Ars Technica’s Andrew Webster talks about the state of Japanese game development with Square Enix president Yoichi Wada. Wada pinpoints 2005 as the year Japan game companies began falling behind their Western counterparts. He implies the console transition was the reason, saying Japanese developers are just now starting to see recovery as they get accustomed to working with current consoles. Despite of that, he still sees a lack of up and coming game talent out of Japan. Square Enix recently brought UK developer Eidos into its fold, a move that Wada partly attributes to his company seeking culturally diverse talent. He says his company s goal is to create a flat world where the same games are appealing to audiences in the West and East. Among Square Enix’s plans are tightening the gap that exists between their games getting released in Japan and abroad to grow its Western audience. On the flip side, the company wants to find ways to overcome marketing and retail barriers to help grow Japan’s appetite for Western fare.