Kojima: "Maybe I Should Quit Being Japanese"

[Dectilon]

"Well, there are some good and creative japanese games out like Persona and NoMoreHeroes"

Good and creative respectively

...Actually NMH was pretty good at times too, but Persona (well, at least 3) is so stereotypically japanese that it can actually cause physical pain.

I think the reason he brought up Spike Awards is because it was a recent award ceremony. Then again, I know the standards for japanese tv is very, very low. Both with concerns to humor and sexism so maybe he doesn't see any problems with it

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Mental Note: Safehouse camp Kojima, then upload a 2 hr cutscene silliloquie explaining the angst of my hunter zombie and how he had sex with his stepmother, driving his father to alchoholism and eventual death- when I ate his brains.

In seriousness though, glad to see theres a Japanese developer standing up and saying "HEY wtf people!". There was a time when the rolls were reversed- American games were all cheap knockoff crap, and the Japanese ruled the market with an iron fist of wangst and final fantasy. But those days are gone now...

 

[John Stalvern]

Hell, I only watch spike when it's late and that MXC show is on. But Japan does have and issue with exclusivity.

 

[The Bandit]

Many Japanese titles have strong bases in the west, for example, Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Final Fantasy, so I don't think that the Japanese gaming industry is in immediate danger. If Mr. Kojima or any other Japanese developers are really worried they could always incorporate elements of western titles(Such as Real-time strategy, First person action gaming or morale choices in RPGs) into their own projects.

I think Kojima is more worried about the lack of Japanese innovation that's able to capture Western audiences. Listing off Mario, Zelda, and Metroid as the saving grace for Japan's gaming industry is not very reassuring.

 

[PumpItUp]

My thoughts exactly. Spike TV?! Their chances of giving a uniquely Japanese game full recognition are about as high as American Football's chances of "making it" outside America.

Here's a little irony for you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyeshield_21

Also, if anyone has seen how many Japanese anime are up on the block for butchering-I-mean-Americanization by Hollywood, you might agree with the OP's statements. Speed Racer, Dragonball, Cowboy Bebop, Akira, all great series/movies, soon to have their (dragon)balls cut off by American filmmakers. Sad, really.

 

[Joeshie]

Haha, thank you Kojima. There was a thread a week or two ago where people actually thought that Japanese developers weren't falling behind their Western counterparts.

Hopefully, this shut a few of them up.

Also, Kojima is the most massive reverse weeaboo I've ever seen.

 

[Sewblon]

Many Japanese titles have strong bases in the west, for example, Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Final Fantasy, so I don't think that the Japanese gaming industry is in immediate danger. If Mr. Kojima or any other Japanese developers are really worried they could always incorporate elements of western titles(Such as Real-time strategy, First person action gaming or morale choices in RPGs) into their own projects.

I think Kojima is more worried about the lack of Japanese innovation that's able to capture Western audiences. Listing off Mario, Zelda, and Metroid as the saving grace for Japan's gaming industry is not very reassuring.

Still if he is really worried Mr. Kojima, as a well known Japanese video game creator is in a better position to do something about it then most people are.

 

[Valiance]

Just make a sequel to Ikaruga.

 

[God's Clown]

Well, it is to my opinion that Japanese games have already been stolen, in a way, by western companies. I think the big problems with Japanese games is they only release the top end games that they know will sell in other countries. They don't really risk that much in terms of other games. Then we have taste, where american's, at least myself, prefer blood, gore, action, guns, explosions, zombies, more blood, more death...well I think that explains what I like....Japanese games don't use all of those to extreme's usually.

At this point I don't really know what I am talking about, because I am tired, and dumb when I am tired. The point is, Japanese games are all the same, sequels, more sequels, even MORE sequels, and once again, sequels. I need more variety myself. Though I am a big fan of Final Fantasy and Star Ocean.

 

[Sewblon]

Many Japanese titles have strong bases in the west, for example, Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Final Fantasy, so I don't think that the Japanese gaming industry is in immediate danger. If Mr. Kojima or any other Japanese developers are really worried they could always incorporate elements of western titles(Such as Real-time strategy, First person action gaming or morale choices in RPGs) into their own projects.

I think Kojima is more worried about the lack of Japanese innovation that's able to capture Western audiences. Listing off Mario, Zelda, and Metroid as the saving grace for Japan's gaming industry is not very reassuring.

Still if he is really worried Mr. Kojima, as a well known Japanese video game creator is in a better position to do something about it then most people are.

Which is why he's working on two new globally minded projects right now. 30 seconds after the first trailer is released, I garuntee people will be saying he should stick to Metal Gear Solid.

Well what will happen after the actual release of these nebulous projects.

 

[GloatingSwine]

The man famous for making games with bloated stories is addicted to a game that has almost no story? The mind boggles.

He has a point, Japanese companies rarely make games like Left 4 Dead. Actually I can't even think of a single Japanese FPS game.

Rez? Killer 7? Metroid Prime? Lets Go Jungle: Lost on the Island of Spice?

Rez is an FPS? Isn't it a third person shooter type thing.

Rez is a third person rail shooter, Killer 7 is a quasi-rail shooter, Metroid Prime was made in Texas, Time Crisis is a lightgun game...

What was your point again?

 

[Woe Is You]

Japanese don't make FPS games because they've gotten sick of them.

Literally.

 

[shial]

The problem with all the examples being thrown around here is they reinforce his argument.

Mario came over in 1983 to the arcades (before that too in the donkey kong games)
Metroid in 1987, Metroid prime was designed in america
Zelda in 1987, Ocrania of time in 1999.
Persona in 1996
(edit) FF series - 1987, FF6 was in 1994 and ff7 in 1996

They actually do appear somewhat stagnate. None of their big name IPs that people list originated after 2000, A handful of IPs that they know are hits so they come over but anything else stays insular. We only see a couple of unique attempts.

 

[MsDevin92]

Is it bad if I spent the first five minutes of typing my reply laughing at the delicious irony in the fact that a lot of fanboys and teenage-tards would gladly give their firstborn to be Japanese?

I don't think Kojima should quit. I'm not saying race is all that matters in a person, but the fact that he comes from a different culture is what makes his games seem so exceptional and weird/hilarious to Westerners. After all, what American developer would've released a game where you fight an Inuit shaman in a tank or a nanomachine-fueled bisexual vampire?

 

[Joeshie]

After all, what American developer would've released a game where you fight an Inuit shaman in a tank or a nanomachine-fueled bisexual vampire?

Tim Schafer

 

[Erana]

Aww, he cares about us!
+10 to Kojima's WIN stat

 

[AceDiamond]

Is it bad if I spent the first five minutes of typing my reply laughing at the delicious irony in the fact that a lot of fanboys and teenage-tards would gladly give their firstborn to be Japanese?

I don't think Kojima should quit. I'm not saying race is all that matters in a person, but the fact that he comes from a different culture is what makes his games seem so exceptional and weird/hilarious to Westerners. After all, what American developer would've released a game where you fight an Inuit shaman in a tank or a nanomachine-fueled bisexual vampire?

And a game where apparently nanomachines can be used to stop even death from a bullet to the head but cannot stop premature genetic aging.

...sorry I'm still not happy with that particular form of deus-ex machibleh that he brought on us.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Come over to the dark side of the video gaming force Kojima. Maybe we will have FPS with 30 minute cutscene and a few seconds of gameplay. Even if it's called a bad game, your fans will buy it anyway.