NEKO Entertainment Exclusive Interview

Amongst the Nintendo downloads on offer this week is Heracles Chariot Racing for WiiWare. With this in mind it seemed like a perfect opportunity to sit down with the developers, NEKO Entertainment, to talk about their work.

Tell us a bit about yourselves. How did you start, how many people are in the team, where are you based. What also is the teams specialization?

Neko Entertainment was created about 10 years ago, when a group of the videogame industry veterans decided to create their own studio. Today, there are about 40 persons, working in our studio in Montreuil, near Paris. While we develop games on all consoles (and we are starting to work on the Iphone too), we are specialized in Wii and DS games.

What other titles have you worked on?

Neko Entertainment has made a lot of games, including the wildly successful series Horse Life and our franchise Cocoto (Cocoto Fishing Master, Cocoto Platform Jumper, Cocoto Magic Circus, and more to come).

Tell us some interesting facts about Chariot Racing!

We played a lot of action-racing classics when we made the game, Mario Kart being the first reference amongst them, and we tried to fix what we didn't like in them: the computer won't cheat to miraculously come back when he is half a lap late, you won't get stuck because you keep hitting objects or getting targeted by attacks, etc.

Screenshots of Heracles Chariot Racing for WiiWare

What drew you to Chariot Racing rather than a typical racer?

Historically, chariot races were no hold barred contests were racers could use any mean to slow down or stop their opponents: they were the original action-racer! It's actually quite surprising that nobody thought of it before.

Why are you releasing this on WiiWare and not a traditional disc?

We felt there wasn't enough good action racing games on the WiiWare.

Any plans for a DS version?

No, the DS is a specific platform with unique features. We make DS games that are thought and created purely for the DS.

What do you think of Nintendo's new addition to its handheld family?

We are already working on a game for DSiWare that uses the features of the DSi in a way no other game has ever done.

What are your plans for the future?

In addition to our DSiWare game, we are currently putting the finishing touch on new Cocoto titles for the Wii. Cocoto Festival is the sequel to Cocoto Magic Circus and Cocoto Surprise is the first game using our new in-house game engine, with a gameplay based on solid and fluid physic.

Screenshots of Cocoto Magic Circus for Wii

Finally, tell us what you are playing at the moment?

At the moment, the game of choice during the lunch break is Team Fortress 2.

Thanks to the whole team for taking the time to sit down with us and to Derek for setting up the interview during this busy time on the year.

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