Yu Suzuki Accepts the Special Award at CEDEC 2018 | Video

As reported last month, the organizers of CEDEC 2018 voted to select Yu Suzuki for the annual Special Award in recognition of his pioneering and revolutionary contributions to the game industry. The Special Award, decided by members of the CEDEC steering committee, is given for "overall contributions to game development". (See our earlier blog post.)

• CEDEC: the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference, held annually in Japan primarily for members of the entertainment industry.

The awards ceremony was held yesterday on August 23rd at the Pacifico Event center in Yokohama, and Yu Suzuki attended in person to receive his award, starting with a selfie he tweeted prior to the ceremony.

Yu Suzuki via Twitter: "Here I am at CEDEC!" (source tweet)

Watch a short clip of Yu receiving his award below (our thanks to Shenmue 3 Ambassador Ali Novin for permission to include this exclusive video and photographs).

The short speech that Yu Suzuki gave in acceptance of the award translates follows:

"My ideal for game creation is something that combines technology with [artistic] sense at the highest level; something that I’m always thinking about. I’m extremely happy to have the honor of receiving this kind of award from CEDEC, which has so many technically skilled members from the industry. Thank you very much."

After the ceremony had finished, a group photo was taken with all the CEDEC award winners, with Yu Suzuki taking at the front and center of the group.

Yu Suzuki with the other award winners at CEDEC 2018 (photo courtesy of Ali Novin)

Fans of Shenmue and his numerous arcade hits of the past will know how well-deserved it was for Yu to receive this recognition. Congratulations, Yu!

• CEDEC 2018 website (Japanese)

Become a Patron!

Yu Suzuki Selected as CEDEC 2018 Special Award Winner for Contributions to Game Development

News flash from Phantom River Stone!

In recognition of his pioneering and revolutionary contributions to the game industry, Yu Suzuki has been selected as the winner of the prestigious Special Award of the CEDEC Awards 2018. CEDEC, the Computer Entertainment Development Conference, is an annual event based in Japan for game developers, and this year it is to be held next month across 3 days in the city of Yokohama.

The Special Award, decided by members of the CEDEC steering committee, is given for "overall contributions to game development". The reason for the award to Yu Suzuki from the official site reads as follows (our translation):

"Yu Suzuki, as a creator, has produced a multitude of big hits from revolutionary ideas, from the development of ride-on arcade games such as Hang On, After Burner etc through to the 3D CG hardware fighting game Virtua Fighter. In addition, in the home console arena he took on the creation of what could be called the forerunner of open world games, Shenmue, and has had a massive influence on technological innovation in game development. The achievements throughout his career as a pioneer have opened up new possibilities, and are highly regarded throughout the world."

Our warm congratulations to Yu Suzuki on his achievement!


Source: CEDEC website [Japanese]

Become a Patron!