A letter from Japan

[Iwata]

I was never that much into japanese-originated games. I don't outright hate them as many do, but I don't understand those who love them above all else, like many others do as well.

However, some recent developments are calling my attention to it. In the last few months, we saw what used to be Japanese licenses being given over to western studios, Dead Rising, Castlevania and Devil May Cry being the ones that stand out.

And now, the developers themselves are speaking out. Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid), Tomonobu Itagaki (Ninja Gaiden) and Keiji Inafune (Dead Rising) have all spoken out against the unchanging face of japanese gaming, and hell, who can forget the Fallout: New Vegas adds in Japan that featured a "protest" by japanese gamers saying they are sick of androgenous characters and playing the same game over and over again?

Keiji Inafune went so far as to say, and I quote: "I look around (the Tokyo Game Show) and all I see are horrible games", then going so far as to say that japanese gaming is five years behind its western rivals.

And who can deny it? Western games try to innovate, and offer something new with each new installment, whereas the gaming face of Japan remains unchanged, and seems almost reluctant to join this generation.

Your thoughts on the matter?

 

[The Rockerfly]

It's weird, you'd think Japan with it's innovation culture it would be massively ahead in the industry, especially ahead of the cost concious, cheap, mass marketed western culture

 

[Palademon]

Bias argument is bias...and hypocritical.
Just because some people don't like the games, even people of the country, doesn't mean they aren't good. And I'm guessing you, the person who cant understand why games you hate are loved above all else, love western games above all else?

 

[kebab4you]

I can only think of a few western developers that try to be innovative(Valve being one of them), the rest just shell out the same thing over,over and over again.
I'm looking at you mw2

 

[Iwata]

Bias argument is bias...and hypocritical.
Just because some people don't like the games, even people of the country, doesn't mean they aren't good. And I'm guessing you, the person who cant understand why games you hate are loved above all else, love western games above all else?

I never said the games aren't good, and I specifically said I don't hate the genre. I also didn't pass judgement on anyone for liking japanese games, as you seem to imply. I posted a compilation of facts and quotes, and asked for comment. That was the extent of my OT. I would suggest you read it more carefully next time. I'll look the other way as far as you insulting me directly is concerned.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Let's see if Fallout New Vegas sells more than Dragon Quest in Japan to see if that advertisement summed up the opinion of real Japanese game buyers. Companies like Bioware and Bethesda have been doing the same old shit for years while some Japanese RPG companies really do try to mix things up.

Not sure if you can apply that lack of innovation thing across the board. Was Dante's Inferno more innovative and higher quality than Bayonetta? Was Dead Rising less innovative than Dead Rising 2?

 

[mParadox]

Japan is addicted to emoed teenagers the same as the Western industry is addicted to gay-space marines! :X

OT: I do think that Jap industry needs to look another way because now all games are becoming bland. I mean look at FFXIV.

 

[Palademon]

Bias argument is bias...and hypocritical.
Just because some people don't like the games, even people of the country, doesn't mean they aren't good. And I'm guessing you, the person who cant understand why games you hate are loved above all else, love western games above all else?

I never said the games aren't good, and I specifically said I don't hate the genre. I also didn't pass judgement on anyone for liking japanese games, as you seem to imply. I posted a compilation of facts and quotes, and asked for comment. That was the extent of my OT. I would suggest you read it more carefully next time. I'll look the other way as far as you insulting me directly is concerned.

Ok, here's my revised comment: some japanese don't like their own games. Makes as much sense as anyone in the western world prefering japanese games.

 

[faspxina]

Don't forget that Japan is one little country. The fact that it competes with "west" of the world (aahh, see what I did there) definitely means something.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Besides FPS and TPS Japan pwnz all countries in action games. Like seriously, there are zero good hack n' slash, run and gun, lite gun, shooter, platformer or fighting games made by western developers. If western developers have actually innovated then nothing they have innovated has actually been good.

And Inafune has nothing to do with Devil May Cry.

 

[Iwata]

And Inafune has nothing to do with Devil May Cry.

You're absolutely right, I meant to write Dead Rising.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Don't forget that Japan is one little country.

It's one of the largest economies in the world.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Everybody wants to make as much money possible off a known game formula, Japan and the West are no different. I definitely think Japan's creators are at times allowed to create something completely off-the-wall whereas in the West a major company wouldn't green light it. Look at anything in Asian from games to movies to music, they are as derivative as the West. I just think the West overall is a bit more money hungry than the East; hit Japanese games don't come out on a yearly basis like CoD. And, Asian TV does a lot of one-shots (shows that only get one season no matter how popular they are) and shows that don't get good ratings aren't canceled after 2 episodes like in the US. In the West, I think we stretch everything and anything that's popular to its breaking limits to make maximize profit.

 

[Iron Lightning]

I'm personally tired of both Western and Japanese games. My first and second favorite games come from Russia(The Void) and Chile(Zeno Clash,) respectively. I love these games because they're more innovative than Thomas Edison and Leonardo da Vinci's impossible lovechild. If we had more Turkish games or Indian games competing with the Western and Japanese market, then we might see those markets knocked out of their formulas.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

And who can deny it? Western games try to innovate, and offer something new with each new installment

I actually laughed when i read this lol. Western Games don't try to innovate. They use the same formula over and over again and people keep shelling out money for it.

OT: I can understand why they are going western but i am with the group who hates the new dante. He looks like a Heroine addict and a loser. But then again look at DMC it has barely changed since the first one came out.

I cannot follow. You make a claim the complete opposite of his, yet you don't provide any sort of evidence that it can be true.

For the thread topic, well, I cannot say I agree nor disagree. I have hardly played any Japanese games, or ones that were formally Japanese owned.

 

[Eduku]

And who can deny it? Western games try to innovate, and offer something new with each new installment, whereas the gaming face of Japan remains unchanged, and seems almost reluctant to join this generation.

Ehh...I can't get on board with that. I mean, look at all the shooters out there.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

If we had more Turkish games...

Mount & Blade is awesome.

Can't think of many Indian games at the moment, other than Chess.

 

[Iwata]

And who can deny it? Western games try to innovate, and offer something new with each new installment

I actually laughed when i read this lol. Western Games don't try to innovate. They use the same formula over and over again and people keep shelling out money for it.

OT: I can understand why they are going western but i am with the group who hates the new dante. He looks like a Heroine addict and a loser. But then again look at DMC it has barely changed since the first one came out.

I cannot follow. You make a claim the complete opposite of his, yet you don't provide any sort of evidence that it can be true.

For the thread topic, well, I cannot say I agree nor disagree. I have hardly played any Japanese games, or ones that were formally Japanese owned.

I have played a lot and can see what they mean. As for the western games comment look at most games coming out. FPS is the biggest one where all the games are exactly the same as their predecessors and have a new weapon or something. Same with racing. All racing games are basically the exact same.

That is most definitely not true. I am not a racing fan, with some notable exceptions, but if you play a Need for Speed game, it plays differently from a WipeOut, which has nothing to do with an F1 2010, which in turn is the opposite of a Dirt, which has nothing in common with a Burnout, which bears no similarity to an GTX, which has nothing to do with a Gran Turismo 4, and so on and so on...

 

[Iron Lightning]

If we had more Turkish games...

Mount & Blade is awesome.

Can't think of many Indian games at the moment, other than Chess.

Neither can I, and that's precisely why we need more games from all over the globe.

Globalize Game Development!

 

[Serenegoose]

And who can deny it? Western games try to innovate, and offer something new with each new installment, whereas the gaming face of Japan remains unchanged, and seems almost reluctant to join this generation.

Your thoughts on the matter?

Western games are innovative now? I almost totally forgot we were up to Call of Duty... what... 7? now? Medal of honour, an almost indistinguishable predecessor-gone-clone is also up to what... Game a thousand? What about World of Endless Iterationcraft, or Starcraft 2, now it's got a new engine! What about Diablo 3? What was innovative about Dragon Age? What's revelatory about Dead Space? Even Mass Effect is just an third person shooter with more stuff than a typical third person shooter but less choice than an RPG. Is Company of Heroes innovative now that it's turning into an MMO?

Some Western games manage innovation. Most don't. They don't want to, it's never their aim, it never will be.

I'm willing to bet tons of Japanese games are really innovative and we never hear of them over here because they're smaller budget releases that don't see a global market. I'm also willing to bet that again, most don't aim for innovation, and most don't want to either, it's never their aim, never will be.

This Western/Japanese psuedo-rivalry is pathetic because it artificially creates an environment where games are split into two mutually exclusive entities, some sort of utterly sad montague and capulet farce where they two can't blend and become the best of both.