Jiro Ishii, video game director, and designer. Image courtesy of Otakon

VIDEO GAMES

Video game director and designer Jiro Ishii joins the list of guests at Otakon 2014

BALTIMORE—Video game director and designer Jiro Ishii will be a guest at Otakon 2014 to be held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD from August 8 through10.

Affiliated primarily with the studios Chunsoft (known in the west for their Mystery Dungeon games) and more recently, LEVEL-5 (known for the Dragon Quest and Professor Layton games), Jiro Ishii is a popular video game director who has made his impact in the entertainment world.

Ishii began his video game designer career working on several lesser-known titles, including the Little Lovers series of dating simulation games.  After establishing a foothold in the industry, he moved to Chunsoft, where he directed the now critically acclaimed interactive visual novel and adventure video game 428: In a Blockaded Shibuya. Based on one of several possible game scenarios, and four novels based on the game, the anime Canaan set the path for Ishii.

Ishii has also produced the well regarded Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, in which nine kidnap victims must explore a sinking cruise liner and solve puzzles to escape. He also worked on Imabikiso, and the 3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei video game, based on the long-running school drama. He also produced Trick x Logic, a mystery game for the PSP.