is a musician and video game designer based in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. He is best-known for his cult survival horror series, the D

D (series)

D is a series of video games that follow the events of "digital actress" Laura and were published by now-defunct WARP. Officially, the series includes 1995's D and 1999's D2, though 1996's Enemy Zero is considered part of the series...

games and his audio game

Audio game

An audio game is an electronic game played on a device such as a personal computer. It is similar to a video game save that the only feedback device is audible rather than visual....

 series, Real Sound.

Childhood and early years

Eno attended a school for gifted children in his younger years, however the regular course of his childhood was greatly affected by the disappearance of his mother from his life during his second year of elementary school. Eno dropped out of high school at age 17 and, after brief jobs at Canon and a telephone-appointment company, he soon entered the video game industry. Videogames had always played an important role in his life as he started to visit arcade game rooms from an early age. He cites Space Invaders

Space Invaders

is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...

 and Pac-Man

Pac-Man

is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...

 as two of the most influential games that motivated him to pursue a career in game design.

Uncommonly interested in video games and music from a young age, Eno had experimented extensively with programming and recording, and one of his first games, Towadoko Murder Case, placed in a regional game contest. Eno's first job in the industry was with the nascent video game company, Interlink (responsible for the small 1989 hit). With Interlink, Eno was given a small degree of control in his projects and the company soon released a game in the Ultra Series

Ultra Series

The is the collective name for all the shows produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad Ultra Monsters. The Ultra Series is one of the prominent tokusatsu superhero genre productions from Japan, along with Toei produced series Kamen Rider, Super...

 under his co-planning.

EIM

Unsatisfied with the his role at Interlink, and interested in more direct control over the projects, Eno used his savings to found the video game development contract company, ("Entertainment Imagination and Magnificence" ) in 1989. Eno's plan for EIM was largely modeled upon Interlink, however as a strict contract company EIM focused solely on sequels and spin-off titles. Though Eno was now able to choose projects and control the company's output through his selections, he remained unsatisfied by the limitations imposed on EIM by the need to be faithful to the creative visions of the groups that contracted EIM's services. For this reason as well as growing mental instability, Eno dissolved EIM in 1992 and began work as a consultant to an automotive manufacturer.

WARP and Superwarp

In 1994, after having his interest in games revitalized by trips to Macworld 1994

Macworld Conference & Expo

Produced by Boston-based IDG World Expo, Macworld | iWorld is a trade-show with conference tracks dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform. It is held annually in the United States, usually during the second week of January...

 and Be-In, a local video game expo, Eno formed WARP, Inc.

Superwarp

WARP is a now-defunct video game developer. Founded by Japanese musician, Kenji Eno, WARP was composed of five members and was dedicated to creating interactive cinema. Their most successful series of games, the D series, featured the same lead character, Laura, and were known for their musical...

 with a small team of programmers and designers including animators Fumito Ueda

Fumito Ueda

is a video game designer born in Tatsuno, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan in 1970. Ueda is director and lead designer of the PlayStation 2 video games Ico and Shadow of the Colossus....

 (Ico and Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus, released in Japan as , is an action-adventure game published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. The game was released in North America and Japan in October 2005 and PAL territories in February 2006...

) and Ichiro Itano (Macross

Macross

is a series of science fiction mecha anime, directed by Shōji Kawamori of Studio Nue in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth/Humanity after the year 1999. It consists of three TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West...

), both of who later became famous under different employment. While EIM had been modeled after Interlink, Eno modeled WARP after Panasonic

Panasonic

Panasonic is an international brand name for Japanese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation, which was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd...

's 3DO department. WARP produced a number of titles for various platforms, however its main output consisted of games designed for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer

3DO Interactive Multiplayer

The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer is a video game console originally produced by Panasonic in 1993. Further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo and Goldstar. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by...

. Under Eno's management, WARP's games were noted for their outlandishness and unconventional production. The game Short Warp, for example, notably came shipped with condom

Condom

A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...

 feelie

Feelie

Infocom used the term feelie to refer to the extra content included with the boxed versions of their interactive fiction computer games. Feelies differed from game to game and were of the same theme as the game they came packaged with...

s, and the game Real Sound shipped with a bag of "herb seeds". Eno took up radio broadcasting during this period. He developed a maverick reputation during his work with WARP, and shocked the Japanese video game press in a dramatic 1996 press conference where he burned bridges permanently with Sony by jumping on a plush doll of Muumuu, the mascot of their hit game, Jumping Flash!

Jumping Flash!

is a video game released in 1995 for the Sony PlayStation. It was developed by Exact Co., Ltd. and Ultra Co., Ltd. and published by Sony Computer Entertainment...

. Eno also displayed a video depicting the PlayStation logo morphing into the logo for Sega Saturn. WARP's last 4 titles were designed exclusively for Sega. Due in part to the failure of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer

3DO Interactive Multiplayer

The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer is a video game console originally produced by Panasonic in 1993. Further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo and Goldstar. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by...

 as a video game console, in part to Eno's growing episodes of mental instability, and dogged by mediocre sales figures for their non-3DO games, WARP, Inc. officially disbanded shortly after the release of D2 in 2000.

With the success of D, Eno got married and began a family. Eno created a new development company, Superwarp

Superwarp

WARP is a now-defunct video game developer. Founded by Japanese musician, Kenji Eno, WARP was composed of five members and was dedicated to creating interactive cinema. Their most successful series of games, the D series, featured the same lead character, Laura, and were known for their musical...

, from the ashes of WARP on April 28, 2000. Superwarp diverged from WARP in concentrating on DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

s, network

Computer network

A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....

 services, and online music. With Superwarp, Eno worked on 20 or 30 widely diverse projects including work with NTT DoCoMo

NTT DoCoMo

is the predominant mobile phone operator in Japan. The name is officially an abbreviation of the phrase, "do communications over the mobile network", and is also from a compound word dokomo, meaning "everywhere" in Japanese. Docomo provides phone, video phone , i-mode , and mail services...

, creation of a cell-phone purchase interface for Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

 vending machines, marketing cigarettes, and designing a trendy hotel. Eno also began blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

ging during this period. Superwarp was disbanded in 2005 without having released a single video game title. Eno explained that this was his final act of distancing himself from his past at WARP.

fyto and the return to video games

Currently Eno heads his third video game development company, From Yellow to Orange

From Yellow to Orange

From Yellow to Orange, or fyto, is a Japanese video game developer. Kenji Eno, of D2 fame, is its president and CEO. When Gamasutra met with Eno at E3 2006, he revealed that he was working on a game for a next generation title for a console with a new control device. The game, entitled Kimi to Boku...

 (fyto) which he founded in August 2001. In 2006, Eno announced that fyto was in the process of designing a game and, during an interview at E3 2006, he hinted that the game would be designed for Nintendo's Wii

Wii

The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

. In the September 2008 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly

Electronic Gaming Monthly

Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...

, Eno stated in an interview that he was working on a game that would be revealed either in the "next issue, or the next, next issue of EGM." On March 23, 2009, Nintendo released the new game entitled ("You and Me and the Cubes") on the Wii's downloadable games service, Wiiware.

In August 2008 Kenji Eno teamed up with Kenichi Nishi

Kenichi Nishi

is a Japanese video game designer. He was born June 20, 1967 in Tokyo, Japan. Over the years, he has helped found a number of notable video game companies and currently develops games at Route24, his own private limited company...

 (Chibi-Robo!

Chibi-Robo!

, fully titled Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure!, is a platform-adventure video game for the Nintendo GameCube console. It was developed by Skip Ltd. with collaboration from Nintendo. The game was first released in Japan on June 23, 2005, in North America on February 6, 2006, and in Europe on May...

, Captain Rainbow

Captain Rainbow

is a video game developed by Skip Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The game was released exclusively in Japan on August 28, 2008.The game puts players in the role of Nick, an ordinary guy whose alter ego "Captain★Rainbow", was once a popular TV superhero. In order to regain his...

, etc.) under the control of Fieldsystem, Inc. to write the score for and help develop Newtonica, a game for the iPhone

IPhone

The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

 and iPod Touch

IPod Touch

The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...

.

With Interlink

• Juuouki
  Altered Beast
  Altered Beast is a 1988 beat 'em up arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega. The game is set in Ancient Greece, and follows a centurion who is resurrected by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena, and to do so become able to turn into beasts such as the werewolf with usage of power-ups...
  
  (Famicom, 1990) - Sound Creator
• SD Hero Soukessen: Taose! Aku no Gundan (Famicom, 1990) - Supervisor, Musician (Famicom, 1990) - Planner

With EIM, Ltd.

• Parallel World (NES, 1990) (Famicom, 1991) - Concept
• Casino Kid 2 (NES, 1992) - Sound Programmer, Music Composer (NES, 1992) - Concept, Supervisor, Music Composer
• Miyasu Nonki no Quiz 18-kin (Arcade, 1992)
• Kyouryuu Densetsu (Famicom, unreleased)
• Superman (NES, unreleased)
• Sunman
  Sunman (video game)
  Sunman was a video game developed by EIM for Sunsoft for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. Despite being mostly complete, it was never commercially released. Also, unlike most video games of this time, it was never even announced...
  
  (NES, unreleased) - Planner, Director

With WARP, Inc.

(3DO, 1994) (3DO, 1994) (Sega Saturn/3DO, 1995)
} (PS1, 1995)
} (3DO, 1996) (PS1, 1995)

• Oyaji Hunter Mahjong (3DO, 1995) (3DO/PS1, 1995) (3DO, 1996) (Sega Saturn, 1996; PC, 1998) (Sega Saturn, 1997; Dreamcast, 1999) (Dreamcast, 1998) - Musician (Dreamcast, 1999)

External contract work

• newtonica (iPhone/iPod Touch, 2008) (Fieldsystem, Inc.) - Music Composer
• newtonica 2 (iPhone/iPod Touch, 2008) (Fieldsystem, Inc.)
• newtonica 2 resort (iPhone/iPod Touch, 2009) (Fieldsystem, Inc.)
• One-Dot Enemies (iPhone, 2009) (Studio-Kura) - Designer

Music

Eno's musical achievements are in general lesser known outside of Japan, although they have enjoyed more mainstream success than his video games. Eno has produced several albums independently as well as collaborated on albums such as The Cinematic Orchestra

The Cinematic Orchestra

The Cinematic Orchestra is a British jazz and electronic outfit, created in 1997 by Jason Swinscoe. The band is signed to Ninja Tune independent record label. In addition to Swinscoe, the band includes PC former DJ Food member on turntables, Luke Flowers , Tom Chant , Nick Ramm , Stuart McCallum ...

's Remixes 1998-2000. Eno is also credited with having composed music for several of his games including Juuouki

Altered Beast

Altered Beast is a 1988 beat 'em up arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega. The game is set in Ancient Greece, and follows a centurion who is resurrected by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena, and to do so become able to turn into beasts such as the werewolf with usage of power-ups...

, Casino Kid 2, Sunman

Sunman (video game)

Sunman was a video game developed by EIM for Sunsoft for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. Despite being mostly complete, it was never commercially released. Also, unlike most video games of this time, it was never even announced...

, and the dark ambient

Dark ambient

Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Although it had its roots in the 1970s, Dark ambient emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of newer, smaller, and more affordable Effects units, synthesizer and sampling technology...

 scores to D

D (video game)

is a survival horror puzzle-oriented adventure game released in 1995 by WARP. The first entry in the D series and one of the first games released by the company, it dealt with taboo content such as violence and cannibalism, featured 3D CGI full-motion video and a first-person perspective, and...

and D2. Most recently he wrote the score for the Fieldsystem game, Newtonica. Eno has claimed influence from electronic group, Yellow Magic Orchestra

Yellow Magic Orchestra

Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band...

.

External links

• eno blog
• SIT Developer Table entry on Kenji Eno
• 1up Interview with Kenji Eno
• Game Developer Research Institute entry on EIM
• SIT Developer Table entry on EIM
• Warp, Inc. at MobyGames
  MobyGames
  -Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...
  
  
• WARP on GameSpot
  GameSpot
  GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
  
  
• Superwarp official website
• fyto website
• CoreGamer's Profile and Interview with Kenji Eno