11th
Award-winning Works
Entertainment Division

Grand Prize

Excellence Award

Jury Selections

審査講評

  • FUKUI Shinzo
    Creative Director
    [Critique by work category] Web
    When judging for the Japan Media Arts Festival, the things that I consider to be most important are, of course, the degree of perfection as a work of art, but also the degree of aesthetic sense displayed and a conceptual theme that appeals to our sensibilities. The level of comprehensibility is also important. Furthermore, for the judging of web works, which is a fairly new category, I try to evaluate whether there is any intention to exceed the works that preceded them or effort to challenge and breakthrough the existing stereotypes. This is because I believe that only work that has the result of providing people with new experiences has value in terms of establishing a new phase. These criteria determined which entries were suitable to be considered for the prize, which were then admitted to the final screening process. From amongst them, it was decided that DAYDREAM provided us the most vivid impression and rich interactive experience and so deserved to receive the highest evaluation.
  • TANAKA Hideyuki
    [Critique by work category] Visual Image
    Innovativeness became one of the key criteria for judgment during the screening sessions for the Entertainment Division this year. It is thought that this also served as an occasion during which to consider what kinds of new forms of visual expression are now possible. The Japan Media Arts Festival is unique in that it judges a wide variety of entertainment works, such as visual images, games, websites, and toys, but all of which can be said to belong to the ' Entertainment' genre; it is one of the benefits of this festival that it allows us to discover new value in artwork.
  • KAWAZU Akitoshi
    Game Designer
    [Critique by work category] Game, Electronic Play Equipment, Character, Others
    Every video game entry was finished to a high level of perfection and the overall standard of entertainment value was above average, which demonstrates how deeply rooted video game culture is in this country. On the other hand, because they were all well made, the individual personality of the creator was often obscured; professional game designers are facing a difficult challenge in consistently finding and maintaining a balance between quality as art and the demands of merchandise. There was no Excellence Prize winner from the Electronic Play Equipment, Character or Others categories; there was nothing that especially excelled with regards to novelty or individuality. It seemed as though they were overshadowed by the entries in the other categories. The applicants for this division are clearly type casted; video game entries are typically those of game companies', whilst entries in the Electronic Play Equipment, Character, and Others categories are generally the work of individuals or artist collaborations. We hope that this tendency will somehow change in the future.
  • MIZUGUCHI Tetsuya
    Founder and CEO, Enhance / Director, Synesthesia Lab / Project Professor, Keio University Graduate School
    Expectations for inspiration by groundbreaking presentations and new creations
    The entries for the Entertainment Division in 2007 were wide ranging and included High Definition (HD) media, portable media, a new platform and input device, new visual expressions, websites, toys and books; during the judging process, we gave most weight to the degree of innovation that was demonstrated. We awarded the Grand Prize to Wii Sports not just because it has introduced new ways to use controllers to interact and play, but also because of the success it has achieved in Japan and worldwide. Other award winning works included one concerned with the pursuit of innovative visual expression and another that, through the expert utilization of networking, created a new way to play and be entertained. Overall, this year it seemed as though we could glimpse a new paradigm of innovation. We expect to see more of this sort of work in the future, as it is able to inspire our culture on a global scale, beyond borders or generations.