14th
Award-winning WorksEntertainment Division

This division consistently remains at the industry's front line and is an area that must boldly try new possibilities while being subjected to the consequences of competition and evolution. At the same time, the category allows us to experience a large variety of different trials.
I saw many works in the moving images and website genres that made new attempts while questioning the very grounds of their genres. In particular, this year Twitter gathered a great deal of attention, and I felt that IS Parade had utilized the Twitter concept for entertainment purposes in an easily comprehendible manner from a rather early stage. In addition, trials that integrate both moving images and website are very common, giving birth to such fun content as the Tabio Slide Show and SHIRO CHEERS SYSTEM. I was disappointed in the game genre, as it was split between major hit series' and smaller works, and there were few entries from the attention-grabbing areas like SNS games.
I hope that a greater number of people will take part in these stimulating areas, where entertainment is spreading the limits of media, and that there will be a larger number of entries in the future.

There were a large number of fresh moving image works. There were also many website and play equipment works that were rather unique. However, the jury felt that the works submitted to the genre of game all lacks something.
The key areas of the works failed to offer anything new--most were part of a series or remakes of existing works. I understand that this is a structural aspect of the industry, but the purpose of the Media Arts Festival is to look for such new qualities.
I hope that people will make much more ambitious attempts in the future. It is the strong wish of the screening committee to introduce such works to the world.I was also upset that there were only a few SNS game entries. For game genre, the current entry system is difficult. That might be one reason. But I will contact my friends and others and will work to promote the best entries of the year.

As someone that has been belonged to advertising, I was disappointed in the lack of attractiveness on average of the advertisements.
New expressions and ideas that captured people's hearts once spread throughout the world from advertisements.
Today, however, these are generated from MVs or interactive art. A large number of stimulating works have actually been found in these areas. I felt a somewhat of a similar sense of stagnation with the games as well. Of course there were numerous games released this year that were worth playing, but most of them were socalled sequels. I was left with the impression that these works lack innovativeness compared to Award-Winning Works of the past that have offered us a new style of enjoyment. At the same time, attractive MV works have worked to provide a new brand of sensory experience, not using conventional image methods. Entertainment itself may be reaching a major turning point. Conversely, I believe that that also means we can look forward to what is to come.

I was chosen as a jury member of the Entertainment Division of the Japan Media Arts Festival for the first time. As the Entertainment Division includes various genres such as games, play equipments, movies, characters, and websites, it was difficult to screen all the works by the same criteria, and there were heated discussions during the screening process.
Still, IS Parade featuring Twitter impressively won the Grand Prize, winning the votes of several jury members, with the uniqueness of the work highly valued. In a way this can be said to reflect the current times.
As for games, many works were found among the entries that are the sequels to games for which a certain degree of sales can be expected. The soaring production cost may be the reason behind this. These works were also highly entertaining and of high quality, but I regret to say the consequences were harsh for the sequel works.Unlike the early days of computers, digital or interactive media can be found anywhere today. The very existence of such media does not surprise people any more.It is no longer possible to entertain people just with "great CG movies" or "a bit taste of interactivity."
Through the screening process, I once again realized that after all human touch is necessary for the creation of entertainment.

It was difficult to examine all the entries for the game genre. How is one supposed to grasp and evaluate the sequel to a major hit game? How can these be compared to a work that compiles new ideas into something smaller? The axes of evaluation are too far apart, leaving them incomparable.
But this is probably because I simply did not encounter a work that was remarkably new.
Honestly, the consumer game market in Japan has gone astray. Meanwhile, I think that the entertainment world still has some juice left, as we are drawn in by various different things everyday. Over the past few years we have become rather addicted to social networking amusement via the Internet. However, I have doubts about whether that can be evaluated as a "work" on an individual level. A vast majority of the works that gathered the support of the screening committee are linked to the current un-isolatable nature of the entertainment industry.