There was a conference at the World Game Cup in Cannes, France this weekend that featured Toshimichi Mori and Daisuke Ishiwatari, the creators of BlazBlue and Guilty Gear. There's a video of the conference up on UStream.

BlazBlue related questions...

Q: Is the BBCS2 DLC for console coming ?
Mori just answers "Kimasu" (coming) in the mic, and then mutters something that the spokesperson translates into "It's definitely coming, but he just doesn't want to say when. It will be either really cheap or free."

Q: Will there be a new GG ?
-Yes.

Q: Is a Guilty Gear x BlazBlue planned ?
Mori: Right now there's no plan about it.

Q: Will BlazBlue's chara design continue being as over-the-top as it as been so far, or is it going to favor a more serious tone in the future ? Because Makoto and Platinum are just "fun-looking" characters, just like Taokaka. (He then says that these characters remind too much of fan-service, and are closer to Arcana Hearts and loli-style than a serious style.)
Mori: What is planned right now is that more loli-like characters won't appear, and starting from now on, there'll be a lot more serious-looking character. But it doesn't mean that a character with pink cat ears and tail will never come out.
(He then asks "Who likes Kokonoe here ?!", and the spokesperson translates that into "Who likes that kind of character ?"...)

Q: Will Tager ever be a good character ? That's the third episode he's the weakest, is there any way you make him broken in the next game, please ?
Mori: No.

---

Non-Blazblue related questions

Q: What about Hokuto no Ken 2 ?
Mori: Please ask Sega. *giggles*

Q: What are your favourite video games of all times ?
Ishiwatari: Hard to choose, but I'll say Donjon Master and Tomb Raider 1.
Mori: Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers), Gears of War and Tekken.

Q: In Capcom & SNK games, the new characters are more focused on original moves and gameplay, while in GG & BB, characters are more focused on being original, things that we have never seen before. Where do you find inspiration ? Are you getting your inspiration from other things ?
Ishiwatari: When we create a new character, the first thing we think about is the character's range, and choose either the character will fight close or far form the opponent, and then the "type of character" is defined. Then there's a lot of inspiration from anime and mangas from the time being.
Mori: I'm just going under Ishiwatari's influence.

Q: In your opinion, what's more important : the design or the gameplay ?
Mori: We first focus on the fact that the character has to fit the physics and the system of the game. Then we think about the design.
Ishiwatari: It's still hard to tell which one arrives first when we think about creating a new character. (He means that sometimes it happens that he has a character design idea before even knowing how he'll fight)

Q: How do you feel when you are in a French tournament, if you compare it to Japan ? Are you happy to be here ?
Ishiwatari: I was surprised by the atmosphere. The fact that players are teasing each others is fun.
The spokesperson translates then "There's that in Japan too, but here, the atmosphere is top tier".
Mori: In SBO there are similar matches where there's a lot of motivation and when everyone's yelling and etc.

And then the Stream went down.