Hey guys! I know everyone is very excited for Tekken 6. Four more days and wishes would be granted whether you're a PS3, PSP, or 360 user. Why don't we have a little online party that day? We can party here in deviantART, in my Facebook (breedingdeath@vampirefreaks.com), or in Twitter (vdaymassacre)! So, what says you?

So while we're waiting, here's some tidbit from Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken's project director.

_{(From GameTrailers)}

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE INDUSTRY?

I loved video games from a young age but my parents always kept me from playing them. I grew sick of having to sneak in gaming time at an arcade on a PC so I vowed to play games to my heart's content once I was an adult. That was one of the factor's influencing my decision.

WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU DO EVERY DAY?

I am a producer on other titles besides Tekken 6 so I'm quite busy. Meetings about budgets for new projects as well as management tasks also keep me busy. There is a wide variety of tasks associated with my job so there's a lot to deal with.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB?

Probably coming up with new ideas with colleagues that I know well is the most enjoyable. Not in a meeting or anything, but just when we're chatting. You also get to see the product come together while you work on it, so it is pretty fun.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST PART ABOUT YOUR JOB?

Probably trying to evaluate feedback from the fans and coming up with ideas to effectively address their needs and concerns. We get feedback from around the globe and a lot of it is quite different, often conflicting advice. People often refer to the "target audience", but what they want out of the game is often quite different from player to player. It's really difficult to come up with one particular spec that pleases most of the target audience. I guess if it were easy, anyone could make a million-selling title.

WHAT WAS THE MOST EMBARRASSING/MEMORABLE THING YOU HAD TO DO FOR/AT YOUR JOB?

I'm very serious about my gaming so I don't usually eat while playing. I usually sit in a chair or on the floor, but with proper posture, while gaming. I'm not surrounded by food, but by monitors and speakers.

If I have something to drink close by, it's usually cold green tea. Sometimes, I have a drink while gaming though. lol

WHAT WAS THE MOST EMBARRASSING/MEMORABLE THING YOU HAD TO DO FOR/AT YOUR JOB?

It's got to be having to cut spec that players are looking forward to. It's also game design that the designer in charge has put a lot of work into. I'm forced to make these kind of decisions so a lot of the staff think I'm pretty strict. It's very hard sometimes.

IF YOU COULD BE ANY GAMING CHARACTER, WHAT/WHO WOULD YOU BE?

It changes with the times but recently it would be Captain Price from Call of Duty. He's not playable, but he's one of the coolest game characters in recent memory. He's not very well known in Japan, but I've been a hardcore PC gamer for quite some time so my tastes are kind of different.

WHAT GAME IS IN YOUR CONSOLE RIGHT NOW?

I have all the consoles but I hardly play anything but PC games. I like FPS and MMORPG games and the PC has the best graphics and the mouse is really better when playing FPS games. I guess I've been playing the Nazi zombie mode in Call of Duty the most recently.

ANY EASTER EGGS R INSIDER JOKES WE SHOULD KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR?

Be on the lookout for posters in the war-torn city. There's some funny stuff in there.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE VIDEO GAME OR GAME FRANCHISE OUTSIDE OF TEKKEN 6?

Ultima, Diablo, Battlefield, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, F.E.A.R., and Bioshock (System Shock) are some of my favorite series'

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVE FROM ONE OF THE TEKKEN CHARACTERS?
Bryan's Mach Breaker. The animation for the receiving character is pretty cool, don't you think?

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST PART ABOUT BRINGING THIS POPULAR FRANCHISE TO ITS 6TH ITERATION?
Well, there are 40 playable characters so the sheer volume of techniques and items for the characters is overwhelming. This makes managing the data and balancing the game an enormous task.

One of the most difficult aspects is trying to add new game play elements and new technology while still keeping the Tekken experience intact. Trying to evolve the game in order to appeal to new fans while keeping what made the game popular with the core audience has got to be the biggest struggle.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU DO FOR FUN BESIDES GAMING?

I like yachting and drawing pictures. I also ghost write game reviews and play reports sometimes. I also like to go out drinking.

WHAT 5 SONGS ARE THE MOST PLAYED ON YOUR iTUNES RIGHT NOW?

That's an interesting question. My favorite is probably the running cadence that Gny. Sgt. Hartman recited in Full Metal Jacket.

WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND TO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GET A JOB IN THE GAME INDUSTRY?

First and foremost, try to be the best at something. Sports, or anything for that matter. In my case it was yacht racing and video games. Also, games today are made by large development teams so it's important to be able to enjoy talking to many different types of people. If you want to be a Producer or Director, it's important to play a lot of games, be able to analyze them, and to derive certain answers/results. Recently there are a lot of younger development staff who don't really delve deeply into games but they talk a lot about the surface. This isn't good. Last, don't listen to people who might tell you it's not good to make your hobby your job.

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