Wada does want innovation but he's looking towards the West for it cause despite his strong statements concerning "Japan is over" his solution seems to more about outsourcing to more creative people instead of really working on the mindset of the people at SE. There is a sharp contrast between what he says and what he's actually doing. He says now that he feels they reached a dead end in their thinking and that XIII is looking to be catering to old fans but if he really strongly believed that innovation was needed that much for XIII he would have had the team working on the title to incorporate his new views. I still suspect his recent comment is more of him talking his way out of the few criticisms XIII has received in the press.

In regards to SE's outsourcing, I mean Tri-Ace has been the company that has been developing most of SE's big console titles for the new generation system and from all sources I've checked, they are still an independent company. The remakes of III and IV were done by Matrix and several of their more interesting games in the last few years have been co-developed between other studios and them. While I am perfectly fine with bringing in new blood, it just doesn't seem like SE releases anything in-house anymore. I mean Level 5 is being outsourced to develop the DQ games which you would think a major IP like that would usually stay in-house. It just seems a bit weird to me.

My problem with Wada is that I don't really see much innovation in the titles under his watch. There have been a few good titles and there have definetly been a few attempts that failed. Still, it just doesn't seem like SE has really been putting out much in the last few years, at least nothing that comes off immediately noteworthy. I also return to my main statement that for Wada, innovation means success and money not actually trying something new. He has never crossed me as someone who is willing to stand by the products his company makes. He's basically catering to the masses and covering his own ass.

Looking at XIII, I feel all that's really been altered is the actual combat system (the skill/equipment system sounds like its just streamlined version of previous systems, specifically X) while everything else in the title feels like its made in 2002. X-2 comes across as a much more daring and innovative game (and most people on the forum know how I feel about FFX and its sequel). XIII is being developed for a fanbase that existed almost ten years ago and probably won't appreciate it as much now sadly. Yes, I will agree that graphically it has never impressed me too much. At its worst it looks like X at its best it looks like XII but my overall impression is that it looks like a PS2 game that just happens to support high quality televisions.