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Has anyone noticed how gaming tastes change in different parts of the world? We think of it as strange that the Japanese like train simulators, virtual girlfriends and can't stand FPSs. They hate games made in this country, and shun models like Lara Croft. Enter the worldwide gaming scene...
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*****JAPAN*****
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Now, as mentioned above, the Japanese have some strange tastes in games...
Floating ships play a huge role in Japanese wolk legend, and as a result you see this in gaming in games like Eternal Arcadia. Manga, the Japanese form of cartoons, have a unique style- big headed, wide-eyed characters- that are used in games like FF7. Finally, the huge flying "Mecha" (robot) games that have become obscelete in the West, are as vibrant in Japan as ever- with Virtual On, Zone of the Enders, and Armoured Core being prime examples of the national love for all things big and metally- mainly due to their inclusion in Manga comic books.
On the other side of the coin, the Japanese hate some of our games. Lara Croft, popular in the West thanks to her "assets" is shunned in Japan- they just aren't as turned on by white, corcasian women as everyone thought they might be...
Then there are simply games that the Japanese cannot play. FPS physically make many Japanese people sick- apparantly it's hereditory that Japanese people get very bad motion sickness. Of course, there have been attempts to rectify this- Sega's Outtrigger was made with the sole intention to allow Japnese gamers the pleasure of a FPS without the side-effects.
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****AMERICA****
---------------
Well, as you'd expect the Americans love their sports games. American Football, Basketball, Ice Hockey and the like are prime examples of sports that the Amerians love to play, despite the rest of the world not taking and interest in them. (The love of baseball in shared with the Japanese).
Of course, American's love their mindless shooting games. FPS games like Halflife and Deus Ex follow on from games like Doom and Quake to quench the American love of violence. Then there are RTS games like Command and Conquer that allow the Americans to explore their military dominance over the world in the comfort of their own homes. Finally, the western RPG games, like Diablo, are far different from the tradional Japanese fantasies. Often they involve more American orientated folk legends- Vampire rather than floating ships for example!
Finally, both America and Japan are both lucky enough to live in broadband societies that make online gaming atrue reality. In America, many American Football games are going online, and in Japan online RPGs have been emerging with games like FFXI and PSO leading the way.
______________
****EUROPE****
--------------
Out of all the regions, we get the short straw. No online gaming, no European console makers, and PAL TVs mean that the market here is the most expoited of all.
In terms of games, our needs aren't met as much as the other two regions. Sure, we get plenty (too many!) Football games, however other sports, like Cricket, just aren't supported.
That said, the large presence of UK developers created suring the Sinclair age means that we don't ahve it all bad. Racing games from studios like Bizare, FPS games from Rare and general American style games make enough choice for any casual gamer.
Sonic
_______________
*****JAPAN*****
---------------
Now, as mentioned above, the Japanese have some strange tastes in games...
Floating ships play a huge role in Japanese wolk legend, and as a result you see this in gaming in games like Eternal Arcadia. Manga, the Japanese form of cartoons, have a unique style- big headed, wide-eyed characters- that are used in games like FF7. Finally, the huge flying "Mecha" (robot) games that have become obscelete in the West, are as vibrant in Japan as ever- with Virtual On, Zone of the Enders, and Armoured Core being prime examples of the national love for all things big and metally- mainly due to their inclusion in Manga comic books.
On the other side of the coin, the Japanese hate some of our games. Lara Croft, popular in the West thanks to her "assets" is shunned in Japan- they just aren't as turned on by white, corcasian women as everyone thought they might be...
Then there are simply games that the Japanese cannot play. FPS physically make many Japanese people sick- apparantly it's hereditory that Japanese people get very bad motion sickness. Of course, there have been attempts to rectify this- Sega's Outtrigger was made with the sole intention to allow Japnese gamers the pleasure of a FPS without the side-effects.
_______________
****AMERICA****
---------------
Well, as you'd expect the Americans love their sports games. American Football, Basketball, Ice Hockey and the like are prime examples of sports that the Amerians love to play, despite the rest of the world not taking and interest in them. (The love of baseball in shared with the Japanese).
Of course, American's love their mindless shooting games. FPS games like Halflife and Deus Ex follow on from games like Doom and Quake to quench the American love of violence. Then there are RTS games like Command and Conquer that allow the Americans to explore their military dominance over the world in the comfort of their own homes. Finally, the western RPG games, like Diablo, are far different from the tradional Japanese fantasies. Often they involve more American orientated folk legends- Vampire rather than floating ships for example!
Finally, both America and Japan are both lucky enough to live in broadband societies that make online gaming atrue reality. In America, many American Football games are going online, and in Japan online RPGs have been emerging with games like FFXI and PSO leading the way.
______________
****EUROPE****
--------------
Out of all the regions, we get the short straw. No online gaming, no European console makers, and PAL TVs mean that the market here is the most expoited of all.
In terms of games, our needs aren't met as much as the other two regions. Sure, we get plenty (too many!) Football games, however other sports, like Cricket, just aren't supported.
That said, the large presence of UK developers created suring the Sinclair age means that we don't ahve it all bad. Racing games from studios like Bizare, FPS games from Rare and general American style games make enough choice for any casual gamer.
Sonic
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DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT TEKKEN!!!
AHHHHH!!! *nervous breakdown*
Incase you're wondering why this is, let me explain...
Tekken is MEANT to run as fast as Soul Calibur- in Japan and America it's a fast paced action filled game.
In Europe, the game hasn't been optimised very well in ANY version, meaning that few UK gamers know what the game is actually meant to play like. Yet everyone rants on about how good it is?!?!?!
Getting back to the topic, all the consoles support 60Hz. Whether developers USE the option is another matter. With the DC almost every game did- simply because Sega's dev kit made it easy to do. This not only gained the admiration of gamers, but also made UK games just as they were meant to be seen!
With the PS2, things are very different. Almost no games support 60Hz, many games have second rate optimistaions- leaving big black borders on games like DMC- and this really does wreck my opinion of Sony. It's just another example of them rushing the deisgn of the dev kits- like the Anti-aliasing fiasco.
Let's hope that the GC and Xbox will do better. After all, after Lylat Wars came out, almost every N64 game was brilliantly optimised with almost no borders, and speeds very close to the original.
Sonic
AHHHHH!!! *nervous breakdown*
Incase you're wondering why this is, let me explain...
Tekken is MEANT to run as fast as Soul Calibur- in Japan and America it's a fast paced action filled game.
In Europe, the game hasn't been optimised very well in ANY version, meaning that few UK gamers know what the game is actually meant to play like. Yet everyone rants on about how good it is?!?!?!
Getting back to the topic, all the consoles support 60Hz. Whether developers USE the option is another matter. With the DC almost every game did- simply because Sega's dev kit made it easy to do. This not only gained the admiration of gamers, but also made UK games just as they were meant to be seen!
With the PS2, things are very different. Almost no games support 60Hz, many games have second rate optimistaions- leaving big black borders on games like DMC- and this really does wreck my opinion of Sony. It's just another example of them rushing the deisgn of the dev kits- like the Anti-aliasing fiasco.
Let's hope that the GC and Xbox will do better. After all, after Lylat Wars came out, almost every N64 game was brilliantly optimised with almost no borders, and speeds very close to the original.
Sonic
Well done on your GAD Sonic. Knew you'd get another one soon, you've been on a roll with these topics. What drugs you taking? ;-)
Or†ega wrote:
> Exactly, even though the PS2 supports 60hz Our version of Tekken is somthin
> around 20% slower aint it?! Bloody disgrace.
Well, no and no. The game is around 15% slower, but it's hardly a disgrace. Fast or not, it's still a poor game though.
> Exactly, even though the PS2 supports 60hz Our version of Tekken is somthin
> around 20% slower aint it?! Bloody disgrace.
Well, no and no. The game is around 15% slower, but it's hardly a disgrace. Fast or not, it's still a poor game though.
pb wrote:
> Well done on your GAD Sonic. Knew you'd get another one soon, you've been on a
> roll with these topics. What drugs you taking? ;-)
It's not the drugs I'm taking... it's the drugs I'm supplying to the GAD staff ;)
Oh, and lol at Turbonutter's sarcastic comeback (seem to be doind lots of them recently).
Sonic
> Well done on your GAD Sonic. Knew you'd get another one soon, you've been on a
> roll with these topics. What drugs you taking? ;-)
It's not the drugs I'm taking... it's the drugs I'm supplying to the GAD staff ;)
Oh, and lol at Turbonutter's sarcastic comeback (seem to be doind lots of them recently).
Sonic
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