Last week during E3, I was lucky enough to get an invite to Sega’s E3 press party, where all of Sega’s top developers introduced and gave presentations on their next projects. I filmed the whole thing and was incredibly beat by the time things wrapped up. At the end however, Sega president Peter Moore announced that cocktails would be served and that Sega’s developers would be available to interview along with a PR person and an interpreter.

As the crowds broke up, I located Justin Wood, who had snuck in to see the whole thing. Simultaneously nervous and excited, we decided to go over to Sonic Team president, Yuji Naka. We ventured a few questions as Naka-san’s translator helped break down the language barrier.

Our quickie interview is as follows:

Justin Wood: I was curious why Naka-san chose GameCube for Phantasy Star Online and what he thoughts on the platform.

Naka-san: I think the match based on the game on the hardware, the match is very, very tight. That's probably why we decided to go with GameCube.

Max Lake: I was wondering if there is any chance we'd see a Sonic game on the GameCube in the future?

Naka-san: (smiling) I have to ask Sonic which hardware he wants to run on.

Max Lake: I also wanted to ask if we'd see any new Samba de Amigo games, on any next-gen platforms?

Naka-san: Mmmm… That didn't sell that much in America, so we haven't decided yet. I think the game is wonderful, so I don't know why it didn't quite catch on over here.

Max Lake: It was the favorite of some of our staff -we love it!

Naka-san: We get a lot of great feedback from the press, I think it takes time for a game like that to gain acceptance.

Max Lake: Is there any chance we'll see any new Nights games in the future?

Naka-san: A lot of people tell me that! I haven't even made it for the Dreamcast, so we'll have to see.

Craig Majaski from Gaming Age was also nearby and asked Naka-san what he thought of the GameCube and its connection to Game Boy Advance.

Naka-san replied that he thought it was an interesting feature and would perhaps like to utilize it in the future.

Before we wondered off to play Monkey Ball, Craig asked about the rumors of a new Shining Force game being made in conjunction with Camelot.

Naka-san: Ask Camelot.

Like the total geek I am, I thanked Naka-san and told him to keep making great games!

Thanks to Sega for one hell of a night! PGC anxiously awaits whatever Naka-san may bring to GameCube!