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Anyone who has been interested in games for a while must have wondered about this.
Why is it that the gaming industry in Japan, and the West (let's say this includes Europe and America) has gone along different paths ?
Sure, a few Japanese originated games are ones that have a wide appeal - notably Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry, and Nintendo's cast of characters. But the majority remain safely confined to the shores of Japan, games like Armoured Core 3, Gundam, Summer Vacation, Tokimeki Memorial, and practically every other game that doesn't involve what we'd see as Western styles of play.
Meanwhile, the Western developers have created so many different games, Tomb Raider, TOCA, Command And Conquer and other greats....but few enjoy retail success in Japan. Why ?
I have a theory. The Japanese have gone, in the main, for styles of game which are colourful, fun, emotional and just plain different. They're actually playing games. In the West, for some reason, we've gone all serious. We try to simulate and relive experiences. We don't really care for anime characters, we want to be Agent X killing Enemy Y. A recent high seller in Japan for the PS2 was "My Summer Vacation 2" - a game where players follow a child through his sumemr vacation. Okay, sounds boring, but only because of what we are used to.
I think a country where this kind of thing is the top game for a while has a coolness of its own. It just says so much about the culture and lifestyle of Japan. It's what we can never be now, thanks to our own culture and games.
Okay, I'm not saying one style is better than the other, but I often wonder just how different the industry in the West, and life in general, would be if we'd gone along the lines of the Japanese..... I think it would be better because a lot of the games developed in the West are becoming stale and tired. I'm probably not the only one - Nintendo are starting to do well.....
Obviously we'd have the games in english though :)
~~Belldandy~~
Why is it that the gaming industry in Japan, and the West (let's say this includes Europe and America) has gone along different paths ?
Sure, a few Japanese originated games are ones that have a wide appeal - notably Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry, and Nintendo's cast of characters. But the majority remain safely confined to the shores of Japan, games like Armoured Core 3, Gundam, Summer Vacation, Tokimeki Memorial, and practically every other game that doesn't involve what we'd see as Western styles of play.
Meanwhile, the Western developers have created so many different games, Tomb Raider, TOCA, Command And Conquer and other greats....but few enjoy retail success in Japan. Why ?
I have a theory. The Japanese have gone, in the main, for styles of game which are colourful, fun, emotional and just plain different. They're actually playing games. In the West, for some reason, we've gone all serious. We try to simulate and relive experiences. We don't really care for anime characters, we want to be Agent X killing Enemy Y. A recent high seller in Japan for the PS2 was "My Summer Vacation 2" - a game where players follow a child through his sumemr vacation. Okay, sounds boring, but only because of what we are used to.
I think a country where this kind of thing is the top game for a while has a coolness of its own. It just says so much about the culture and lifestyle of Japan. It's what we can never be now, thanks to our own culture and games.
Okay, I'm not saying one style is better than the other, but I often wonder just how different the industry in the West, and life in general, would be if we'd gone along the lines of the Japanese..... I think it would be better because a lot of the games developed in the West are becoming stale and tired. I'm probably not the only one - Nintendo are starting to do well.....
Obviously we'd have the games in english though :)
~~Belldandy~~
I'd agree that the East is currently much more inventive than the West when it comes to games design. There are exceptions of course but, in general, an original idea is more likely to be developed into a game in the East; whereas a franchise is more likely to be milked to death in the West.
But it wasn't always like that. If you download MAME, or just remember the days of the Spectrum, then you see a very different time. In those days, when a game could be coded by one man, anything and everything was turned into a game. Weird ideas weren't weeded out in the boardroom. It seems like western gaming, as it became more of a business, became more conventional: but Japanese gaming didn't. Maybe Japanese coders are just left to get on with it; maybe the big names (Kojima, Miyamoto et al) have enough power to demand carte blanche. Whatever it is Japan is consistently better at producing true originals (like Ico, or a game I read about in Edge based around drawing kanji characters) than the West.
There are loads of good ideas in the West but very few get developed properly. I'm a huge fan of Jeff Minter (llamatron.co.uk) but his self-coded games only reach a very small audience. The exception, I guess, is Peter Molyneux: although even he jumped EA's corporate ship.
Anyway, I've rambled enough. Download MAME, find a Waku Waku 7 ROM, play it: and then tell me why we can't design games where you get to fight a bandana-wearing concrete pillar.
But it wasn't always like that. If you download MAME, or just remember the days of the Spectrum, then you see a very different time. In those days, when a game could be coded by one man, anything and everything was turned into a game. Weird ideas weren't weeded out in the boardroom. It seems like western gaming, as it became more of a business, became more conventional: but Japanese gaming didn't. Maybe Japanese coders are just left to get on with it; maybe the big names (Kojima, Miyamoto et al) have enough power to demand carte blanche. Whatever it is Japan is consistently better at producing true originals (like Ico, or a game I read about in Edge based around drawing kanji characters) than the West.
There are loads of good ideas in the West but very few get developed properly. I'm a huge fan of Jeff Minter (llamatron.co.uk) but his self-coded games only reach a very small audience. The exception, I guess, is Peter Molyneux: although even he jumped EA's corporate ship.
Anyway, I've rambled enough. Download MAME, find a Waku Waku 7 ROM, play it: and then tell me why we can't design games where you get to fight a bandana-wearing concrete pillar.
Like you say, the culture and lifestyle in Japan is just so different to what we're used to over here. This major difference affects all aspects of society, including gaming.
Although we may be missing out on a lot of, what the Japanese view as, genuinely enjoyable games, chances are they simply wouldn't suit our tastes, and so there's nothing to worry about. Besides, who'd want to swap the likes of C&C for some dating game? (Half of you need not answer this.) ;)
Although we may be missing out on a lot of, what the Japanese view as, genuinely enjoyable games, chances are they simply wouldn't suit our tastes, and so there's nothing to worry about. Besides, who'd want to swap the likes of C&C for some dating game? (Half of you need not answer this.) ;)
Anyone who has been interested in games for a while must have wondered about this.
Why is it that the gaming industry in Japan, and the West (let's say this includes Europe and America) has gone along different paths ?
Sure, a few Japanese originated games are ones that have a wide appeal - notably Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry, and Nintendo's cast of characters. But the majority remain safely confined to the shores of Japan, games like Armoured Core 3, Gundam, Summer Vacation, Tokimeki Memorial, and practically every other game that doesn't involve what we'd see as Western styles of play.
Meanwhile, the Western developers have created so many different games, Tomb Raider, TOCA, Command And Conquer and other greats....but few enjoy retail success in Japan. Why ?
I have a theory. The Japanese have gone, in the main, for styles of game which are colourful, fun, emotional and just plain different. They're actually playing games. In the West, for some reason, we've gone all serious. We try to simulate and relive experiences. We don't really care for anime characters, we want to be Agent X killing Enemy Y. A recent high seller in Japan for the PS2 was "My Summer Vacation 2" - a game where players follow a child through his sumemr vacation. Okay, sounds boring, but only because of what we are used to.
I think a country where this kind of thing is the top game for a while has a coolness of its own. It just says so much about the culture and lifestyle of Japan. It's what we can never be now, thanks to our own culture and games.
Okay, I'm not saying one style is better than the other, but I often wonder just how different the industry in the West, and life in general, would be if we'd gone along the lines of the Japanese..... I think it would be better because a lot of the games developed in the West are becoming stale and tired. I'm probably not the only one - Nintendo are starting to do well.....
Obviously we'd have the games in english though :)
~~Belldandy~~
Why is it that the gaming industry in Japan, and the West (let's say this includes Europe and America) has gone along different paths ?
Sure, a few Japanese originated games are ones that have a wide appeal - notably Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry, and Nintendo's cast of characters. But the majority remain safely confined to the shores of Japan, games like Armoured Core 3, Gundam, Summer Vacation, Tokimeki Memorial, and practically every other game that doesn't involve what we'd see as Western styles of play.
Meanwhile, the Western developers have created so many different games, Tomb Raider, TOCA, Command And Conquer and other greats....but few enjoy retail success in Japan. Why ?
I have a theory. The Japanese have gone, in the main, for styles of game which are colourful, fun, emotional and just plain different. They're actually playing games. In the West, for some reason, we've gone all serious. We try to simulate and relive experiences. We don't really care for anime characters, we want to be Agent X killing Enemy Y. A recent high seller in Japan for the PS2 was "My Summer Vacation 2" - a game where players follow a child through his sumemr vacation. Okay, sounds boring, but only because of what we are used to.
I think a country where this kind of thing is the top game for a while has a coolness of its own. It just says so much about the culture and lifestyle of Japan. It's what we can never be now, thanks to our own culture and games.
Okay, I'm not saying one style is better than the other, but I often wonder just how different the industry in the West, and life in general, would be if we'd gone along the lines of the Japanese..... I think it would be better because a lot of the games developed in the West are becoming stale and tired. I'm probably not the only one - Nintendo are starting to do well.....
Obviously we'd have the games in english though :)
~~Belldandy~~