Bandai Namco Open House 2016 Media Coverage
Wonkey ON Friday, April 22, 2016 at 8:16AM 
UPDATE: Added Anime News Network Interview with Harada.
To showcase Tekken 7 Fated Retribution, Bandai Namco organized "Open House 2016" last week which invited journalists to their new studio in Santa Clara, California to dig into the minds of Tekken's lead Katsuhiro Harada and Michael Murray. We are now starting to see the media coverage from this opportunity surface on the internet and I'll be gathering all I could find here. The interviews to come from this divulges a lot of interesting announcements and developments as well as thought processes going into the game and the player communities and it's all well worth the read for people following the Tekken series. I'll be updating this piece as we go along but here is what's out there so far.
▌The X Button - Interview: Tekken 7
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Written interview by Anime News Network.
URL ≫ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/the-x-button/2016-04-28/interview-tekken-7/.101540
Snippet: (Read in full at the URL.)
So Akuma is a guest character in Tekken 7: Fated Retribution. Why did you pick him specifically?
There are many ways to go about having this sort of collaboration. The first is leaving on impact on people who see it. You can do this in a variety of ways: Soul Calibur IV achieved this to great success by having Darth Vader in the game. For us, we felt it had to be a collaboration with another fighting game. Giving it some thought, we felt that it had to be a character who looked cool and felt natural to the Tekken series. Some games might refer to these sorts of characters as “guest characters,” but for us, Akuma's not just a guest - he's an enemy our characters have to face! Not only is he really cool, he doesn't feel out of place at all in Tekken. Story-wise, he blends into Tekken as well - though nothing's really been shown yet regarding that. Maybe you'll be seeing more Akuma-related story bits in the future!
▌Katsuhiro Harada Preserves Tekken's Arcade Spirit
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Redbull interview by Ian Walker. (@iantothemax)
Snippet: (Read in full at the URL.)
“For Tekken, luckily, we’re still able to have a healthy arcade version and recoup the funds for developing it,” Harada explained. “Sometimes, western gamers say it’s an outdated business model, but what people don’t realize is that that phase allows us to polish the game and make a more complete package when it does come to consoles. We also get a large bit of profit, more than most people would probably realize. Those funds don’t go into our pockets--they pay for all the fancy bells and whistles of the console Tekken that people love, like additional characters, beautiful cinematic movies, and more. We’re able to do that because of the profit we get first from arcades. So if we were to develop from scratch just for consoles, it would be much more difficult.”
▌Tekken's Harada on Dealing With Yakuza, Pretending to Be Ono - Interview
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GameSpot video interview.
URL ≫ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/tekkens-harada-on-dealing-with-yakuza-impersonatin/2300-6431821/
▌Tekken x Street Fighter No Longer in Active Development
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Interview by GameSpot.
URL ≫ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/tekken-x-street-fighter-no-longer-in-active-develo/1100-6438976/
Snippet: (Read in full at the URL.)
"When we develop fighting games, we try to keep the core community in mind as well as the wider audience that wants to play these games," he explained. "But currently the situation is with fighting games, you have Street Fighter V that just released--a lot of people are playing that fervently--and there's a large crowd out there waiting or Tekken 7."
He continued: "We don't want to split these communities, so a good window in which to release Tekken x Street Fighter is something that's become difficult recently. So it's on hold for the moment."
▌Tekken 7 Tournament Announced With $30,000 Prize Pool
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Announcement via GameSpot. (Update: Article got taken down for inaccuracy.)
URL ≫ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/tekken-x-street-fighter-no-longer-in-active-develo/1100-6438976/
Snippet: (Read in full at the URL.)
Bandai Namco has announced a competitive tournament for its fighting game Tekken 7: Fated Retribution. Titled King of the Iron Fist Tournament, the event will run across North America with stops in 16 cities. The tournament will be hosted in partnership with the Wizard World Con tour, and is free for anyone to enter.
The winner of each tour stop will go on to compete in the North American final, where they will duke it out for a share of the $30,000 prize pool. Bandai Namco has said it hopes that the event will make Tekken 7 more accessible to the masses.
▌Tekken's Harada and Murray on Life, Video Games, and Yoshinori Ono
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Feature interview by GameSpot.
URL ≫ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/tekkens-harada-and-murray-on-life-video-games-and-/1100-6438952/
Snippet: (Read in full at the URL.)
GameSpot: Who is your favorite Tekken commentator?
Harada: Aris--now that he's a little bit more grown up--is one of the obvious choices because he's very entertaining. Then also MarkMan for MC and such. Rip is actually quite good for people who are new to the series and easy to understand. Personally, I like Tasty Steve. I don't know if you're all familiar with him. He's very hyped, very knowledgeable about both Tekken, but also Street Fighter and other fighting games. He's probably my favorite.
▌T7 Interview: Harada Discusses Akuma, Tekken X Street Fighter, PC Port, and Tennis?!
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Written interview by Game Revolution
Snippet: (Read in full at the URL.)
GR: During the numerous Tekken 7 matches at the event, Akuma seemed to be quite powerful, retaining most of his iconic Street Fighter moves (plus an EX gauge) as well as having the Raging Demon Rage Art and a tackle takedown similar to Jin's and King's. Does Akuma have any particular weaknesses that expert players will notice?
Harada: Akuma might seem intimidating at first, but he does actually have a few weak areas. He is actually not that hard to deal with if you have the necessary knowledge to counter him. However, this is one area that we are still working on, so that we can make the game a lot of fun.GR: If you had a chance not to worry about licenses, what other game characters (from other fighting games or otherwise) do you think would fit in the Tekken roster?
Harada: If it were a game character, let me think. I would ask for two—one from a fighting game, and one that is not.
I think from fighting games, it is definitely Akuma, and I think that it is a good choice, as you can tell from the overwhelmingly positive feedback. If I had to choose another, perhaps Geese Howard. I think a bad man like him would fit well in Tekken, and I am confident we can make him look pretty cool in TK7.
Regarding a non-fighting game character, that’s difficult. Any good ideas? Personally, I would like to take Spelunker from the SNES. When someone chooses him from the character select screen, he is so surprised to be chosen that he dies before the match! lol.
▌Tekken's Harada and Murray on Life, Video Games, and Yoshinori Ono
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Video interview by HipHopGamer.
▌Para produtor de "Tekken", Brasil é terra "exótica e misteriosa"
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Interview from UOL Jogos. No English translation at the moment.
▌Tekken's Harada and Murray on Life, Video Games, and Yoshinori Ono
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Tecmundo video interview.
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