Kenji Eno

(born May 5, 1970) is a musician and video game designer based in Japan. He is best-known for his cult survival horror series, the "D" games and his audio game series, "Real Sound".

Childhood and early years

Eno attended a school for gifted children in his younger years, however the regular course of his childhood was greatly affected by the disappearance of his mother from his life during his second year of elementary schoolhttp://www.gdri.smspower.org] . Eno dropped out of high school at age 17 and, after brief jobs at Canon and a telephone-appointment company, he soon entered the video game industryhttp://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3169166] .

Uncommonly interested in video games and music from a young age, Eno had experimented extensively with programming and recording, and one of his first games, "Towadoko Murder Case", placed in a regional game contest. Eno's first job in the industry was with the nascent video game company, Interlink (responsible for the small 1989 hit, Nihongo|"Moulin Rouge Senki: Melville no Honoo"|"Moulin Rouge War Chronicle: Blaze of Melville" [http://www.vgrebirth.org/games/game.asp?id=16688] ). With Interlink, Eno was given a small degree of control in his projects and the company soon released a game in the Ultra Series under his co-planning.

EIM

Unsatisfied with the his role at Interlink, and interested in more direct control over the projects, Eno used his savings to found the video game development contract company, nihongo|EIM, Ltd.|有限会社EIM|Yuugen Gaisha EIM ("Entertainment Imagination and Magnificence" [ [http://www.geocities.jp/warp110/1062799054.html 【ENO】飯野賢治総合ｽﾚｯﾄﾞ6【Dの食卓】] ] ) in 1989. Eno's plan for EIM was largely modeled upon Interlink, however as a strict contract company EIM focused solely on sequels and spin-off titles. Though Eno was now able to choose projects and control the company's output through his selections, he remained unsatisfied by the limitations imposed on EIM by the need to be faithful to the creative visions of the groups that contracted EIM's services. For this reason as well as growing mental instability [http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3169166] , Eno dissolved EIM in 1992 [http://www.revrob.com/content/view/109/52 The Rev. Rob Times - Kenji Eno's WARP - Where are they now?] ] and began work as a consultant to an automotive manufacturer

WARP and Superwarp

In 1994, after having his interest in games revitalized by trips to Macworld 1994 and Be-In, a local video game expo, Eno formed WARP, Inc. with a small team of programmers and designers including animators Fumito Ueda [ [http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=5937022&publicUserId=5669500 James's 1UP Blog: Kenji Eno from WARP] ] ("Ico" and "Shadow of the Colossus") and Ichiro Itano ("Macross"), both of who later became famous under different employment. While EIM had been modeled after Interlink, Eno modeled WARP after Panasonic's 3DO department. WARP produced a number of titles for various platforms, however its main output consisted of games designed for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. Under Eno's management, WARP's games were noted for their outlandishness and unconventional production. The game "Short Warp", for example, notably came shipped with condom feelies, and the game "Real Sound" shipped with a bag of "herb seeds". Eno took up radio broadcasting during this period. He developed a maverick reputation during his work with WARP, and shocked the Japanese video game press in a dramatic 1996 press conference where he burned bridges permanently with Sony by jumping on a plush doll of Muumuu, the mascot of their hit game, "Jumping Flash!". Eno also displayed a video depicting the Playstation logo morphing into the logo for Sega Saturnhttp://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=4&cId=3169166] . WARP's last 4 titles were designed exclusively for Sega. Due in part to the failure of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer as a video game console, in part to Eno's growing episodes of mental instability [http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=7&cId=3169166] , and dogged by mediocre sales figures for their non-3DO games, WARP, Inc. officially disbanded shortly after the release of "D2" in 2000.

With the success of "D", Eno got married and began a family. Eno created a new development company, Superwarp, from the ashes of WARP on April 28, 2000. Superwarp diverged from WARP in concentrating on DVDs, network services, and online music. With Superwarp, Eno worked on 20 or 30 widely diverse projects including work with NTT DoCoMo, creation of a cell-phone purchase interface for Coca-Cola vending machines, marketing cigarettes, and designing a trendy hotel. Eno also began blogging during this period. Superwarp was disbanded in 2005 without having released a single video game title. Eno explained that this was his final act of distancing himself from his past at WARP.

Recent activities

Currently Eno heads his third video game development company, From Yellow to Orange (fyto) which he founded in August of 2001. Eno has announced that fyto is in the process of designing a game and, during an interview at E3 2006, he hinted that the game would be designed for Nintendo's Wii [ [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=9426 Gamasutra - Report: Kenji Eno Returning To Games With Wii Title?] ] .

Eno's musical achievements are in general lesser known outside of Japan, although they have enjoyed more mainstream success than his video games. Eno has produced several albums independently as well as collaborated on albums such as The Cinematic Orchestra's "Remixes 1998-2000". Eno is also credited with having composed music for several of his games including "Juuouki", "Casino Kid II", "Sunman", and the dark ambient scores to "D" and "D2". Eno has claimed influence from electronic group, Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Alongside Kenichi Nishi, Kenji Eno helped develop "Newtonica", a game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. [cite web | date=August 28, 2008 | title="newtonica," an Original Game for the iPhone(TM) & iPod touch(TM) Available Worldwide from Field System on August 27, 2008 | url=http://www.cnbc.com/id/26437493/ | work=CNBC.com | accessdate=2008-09-06] In the September 2008 issue of "Electronic Gaming Monthly", Eno stated in an interview that he is working on a game that will be revealed either in the "next issue, or the next, next issue of "EGM"."

Games

Independently produced

*Nihongo|"Towadoko Murder Case"|"Towadoko Satsujin Jiken"

With Interlink

*"Ultraman Club 2: Kaettekita Ultraman Club" (Famicom, 1990) - Planner

=With EIM, Ltd.=

*"Juuouki" (Famicom, 1990) - Sound Creator
*"Kyouryuu Densetsu" (Famicom, unreleased) [http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/EIM]
*"Parallel World" (NES, 1990) [http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/parallel-world]
*"SD Hero Soukessen: Taose! Aku no Gundan" (Famicom, 1990) - Supervisor, Musician
*"Casino Kid II" (NES, 1992) - Sound Programmer, Music Composer
*"Superman" (NES, unreleased) [http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,50337]
*"Sunman" (NES, unreleased) - Planner, Director
*"Time Zone" (Famicom, 1991) - Concept [ [http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/time-zone_ Time Zone for NES - MobyGames] ]
*Nihongo|"Panic Restaurant"|"Wanpaku Kokkun no Gourmet World" (NES, 1992) - Concept, Supervisor, Music Composer [ [http://www.mobygames.com/game/panic-restaurant Panic Restaurant for NES - MobyGames] ]
*"Miyasu Nonki no Quiz 18-kin" (Arcade, 1992)

=With WARP, Inc.=

*"Totsugeki Kikan (Karakuri) Megadasu!!" (NES, 1994)
* (3DO/PS1, 1995)
*"Oyaji Hunter Mahjong" (3DO, 1995)
*"D" (3DO/PS1, 1995)
*"Short Warp" (3DO, 1996)
*"Real Sound" (Sega Saturn, 1997)
*"Enemy Zero" (Sega Saturn 1997)
*"Real Sound: Kaze no Regret" (Dreamcast, 1999)
*"D2" (Dreamcast, 2000)

References

External links

* [http://blog.neoteny.com/eno/ eno blog]
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* [http://www.review-site.net/developer/zz.html SIT Developer Table entry on Kenji Eno]
* [http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3169166 1up Interview with Kenji Eno]
* [http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/EIM Game Developer Research Institute entry on EIM]
* [http://www.review-site.net/developer/xi.html#EIM SIT Developer Table entry on EIM]
* [http://www.mobygames.com/company/warp-inc Warp, Inc.] at MobyGames
* [http://www.gamespot.com/pages/company/index.php?company=10633 WARP] on "GameSpot"
* [http://www.stoq.net/warp/ Superwarp official website] Languageicon|ja|Japanese
* [http://fyto.com/ fyto website]