15 years have flown by

Level-5, the Japanese developer behind titles such as Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Inazuma Eleven, the Guild01 and 02 collections and a whole heap more, is celebrating its 15th anniversary later this year.

The time has certainly flown by and in an interview with Famitsu - helpfully translated by Polygon - Level-5 President and CEO Akihiro Hino said it still feels like the company was established only a few years ago.

Level-5 has been around through several generations of gaming and has developed games for the 3DS, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP and many others. Naturally, with the next generation upon us developers are looking on at the hardware they'll be working on and Level-5 is no different.

I've thought about it a fair amount, but for now, I don't see anything concrete that we have to do on the new systems. Ultimately, it's the gamers who pursue what they want to play next. I'm sure that, within a year from now, what gamers want from the new systems will start to match up with what drives us to create, and we have preparations at hand to move once that happens.

However, Hiro did say that he wants to make games for the new consoles once the time is right:

Things like pretty graphics and social features are going to be standard-issue. Beyond that, the key lies in what new thing you can do with these new systems. I'm looking forward to seeing how technology advances - maybe you'll see game characters that have real memories and can play out a full, realistic simulation of their lives. I think that having the ability to make new things happens is what motivates creators to build new things.

One of Level-5's latest games is Fantasy Life and Hiro is particularly proud of it. In the interview he said it was a title the team laboured on for a long time and he would like to see the 3DS life sim grow into a series that can sell a million copies in Japan.

There has been no official announcement yet on Fantasy Life coming to the West, though Level-5 do at least appear to be considering it as it has trademarked the name in both Europe and the US.

What are your thoughts on this? Would you like to see Level-5 develop some games for Wii U? Let us know by dropping a comment below.

[source polygon.com]