Dead Rising 2 Producer Blasts Japanese Game Industry

[cefm]

Japan generally did a terrible job adapting to making games for the players they hooked on Nintendo in the 80's and 90's. They never figured out how to make games for adults. Adding boobs and badly translated swearing and up-skirts is NOT making a game for adults.

They still make great kids' games (it helps that kids' minds are more maleable and open to accepting shit that makes absolutely no sense) but they have failed to make games that the adult player will tolerate. Even the hallowed Metal Gear series seems like it was written by and for a 12 year old.

 

[Dectilon]

I may be remembering incorrectly, but I think the japanese market for games is shrinking. People just aren't buying as many games as they used to, so it only makes sense for developers to turn their eyes outward.

Games like Vanquish and No More Heroes are exactly the kind of thing the news writer asks for: games meant to appeal to a western audience that are something very different from what we're already getting.

 

[Danpascooch]

He's right, but if Capcom hires anyone, they need TO HIRE WRITERS!

Seriously, Dead Rising 1 had some of the worst dialogue writing of any game.

 

[Meggiepants]

The point I'm getting is that Japan's problem isn't not being western enough. Their problem is how they have been doing business within the market. If they don't localize their best stuff and send it overseas, they can't whine about not competing all that well. At one time Japanese "shovelware" with the occasional genuinely big game was enough to compete with the fledgeling western developers. That isn't the case anymore. If they want to compete with AAA type titles, they need to release their equivilents here.

What's more keeping their games "Japan Exclusive" for a period seems to be a cultural thing, ensuring fans other countries are a year or so behind even if a release is planned. To be honest there is no reason WHY more Japanese games can't see simultaneous global releases. I mean they CAN record multiple voice tracks at the same time, and we have seen the occasional simultaneous worldwide release (or something close to it). If Japan keeps releaing games that are a year old already, to compete with this year's "AAA" titles which are as good as what they are making, The Japanese shouldn't be all that surprised when people treat the game like a year old game that should be selling for half as much. Tech improves a bit every year and your year old game is an inferior product to a game coming out this year. Once this was less of an issue when Japan was ahead of the curve, but it isn't anymore.

Some snipping for length, but I agree with quite a bit from your post. I find that Japanese games still have oomph, but the country on a whole has been practicing a policy of protectionism in an increasingly global market. I think this, above all, has hurt them in the gaming industry.

OT: I for one would hate for Japan to lose that unique flavor that their games have. I love Western games. Bioware is one of my favorite companies. But one of my other favorite companies is Atlus, or was Atlus. I don't want all my games to be the same. I enjoy the variety of gaming styles I get from the different publishers. Japan still leads the market on edgy titles like Catherine that just wouldn't be made here. It would be a shame to lose them to conformity.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Inafune has REALLY got to cut this out. Japan is not without talent, they're just going through a meek, complacent phase to try and find excuses for sales not being as high in the west. They need a REALLY big kick in the ass. Otherwise their identity is going to vanish, I mean look at that terrible DMC trailer

 

[Casual Shinji]

Maybe Capcom needs to just simply get its shit together; shipping your franchises over to incompetent developers just because they're Western is not the answer.

Other Japanese developers are atleast still making their games themselves.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

I think a trend is going to start of JRPGs where everyone has crew cuts

 

[ANImaniac89]

In my opinion both the US and Japanese Game Industry's are flawed.

 

[Rad Party God]

Reading most comments, I really can't say much as everything I wanted to say has already been said... BUT, I want to compliment/rant a bit.

Okami... that game is almost a 100% japanese, and I said almost because it's in english, but everything the game offers is completely japanese, the art style, the silly humor, the locations, the epic soundtrack is a beautiful blend of japanese instruments, even it's mythology is heavily based on japanese mythologies.

I don't want a westernized Okami, in the first place, because I don't see it working in any form, and second, because I don't want a gritty and realistic wolf battling 9 headed dragons bleeding thousands of gallons of blood...

Also, Street Fighter IV is completely japanese with a handful of western inspirations, it not only has a distinctly good artwork and graphics, it also redifines the fighting mechanic that they almost invented.

Japan needs to ralize that they need to improve what's already worked for them, but they also need to realize that we don't want the same games with better graphics over and over again.

 

[seditary]

Isn't this like the 5th time someone from Capcom has made a statement along the lines of 'Japan sucks, the West is awesome'?

Seems to me that instead of actually making compelling and diverse games, they're just going to attempt to suck up to the larger market.

'Buy our games that may or may not actually be made by Japanese because we realize we suck and you wonderful people are killing us!'

 

[KaosuHamoni]

He's right, but if Capcom hires anyone, they need TO HIRE WRITERS!

Seriously, Dead Rising 1 had some of the worst dialogue writing of any game.

But he's covered wars, you know...

OT. I think that this could be both a blessing and a curse, as, while they do need to step up to the mark (I was so hyped for FFXIII. Never been let-down more by a game.), they have, in the past, led the industry with they're games. DMC, RE, Castlevania. What they need to do is completely reboot the JRPG genre into something enjoyable, and appeal to western consumers more, without completely copying them.

 

[Electrogecko]

I am extremely disappointed with Japan's taste in games. It seems to me that unless it's a JRPG or a dating sim, most Japanese wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Just look at their most anticipated 3DS games..... an unannounced Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest made the #1 and #2 spot, while the new Paper Mario is in 14th behind a Kingdom Hearts, 2 Shin Megamis, Etrian Odyssey, Gundam, and Super Robot, all of which have yet to be officially announced. The JRPG is to them what the FPS is to the U.S, and I'm not sure which is more generic or sickens me more.

 

[Aurgelmir]

I must wonder though, if the art style of Japanese games also hold them back.

Take a (in my opinion) great game; Valkyria Chronicles, I think the game sold poorly in the west due to two things:
Anime Art and Poor advertising.

I think a lot of us here i nthe wst have started associating Anime styled games, as "just another crappy JRPG"

And when you don't have any advertising to prove us wrong, a lot of us will judge the book (game) by its cover.


And then you have games like Final Fantasy 13 with some really amazing character designs, which gets ruined by nonexisting gameplay and a (in my opinion) poor story.

To wrap this up I wil ljsut list a few things I used to like about Japanese games:
Good characters
Good Character design
Awesome music

Even Final Fantasy is starting to lack in that department.

So in my mind, get back what they were good at, and add some of the things the west does right.

 

[Dexiro]

Japan is good at some things, we're good at others. It's better if it stays that way.

As for JRPG's being mostly the same, our equivalent is FPS's so we're all equal

 

[mjc0961]

Reading this made me look over at my collection of current gen games, and it's like "Wow, a lot more of these are from western devs than my PS2/GameCube collection was." The only Japanese companies I see in here are Capcom, Nintendo, and Atlus. And I guess Sony, but most of their big-name games aren't made in Japan (Metal Gear Solid 4 is, but everything else... Ratchet and Clank series is USA, Uncharted series is USA, LittleBigPlanet is Europe, Killzone is Europe, God of War is USA, the upcoming new Twisted Metal is USA, and if you count it [I don't but what the hey], ModNation Racers is Canada).

I hate to quote that annoying Marcus kid, but in this case I think it's needed. Hey Japan... Step your game up!

I guess the old phrase 'admitting you have a problem is the first step towards recovery' comes into play here and while I know some people will be synical of this and try to rally a defense against such a statement by pulling out games like FFXIII or the first Dead Rising but let's face facts.

Final Fantasy 13 isn't a defense against Inafune's statements, it's a perfect example of what he's talking about. Any developer that thinks people should play through 20 hours of pig shit on the excuse of there being a possibly good story needs to get their heads out of their ass and stop making awful games. The only people who are going to excuse and defend that decision are fans of the series, and while they have a pretty big fanbase there, they aren't going to get any new people buying that junk and everyone always wants more sales.

Also, it wouldn't hurt for them to make characters where you can tell what gender they are right off the bat. At this point I've decided the main character of FF13 is a man who is in the middle of sex change surgeries. He's got the boob job done, but hasn't gotten anything done towards his face yet at all.

 

[Carlston]

They make many appealing games...

Yet they spend to much time after judging the west is to stupid to enjoy them....

Then spoon feeds us crap...