. So both were equally difficult at the time, for me. If you’re a PC developer, you’re really experienced with new hardware techniques, and can follow this stuff as it comes out. For us as a console team, we have to spend all of our time making the most of whatever hardware we’re currently on, so it’s tough for the Ridge Racer team to gauge the power of these systems.

GS: Do you feel like Japan is lacking a development community to help you deal with these sorts of issues?

HT: It’s true that there are lots of secrets here, officially. Developers do keep things from each other. But unofficially people do talk about techniques and each others’ games.

Ridge Racer 7

GS: In the U.S. development ideas are shared pretty freely, and it seems like Japan could really use that, to lower costs and increase ability.

HT: I think that’s an interesting idea certainly, getting different development teams to share ideas. You might come up with some good looking games that way.

GS: Has there been any Namco-Bandai sharing as far as technology so far?

HT: Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been talking with the Gundam producers for PS3, so we’ve been sharing some ideas.

GS: And that’s being done by Dimps, right?

HT: No, it’s (Bandai's internal development team) Beck.