 | |
Native name | 株式会社ユナイテッド・ゲーム・アーティスツ |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Kabushiki-gaisha Yunaiteddo gēmu ātisuto |
| Company type | Division |
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | AM Annex(1996-1998) Sega Software R&D Dept. #9 (AM9)(1999-2000) |
| Founded | 21 April 2000; 25 years ago (2000-04-21) |
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Fate | Merged intoSonic Team |
| Headquarters | Shibuya, Tokyo ,Japan |
Key people | |
| Products | Space Channel 5 series Rez |
| Parent | Sega |
| Website | u-ga.com (archived) |
United Game Artists[a] (UGA) was asubsidiary ofSega headquartered inShibuya, Tokyo, Japan.[1] Established in 2000, UGA was headed byTetsuya Mizuguchi, who had previously worked at theSega AM3 division. It is known for developing theSpace Channel 5 series andRez.
In 1996, Mizuguchi andSega Rally Championship director Kenji Sasaki left AM3 to form AM Annex, and would go on to develop arcade games such asSega Touring Car Championship andSega Rally 2. Mizuguchi later left Sasaki's team to form another division briefly known as Sega Consumer Development 4 (CS4), later becoming Research and Development #9 (R&D #9, or AM9). In 2000, the division was spun off into United Game Artists, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sega, with Mizuguchi acting as CEO. In 2003, due to financial issues, UGA was merged intoSonic Team, another of Sega's subsidiary companies. Mizuguchi subsequently left Sega in October of that year.
Several games developed by United Game Artists are notable for their reception.Space Channel 5 is frequently credited with being a unique concept that helped bring about music-based video games.[citation needed]Rez is a highly well received title critically.[citation needed]
Tetsuya Mizuguchi joined Sega in 1990 as a designer ofarcade cabinets. Prior to entering the video game industry, Mizuguchi majored in literature atNihon University's Faculty of Arts. Asked how he chose a career in video games, he explained, "I preferred doing something in relation to human senses or entertainment - something more in relation with human nature, a field where I could do some research. ... Unlike the arts, where it is often a matter of taste whether something is good or not, creating good interactive entertainment is more easily definable. I choseSega because it was using new technology and I was able to study things like human movements."[2] Mizuguchi has expressed that he originally had no interest in making video games and wanted to be involved in other areas of entertainment, including creating theme parks and attractions.[3] During his time at Sega, Mizuguchi developed an interactive 'ride' titledMegalopolis combining then-embryonic 3D polygonal graphics andCGI with the physical experience of Sega's hydraulic 'AS-1' motion simulator.[2] He went on to produce the racing simulatorSega Rally Championship andManx TT Super Bike.[4]
In 1996, while working as a producer for Sega'sAM3 division, Mizuguchi met with Hisashi Suzuki, the manager of the division. He and Mizuguchi agreed to create a new department separate from AM3 that would be called AM Annex. Mizuguchi selected the initial team himself, a team of six or seven people that would later grow in number. The first game AM Annex began to develop wasSega Touring Car Championship on theModel 2 arcade board,[4] and Mizuguchi also contributed toSega Rally 2. According to Hisao Oguchi, later head of AM3, Mizuguchi and developer Kenji Sasaki had departed AM3 with the team ofSega Rally Championship, and Mizuguchi later chose to leave Sasaki after being granted their own AM department and set up development in Shibuya. Sasaki became head of AM5, later renamed Sega Rosso.[5]
Mizuguchi's department in Shibuya would be known as Sega Consumer Development 4 (CS4) and Sega Research and Development #9 (R&D #9),[6] also known as AM9.[7][8] During this time, the department developedSpace Channel 5 for theDreamcast.[5] Mizuguchi had been tasked by Sega with creating a video game that would have a broad enough appeal to draw in casual female gamers. In order to achieve this, Mizuguchi conducted interviews with girls to find out what they liked. He insists that it is difficult to create a game that appeals to both genders, due to different desires in games.[9] During development ofSpace Channel 5, Mizuguchi noted one stage in development where the game was "cool, but not so fun", and so he tried to introduce elements inspired byStomp. In order to lighten the mood with his staff, Mizuguchi invited amime artist to visit the department and help his team to loosen up.[10]
In 2000, Sega separated its development divisions into subsidiary companies, fully owned by Sega. R&D #9 became United Game Artists (UGA), and Mizuguchi was installed as its CEO. According to Mizuguchi, the name was one he wanted to use for a video game studio for some period of time. Mizuguchi set a goal with UGA to create games for a worldwide audience, but not with any particular genre in mind.[5] In transitioning from racing games to music-based games, Mizuguchi noted that while racing games were a good way to show off CGI graphics, the release of the Dreamcast gave opportunities to engineer better music, and he wanted to incorporate interactivity with music in games.[11]
UGA's next title would beRez, amusicalrail shooter. Mizuguchi initially considered the concept of a video game as anart form after playingXenon 2 Megablast.[12] Later, while traveling Europe in 1997, Mizuguchi had been taken to theStreet Parade in Zurich, during which there was a largeelectronic dance music concert attended by around 300,000 people. Mizuguchi was taken in by the sights and sounds around him and recognized how this experience was similar to the inspiration thatWassily Kandinsky, a Russian painter, had channeled to "[paint] a canvas of the sounds that he saw".[13] He saw this tie to his previous ideas and envisioned a game where one would shoot down enemies in time to the beat of music that would put the player into a trance,[12] using a theme ofsynesthesia,[14] forming the basis ofRez. Mizuguchi and his team began to research how to structure this game, visiting clubs and attendingTaiko drumming festivals.[12] On pitchingRez to Sega executives, Mizuguchi has expressed that presenting the game was difficult until management was given the opportunity to try the game, due to difficulty in describing the game's concept in words.[11]Rez was well received upon release,[15][16][17] as were its re-releases on later consoles.[18][19][20]
The final release for UGA would beSpace Channel 5: Part 2. According to Mizuguchi, despite low sales of the original game,Part 2 was easier to pitch thanRez had been due to there being an established base of fans of the original, as well as the prominence of mobile phones andMTV.Part 2 was designed usingreal-time graphics instead of the pre-rendered backgrounds of the original game in order to make the game appear more like a movie.[11]Space Channel 5: Part 2 was released in Europe and Japan, but would not make its debut in the United States until the release of the compilationSpace Channel 5 Special Edition for thePlayStation 2.[21]
In September 2003, Sega performed an internal restructuring of its staff. Among these changes was the dissolution of United Game Artists and the transfer of its members intoSonic Team.[22] The following month, Mizuguchi left Sega.[23] According to Mizuguchi on his decision, "At that time, I had two choices, basically. One was to adjust with the company, or the company adjusts to me, but the latter was impossible. So I decided to leave Sega. To me, I think this is a very healthy choice, because I get to do my own games now." Mizuguchi would go on to foundQ Entertainment. He has expressed that he would be open to working with Sega again.[11]
| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Sega Touring Car Championship | Arcade |
| 1998 | Sega Rally 2 | |
| Star Wars Trilogy Arcade |
| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Space Channel 5 | Dreamcast,PlayStation 2 |
| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Rez | Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 |
| 2002 | Space Channel 5: Part 2 |
The titles developed by Mizuguchi's teams at Sega and United Game Artists are renowned for their development and uniqueness. TheSega Rally series retained a level of popularity over a decade after its release, resulting in the later development ofSega Rally 2006. Of theSega Rally series, Mizuguchi told members of his former staff, "it's your game, not mine!", giving credit to his team for the game. Mizuguchi also credited his work on racing games with AM Annex as being the best way to show off CGI graphics at the time.[11]Space Channel 5 did not sell well,[10][21] but has been retrospectively called a "highlight" on the Dreamcast and described as "unlike anything before it."[10]USA Today gave the Dreamcast version all four stars and said it was "all about fun, and [Space Channel 5] delivers with a song."[24]Entertainment Weekly gave the same version an A− and said that "gamers of all ages undoubtedly will want to help Ulala get her groove back — if not get their hands on a pair of those boots."[25]IGN's Travis Fahs calledSpace Channel 5 "a product somehow greater than the sum of its parts", and that the presentation ofPart 2 "had been polished to such a degree that it elevated the game to a new level."[14]
Rez, in particular, has received much positive feedback and several re-releases. The game received an award from The Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Art Festival in Japan.[26] Writing forGames in 2002, reviewer Thomas L. McDonald describedRez as "a game that carves out its own niche: the art-house abstract musical rail-shooter", and emphasized the game's differences from traditionalrhythm games while noting that "the result is awesome, but trying to describe it in words is like trying to sculptJell-O. Simply put, it's like nothing you've ever seen before."[17] The game would go on to receive "Runner Up" in the category of "Electronic - Puzzle and Classic" inGames's annual "The Games 100".[27] In 2009,Edge ranked the game #49 on its list of "The 100 Best Games To Play Today", calling it "Astonishing to watch [and] uniquely absorbing to play".[28] In 2012,Rez was listed onTime's all-time 100 greatest video games list.[29]Rez would later be re-released in 2007 for theXbox 360 asRez HD, which Mizuguchi noted during the show that he "always dreamed of a high-def wide screen and very good sound", and described the game as "100 percent the same game" as the original Dreamcast version.[30] After seeing the potential forvirtual reality, Mizuguchi created a new development studio, Enhance Games, to redevelopRez for VR gaming asRez Infinite for thePlayStation 4.[31]Rez Infinite received widespread acclaim from critics. Review aggregateMetacritic assigned the game a score of 89 out of 100, based on 44 reviews,[32] makingRez Infinite the highest ratedPSVR game on the site.[33] The game received unanimous praise for its immersion, sense of place, visual and sound design, and its new levelArea X. Despite the age of its previous iterations, many reviewers considered it to be the finest PSVR title to date, and an essential game for anyone owning the device. Martin Robinson ofEurogamer called the game a "modern masterpiece",[34] and Alexa Ray Corriea ofGameSpot considered it to be "a new classic".[35] Lucas Sullivan ofGamesRadar thought that the game "achieves its full potential with PSVR",[36] whileEdge summarized "Rez Infinite is 15 years old, and the best VR game of 2016."[37]
According to Fahs, United Game Artists has a legacy connected with that of the Dreamcast, even though all of their games were ported to the PlayStation 2. He stated that elements of what was UGA can be found in Sonic Team gamesFeel the Magic: XY/XX andThe Rub Rabbits!, and that when it comes to their legacy, "UGA turned trite criticisms of 'style over substance' into a badge of honor. Their short run proved just how far dazzling presentation could go."[14]
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