Hi everybody, it's Tetsuo here. Recently I've been sporting a hairstyle like Gatchan's wife.

So, we got some correct answers from you guys about the mysterious lighting at the Nagoya Speed Ring that I introduced in the last Future Lab News.
I thought it might have been the result of a conversation like this.

Expressway designer A: "This lighting looks totally cool."
Expressway designer B: "Wow. It's so bright. Like something out of the future!"
Expressway designer A: "This is well cool, this is. No way!"
Expressway designer B: "You wanna make it, right? Shall we make it?"
...
But the real answer was...

The mysterious lighting is the world's first example of "Pipe Lighting", designed over the course of several years to protect the Himebotaru - "Princess Fireflies" - that inhabit the moat around Nagoya Castle.
The castle provides a huge habitat for this rare type of firefly within Nagoya City. The pipe lighting was installed because it was necessary to have a special kind of expressway lighting that did not interfere with the breeding of the fireflies. The lighting had to be made into pipe form in order to protect the environment. I never knew that.

So the development of Wangan Maxi 3DX is finally almost finished. In previous Future Lab News reports, some project members talked about working on Story Mode - I am also involved, and will be working on the Ogishima compilation. I've been reconstructing the version of 3DX that was installed in the machines at the location test.

Whenever I see a bridge, I seem to smash straight into it, so for me "Ease of reading" seemed like the best concept for making characters' lines in 3DX.I've got my hands full with driving, so my margin for reading long lines is next to nothing. I want to read them though...But when I do, I crash into the wall. I think this happens to a lot of people, right? Or maybe it's just me. So...I've been trying to make the characters' lines as short as possible, and easy to understand.
The shorter the lines get, the more difficult it becomes to show the message of the story in the original comic and the philosophy of the characters in the space of one story or one compilation in the game. The longer the lines get, the less intelligible they get, making them less compatible with the game. It's difficult to get a nice balance.

As well as choosing the characters' lines, it's necessary to choose the production for characters' appearances, the BGM, and to get a good balance between the various pieces of production to make Story Mode thrilling, enjoyable and moving.

If just one of those elements doesn't fit right, it mucks up the whole lot. It's hard work, I can tell you.

By the way, the original "Ogishima Compilation" goes something like this...Weighed down by daily life, Ogishima is thinking about giving up running when he meets - or perhaps is inexplicably drawn to - long term expressway runners like Akio and Blackbird. The story follows Ogishima as he grows, always troubled yet dedicated to his beloved FD.
Ogishima - ridding himself of his various worries as he heads out into the world of expressway running. Running, life, the beloved FD and dedication to the rotary engine. There are many stories in the original Wangan Midnight comic where people eventually fall from the harsh world - "those who fall and those who remain". Will Ogishima be like Akio and others who abandoned so much to be one of "those who remain"??

While we're on the subject of the long awaited newcomer Ogishima, I should mention that Nagamatsu on the Wangan Development Team has the same car as he does (and the color - white - is the same as in the game). It's been a while since we've heard about Nagamatsu's beloved FD in Future Lab News, however the Nagamatsu Special should be ready soon! The next issue! Shock! The ultimate Nagamatsu FD is finally going to show itself!!?

And having forcefully cast responsibility onto the Ultimate FD development team, it's time to say, "Farewell."

(Original article in Japanese released on 10.29.2008)