Interview: Mike Wallis

[Melf]

Sega-16 has covered the Sega Technical Institute in more detail over the past three years than virtually any other source, and our recent historial (http://www.sega-16.com/forum/../Developers%20Den-%20Sega%20Technical%20Institute.php) on the group included interviews with over a half dozen former members. One of the most recent was with former producer Mike Wallis, a man who got his start at Electronic Arts and eventually went on to work on several titles, including the cancelled Sonic Xtreme. He had some interesting details to share about his time at the STI, so check out our full interview (http://www.sega-16.com/2011/09/interview-mike-wallis/) and get the scoop!

[j_factor]

That was a really interesting interview. I finally understand what happened to STI!

[Genesis Knight]

Great article, but... I think we should rename Sega-16 to "STI Interviews Central". I wish we could get a few talk sessions with some people on the other side of the pond. Who'd love a Wolfteam interview, for instance? I would.

Did you ever get any applications for that translation job, Melf?

[Melf]

Well, I did this interview almost 3 weeks ago, and it started out as me just asking questions for the STI article. Mr. Wallis was so thorough and cool with it that it got turned into a full-blown interview. He's a real cool guy.

I would LOVE to interview Japanese personalities. I do have an interview with Yuzo Koshiro pending, and I only recently was able to get back in contact with him after he changed email addresses. I've made numerous attempts to contact people like Noriyuki Uwadare (who has my questions already), Naoto Oshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara, but the protocols and of interviewing Japanese personalities is completely different from Western ones, and it's much more difficult to actually get in contact with them.

[Elusive]

Great article, but... I think we should rename Sega-16 to "STI Interviews Central". I wish we could get a few talk sessions with some people on the other side of the pond. Who'd love a Wolfteam interview, for instance? I would.

...you're complaining about the amount of information that's being dug up? Are you serious?

Perhaps it's simply that STI members are currently the easiest/most willing to chat?

[Zebbe]

Great interview as always, Melf. I just feel this sentence is awkward though:


Wallis also spent several years at Sega, where he worked with the Sega Technical Institute and later the Saturn.

I would have said something like this:


Wallis also spent several years at Sega, in the developement team Sega Technical Institute which produced some Genesis titles, and later he worked on the Saturn after the team reformed.

By the way: say hello to Yuzo Koshiro from me! :D

[Genesis Knight]

Not so much complaining, Elusive, as merely pointing out that we have a ton of interviews/features on STI - many of which contain repetitious information or are built on foggy memories - while interviews and features about Japanese development or even US 3rd and 2nd party teams have been recently neglected.

It's not really a big deal.

[Zebbe]

The way I see it, the last article of the STI was fitting like a "grand finale" of revealing its history, but this maybe came as a bonus. And maybe there is lots more coming, but I think that last one would be a good landmark for putting focus on something else. Interviews with the Japanese will be even more awesome!

[Melf]

Not so much complaining, Elusive, as merely pointing out that we have a ton of interviews/features on STI - many of which contain repetitious information or are built on foggy memories - while interviews and features about Japanese development or even US 3rd and 2nd party teams have been recently neglected.
You don't think the Japanese would have foggy memories? :p

The reason I spoke to so many people about the STI (I contacted and spoke to 4 others in addition to the 7 already interviewed, and I contacted a few of those again too) was that there is only one other comprehensive piece on the STI - an article that was published in issue #36 of Retro Gamer Magazine. Unfortunately, that article has quite a few errors in it, and there are no other pieces on it anywhere. I wanted to tell as accurate and comprehensive a history of the group as possible, which is why I spoke to so many people.

As I said, interviewing Japanese personalities is a totally different dynamic. First off, you don't just email them and ask for an interview. People like Noriyuki Iwadare and Jun Senou (both of which have questions of mine pending) had me go through their press people, and it's taking forever. I was lucky as hell to get in contact with Yuzo Koshiro, and it was only because a friend of mine who knows him professionally hooked me up. Also, you can forget about big whigs like Yu Suzuki and Yuji Naka, as they won't even look at you unless Sega is guaranteed major publicity with the interview. If I could interview more Japanese people, I would, and it's not for lack of trying that we haven't done so, believe me.

A lot of companies from that era are very difficult to get info on, simply because they don't exist anymore. Where do you go to talk to someone about Kaneko USA or Renovation? Sage's Creation? I interview anyone Genesis-related who'll answer my questions, and hopefully we'll get to all these people in time, but it's not as easy to do as you might think.

That being said, we do have interviews coming in the next 2 weeks with a David Siller (creator of Aero the Acrobat and former Sunsoft producer) and Konstantin Othmer (former Catapult VP of Product Development).

[Aarzak]

Great and interesting article.

Wow, did the Genesis "3D Blast" really sell 700k copies??? That's VERY impressive for a late-era Genesis game, hell for a late-era 16-Bit title overall. By late '96 the Genny was in it's death throes, and it's final Christmas lineup (3D Blast, Vectorman 2, Virtua Fighter 2) paled in comparison with the SNES's last lineup (Donkey Kong Country 3, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Maui Mallard and others) I can say I owned one of those copies of 3D Blast; I got it as a present in Christmas '96. $65+tax for a game I never ended up getting it's complete money's worth out of. Lightly tapping the game cart to access the stage select was tops however. Most unique cheat I've EVER come upon in a video game to date.

[Jordan]

Hahaha good work guys, have been in contact with Mike since the begginning of 2006... he is a wonderful guy, has helped me out alot in my X-Treme research. I have literally 10s of thousands of words spoke between us which I need to go through and release....

If you ever want to chat about anything STi or Xtreme related, I am always interested, and probably have quite a lot to share, for the sheer fact I am deadly lazy and slightly concerned about releasing a lot of the information I have.

Cheers

Jordan/Hxc.