is a Japanese

video game design Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...

er. In 1996, he founded the video game development company

Vivarium A vivarium (; or vivariums) is an area, usually enclosed, for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research. Water-based vivaria may have open tops providing they are not connected to other water bodies. An animal enclosur ...

. His latest game is

Aero Porter The is a Bundled software, compilation of video games produced by Level-5 (video game company), Level-5 for the Nintendo 3DS in cooperation with various game designers. The first compilation, , consists of four games and was released at retail in J ...

, which is part of a collection of games called Guild01 for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

. Yoot also developed '' Odama'' for the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

and

Seaman Seaman may refer to: * Sailor, a member of a marine watercraft's crew * Seaman (rank), a military rank in some navies * Seaman (name) (including a list of people with the name) * ''Seaman'' (video game), a 1999 simulation video game for the Seg ...

. His first major game release was '' SimTower (known and originally released as The Tower in Japan)'', developed by his previous company OPeNBooK Co., Ltd. and published by

Maxis Maxis is an American video game developer and a Division (business), division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright (game designer), Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by Electronic Arts in 1997. Maxis is ...

in 1994. He was also involved in the sequel, '' Yoot Tower (The Tower II in Japan)'', the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

remake called '' The Tower SP'', and the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

remake called '' The Tower DS''. After founding Vivarium, he published some of his most famous games, including ''

'', a virtual pet game which was one of the best selling titles for the

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

in Japan, and '' Odama'', a mix of

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

and

real time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time." By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to pl ...

. Both of these games make use of their respective consoles' microphone peripherals.

History

Yutaka Saitou studied at Komaba Touhou Junior High and High Schoo

and later at

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

where he was enrolled in the department of science and engineering studying Architecture. After graduating he joined recruitment agency Recruit. During his tenure there he published the independently developed the game, '' The Tower'', which was licensed under the ''SimCity'' series and launched as ''SimTower'' abroad. The game became a worldwide hit, earning him the

Codie award The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and business software industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new nam ...

establishing Yutaka Saitou as a prominent game developer. Later he was also awarded the Nikkei BP's Venture of the Year award in the Young Entrepreneur category. After leaving Recruit, he established his own game development company Vivarium, but continued to serve in an honorary fellow position at Recruit for 5 years. The first game developed by Vivarium was ''

'' released for the

. ''Seaman'' was a major hit on the console, becoming a cultural phenomenon even outside of the gaming world. ''Seaman'' was later ported to both PlayStation 2 and Windows, receiving multiple awards, including an Excellence Award for Interactive Art at the 1999 Japan Media Arts Festival the DIME Trend award, and the Original Game Character of the Year award at GDC 2002. Yutaka Saitou currently serves as the representative director of both Vivarium and his earlier company OPeNBooK. Yutaka Saitou was at one point considered a Mac Evangelist. He published "Under the Apple Tree" (Ringo no ki no shita de, 林檎の樹の下で) which details the turbulent events between the first Apple computer being imported into Japan and Apple Japan being established. He also published "The Secrets of Macintosh's creation" (Makkintosshu Tanjou no Hiwa, マッキントッシュ誕生の秘話), which features interviews with both the founding members and other core developers. From 1999 to 2001, he served as an adviser to

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

, contributing to their corporate strategy. Following this, he developed the Nintendo Gamecube game ''Odama'', and in 2007, he released a successor to "''Seaman"'' titled "''Seaman 2."'' He is also known for suggesting the addition of a speaker to the Wii controller after its initial announcement., and for being the writer of the exposition portion of the Ultraman Research Introduction ( ウルトラマン研究序説). He is an avid digital photographer, wielding a

Leica M8 The Leica M8 is the first digital camera in the rangefinder M series introduced by Leica Camera AG on 14 September 2006. It uses an APS-H 10.3-megapixel CCD image sensor designed and manufactured by Kodak. As of 15 November 2014, the most recent ...

and

Hasselblad Victor Hasselblad AB is a Sweden, Swedish manufacturer of medium format (film), medium format cameras, photographic equipment and image scanners based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company originally became known for its classic analog medium-for ...

503CWD among others. He has spent some time living in America, where he goes by the name 'Yoot' Saito.

Works

Video games

* '' SimTower'' (a.k.a. ''The Tower'') (1994) * '' Yoot Tower'' (1998) * ''

'' (1999) * ''Seamail'' (cancelled) * ''Mario Motors'' (cancelle

* '' The Tower SP'' (2005) * '' Odama'' (2006) * '' Seaman 2'' (2007) * '' The Tower DS'' (2008) * ''

'' (2012)

Apps

* SimTower for iPhone * Zhi Rie Shoudoroppa for iPhone * Namagoe Gurupa for iPhone * Tsunagarumeishi (Business Card Collector) for iPhone * EarthBook

Literary works

* The Legend of Macintosh * The Legend of Macintosh * Ringo no ki no shita de: Appuru Nihonn Jyourikusitanoka * Ringo no ki no shita de: Appuru Haikanishite Nihonn Ni Jyourikusitanoka * Seaman Training Support Kit * The True Birth of Macintosh * The Price of Waiting 3 Minutes for a Hamburger * Machi no Boukenn Makku (Not for sale)

Television

* Present Day Closeup: The Brain of a Game Creator 1995 NHK * Journalism Special 1996 TBS * Futurism Announcement 1996 NHK * 35 Years 1996 NHK * News 23 1998 TBS * Around When I Was a Child 2008 NHK

Related work

* Vivarium Inc.

References

External links

*
Yoot Saito
' at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

*
Yoot Saito's Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saito, Yoot 1962 births Japanese video game designers Nintendo people Living people Recruit (company)