Masaya Matsuura made a name for himself when he introduced the Parappa the Rapper series and set off a growing trend in the rhythm-based video game genre. The founder of NanaOn-Sha talks about the potential of the now flourishing game genre and how developers should explore its vast potential. You can read about his interview in the full article after the jump.

Aspiring band leaders who've been hoping to lead their own marching bands now have something to look forward to on the Nintendo Wii, because Majesco Entertainment has announced Major Minor's Majestic March. Creators of PaRappa the Rapper are behind the development of another musical title, so it's something you should check out. More details and concept art await at the full article.

Fans of rhythm games wished for it. After several months, it may be reality: Masaya Matsuura and NaNaOn-Sha's Vib-Ribbon may hit the European PlayStation Network, now that the game is rated in PEGI. More details in the full article!

More speakers have been added to the 2008 D.I.C.E. Summit's speaker roster. Joining the roster for next year's event are PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura, who is currently working on a new music title for the Nintendo Wii, and newly-appointed Entertainment Software Association president Michael D. Gallagher. More new speakers at the full article.

Masaya Matsuura and Rodney Alan Greenblat, the men behind the highly-acclaimed PaRappa the Rapper series, are at it again. This time, they're targeting the Nintendo Wii's audience with the announcement of a new Wii-exclusive music-based title. More at the full article.

Being the creator and musical genius behind PaRappa the Rapper (PSOne, PSP), PaRappa the Rapper 2 (PS2), and UmJammer Lammy (PSOne), Masaya Matsuura has a lot of things on his mind right now.

Fresh from the announcement of Musika for the iPod, Matsuura was tagged by 1Up for an interview. Interesting tidbits have surfaced from the sit down, including hints of a possible sequel for the NanaOn-Sha rhythm-based games. With PaRappa the Rapper on the PSP just released, 1Up asked Matsuura if he was interested in doing another PaRappa game in the future.

Matsuura replies with: "Of course, PaRappa was made 10 years ago. [The gameplay style] is a little different in Musika than PaRappa. If I had a chance to make another PaRappa for some hardware, of course I would love to do that."

To fuel our hopes even more, Matsuura's even revealed that even Sony is interested in a sequel as well. Time for the fans to start crossing their fingers and screaming "I gotta believe!" But now that both parties - meaning Maatsura and Sony - have expressed interest, what's stopping them from really penning the said sequel?

Apparently, another factor seems to be the prospect of downloadable content on the PS3 via the PlayStation Network, and to respond to the question, Matsuura says:

Personally, I really love the downloadable games on PS3, but currently I don't have any discussion with Sony Computer Entertainment people right now. We are exchanging casual e-mails, meeting up sometimes. I would not be surprised if these kinds of discussions will be started in the near future.

If this pushes through, we just might see the rapping dog back, a-kicking, a-punching, and a-blocking his way to the PSN.

PaRappa the Rapper developer NanaOn-Sha recently teamed up with Sony BMG Music Entertainment to provide owners of Apple's fifth generation iPod an original music visualizer game known as musika. The said game is available now on the iTunes Store for just US$ 4.99.

Basically, users can just have fun with musika and enjoy the rather unique imagery provided by Nanaon-Sha. If you want to progress in the game though, you have to play along by pressing the center button in time with the letters in the song's name to display different visual effects.

"The iPod is a device that revolutionized music and it is now poised to be a progressive gaming platform. Many years ago Apple's tools first opened my eyes to the power of music and multimedia, so it's exciting to release my first game for this device", commented NanaOn-Sha President Masaya Matsuura.

musika was created with the help of video game development studio Method Solutions.

Everyone who's into music games knows PaRappa: The Rapper, one of the pioneers in the music game genre. It's one of the quirkiest and funniest games to have come out for the PlayStation 1.

With the popularity of the music game genre on the rise, who better to ask about it than Masaya Matsuura, the creator of PaRappa: The Rapper. GamesIndustry.biz was recently lucky enough to talk with Matsuura who shared his thoughts on the industry.

Of course when we talk about music and games, you cannot help but mention popular games such as Singstar, Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Matsuura spoke about these "newer" games that have captured western gamers rather smugly, "I've been waiting for things to happen in the West that we have had in Japan for the last 10 years."

He was also asked about the controllers that both Guitar Hero and Rock Band have and he called it old news noting that he's past that phase and he "had that interest in 1997 or so!" However he did say that "they are much more advanced and sophisticated than the ideas the Japanese developers had, so I appreciate that and respect their activities."

This leads us to a question that we should consider, why are western developers so behind in development and what can they do to catch up? Matsuura gave a clear answer on this pointing out the differences in music culture.

I started my career as a musician in the early 90s. I was an exclusive signed artist for Sony. I worked to release my album in the UK, but unfortunately the Japanese music market is very specialised and I didn't generate any foreign interest. I was frustrated to have to stick to the local market, so I started to think about worldwide activities. I wanted to move a little further afield, away from the conservative music business.

I think that a lot of musicians in Japan wanted to appeal to the wider market by using new ideas - games, for example. Music sales are shrinking, it's a worldwide tendency, so maybe soon they will have to appeal to a wider market. This helps music games succeed.

So where are we headed in terms of music and gaming? Matsuura foresees that "Maybe in 20 years, 15 per cent of the music industry will earn their money from games." Will we really be seeing the integration of music into gaming as software sales have been dying down? A very interesting notion that industry experts need to explore. If you want to read the full interview, check out the read link.

Masaya Matsuura developing for the Wii? That's the attention-catching matter the Parappa the Rapper creator has stated over an interview during the ongoing Nordic Games conference. Don't hold your breath, though - Matsuura-san stated that his studio (NanaOn-Sha) has only begun the planning stages for the game, and that they hope to officially begin work soon.

Aside from this sliver of a game announcement, the developer also offered his two cents regarding the three current next-generation consoles: The PlayStation 3, the Wii, and the Xbox 360.

On the matter of PS3, Matsuura-san said he thought the reason why the Wii was outselling Sony's console wasn't a matter of its large price tag, but that it was just plain large, size-wise. "It's too big for the Japanese," he stated. Mastuura further commented that the same could be said of the Xbox 360 and its notoriously large (and heavy) AC adapter.

As for the Wii console - the smallest of the trio - Matsuura commented that while he liked the console concept and its games, he also foresaw problems that may arise regarding the motion-sensitive Wiimote. "Players can't spend a long time on gameplay, so this can be tough. So I respect Nintendo's activities, but for software designers like us, it's very hard."

On a last note, the developer hinted on "a very casual, one-button game" that his studio was working on. "Maybe the publisher will announce the release soon. It's a very simple game, but I hope it will be successful." That's all the details we've got for now, as members of the gaming industry speak their mind at this event.

PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura has revealed that another music game for the first PlayStation could be coming to the PlayStation Network. This according to PalGN.

The game in question is NanaOn-Sha's 1999 title Vib-Ribbon. The original game had players guiding a female rabbit named Vibri along white vector lines that changes shape according to the game's soundtrack. Vib Ribbon also loaded into RAM so players can use any music CD with the game, allowing for quite a load of replay value.

In a recent interview with PalGN, Matsuura said that the possibility of bringing a downloadable version of Vib-Ribbon to the PlayStation Network are being discussed. It could take a while though, as Matsuura feels that the PlayStation Network's download service needs to gain a bit of ground in Japan first.