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Feature: 'The Connection is Made: Developer Highlights from Game Connection 2006 (Part Two)'
by Frank Cifaldi [PC, Console/PC, Mobile Phone, Mobile Console, Career, Indie]
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April 20, 2006
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Gamasutra concludes its coverage of Lyon Games' 2006 Game Connection at Game Developers Conference with a look at four of the more off-beat developers in attendance this year, including a game developer that owns the intellectual property rights to a major British comic franchise, secret "ninja developers" who have managed to remain anonymous through over 1,000 developed games, former Sony Computer Entertainment staffers who left their comfy offices to develop games in a co-worker's living room, and a self-starting punk rock studio in Santa Cruz pitching games about monkeys on tricycles and little girls with chainsaws.
The following extract introduces Tose, a longstanding, secretive game developer that has managed to remain mostly anonymous for over twenty five years:
"Founded in 1979, Tose Software is a global game developer, operating in China, Japan, and the United States. Employing over one thousand people, Tose has developed quite a few portable games as of late, including nineteen Sony PSP and seventeen Nintendo DS titles.
In fact, Tose's entire back catalogue has surpassed 1,100 games, developed either in part or, in most cases, in full, with hardware ranging from arcade cabinets to classic consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, to the Japanese MSX computer, to mobile phones, and even relatively obscure portable devices, such as the Wonderswan Color. Tose is almost unarguably the largest company in the world dedicated specifically to video game development.
What, you've never heard of Tose? There's a good reason for that. They don't want you to.
"We're always behind the scenes," said Masa Agarida, Vice President of Tose's U.S. division. "Our policy is not to have a vision. Instead, we follow our customers' visions. Most of the time we refuse to put our name on the games, not even staff names."
"We're ninja developers!" he joked."
You can read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including developer spotlights on Santa Cruz Games, Rebellion and newcomer Machine (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).
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