AUTOMATON WEST

Delivering gaming news from Tokyo/Osaka Japan.

Articles: 136

Game Development Interviews
2025-04-23 18:03

Interview: The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy’s devs needed players to think they were “completely out of their minds” to compete in the game market

Pre-launch interview with The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy's co-directors Kazutaka Kodaka and Kotaro Uchikoshi.

Interviews
2025-04-22 12:00

Interview: Nitroplus missed Armored Core so much, they started making their own mecha action game Dolls Nest – then AC6 got announced

Developer interview with Nitroplus's Yojo Ota and Keiichi Ogami - director and sub-director of 3D mecha action game Dolls Nest.

Interviews
2025-02-26 10:52

Interview: Tokyo Xtreme Racer is selling like hot cakes thanks to an IP name more powerful than any marketing strategy. We talk to Genki about the successful Early Access launch

Interview with Tokyo Xtreme Racer producer Noguchi Kentaro and marketing representative Takatoshi Sato about the game's performance on Steam so far.

Game Development Interviews
2025-02-18 14:38

Interview: Tokyo Xtreme Racer’s big comeback after 18 years was fueled by the booming popularity of Japanese cars in the real-life car scene

Interview with Kentaro Noguchi, the producer of Tokyo Xtreme Racer. We ask him about what led to the series' reboot after 18 years.

Interviews
2025-02-17 10:58

Interview: Drawing influence from HADES, the run-and-gun shooter Project Tachyon shows that the roguelite genre and storytelling work well together

Interview with HIKE and STUDIO N9, the publisher and developer of the new run-and-gun roguelite shooter Project Tachyon.

Game Development Interviews
2025-02-13 09:29

Interview: Koei Tecmo’s WARRIORS: Abyss is a major Japanese developer’s take on the roguelite genre, made by a hardcore roguelite lover

Interview with Kotaro Hirata, developer at Omega Force and producer of Koei Tecmo's new tile WARRIORS: Abyss.

Column News
2024-12-31 10:00

Automaton West’s top 5 most bizarre moments of 2024

A round-up of the top 5 weirdest, most random and downright bizarre topics Automaton West covered in the year 2024.

Column
2024-12-29 15:00

Masahiro Shindo, the secret hero who propped up Nintendo’s console development from the NES through to the Nintendo Switch

The life and genius of Masahiro Shindo, the secret hero who made the development of Nintendo's Famicom possible.

Interviews
2024-12-23 18:00

Interview: Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii’s developers maintain the mindset of “plain ol’ guys,” and that’s what makes the series so genuine

Interview with RGG Studio's top devs about user feedback, not putting on airs, and the upcoming Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

Interviews PR
2024-12-20 12:00

Pole To Win is an established leader in game debugging, but their new concept is “More Than Just Debugging.” We asked them about what’s changed

Pole to Win is a leader in Japan’s debugging industry, but that’s not all they do. The company exhibited at TGS 2024 in September under the tagline of "More Than Just Game Debugging." AUTOMATON spoke with Pole to Win’s Teppei Komiya during the event to find out more about where the company is headed.