Mamoru Oshii's Interview

Paul and Mike picked up the basketball without the slightest hesitation and followed behind Mark.

Along the way, Mark described the images on the videotape with extra spice and vinegar.

"When that zombie turned its head, I swear, Danny got so scared he dropped his chips on the floor."

"Bullshit. The bag was just too slippery," Danny retorted from the side.

"And that guy called Cloud—his sword was taller than he was," Mark went on.

The four of them poured into Mark's living room.

Mark skillfully stuffed the videotape back into the machine.

As the images began playing again, cries of surprise and sharp intakes of breath sounded from the living room from time to time.

"This is what games are supposed to look like." Paul stared at Pro Soccer World PSW on the screen, watching the players make realistic sliding tackles, and kept shaking his head. "Those 2D pixel little guys we used to play with—I don't even know how I got through them back then."

Across the ocean in Tokyo, Japan, the same scene was also playing out.

On Akihabara's Electric Town, Famitsu's special issue had been placed in the most conspicuous spot.

Japan's gaming media were not the slightest bit inferior to their United States counterparts when it came to commercial maneuvering.

They had not only edited the materials on the disc into a videotape, but also included a theatrical-edition poster for Ghost in the Shell.

In the rest area of a game specialty store, several high school students were gathered around a shared television.

The store manager had specially put the videotape from the deluxe edition into the communal VCR and played it on loop to draw in customers.

"Kazuma Kiryu's shoulder throw is way too clean." A boy in a school uniform pointed at the